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Loading...Fourteen drill bit sets, $11 to $200, all tested with the same 3/8 inch bit on a half-horsepower drill press with a rope-and-pulley rig applying a constant downward force — about 175 lb at 600 RPM for mild steel, and 220 lb at 340 RPM for spring steel. Cutting oil throughout, and the test piece cooled between brands.
The interesting part is not the first hole. Every set here can drill half-inch mild steel once. What separates them is what happens next: each bit then drilled spring steel twice, and was sent back to mild steel afterwards to measure how much speed it had lost. Several brands advertise ten or fifteen times the life of ordinary bits, and this is the test that puts a number on it.
Finally each set's quarter-inch bit was twisted to destruction to find its failure torque — the number that matters when a bit binds in a deep hole. The two rankings turn out to have almost nothing to do with each other.
Best Performance
Average finish: 3.4
Average Finish: 3.4
Purchased for: $200
Made In: USA
US-made M42 cobalt and the most expensive set here at $200. It drilled the fastest first hole in mild steel at 9.96 seconds, the fastest mild steel hole after all the spring steel abuse at 12.65 seconds, and finished third in the final spring steel round at 19.41. It took the overall win with an average finish of 3.4. It is only average in strength, breaking at 157 in-lb.
Fastest first hole and fastest hole after the spring steel abuse. Expensive, and only average in strength.
Best Value
$34 M42 cobalt
Purchased for: $34
Made In: China
M42 cobalt with an 8% cobalt alloy and a thick web, fourteen bits for $34 — genuinely hard to find at this price. It drilled mild steel in 11.41 seconds, lost only 21.8% of its speed after the spring steel work, and broke at 215 in-lb, second strongest in the entire test. On price against performance it is the set to buy.
Fast, held 78% of its speed after the spring steel rounds, and second strongest bit in the whole test.
Best Budget
$11 for 14 bits
Purchased for: $11
Made In: Thailand
Plain high-speed steel, 135° split point, fourteen bits for $11 — under a dollar each and the cheapest set here by a wide margin. It drilled the second-fastest first hole in mild steel at 10.53 seconds, beating cobalt sets costing ten times as much. Spring steel is where it stops: it got through once at 26.4 seconds, seized at breakthrough, and afterwards had lost 72% of its speed, the worst degradation in the test.
Second-fastest first hole in mild steel for under a dollar a bit. Keep it away from hardened material.
| Name | Purchased for ($) | Average Finish | Link | Made In | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viking Drill and Tool | $200.00 | 3.4 | Search on Amazon | USA | |
US-made M42 cobalt and the most expensive set here at $200. It drilled the fastest first hole in mild steel at 9.96 seconds, the fastest mild steel hole after all the spring steel abuse at 12.65 seconds, and finished third in the final spring steel round at 19.41. It took the overall win with an average finish of 3.4. It is only average in strength, breaking at 157 in-lb. | |||||
| DeWalt HSS | $11.00 | Search on Amazon | Thailand | ||
Plain high-speed steel, 135° split point, fourteen bits for $11 — under a dollar each and the cheapest set here by a wide margin. It drilled the second-fastest first hole in mild steel at 10.53 seconds, beating cobalt sets costing ten times as much. Spring steel is where it stops: it got through once at 26.4 seconds, seized at breakthrough, and afterwards had lost 72% of its speed, the worst degradation in the test. | |||||
| Somada | $15.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
M35 cobalt, fourteen bits for $15, or just over a dollar each. Despite the cobalt it was one of the slowest sets in the group — 15.84 seconds through mild steel against the DeWalt HSS's 10.53, and 44.6 seconds in spring steel. It broke at 173 in-lb, below average for the group. | |||||
| Ryobi Titanium | $0.00 | Search on Amazon | |||
Titanium-coated high-speed steel rather than cobalt, and the coating does not survive hard material. It managed mild steel in 13 seconds and spring steel in 50, then could not get through spring steel a second time at all. It was also among the weakest bits tested, snapping at 92 in-lb. | |||||
