WORX WX355.1 Review: a compact 20V combi drill that’s strong enough for real DIY

I picked up the WORX WX355.1 because I wanted a compact cordless drill that could handle most jobs around the house without dragging out my old corded hammer drill every time. I already have a couple of Worx tools, so the shared 20V batteries were a big reason I went for this one instead of another DeWalt or Makita. I’ve used it for a few weeks now on a mix of jobs: assembling furniture, hanging shelves in brick, drilling into metal brackets, and a bunch of screwdriver work.

First impression: it feels like a proper tool, not a cheap toy. The size is noticeably shorter than my older combi drill, and that really helps in tight corners, like inside cupboards or near ceilings. The brushless motor and the 55 Nm torque spec looked good on paper, and in practice it has enough power for typical DIY tasks, but it’s not a monster construction-site drill either. If you expect it to chew through reinforced concrete all day, you’ll be disappointed; for home use it’s pretty solid.

What stood out to me straight away was the balance with the 2.0 Ah battery. It’s light enough to use above your head for a while without your wrist screaming, but it doesn’t feel hollow or flimsy. The hammer function is there when you need it, and the 2-speed gearbox plus the 20+1+1 clutch settings give you decent control when switching between drilling and driving screws. It’s basically a do-most-things drill for around the house and garage.

It’s not perfect though. 55 Nm is fine for most stuff, but you do feel the limit when you hit tougher masonry or when you’re driving long screws into dense timber. Also, the included 2.0 Ah battery is okay, but if you do a lot of drilling in one go, you’ll want a second battery or a higher capacity one. Overall, for a straightforward home user who wants one main drill that covers a lot of ground, it’s a good fit. For heavy-duty, all-day use, I’d still keep a corded hammer drill or a higher-end pro cordless as backup.

Looking at what you get—brushless motor, 55 Nm torque, hammer function, 2-speed gearbox, 2.0 Ah battery, charger, and case—the WX355.1 sits in a pretty fair spot on the value side. It’s clearly aimed at home users and serious DIYers who don’t want to pay top-level pro prices but also don’t want a flimsy budget drill that dies after a year. The Amazon rating of around 4.6/5 with over 200 reviews lines up with my experience: most people find it solid and reliable for what they use it for.

Compared to similar spec DeWalt or Makita models, you usually pay a bit less for this Worx kit, especially if you catch it on offer. One of the reviewers even said it’s at least the equal of a similar spec DeWalt for home use, and I tend to agree from a practical point of view. You might not get the same brand prestige or the huge pro ecosystem, but for drilling holes in walls and building furniture, that doesn’t really matter. You’re paying for a tool that works, not for a logo.

Where the value really improves is if you’re already in the Worx PowerShare ecosystem or plan to be. Sharing batteries between tools saves a lot over time. Instead of buying a full kit every time, you can just buy bare tools later on. That makes this drill a decent entry point: you get a battery and charger now, and you can expand with other Worx gear later without rebuying everything. For a casual user, that’s a sensible way to build up a set of tools without blowing the budget.

It’s not the cheapest option on the market, and if you only need a drill once a year to put up a picture frame, you could go cheaper. But if you want something that feels solid, has enough power for real jobs, and fits into a battery platform, the price makes sense. I’d call it good value for money, especially if you plan to use it regularly and maybe add more Worx tools over time.

The main thing that jumped out at me with the WX355.1 is how short it is front to back. At about 165 mm in length, it’s clearly more compact than older combi drills I’ve used. In practice, that makes a real difference. I used it to screw hinges inside a small cupboard and to drill near a corner wall where a longer drill would have been banging into the opposite surface. It’s one of those details you don’t think about until you actually try it in a cramped spot.

Weight-wise, with the 2.0 Ah battery, it comes in around 1.35 kg. That’s light enough that you can hold it at arm’s length for a while without getting wrecked, but it still feels solid. The grip is rubberized in the right places, and the handle shape is pretty neutral. I used it for a couple of hours on and off doing decking screws and drilling into brick and didn’t feel like the shape was fighting my hand. The trigger is smooth, and the variable speed feels easy to control when you’re trying not to strip a screw head.

The controls are straightforward: a slider on top for the 2 speeds, a ring behind the chuck for the clutch/torque settings, and another ring for switching between drill and hammer modes. Everything clicks into place cleanly, nothing feels sloppy. The LED work light is under the chuck and actually lights up the bit area properly. It’s not going to replace a proper work lamp, but for under-shelf or dark corner jobs it’s genuinely useful. The belt clip is a small thing, but if you’re going up and down a ladder, it’s handy to have.

On the downside, it’s still mostly plastic on the body, even if it feels fairly sturdy. If you’re used to more premium brands with more rubber overmould and slightly tougher housings, you’ll notice the difference. Also, the styling is pretty basic; if you care about looks, this is more functional than pretty. But for an everyday DIY drill, the design hits the right points: compact, light, easy to handle, and not cluttered with useless features.

The included 2.0 Ah 20V battery is fine for light to medium jobs, but you need to be realistic about what a 2.0 Ah pack can do. For a typical session of drilling a handful of holes, driving a few dozen screws, and doing some odd fixes around the house, it holds up without any problem. I did a small project where I built shelves and installed them (so cutting, pre-drilling, screwing, and some brick holes), and the battery still showed charge left at the end. For pure screwdriver work, the battery lasts quite a while.

Where you start to feel the limit is when you use the hammer mode a lot or run high-speed drilling for longer periods. Hammer drilling into masonry drains the battery faster, which is normal. If you’re doing a full day of work, you either want a second 2.0 Ah battery or, better, a 4.0 Ah battery if you already own one from other Worx tools. The good thing is that the PowerShare system actually makes sense here: if you’re already in the Worx ecosystem, you can just rotate batteries between tools and keep going.

