DeWalt vs Ridgid Octane

[DTro]

If you are thinking about purchasing a DeWalt or Ridgid Octane drill to use for an ice auger.  You might want to take a look and see how they both did.

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[VTMatt]

If mine does that, I'll be sending it back.  In the Winter, the drill is overheating with half of the battery life left?  What about in the Summer on a 90 degree day....

[lefty2053]

Very good and fair review. Thanks.

[icefisher-45]

Very good review, thank you for sharing.

[Dave R]

Good review.  So, if you don't drill a lot of holes,  then you could get  by with the Rigid. But, I wonder, with regards to both drills, you are using them for an application that they were not originally intended for. I'm not knocking them because at some point carrying my heavy Strikemaster Electric Lazer out on the ice at my age tends to be a pain. So, I have been interested in using an electric drill.

Also I'm thinking that since I don't drill a lot of holes a Rigid attached to my 5" Strikemaster Lazer hand auger would be a good alternative.

[esox_xtm]

Not really apples to apples though. 9Ah battery (Ridgid) vs. 5 Ah battery (DeWalt). Everything being equal I would have expected about 55% more holes with the Ridgid vs. the DeWalt. Barely got another 30% plus was allowed to rest where the DeWalt was just run out and called.

I'd call DeWalt a clear winner here. And I have no preference as I don't use either one to drill ice. I have owned both as household drills. A 12v Dewalt and an 18v Ridgid. Obviously that's no comparison.

[masoneddie]

Very nice job...    

[Iceicemike]

What was that dewalt model number? I just bought the rigid

[John_BZ]

I am on my second octane. My first one shut down on overload protection when my 7" lazer hit the bottom of the hole. The second drill runs fine. I'm guessing ridgids quality control is a bit lacking. I work construction and have always been a makita guy but have been of the opinion it is hard to go wrong with makita, milwauke, or dewalt. I purchased the octane with a somewhat negative opinion of them going in to it. I still have a bad taste in my mouth but I'm willing to give it a chance. I know the same parent company owns milwaukee, ridgid, and ryobi. I have seen enough hard use of the milwaukee's in the trades to trust them. A torture test of consecutive holes really doesnt prove anything other than which drill will overheat faster. I'm guessing for real world use there is little difference. The biggest difference would probably be the lifetime warranty on the ridgid drill and battery. I will also say that the second one I am on is an absolute beast. To early to tell. I've wasted 170 in worse ways I suppose.

[Iceicemike]

I was just wondering, because he cleanly states rigid octane.
But no model for the dewalt.
Thats poor comparison.

[wallydiven]

I was just wondering, because he cleanly states rigid octane.
But no model for the dewalt.
Thats poor comparison.

If I recall correctly, he stated it was model 996.

[DTro]

Thanks guys.  Yes I did say dcd996 several times throughout the video. I wish I would've had a 9ah  battery to throw on the dewalt to compare.  I still think the Ridgid is s great drill for the job and the overload/cutout will only affect a small portion of ice anglers.  But at the same time can't be ignored.  Don't take this video as a way of me saying "don't buy the Ridgid".  Mostly just a head to head to see how it played out.  Based on all the factors, I chose the DeWalt as the winner, not by much though. 

[CO_Dinky]

If you are thinking about purchasing a DeWalt or Ridgid Octane drill to use for an ice auger.  You might want to take a look and see how they both did.

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Is this your video?  If so, I made this comment on one of the other Octane threads:

The video shows the Ridgid drill's protection circuitry off quite well.  It could be looked at as either a hinderance, or a great feature that's preventing you from frying your drill/battery, depending on which way you're looking at it.

I would like to know if it was the over temperature protection or the over load protection shutting the drill off.  Another possibility could be deep discharge of the battery, where too much change is being used too quickly.  If he had the BT app enabled (looks like he did, it flashed blue at one point when he was showing the charge gage), a quick check of the alert history would show what's up.

[CO_Dinky]

Oops, sorry, double post... 

