DeWalt Drills Are Great, But Smart Money Buys This Harbor Freight Brand Instead

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DeWalt was second only to Makita in our rankings of major power tool brands, and the familiar black and yellow tools are common on professional job sites. The brand's quality and reputation come at a premium price, though. The DeWalt 20V XR drill/driver is sold by Home Depot in a kit with two 4 amp-hour batteries, a charger, and a soft case for $269, although it's on sale as of this writing for $40 off.

 If you already have a collection of DeWalt 20V Max and Max XR batteries, buying power tools from another brand might not be the best move. But if you're building a workshop from scratch or looking to save money on a replacement for a drill that no longer works, Harbor Freight's Hercules brand is worth a look. For example, the 20V Hercules HCB91K1 1/2-inch drill comes with a charger and 2 Ah battery for  $97.99, which leaves you plenty of cash left over vs. the DeWalt to purchase additional batteries and a carrying bag.

 Consumer Reports named it the cordless drill with the best battery life, and a spare Hercules 8 Ah 20V battery costs $99.99 at Harbor Freight. With the larger battery the Hercules cordless drill can drill up to 350 holes in a pine board using a 1-inch spade bit. For comparison's sake, DeWalt says its DCD801 20V drill is capable of making  as many as 175 holes in a 1.5-inch softwood board using a ⅞-inch auger bit on a fully-charged 4 Ah battery. The two tasks aren't a direct one-to-one comparison but should give you an idea of the power of the Hercules system.

The manufacturer's specs and features of the two drills match up pretty well, but it's the huge price difference that makes the Hercules a far better buy. Both drills have a metal chuck, LED lights, and two speed settings and max out at 2,000 rpm. The Hercules drill can generate up to 100 foot-pounds of torque, but DeWalt doesn't provide raw torque numbers for its tools.

With the almost-too-good-to-be-true pricing, it's understandable if you're wondering if Harbor Freight's Hercules power tools are any good. You don't have to trust the specs alone; plenty of outlets have thoroughly tested Hercules tools like this drill. Project Farm tested 11 different drills across multiple build and performance categories including 20V models from Hercules and DeWalt. The DeWalt drill performed slightly better when all test results are considered (averaging between 4th and 5th place to the Hercules' sixth and a fraction), but the difference isn't nearly enough to justify the huge price difference. 

Matthew Peech did a head-to-head test betwen DeWalt and Hercules drills on his Woodworking and DIY blog and found that the Hercules didn't heat up as much as the DeWalt during prolonged use. He concluded that "While the DeWalt might still edge ahead in premium features and build, the Hercules is nothing to scoff at." Real Tool Reviews put this Hercules drill up against similar products from Makita and DeWalt in various real-world tests and found that the Hercules HCB91K1 held its own against the two much more expensive drills.

There is no shortage of comparisons between DeWalt and Harbor Freight power tools. We found our own previous reporting and the detailed data from Project Farm to be useful as a starting point, then consulted side-by-side testing by other outlets and anecdotal opinions from user reviews and online forums.

In addition, the author has used an older DeWalt DCD780 cordless drill to perform campground maintenance and tested this Hercules HCB91K1 as part of an in-store demonstration at a local Harbor Freight store. While we didn't try these two drills side-by-side, the Hercules drill felt solid, powerful, and capable of standing toe-to-toe with any of DeWalt's offerings. This Hercules drill also comes with a five-year limited warranty, while buyers of DeWalt's power tools enjoy three years of similar protection.