| Irwin | $28.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
Fifteen cobalt bits with a 135° split point for $28, and consistently quick: 11.41 seconds in mild steel, 24.9 in spring steel, and only 21% slower after the spring steel rounds. The catch is strength — it broke at 88 in-lb, the lowest failure torque of any set in the test. | |||||
| DeWalt Cobalt | $29.00 | Search on Amazon | China and Germany | ||
Cobalt with a pilot point, claiming four times the life in stainless. The 3/8 inch bit tested is German-made. It was quick everywhere — 11.15 seconds in mild steel, the fastest undamaged bit through spring steel on the first attempt at 22.72 seconds — and broke at a solid 168 in-lb. The pilot point makes these very difficult to resharpen. | |||||
| Bosch | $34.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
M42 cobalt with an 8% cobalt alloy and a thick web, fourteen bits for $34 — genuinely hard to find at this price. It drilled mild steel in 11.41 seconds, lost only 21.8% of its speed after the spring steel work, and broke at 215 in-lb, second strongest in the entire test. On price against performance it is the set to buy. | |||||
| LWCUSNJ | $38.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
Nineteen pieces for $38, advertised as M42 with ten times the life. It could not get through half-inch mild steel at all, chipping badly before the attempt was stopped at around two and a half minutes. Resharpened, it then drilled the fastest spring steel hole of the whole test at 14.7 seconds — and chipped again. The steel is hard enough to cut anything and too brittle to survive doing it. | |||||
| Milwaukee | $40.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
A variable-helix flute starting at 35° and finishing at 15° for chip clearance, claiming fifteen times the life of black oxide. Chip removal was visibly the best in the group. It drilled mild steel in 12.55 seconds and was the fastest undamaged bit through spring steel on the second attempt at 19.25 seconds, breaking at 187 in-lb. Like the DeWalt Cobalt, its pilot point resists resharpening. | |||||
| Warrior | $70.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
Twenty-nine cobalt bits from Harbor Freight for $70. It was never fast — 15.12 seconds in mild steel, near the back of the field — but it was remarkably consistent, losing just 4.2% of its speed after the spring steel rounds, the least of any bit tested. It chipped visibly during testing and simply kept cutting on the new edge. It is on the weak side at 141 in-lb. | |||||
| Cle-Line | $76.00 | Search on Amazon | USA | ||
US-made cobalt, fifteen bits for $76, and one of the four fastest sets on the first hole at 10.99 seconds. It stayed quick in spring steel at 23.8 and 20.6 seconds. Two weaknesses: it lost 29.2% of its speed over the course of testing, more than most of the top group, and it broke at 121 in-lb, among the weakest here. | |||||
| Comoware | $80.00 | Search on Amazon | China | ||
Twenty-nine cobalt bits for $80, and the closest thing to a value rival for the Viking. It drilled mild steel in 11.2 seconds, was the quickest bit through spring steel on the second attempt at 18.48 seconds, and lost only 11.8% of its speed across the whole test — the best result of any fast bit. Its weakness is strength, breaking at 131 in-lb. | |||||
| Drill Hog | $140.00 | Search on Amazon | USA | ||
US-made M42 cobalt, twenty-nine bits for $140, and one of the few sets that is both fast and strong. It drilled mild steel in 10.63 seconds, held up through both spring steel rounds at 23.65 and 19.67 seconds, lost 19.5% of its speed, and broke at 212 in-lb — third strongest in the test. | |||||
| Century Drill & Tool | $150.00 | Search on Amazon | USA | ||
US-made M35 cobalt, twenty-nine bits for $150, claiming twelve times the life of consumer high-speed steel. It was the slowest cobalt set through mild steel at 16.98 seconds and middling in spring steel at 24.84. What it does have is strength: it broke at 225 in-lb, the highest failure torque of any bit tested. | |||||
Lower is better
Prices are the purchase prices at the time of testing. Set sizes differ considerably — the $11 DeWalt holds 14 bits and the $140 Drill Hog holds 29 — so per-bit cost ranges from about 80 cents to roughly $7.