[DTro]

It’s actually pretty interesting that they both seemed to have issues at the 24-25 hole area.   The DeWalt acted liked it died (slow spinning and low power) while the Ridgid just completely cut out.     Also interesting that when I left the DeWalt sit for a bit, I was able to get another 6 holes even though I thought it was already dead and I got another 10 on the Ridgid.   Who knows how many more I could have got after they sat for a while to recover?

I need to do some more testing….

[3300]

i just thought about the load issue kdrill puts on a drill and think i narrowed most of it down to the bit and the drill not liking the two entirely different loads it puts on a drill. like a full on and full off load back and forth while it's circuits are trying to figure out how to deal with the load.

sounds like it's the poor way the kdrill cuts is affecting the overload protection. the load is not consistent and the way the motor talks to the battery trying to figure out the load while people are raising their bits to try to clear out the shavings is messing with it. those who keep a constant or somewhat constant load aren't having so much trouble. we all already know it looses nearly twice as many holes compared to a shaver blade, so it is not an effective cut in comparison.

keep the bit under the same load the entire cut and see what happens instead of stooping the cut to raise the cutting head to spin off the shavings. pretty sure this is the problem.

QUOT:
This means, under heavy loads, the tool talks to the battery to determine when to draw maximum power to the motor, allowing the tool to increase performance and finish the task.
END QUOT
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-18-Volt-OCTANE-Cordless-Brushless-1-2-in-Hammer-Drill-Driver-Tool-Only-R8611506B/304304102

try your test with a shaver blade if you have one. also, we didn't see that the batteries were fully charged.

[esox_xtm]

One other thought toward a more telling test: No one drills 25 holes in rapid succession. Even if I'm going to make 2 dozen out of the gate, for whatever reason, I'm walking several feet away to make the next one. Realistically, 45 - 60 seconds between holes might be more "real world" representative of actual use.

Of course, it'll take a half an hour or so just to get through one drill's use but might be more informative of actual expectations out on the ice. As far as K-D "limitations" or issues, the test is for the drill/driver, not the cutting performance so that is really immaterial as long as the same auger is used for both tests.

I noted before, both the batteries must have the same Ah rating for it to be a fair comparison. I will bet there are differences in BMS in the batteries and usage circuits in the drills for both brands. In OVAT testing as many variable as possible must be standardized to make any conclusion based on that testing. If you're looking at battery/drill performance, standardize the battery rating, the cutting tool and the timing of the hole making and that's about as "standard" as you'll get.

[NateD]

Thanks guys.  Yes I did say dcd996 several times throughout the video. I wish I would've had a 9ah  battery to throw on the dewalt to compare.  I still think the Ridgid is s great drill for the job and the overload/cutout will only affect a small portion of ice anglers.  But at the same time can't be ignored.  Don't take this video as a way of me saying "don't buy the Ridgid".  Mostly just a head to head to see how it played out.  Based on all the factors, I chose the DeWalt as the winner, not by much though.

Not sure how much ice you are drilling I haven't watch the video, but I've cut up to 20 inches or so of ice with my Kdrill and see no need to clear the shavings.

[DTro]

If you don't clear the shavings all you are doing is creating more load the deeper you go.  The auger isn't designed to clear the shavings, if you aren't clearing it,  you should be, you will get better performance for sure.

Without a doubt the KDrill taxes a drill.  Probably more than any auger out there.  But that's the price you pay for the blade design I guess. But if you are going to test it, why not test it on one of the more difficult bits? 

I'll have some more tests coming up.

[NateD]

Drill works like it did day one after 3 seasons, I only see ice more than 15 inches for about a week out of every season though. Either way I don't think you need to clear shavings only going through 14 inches.

[esox_xtm]

@NateD: What size K-D you running? I got the "fake 8" and needed to clear chips in 18" plus last year. I did re-order the flights this year so they appear more progressive rather that stepped. Chips have been flyin' out of the hole now. We'll see how it goes later.

I have read here that the 6" and 8" K-D had different flight arrangements. Don't know why that would be. The stock arrangement did not look "right" to me so I changed 'em. No biggie I figure it's easy enough to experiment.

[CO_Dinky]

DTro, please address the bolded part of my comment below:

The video shows the Ridgid drill's protection circuitry off quite well.  It could be looked at as either a hinderance, or a great feature that's preventing you from frying your drill/battery, depending on which way you're looking at it.

