In this review
The old bit box on my workbench had finally gone feral. Mixed sizes, half of them dull, two snapped at the shank, one mystery bit with no markings at all. I was halfway through hanging a steel utility rack in the garage and burning through 1/8” bits like matches. That was the week I picked up the DEWALT DW1361 21-piece titanium Pilot Point set and told myself it was the last generic replacement set I’d buy for a while.
Six months and a few projects later, I can tell you what the 27,000 other Amazon reviewers are mostly right about, and what they gloss over.
DEWALT 21-Piece Titanium Pilot Point Drill Bit Set (DW1361)
A reliable general-purpose bit set for wood, metal, and plastic. The tough case alone justifies a chunk of the sticker price. Pilot Point tips cut clean on steel with no walking, but read the fine print. Only the 8 larger bits (3/16” and up) get the Pilot Point treatment.
Rating breakdown
The Pilot Point asterisk
The box photo quietly avoids mentioning something the marketing copy leans on. The Pilot Point self-starting tip, the thing reviewers get excited about, only applies to the 8 largest bits in the set. Everything 5/32” and smaller is a conventional 118-degree tip on a round shank. Read the product listing carefully and you’ll find a small asterisk admitting it. Look at the photo and you won’t.
For me it mattered less than I expected. The smaller bits see pilot-hole duty mostly, where the Pilot Point advantage (no walking on smooth metal) matters less. You’re usually starting in wood, or you’ve already got a centerpunch mark. Where the Pilot Point actually earns its keep is at 1/4” and up, drilling through flat plate steel. The bit bites immediately and tracks true. No wandering, no center punch required for anything reasonable.
But if you buy this thinking every bit has the fancy tip, you’ll feel conned. The advertising is accurate in the fine print and misleading in the photo. Which is its own kind of dishonest.
How they actually cut
I drilled roughly 60 holes in the 11-gauge steel brackets for that garage rack using the 1/4” bit. A squirt of 3-in-1 oil, medium-slow speed on the drill, firm pressure. The bit never walked, never smoked, and the holes came out clean enough I didn’t have to deburr most of them. That’s the job these are built for.
Put them in oak and they chew through it. I used the 1/8”, 3/16”, and 1/4” cycling through a batch of pocket-hole pilot drills on a workbench top rebuild. Forty-plus holes in hardwood, same bits, no dulling I could feel at the trigger. The tapered web DEWALT advertises is doing something. Bits like that tend to flex and snap when they bind. These have not.
Where they disappoint is when the titanium nitride coating wears off. Because it will. TiN is a surface treatment measured in microns, and it’s gone after enough holes in abrasive material like fiberglass-filled plastic or anything with grit embedded in it. Once the coating’s off, you’ve got a high-speed steel bit underneath, which is fine, but you can’t sharpen it back to Pilot Point geometry on a bench grinder without specialized equipment. So these are effectively disposable once they dull. Plan on that.
The case is the unsung hero
I’ve owned drill bit sets that cost twice as much with cases that cracked in the truck bed before the first job. This one is different. Thick-walled plastic, a clip latch that actually latches, and a bit-bar storage system where each drill snaps firmly into its own spot. You can flip the case upside down and nothing shifts. That matters if you, like me, throw your case in a tool bag and toss the bag in a tailgate.
The clear lid lets you spot missing sizes at a glance, which saved me ten minutes of rummaging on one job. And the small case footprint stacks inside the DEWALT ToughCase Plus organizer if you’re already committed to that storage setup. I’m not fully bought in, but the case works as a standalone just fine.
One minor thing worth knowing. Some folks report the case arriving with a clear left side instead of the yellow shown in the product photo. Mine matched the photo, but if yours doesn’t, it’s a cosmetic difference. The bits are identical.
Size selection and the small-bit doubles
The set runs from 1/16” to 1/2” with doubles of the five smallest sizes (1/16, 5/64, 3/32, 7/64, 1/8). That’s a real-world decision, not padding. If you’ve ever snapped a 1/16” bit trying to drill a pilot hole in a knot, you know exactly why two of them is better than one.
After 1/2” you’re on your own. No 9/16, no 5/8. For most household projects that’s fine. For anyone drilling lag-bolt holes into framing lumber or running conduit, you’ll need a spade bit set or an auger bit to supplement. That’s not a flaw in this kit, it’s a scope decision. Just know what this set is and isn’t.
Where it falls short
One reviewer got a set with the 7/64 bit missing. I didn’t, but quality control on a SKU that sells at this volume is never going to be perfect. Check the case before you drive home.
The bits do not handle masonry. I know a reviewer online claimed hammer-drilling into concrete worked fine. I tried it on a cinder block for a handrail anchor. The tip dulled immediately and I switched to a proper masonry bit. Use the right tool. These are HSS with TiN coating, and they’re for metal, wood, and plastic. Concrete kills them.
And the hard reality of titanium-coated bits in general is that once they’re dull, they’re done. You don’t sharpen them, you replace them. If you’re running production work or drilling all day every day, a good cobalt set like the Irwin Hanson Cobalt 29-piece will outlast these three times over and can be resharpened. That’s a different buyer though. For weekend and occasional-use work, TiN is the right balance of price and performance.
What I’d buy it for
Hang shelving in a garage. Build a workbench. Replace a broken hinge on a steel gate. Run a new outlet and drill through a 2x4. Assemble a kid’s swing set. Drill pilot holes for a few hundred deck screws. This set handles all of that without complaint. It’s also cheap enough at around $50 that if someone borrows a bit and doesn’t give it back, you haven’t lost a rent payment.
If you’re a weekend DIYer or a new homeowner assembling a first real tool kit, this is the drill bit set I’d tell you to buy. If you’re a working trades person drilling metal for eight hours a day, look at cobalt instead.
If you’re also building out a complete DIY toolkit, this bit set pairs well with DEWALT’s entry-level combo kits and doesn’t demand precision-grade care.
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