Seconds to drill through half-inch mild steel with a fresh bit — lower is faster
The $200 Viking is fastest at 9.96 seconds and the $11 DeWalt high-speed steel set is second at 10.53 — a gap of half a second across an eighteenfold price difference. Eight of the thirteen sets finish within a second and a half of each other, which is the honest answer to whether an expensive bit drills faster: barely. Two cobalt sets are notably slow, the $15 Somada at 15.84 seconds and the $150 Century at 16.98. The LWCUSNJ is not here because it could not get through the plate at all, chipping badly before the attempt was stopped at around two and a half minutes.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viking Drill and Tool | 9.96 |
| 2 | DeWalt HSS | 10.53 |
| 3 | Drill Hog | 10.63 |
| 4 | Cle-Line | 10.99 |
| 5 | DeWalt Cobalt | 11.15 |
| 6 | Comoware | 11.20 |
| 7 | Irwin | 11.41 |
| 8 | Bosch | 11.41 |
| 9 | Milwaukee | 12.55 |
| 10 | Ryobi Titanium | 13 |
| 11 | Warrior | 15.12 |
| 12 | Somada | 15.84 |
| 13 | Century Drill & Tool | 16.98 |
Seconds to drill through half-inch spring steel — lower is faster
Spring steel is hard enough that the field spreads out properly, and the result at the top is the strangest in the review: the LWCUSNJ, which could not cut mild steel at all, drilled this in 14.7 seconds — seven and a half seconds faster than anything else — and chipped itself to pieces doing it. Behind it the cobalt sets cluster between 22 and 25 seconds. The two soft sets show what they are: the Somada at 44.6 seconds and the titanium-coated Ryobi at 50. The DeWalt high-speed steel set got through in 26.4 seconds but seized at breakthrough, and that hole effectively ended it.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LWCUSNJ | 14.70 |
| 2 | Comoware | 22.10 |
| 3 | DeWalt Cobalt | 22.72 |
| 4 | Drill Hog | 23.65 |
| 5 | Cle-Line | 23.80 |
| 6 | Warrior | 24.11 |
| 7 | Century Drill & Tool | 24.84 |
| 8 | Irwin | 24.90 |
| 9 | DeWalt HSS | 26.40 |
| 10 | Somada | 44.60 |
| 11 | Ryobi Titanium | 50 |
Seconds for the same bit to drill a second spring steel hole — lower is faster
This is the durability test, and most of the good bits actually got quicker — the used tip cuts better once it has worn past its factory edge. The $80 Comoware leads at 18.48 seconds, ahead of the $200 Viking. The DeWalt high-speed steel bit and the Ryobi are not here: neither could get through spring steel a second time. The LWCUSNJ dropped from 14.7 seconds to 25.7 and had by far the most damage of anything in the test.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Comoware | 18.48 |
| 2 | Milwaukee | 19.25 |
| 3 | Viking Drill and Tool | 19.41 |
| 4 | Drill Hog | 19.67 |
| 5 | Irwin | 20.55 |
| 6 | Cle-Line | 20.60 |
| 7 | Warrior | 23.30 |
| 8 | LWCUSNJ | 25.70 |
Seconds for the same worn bit to drill mild steel again — lower is faster
Back to the same half-inch mild steel, with bits that have now been through spring steel twice. The Viking is still fastest at 12.65 seconds with the $80 Comoware two hundredths behind it. The collapse at the bottom is the point of the whole review: the $11 DeWalt high-speed steel set drilled its first hole in 10.53 seconds and now needs 37.81, and the Ryobi has gone from 13 seconds to 26.39. Both were fine bits until they met hardened material once.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viking Drill and Tool | 12.65 |
| 2 | Comoware | 12.70 |
| 3 | Drill Hog | 13.21 |
| 4 | DeWalt Cobalt | 14.34 |
| 5 | Irwin | 14.45 |
| 6 | Bosch | 14.60 |
| 7 | Cle-Line | 15.53 |
| 8 | Warrior | 15.79 |
| 9 | LWCUSNJ | 17.86 |
| 10 | Ryobi Titanium | 26.39 |
| 11 | DeWalt HSS | 37.81 |
Percentage of drilling speed lost in mild steel after the spring steel rounds — lower is better
