MY 2 cents about those...

the only good TiN coatings are on expensive bits. The regular hardware/big box/HF inexpensive bits with coating are, IMHO, no different (and perhaps worse) than the black oxide finished ones (black oxide might, just might hold cutting fluid better). The coating on the cutting edge is gone pretty quickly, and of course is gone when you sharpen, the rest of the coating perhaps helps chips/shavings leave the bit, but cutting fluid works fine for that (and keeping bit from overheating).

I'd save my money for good name HSS bits. Some cobalt bits too as needed.

If you are planning on drilling stainless then a good quality drill, sharp, is needed. Once the bit gets dull in stainless it heats up very very quickly and is toast. Drilling stainless can be easy, or can be a pain and those extremes can happen in the same job :)

On 2013-06-28, at 8:51 AM, Larry Alofs wrote:

> 
> Related question: Any opinions about TiN coated bits?