Ridgid Octane 18V Cordless Hammer Drill Review – R8611506

Ridgid Octane 18V Cordless Hammer Drill Boasts Industry-Best 1300 In-Lbs of Torque

We recently threw over 50 cordless drills together for our Best Cordless Drill Shootout. The competition was pretty fierce, but a few of the drills stood out as true competitors. One of those models, the Ridgid Octane 18V Cordless Hammer Drill, stood out in the heavy-duty class for its power, signing up with 1300 in-lbs of torque on its resume’.

Pros

• Excellent torque delivery
• Reasonable size for the Heavy-Duty class
• Excellent feature set
• Outstanding value ($139 bare, $159 kit)

Cons

• No major drawbacks

Standout Features

Brushless motors have become the norm, but that doesn’t mean we take them for granted. We still appreciate a brushless motor on a tool because of their performance gains and the fact that not every model has one.

The Ridgid Octane Hammer Drill does, which means that it cranks out more power than previous generations of Ridgid cordless hammer drills. As part of the Octane lineup, it has advanced electronics in both the tool and battery that let it tap into higher performance than standard Ridgid brushless tools.

We love the LED light on this model. Instead of an LED under the chuck or at the base of the handle, this Ridgid cordless hammer drill has an LED light ring surrounding the chuck. This eliminates any shadows around the workpiece so that you have a clear view of what you’re doing.

The Ridgid R8611506 keeps the micro-clutch with over 100 torque settings to dial screw depths into your OCD heart’s content. It also has a separate drill/driver/hammer selection (something PTR contributor Tom Gaige loves on a drill), a belt hook, and bit holder.

Performance

For performance, we test a tool’s speed under load and how much torque it can generate. For more information about how we tested for these measurements, check out our Best Drill Head to Head Review.

Torque

Our soft torque rig showed us the Ridgid Octane 18V Cordless Hammer Drill could generate 615 in-lbs of torque. That was good enough to finish 3rd in the Heavy-Duty class, though the difference between this hammer drill’s torque and the DeWalt DCD997’s (2nd at 618 in-lbs) is negligible. Our first place finisher, the Hilti SF 10W-A22, put up a bit more at 677 in-lbs.

Speed Under Load

We timed our hammer drills by drilling 3″ deep with 1/4″ Bosch Multipurpose bits in concrete and averaged the times. The Ridgid R8611506 posted a 5.33-second drill time, which was actually the slowest of the heavy-duty hammer drills, believe it or not.

We also tested the hammer drills using a 1″ Bosch Daredevil High-Speed Auger Bit (high speed) and a 2-9/16″ Milwaukee Switchblade Self-Feed Bit (low speed) to find their speeds under load.

The Ridgid averaged 1621 RPM with the 1″ auger—81% of its no-load speed. That speeds is near the bottom, but close to most of the group. Only DeWalt’s 1906 RPM and Metabo’s Red-Bull drinking 3039 RPM efforts put any real gap over the rest.

It cranked out 437 RPM with the self-feed bit, finishing with 80% of its no-load speed to near identical efficiency with the high-speed test. Ridgid mixes in pretty well with the majority of the group here as well. In this test, Metabo HPT’s MultiVolt (509 RPM) and Hilti’s SF 10-A22 (708 RPM in 2nd gear) rise up from the rest.

So, the Ridgid Octane isn’t the fastest of the heavy-duty hammer drills, but that’s relative to the speed of the other drills. Ridgid often sacrifices a little speed for extra power, but its no-load speeds are right up there where they should be to compete well.

We’re not disappointed with the speeds. When you look at efficiency ratings of 81% and 80%, these are numbers tell us that we’re far from straining the motor. It’s not struggling in the slightest. Many of our drills are in the 60%–75% range and some even drop below 50%.

Footprint and Weight

Competing in the Heavy-Duty class has some advantages, one being that size and weight aren’t as big of a deal as they are for compact drills. Still, they’re worth comparing.

While Ridgid is often one of the bulkier tools in our shootouts, its 8.4″ height and 8.3″ length are right in the middle for this class.

Weight is a similar mid-pack story. At 3.93 pounds bare and 5.71 pounds with a 6.0Ah Octane battery, it’s in between the gravity-defying DeWalt DCD997 (4.88 pounds with battery) and Metabo’s hefty SB 18 LTX-3 BL Q I (6.00 pounds with battery)

Price

For a mere $159, you can pick up this muscular beast from your local Home Depot. While other brands pack more battery capacity in their kits, no one else is within $100 of this kit price in the Heavy-Duty class.

Already have Ridgid 18V or Octane batteries? The bare tool is $139. Just remember that as an Octane tool, you get the best performance with Octane batteries. You can also snag the Ridgid Octane Hammer Drill/Impact Driver combo kit for $349.

Recommendation

Ridgid’s Octane platform has impressed us with the boost it gives to performance. We’ve seen this across the line, but it’s especially clear with the Ridgid Octane Hammer Drill. While it’s a little slower, it generates a ton of torque, has a robust feature set, and nails the value proposition.

Ridgid Octane Hammer Drill Specs

• Model Number: R8611506
• Motor Type: Brushless
• Max Speed: 2,000 RPM
• Blows per Minute: 31,000 BPM
• Chuck Size: 1/2″
• Chuck Type: Keyless
• Height: 10.51″
• Width: 3.54″
• Depth: 13.23″
• Weight: 5.47 lbs.
• Warranty: 3-Year Limited Warranty; Lifetime Service Agreement with Registration
• MSRP: $159 (Kit)

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