Size is relative. That drill is definitely small enough for the pictured stud work job a couple posts above. Compared to other jobs though, that is a pretty large and open environment. If working on machinery or certain automotive applications, those electric ones are just too large, too bulky, too hard to grip in certain instances.
My biggest complaint is the length and the diameter of the electric ones. When your hands are oily, it is very hard to get a strong grip on them because your hand can’t close around it. I’m a reasonably strong and well built guy, and I do find it difficult to hold the Milwaukee at work. With our IR and CP air drills, I can completely close my hand around it for a good grip, even with oily hands and my arm snaked up out of sight in a piece of machinery. Can’t do that with our electric drills. If I can fit an electric one, it can easily be pulled from my hand when a drill grabs the burr as it punches through steel. Good knuckle busters too when they grab.
A couple bonus tips for tight spaces;
1) A block and barrel style 360 degree air swivel allows the hose fo fall anywhere it needs to. Couple that with a little air tool, and you can weasel that sucker in just about anywhere, especially if using stubby drill bits, not traditional jobbers which are about twice as long.
2) For when you really need a small drill, take a stubby and cut the shank off, and just chuck it up on the flutes. Cut it short enough so that you have about an 1/8” more flute exposed than the thickness of material you are trying to drill though. On service jobs, I have found this very useful when you only have a 4” gap to work with.
