Best Cordless Hammer Drills Compared: Hercules vs Milwaukee vs DeWalt on the Dyno

Introduction

Two recently introduced cordless drills set out to take sales away from an established benchmark, and that is a good excuse to put four 18V brushless hammer drills head to head. The Hercules HCV92B is the new brushless top model at Harbor Freight, positioned as a Milwaukee M18 Gen 3 equivalent for less money. The M18 2904 Gen 4 is Milwaukee’s replacement for its own Gen 3, advertising more torque to justify the upgrade. The DeWalt DCD996 rounds out the field as a familiar watts-focused competitor.

To rank them fairly, each drill was tested on a dyno brake for peak torque, then hooked up to a horsepower dyno to measure how many watts it can generate at speed, a power metric DeWalt favors and a good one. Kit prices were factored in at the end.

How We Tested

Every drill was tested the way it is most commonly kitted out, with its included battery, and then again with a high output style battery where the brand offers one. Peak torque numbers on the dyno brake are medians of about five runs, and the low speed setting is what brands rate, so low mode is where the advertised figures were checked.

Watts were measured in high mode by loading each drill until it stalled or RPM dropped below 1000, and in low mode until it stalled below 300 RPM. That measures actual work being done rather than just stall torque, which matters more for how these tools are really used.

Hercules HCV92B: The Value Play That Overshot

By the specs, Harbor Freight clearly had a certain Gen 3 Milwaukee in its crosshairs: the same 2000 RPM, the same 1200 in-lbs (about 100 ft-lbs) of claimed peak torque, and about the same weight, with the Hercules only slightly longer at 7.18 inches versus 6.9 for the Gen 3. It also comes with a real Jacobs locking chuck and pleasantly clicky clutch settings, plus the five-year warranty standard across the counter for Hercules brushless tools.

On the dyno it scored 34.2 ft-lbs of stall torque with a standard 5Ah battery and 42.8 ft-lbs with a high output style pack, sitting just below the Milwaukees in that test. In high mode it made an impressive 690 watts with the standard pack and 950 with the high output option, and in low mode it hit 500 watts with the standard battery and a massive 820 watts with the high output pack, beating both Milwaukee drills.

When everything is totaled, the Hercules takes the top spot, and not just because of pricing. The tester’s verdict after weeks of real use, including a lot of stainless drilling: it is very good in use, and it arguably compares to the newer Gen 4 rather than the Gen 3 it was designed to beat. At $80 bare or $240 as the kit tested, it is the clear value pick here.

Milwaukee M18 2804 Gen 3: The Benchmark

The Gen 3 2804 is one of the shorter 18V drills on the market at this power level at 6.9 inches, which helps it in the length-adjusted scoring. It was purchased bare for $150, though the kit configuration tested came out to $240.

It delivered 28.9 ft-lbs of stall torque with the included 5Ah battery, and its high mode watts topped out at 610, rising to 920 watts with a high output battery, putting it on par with the DeWalt when using those cells. In low mode it managed about 450 watts, which is not great, and its length-adjusted combined score of 108.4 in the torque metric and 101.5 in the watts metric trails the others.

If you already own M18 batteries you have probably already made up your mind, and there is a practical takeaway regardless: high output batteries are strongly recommended for top-of-the-line Milwaukee drills, and the difference in measured performance is enormous.

Milwaukee M18 2904 Gen 4: More Torque, Slightly More Drill

The Gen 4 2904 looks so similar to the Gen 3 that it is easy to mistake it for the old model, almost a mid-cycle refresh, though it adds a 16th of an inch of length and a bit of weight, a rare move for Milwaukee lately. The claimed numbers rise to 2100 RPM and 1400 in-lbs, and the one battery kit comes out to $250 versus $240 for the previous generation.

The dyno results back up the advertising. Stall torque jumped from 28.9 to 35.1 ft-lbs with the included battery, a 21 percent improvement over the advertised 16 percent, and with a high output battery it matched the Hercules at 46 ft-lbs. High mode watts improved only modestly to 630 with the standard pack, but with a high output pack it pushed to 960 watts, nearly a kilowatt. In low mode it reached 490 watts with the included battery.

Its length-adjusted scores of 116.7 for torque and 104 for watts beat the Gen 3 across the board. If the choice is between the two Milwaukees at a $10 kit premium, the Gen 4 is the one to buy.

DeWalt DCD996: The Watts Specialist

The DCD996 enters this comparison with a kit weight deficit at 4.74 pounds with battery, the lightest of the four tested here, which earns it some credit in the weight-adjusted scoring.

Its stall torque went from 35 to 38 ft-lbs between a standard 5Ah pack and a 6Ah 21700 cell pack, a much smaller battery-sensitivity jump than Milwaukee showed. DeWalt advertises power in watts out, and true to that identity, its measured output favored watts over stall torque in the scoring.

It did not publish specific watt figures in this test’s totals, but the brand’s watts-first philosophy shows in how the results were weighted. As a mature, well-known option it remains a reasonable pick, though in this specific dyno ranking it finished behind all three newer-generation competitors.

Overall Buying Advice

The headline finding is that the Hercules HCV92B beats both Milwaukee generations in the watts metric and comes close in peak torque, all at a lower price, earning the highest overall combined score of 787.9 versus 716.4 for the Gen 3 and 747.2 for the Gen 4. It is not a mile ahead, and the tester personally prefers the Gen 4 in hand, but the value case is hard to argue with.

Battery choice matters enormously on these tools, especially the Milwaukees: swapping a standard pack for a high output pack nearly doubled the Gen 3’s low-mode watt output with nothing else changed. If you already own batteries for one platform, that usually decides the purchase for you. This ranking also only covers drills tested so far, and more powerful models from several brands remain untested, so the top spot may not stay here forever.

Conclusion

The Hercules HCV92B set out to match the Milwaukee Gen 3 and appears to have overshot the mark, comparing more closely to the newer Gen 4 while costing less. The Gen 4 is a genuine improvement over its predecessor, especially in low-speed torque, and the DeWalt DCD996 remains a solid watts-oriented alternative. Match the tool to the platform you already own, factor in battery choice, and the numbers above should make the decision straightforward.