If you follow Harbor Freight, you likely noticed that the newest Hercules brushless hammer drill is making some bold claims about its performance compared to Milwaukee. We decided to put the two brands up against each other in a Milwaukee vs Hercules hammer drill head-to-head review and see just how well this bargain brand can keep up with the best Team Red has to offer.
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Starting with Milwaukee, it’s the 2906 M18 Fuel Hammer Drill, the newest and 4th generation in the line. Compared to the previous model, there are upgrades in both performance and features. These upgrades earned it our top overall recommendation in our 2023 Best Cordless Drill buying guide.
For Hercules, it’s the newest 20V brushless hammer drill. As the line has continued its development, Hercules has targeted improvements in both performance and quality, gaining the attention of DIYers and value-minded Pros.
Performance is certainly the biggest consideration for drills competing for professional attention, and we set up four tests for these drills to strut their stuff. However, performance isn’t everything, and we can’t ignore other characteristics of our competitors. We’ll take a look at size, weight, features, and price as well. Once you have all of those numbers in front of you, you can decide for yourself whether Milwaukee or Hercules deserves the win, and more importantly, your purchase.
Interested in impact drivers? Check out our best cordless impact driver recommendations!
Is This Really the Right Matchup?
When we first heard the Harbor Freight challenge to compare Hercules with Milwaukee, we thought they might be referencing an earlier generation. Nope. The website is clear that the comparison is Hercules’ $79.99 price tag to Milwaukee’s 2904 at $199.
We’re using the 2906 for this test. It’s the identical to the 2904 aside from the One-Key upgrade. To keep the test apples-to-apples, we left all the settings in their default configuration, ensuring that it performs exactly like the 2904.
Here’s the disclaimer about exactly what Harbor Freight means when they encourage you to compare the two:
“WHAT DOES “COMPARE SIMILAR”/”COMPARE” MEAN?
At Harbor Freight Tools, unless otherwise specified, the “Compare Similar” or “Compare” price means that the same item or a similar functioning item was advertised for sale at or above the “Compare Similar” or “Compare” price by another retailer in the U.S. within the past 90 days. Prices advertised by others may vary by location. The comparison price may not reflect the prevailing market price or the average retail price. No other meaning of “Compare Similar” or “Compare” should be implied.”
Harbor Freight website
With that in mind, Harbor Freight isn’t claiming that Hercules beats Milwaukee in a head-to-head performance test. They’re pointing out that their “similar functioning item” is significantly lower in price than the comparison model. On our end, we want to know just how close Hercules can get to Milwaukee’s actual performance.
Milwaukee vs Hercules Hammer Drill Specifications
Before we jump into the performance tests, here’s how these two drill line up on paper.
| Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2904/2906 | Hercules 20V Brushless HCB92B | |
| Top Speeds | 500/2100 RPM | 550/2000 RPM |
| Max Torque | 1400 in-lbs | 1200 in-lbs |
| Max Hammer Rate | 33,000 RPM | 32,000 BPM |
| Head Length | 6.9 in | 7.2 in |
| Bare Weight | 3.3 lbs | 3.3 lbs |
| Weight w/Tested Battery | 4.9 lbs (5.0Ah battery) | 4.8 lbs (5.0Ah battery) |
Milwaukee Vs Hercules Hammer Drill Test Results
To make sure the playing field is even, both tool started each test with a fully charged 5.0Ah battery.
Soft Torque
To test the soft torque, we used an inline torque meter and drove a thick lag screw as far as we could into stacked OSB subfloor. This gives us an idea of how much torque each drill is able to put into wood fastening, but it’s not perfect.