I would like to know if it was the over temperature protection or the over load protection shutting the drill off.  Another possibility could be deep discharge of the battery, where too much change is being used too quickly.  If he had the BT app enabled (looks like he did, it flashed blue at one point when he was showing the charge gage), a quick check of the alert history would show what's up.

I look forward to hearing back from you!

[DTro]

DTro, please address the bolded part of my comment below:

I look forward to hearing back from you!

The blue flash is what happens when you hold the button down for a bit (bluetooth pairing mode).   I had not connected the battery to my phone for this test. However I'm working on another one and I will be sure to connect the phone this time to see what it tells me (if anything).

[NateD]

@NateD: What size K-D you running? I got the "fake 8" and needed to clear chips in 18" plus last year. I did re-order the flights this year so they appear more progressive rather that stepped. Chips have been flyin' out of the hole now. We'll see how it goes later.

I have read here that the 6" and 8" K-D had different flight arrangements. Don't know why that would be. The stock arrangement did not look "right" to me so I changed 'em. No biggie I figure it's easy enough to experiment.

I have the 8 (7.5) also, I didn't know there was a new flight arrangement. Does it feel like it slows down when you need to clear the chips? Maybe the thick ice I've been on was kind of soft I'm not sure but I've never felt like I needed to clear it up to around that 18-20 inch level.

[esox_xtm]

More like you can see chips aren't clearing the hole. Seems like they start compacting. As I understand it the 6" and "fake 8"" have/had a different flight arrangement. My "8" was stepped so there was very little lift between pairs of flights. Haven't seen a six but understand they were more of a true spiral arrangement. I pulled mine apart and rotated flights to replicate that more spiral design. Jury's still out till we get more ice, probably into February I expect.

[pmaloney86]

I'd guess the bit you use impacts the results dramatically.  I'd guess with a freshly sharpened Nils these results would change dramatically.  I've got the Octane clam plate setup and use a mora bit.  Outside of not having a centering point with the mora which is only preferred due to the wobble built into the clam plate I think the setup is an absolute BEAST, almost too much power that it wants to suck you down the hole upon break through.  With that said I drilled 30ish holes through 15 inches of ice New Years day and the battery went down one bar.  There is some type of load sensor that if I don't start the drill prior to putting the bit on the ice it will cut out.  However, I've never had any type of over heating issues but I haven't used the setup much.  I'll be curious to see if Co_Dinky is onto something with the BT alert history.

All that said my old Ion isn't going anywhere.  I'll take the extra 5lbs on the Ion for a more reliable and safe setup.  My gf uses the Ion no problem while my buddy was even nervous to use the drill setup at first.  If price is a huge factor and safety isn't, then the Octane straight to a shaver style bit would be the cheapest way to go.

[DTro]

So my plan is to do another test.  15 holes/day with each drill no charges in-between.    Might represent a more real world test (although most people would usually just charge each time).   I will monitor the battery life and cut out issues more closely this time.

   Here’s a  “sneak peak”….according to the BT app after the first 15 holes the Octane battery is in excellent condition and 70%.    DeWalt is down to 2/3 bars on battery.   On a side note, I kind of shrugged off the App in my original video, but I think I was wrong. The app is actually really cool.   The Ridgid is growing on me.

Also yes, for sure the blade type and size makes a huge difference.    Your mileage may vary.

[DTro]

30 holes in (450" of ice).  Ridgid showing 45% and DeWalt is pretty much dead.

I have a feeling the Ridgid has 10-15 holes left in it.   No cut outs or shut downs yet. 

If the Ridgid dies today, I'll have a video up tonight, otherwise tomorrow for sure.

[esox_xtm]

Didya ever get a 9Ah battery for that yellow one?

Not really apples to apples though. 9Ah battery (Ridgid) vs. 5 Ah battery (DeWalt). Everything being equal I would have expected about 55% more holes with the Ridgid vs. the DeWalt.

Betcha this'll be pretty darn close. I'll be interested in the outcome.

[reddog11]

Good info