Which One Is Better to buy, Brushed or Brushless?

 

Good day everyone. This is Eric Cooper and I’m here again with some fruit fool ideas in the tools industry. You are about to start a small project like a DIY one. While you are setting your goals and planning what to do, you realize that your “lemon drill” is not going to work efficiently anymore. So, you decide to buy a new one from the local home improvement store. Well, maybe you have done all the necessary research and you know what you want to buy. Makita, Bosch, Milwaukee, Ronix, AEG, etc.; all of them design and manufacture the best tools, and especially drills. But, when you arrive to the store, you find out that there is a brushless option among the drills you want to choose one from. Now, this question comes to your mind that “Is it really worth spending the extra money for a brushless tool?” By considering the innovations in the tools industry, a lot of companies have made their ways more in designing and manufacturing brushless tools. These motors and tools are not specifically new to the market for cordless tools. But what should be more considered here is that most of you are confused by the purpose of the brushless motors and their performance. Worse is that you may not know why you should spend all that money to buy a brushless drill.

When you look at a tool with a brushless motor at a store, you may thing of its high price as a “marketing ploy” that has no added values. Some of you may think that there is no difference. As an uninformed user, you may wonder why you are paying this amount of money for a tool that will not be so helpful comparing to the brushed ones. Well, it should be said that both brushed motors and brushless motors are equipped with permanent magnets and electric coils to cause the rotary movement inside tools. So far, nothing would change your mind on buying the desired tool you are looking for. I don’t want to write too technical about them but I try to give you enough information to realize why one of them is far better than the other in its features and specifications.

Choosing between Brushed and Brushless Drills

Writing about all the brushed and brushless tools would definitely make you scratch your head because of their vast usages and specifications. Each of the power and cordless tools have their own applications and usages. So, I just want to go through choosing a drill in this matter. There are a lot of differences between brushed drills and brushless drills and a few points you should know. They both may look alike and bring similar performances to your workpiece, but the core inside their bodies which their powers are resulted from are very different.

The Advantages of Brushless Drills

Obviously, they are newer to the tools industry. Their technique to turn the electric power into mechanical motion is different and it doesn’t need physical contact in between the stationary parts and rotating parts. Their first and big advantage is that there is a much less friction inside their motor. Any technicians who work with power tools and cordless tools know that less friction results less waste heat, which means less maintenance. These positive points lead your brushless drill to be a more efficient tool. It means that you can have a longer run time by using a battery of the same size or get the same runtime from a smaller and lighter battery. Also, the physical parts in a brushless drill’s motor is fewer than a brushed one and as a result, it will be quite lighter and smaller.

One of the amazing advantages that brushless drills have is that they are able to “sense” the amount of work they are doing and reduce the power consumption by maintaining their speed at lower power. what does it mean?! Longer battery life in your drill. And do not worry about the opposite side of this feature. It will increase the power when it is needed. More amazingly, you won’t notice the change.

The Disadvantages of Brushless Drills

By considering all these positive points, you may say that there won’t be anything to stop us getting a brushed drill over a brushless drill. I agree too, but it doesn’t mean that brushless motors and specifically brushless drills are without any problem. Their biggest problem here is that they cost a lot of money. The high-tech parts inside them can be one of the reasons. But almost the biggest reason for this increase in price is that these types of drills are actually the newest kind of tools in the market, and it is a good excuse for the manufacturers to charge their customers more. In a more technological view, the bigger price is because of the extra parts. There is a sensor inside the motor that knows when to turn up the power or turn it down based on the amount task and this is an expensive technology. Anyway; the good news is that although brushless drills are higher in their price, they are generally worth it over a brushed drill because of their superior performance.

The Advantages of Brushed Drills

One of the best things about brushed drills is that they are actually easy to maintain although they need more maintenance than brushless drills. Most of the problems you face with your brushed drill can be easily fixed by replacing the brushes. However, most of the problems you will have will be related to the brushes themselves. By considering this old technology in the market, you could easily find guides that help you through the process of replacing the brushes.

They can be fixed any time and anywhere. If you even do not want to do it by yourself, you can ask the neighbor repairman to take care of it for you. On the other hand, if a brushless motor breaks, you may prefer to replace the entire drill rather than trying to have its motor fixed. Brushed drills usually cost a fraction of the price when they need to be repaired.

The other big advantage here is they are cheaper than brushless drills. You need to buy a drill and you can not pay like a hundred and fifty dollars on a piece of a brushless cordless drill. Don’t worry. You won’t lose too much value by spending your money on a reasonable-price brushed drill. You will get the same power out of it.

The Disadvantages of Brushed Drills

As a matter of fact, brushed drills are not efficient enough when you compare them with brushless drills. They always operate with full power and you should thank the variable-speed triggers and dimmer switches in this matter. Because without these pals, you would have a broken drill after using it for a few times. It is important to know that you won’t have the same efficiency out of a brushed drill as much as you get from a brushless drill. But, the far more major problem here is that brushed drills are too dependent on their brushes. The brushes spin with motor and they are in contact with the wires that carry the electricity current. So, it is quite obvious that why the brushes need to be replaced regularly and what the source of all the heat is from. This problem is serious and manufacturers try to reduce the severity of this problem by including extra brushes inside the packages of their new tools.

Moreover, they wear down so quickly if some grit or dust gets into the drill. If there are no suitable filters, these small particles would settle on the brushes and this is exactly what that makes them wear down more quickly.

What Choice to Make Then?

As I said, the brushless drills offer more advantages than the brushed ones. But they might cost you an arm and a leg sometimes to buy one. Let’s check out this side-by-side table of the important features for both of them. Maybe it can be helpful to make the right decision.

Features	Brushed Drills	Brushless Drills
Power	The output is good.	The output is better.
Battery performance	Works okay.	Works much better.
Weight	It is average.	A little more lightweight.
Price	Cheaper with maintenance costs	Much more expensive
Durability	Durable enough	More durable
Performance	Fine	Excellent

 

Conclusion

I hope that all the things I said here were enough to help you decide on choosing between a brushed drill and a brushless drill. They are significantly different and if you are still not sure about them, just think about the experience you want to have.

Spend your money on a brushless drill if you need a portable battery-powered cordless drill driver. Their motor is lighter and more efficient. On the other hand, if you are a "budget-minded" person and spending money is your concern, then it is your best solution to buy a brushed drill. Of course, you will need to take your time to replace the brushes and it might not be a big deal for some of you. All in all, if you are not looking for any trouble on buying and operating a drill your pocket is loaded with enough money, you could choose the brushless ones.