"Hey Chris,I feel your pain.  Next time you search for drills look for ones with a ratcheting chuck.  These have less tendencies to open up and have bits slip.  I know that Jacobs makes many of these for tool manufactures.  When you tighten the bit in a ratcheting chuck you can feel a series of clicks at the end.  Typically you will find this on professional series tools.  Hope that helps."

"Hey Randall,Great write up.  From personal experience I can tell you that lots of design thinking goes into these tools. I wanted to add a few more design considerations to your list.  -The battery buttons, their method of activation, their location, geometry (for finger purchase, and how it relates to hand grip size, and direction of pull when taking out. All these factors are considered so that even folks with smaller hands can operate. - Important to a grip is the relationship between the trigger finger and the where the tool rests on the back of hand (under the motor). Alter this and tool starts to feel very awkward. - the radius of handle and trigger change the way we as users feel the grip size.- motor design has a huge impact on required vent locations and size of vents (intake is smaller than exhaust) - the sound the clutch adjustment knobs makes effects user perception of the overall tool quality.  Does it sound precise with a nice click, or feel and sound like mushy plastic?- force and throw length of the trigger button is considered - another thing to check out next time in a Home Depot is how these products appear and visual pop when lined up on a retail space next to other competitive tools. Believe it or not the retail display method (tail end up) can have an impact on the product design if that's what people see first. - In terms of tooling design complexity check out the clutch adjustment ring.  It's often times a double or triple shot part that is then sometimes painted.  Lots of effort and cost to protect the numbers from wearing off.One of the cool things about power tools is that you get the chance to continuously refine them every few years. Hopefully/ usually this mean continuous improvements and better products for consumers."