The same bits, measured against their own first hole, which is the closest thing here to a real test of the ten-times-life claims. Six of the cobalt sets land between 19% and 23%, tightly grouped regardless of price — the $34 Bosch at 21.8% and the $200 Viking at 21.3% are effectively identical. The $80 Comoware is genuinely better at 11.8%. The Harbor Freight Warrior's 4.2% comes with an asterisk: it was slow to begin with at 15.12 seconds, so it had less to lose, and it chipped during testing and carried on cutting on the fresh edge. At the other end, the DeWalt high-speed steel set gave up 72% of its speed.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warrior | 4.20 |
| 2 | Comoware | 11.80 |
| 3 | Drill Hog | 19.50 |
| 4 | Irwin | 21 |
| 5 | Viking Drill and Tool | 21.30 |
| 6 | Bosch | 21.80 |
| 7 | DeWalt Cobalt | 22.20 |
| 8 | Cle-Line | 29.20 |
| 9 | Ryobi Titanium | 50.70 |
| 10 | DeWalt HSS | 72.20 |
Inch-pounds of torque before the quarter-inch bit snapped — higher is stronger
This ranking has almost nothing in common with the speed charts, which is worth knowing before buying on drilling times alone. The slowest cobalt set in the review, the $150 Century, is the strongest bit at 225 in-lb. The $200 Viking, fastest everywhere else, sits mid-pack at 157. The two fast value picks are both fragile: the Comoware breaks at 131 in-lb and the Irwin at 88, the weakest of anything tested and less than 40% of the Century. That matters in a deep hole or a hand drill, where a bit that binds will snap rather than stall. Only the Bosch is near the top of both.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Century Drill & Tool | 225 |
| 2 | Bosch | 215 |
| 3 | Drill Hog | 212 |
| 4 | DeWalt HSS | 191 |
| 5 | Milwaukee | 187 |
| 6 | LWCUSNJ | 181 |
| 7 | Somada | 173 |
| 8 | DeWalt Cobalt | 168 |
| 9 | Viking Drill and Tool | 157 |
| 10 | Warrior | 141 |
| 11 | Comoware | 131 |
| 12 | Cle-Line | 121 |
| 13 | Ryobi Titanium | 92 |
| 14 | Irwin | 88 |
The $200 Viking Drill and Tool set wins on an average finish of 3.4, and it earns it on speed: fastest first hole in mild steel at 9.96 seconds, fastest hole again at 12.65 after both spring steel rounds, and third in the final spring steel round. It is not the whole story, though — it lost 21.3% of its speed over the test, statistically the same as a $34 set, and at 157 in-lb it is only average in strength.
The set to actually buy is the $34 Bosch. Its M42 cobalt is hard to find at this price, it drilled mild steel in 11.41 seconds, it lost 21.8% of its speed — within half a point of the Viking — and it broke at 215 in-lb, second strongest of anything tested. Nothing else here is that close to the top of both the speed and strength rankings. The $80 Comoware is the alternative if outright cutting speed matters more: it was the quickest bit in the second spring steel round at 18.48 seconds and lost only 11.8% of its speed, the best result of any fast set, but it snaps at 131 in-lb.
For occasional work in mild steel, aluminium, and wood, the $11 DeWalt high-speed steel set is remarkable value — second-fastest first hole in the entire review, under a dollar a bit, and 191 in-lb of strength. Just understand what it is not: one pass through spring steel cost it 72% of its speed.
Two things worth knowing before you choose. The DeWalt Cobalt and Milwaukee sets both use a pilot point, which drills accurately without walking but makes resharpening very difficult — if you sharpen your own bits, avoid both. And the LWCUSNJ is the cautionary tale of the group: it drilled the fastest spring steel hole in the entire test at 14.7 seconds, and it could not cut mild steel at all without destroying itself. Hardness without toughness is not a usable drill bit.