Modern brushless motors sense the load and shut the motor off before it reaches its full power potential as a protection mechanism. That said, we get an objective, comparable number that’s representative of the soft torque in a demanding wood fastening application.
| Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2904/2906 | Hercules 20V Brushless HCB92B | |
| Max Measured Torque | 539 in-lbs | 395 in-lbs |
Spade Bit
For our medium-load test, we used a 1-inch spade bit with a self-feeding tip to drill through 4 inches of stacked and glued 1/2-inch OSB. The result is the average of three tests. Any outlier results were thrown out, and the run repeated.
| Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2904/2906 | Hercules 20V Brushless HCB92B | |
| Average Time | 3.4 seconds | 3.8 seconds |
Self-Feed Bit
To get an idea of how these hammer drills perform under a heavy rough-in load, we used a 2 9/16-inch self-feed bit to drill through a 2×4 pine stud. We tried each drill in high speed first, and if it was unable to complete the test, dropped into low gear. The result is the average of three tests. Like before, we eliminated any outlier results and repeated the test if they occured.
| Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2904/2906 | Hercules 20V Brushless HCB92B | |
| Average Time | 2.6 seconds | 6.9 seconds |
Concrete Bit
The final test was drilling through concrete. Using a 3/8-inch concrete twist bit, we drilled 3 inches deep in fully-cured 4000 PSI concrete. We took the average of three tests to get our results. Again, in the event of any outliers, we threw out the result and repeated the test.
| Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2904/2906 | Hercules 20V Brushless HCB92B | |
| Average Time | 3.7 seconds | 4.1 seconds |
Milwaukee Vs Hercules Hammer Drill Build Quality
Full disclosure—no one on our team has a PhD in mechanical engineering, so we don’t have the knowledge to tear apart these tools and compare the quality of their components. But what we can do is share what we observed during our testing.
Milwaukee, along with other professional and Prosumer drills, completed our tests without an issue. Yes, some had to work in low gear during the self-feed bit test, and some didn’t display near the same amount of torque as the top contenders.
However, we ended up testing two different Hercules models. We had a failure with the first where it was stuck in hammer mode and the chuck was out of alignment after the soft torque test. The second intermittently slipped into hammer mode under load in our spade bit test, resulting in some retesting. So, while we can stand by the test results we got, there does seem to be a difference in quality.
Milwaukee Vs Hercules Hammer Drill Highlight Features
As the flagship drills for their respective platforms, both of these hammer drill bring the best features available from their brands. Here’s a quick breakdown of the major highlights:
Milwaukee 2906
- Brushless motor
- Kickback control
- 2 speeds
- One-Key customizable controls, tracking, inventory, and security (2906 model only)
Hercules HCB92B
- Brushless motor
- 2 speeds
Milwaukee Vs Hercules Hammer Drill Price
The last piece of the puzzle is price, and this is where these two drills are in completely different spheres. Hercules focuses on keeping the price for low for what you get. Milwaukee targets the highest performance, top features, and a high-quality build. As you shop, keep in mind that both tools includes a 5-year warranty.
You can get Milwaukee’s drill with or without One-Key, so we included both. Hercules is only sold as a bare tool, not as a kit or 2-tool combo, so we pieced together the individual components for comparison. Milwaukee 2906 does have a combo, but not a basic kit, so we pieced that together as well. Finally, Harbor Freight often runs sales, so it’s possible you can save some extra money compared to these numbers.
| Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2906 (One-Key) | Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2904 | Hercules 20V Brushless HCB92B | |
| Bare Tool | $249 | $199 | $79.99 |
| Basic Kit | $577 Hammer Drill ($249) 2 x 5.0Ah Battery ($249) Basic Charger ($79) | $299 2904 Hammer Drill 2 x 5.0Ah Battery | $274.96 Hammer Drill ($79.99) 2 x 5.0Ah Battery ($74.99 each) Basic Charger ($44.99) |
| 2-Tool Combo | $449 2906 Hammer Drill 2957 Impact Driver 2 x 5.0Ah battery | $379 2904 Hammer Drill 2953 Impact Driver 2 x 5.0Ah Battery | $344.95 Hammer Drill ($79.99) HCB81B Impact Driver ($69.99) 2 x 5.0Ah Battery ($74.99 each) Basic Charger ($44.99) |