Charging time on the supplied charger is reasonable. It’s not ultra-fast, but it’s not painfully slow either. You can easily recharge a flat 2.0 Ah battery during a lunch break and be back in action. The battery has indicator lights so you know roughly how much juice is left, which is handy when you’re halfway through a job and wondering if it will last. One of the Amazon reviews mentions the drill still working after sitting outside for months with the battery in, which suggests the standby drain is low and the pack can survive some abuse.

In short, battery performance is decent for the size. For casual home use, one 2.0 Ah battery will be enough most of the time. If you’re more serious with DIY or you already own other Worx tools, I’d definitely run at least two batteries so you don’t get stuck waiting for a charge in the middle of a job. The fact that the same battery works with other 20V, 40V, and even 80V Worx tools is a clear practical advantage if you plan to stick with the brand.

Build quality on the WX355.1 is better than I expected for the price range. The housing is plastic, but it doesn’t feel thin or creaky. The rubberized grip areas give you a bit of confidence when you’re working in dusty or slightly damp conditions. The chuck is metal and self-tightening, and after swapping bits a bunch of times it still clamps firmly without any wobble. That’s important, because a sloppy chuck is one of the first signs of a cheap drill.

I obviously haven’t owned it for 10 years, but I paid attention to how it handles knocks and rough use. It’s already had a couple of small drops from bench height and bumped around in the back of the car, and nothing has loosened or started rattling. The selector rings for torque and mode still click cleanly. The trigger feels solid and not mushy. Given the user reviews, especially the guy who left it outside behind a shed for 8 months and it still worked (even though the chuck rusted), I’d say it can take more abuse than the average budget drill.

The brushless motor should, in theory, last longer than a brushed one because there are fewer wear parts. That’s one of the reasons I picked this model over slightly cheaper brushed options. Less heat, less friction, usually more lifespan. The internal electronics are obviously a black box, but from use, there’s no weird smell, no overheating, and no sudden power drops. Under load, it behaves predictably, without that burning smell you sometimes get from cheap brushed drills when you push them.

It’s still not a professional-grade site drill you’d throw off scaffolding for fun, but for a home user or keen DIYer, it feels sturdy enough. If you treat it normally—don’t leave it in the rain, don’t use it as a hammer—it should last years. And if you already had older Worx drills last close to a decade, this one should be at least on that level, if not better, thanks to the brushless motor and improved design.

In terms of raw performance, the WX355.1 sits in that middle zone: clearly stronger than cheap entry-level drills, but not at the level of the heavy pro stuff. The 55 Nm of torque is enough for most home projects. I used it to drive 6 x 80 mm wood screws into softwood without pre-drilling, and it managed fine on speed 1 with the clutch set fairly high. It will slow a bit on tougher wood, but it still gets the job done without feeling like it’s straining to death.

For drilling in wood, it’s straightforward. I tested up to 25 mm spade bits in softwood and it handled it in speed 2 as long as I didn’t force it too much. For normal 6–10 mm holes, it breezes through. Metal is similar: drilling 5–8 mm holes in steel brackets works fine, as long as you keep it on the lower speed and let the bit do the work. The variable speed trigger gives you decent control when starting the hole so the bit doesn’t wander all over the place.

The hammer function is where you see the limit of the drill compared to a corded SDS or a beefier combi. For basic brickwork—like drilling 6–8 mm holes for wall plugs in standard house bricks—it works. I did a few shelves and curtain rails into brick and it went through at a decent pace. But when I tried it on harder concrete sections, it took more time and effort. You can feel it’s made for occasional masonry, not for drilling dozens of deep holes in very hard concrete all day. That lines up with the user review saying they fall back on a corded hammer drill for the heavier stuff.

Overall, for typical DIY: furniture, shelves, small construction, light masonry, it performs well. If your plan is to renovate an entire house with tons of heavy masonry work, this wouldn’t be my only drill. But as a main all-rounder for a homeowner, the performance is solid and consistent, and the brushless motor gives it good punch for its size without chewing through the battery too fast.

Out of the box, the WORX WX355.1 comes as a fairly complete kit: you get the drill, a 20V 2.0 Ah battery, the charger, and a case. Plus there’s a belt clip you can screw onto the side of the drill if you like carrying it on you. The case is not some heavy-duty metal thing, but it’s solid enough plastic for normal storage and transport. Everything has its spot, so the drill doesn’t just rattle around inside. It’s the kind of set you can throw in the car boot without worrying too much.

The drill itself looks like a typical Worx tool: black with orange accents, nothing fancy. The branding is visible but not over-the-top. Specs-wise, it’s a 20V brushless combi drill with a max torque of 55 Nm, 2 speeds (0–500 and 0–2100 rpm), and a hammer function that goes up to 33,600 bpm. The chuck is metal, keyless, and goes up to 13 mm, which covers most bits for wood, metal, and masonry that a home user will ever need. Drilling capacity is listed as 13 mm in metal and 40 mm in wood, which matches what I’d expect from this kind of drill.

In terms of features, you get the usual stuff you actually use: reverse, variable speed trigger, 20+1+1 clutch positions (so 20 torque settings plus drill and hammer), LED work light above the trigger, and the standard Worx battery interface. No pointless gimmicks, no Bluetooth nonsense, just the basics. The light is placed well enough that it actually hits the work area, and not just the floor in front of you like some cheaper drills do.

Overall, the kit feels thought-through. You can literally open the box and get going: the battery comes with some charge, the charger is compact, and the drill is ready to go with whatever bits you have lying around. It’s not a pro-level kit full of extras, but for the price range and target user, it’s pretty complete. If you already have other Worx PowerShare batteries, this slots straight into that ecosystem without any headaches.