This is pound for pound the best drill/driver I have ever owned. It is hard to go wrong with Dewalt tools and this is no exception. There are so many things I like about it I am going to make a pros/cons list. PROS: - Lightweight. It is fairly small and much lighter than all of my previous cordless drills I have ever owned. The Li-ION battery is much lighter than my previous Ni-CAD batteries. - Even though it is lightweight, it has A LOT of torque and power. - The battery life is great. This set also comes with two batteries making it easy to switch out and essentially ensuring you always have battery to finish the job. The batteries also seem to hold a charge very well when they are just sitting around, not in use, which is nice that when I need the drill, I don't have to wait an hour for a battery to charge. I just plug it in and off we go. See note below about handling of batteries. - Along the same lines, charging time is low. Around an hour for a full charge in my case. - The carrying case wasn't a selling point for me, but it is a nice way to store the set. - This is the first cordless drill I have used that has a light and I didn't realize what I was missing out on until now. I also like that it will stay on about 10 seconds after I release the button, which is especially nice when I want to see if I set the screw correctly in low light. - The 20V is a nice addition and adds more oomph than I expected as I have always used 18V batteries in the past. - Cost. I only paid $99 for it when it was on sale, which is quite a deal ($30 off of Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowes current price). - Build. It feels solid and strong, not made up of cheap plastic parts. Cons: - Definitely not a contractor level drill, which is no bother to me because I only use it for around the house projects. Not necessarily a con, but should be noted. - The chuck. How it works is that you insert the bit, turn the chuck until it clicks and the bit is supposed to be locked in. For whatever reason (and maybe I got a lemon), my chuck doesn't seem to hold bits very well. They often come loose when I am backing them out. I have tried backing out in both "forward" and "reverse" and had the same results either way. There is no way to tighten the chuck any tighter because it just clicks, telling you the bit is "locked-in." This could be user error, but I don't think so. It is also made of plastic, one area they probably cut corners to save on cost. Side note: As soon as your battery starts to die, do not try to stretch it out. Running the battery down to nothing diminishes the life of the battery. Your batteries should also be stored near room temperature but never below 60 degrees F or above 80 degrees F, especially when charging. While buying new batteries is possible, why do that when you can just take good care of the ones you have? Especially when they are so expensive. Overall, I couldn't be happier with this drill. It is a definite upgrade and if you can wait to snag it at the $99 price tag, it is a definite must for any home DIY'er. Read more
Love this too. It drills thru mostly anything, Just used it to put molleys into a concrete outer wall and had no problem at all. Was really impressed. It is not really heavy at all. This is a really nice drill. I would def recommend. Read more
This drill is a beast. DEWALT products have never let me down, and so far this drill is no exception. First of all, it's an amazing deal. At nearly $90 for one replacement battery, even just the two 1.5mah batteries that this unit comes with should be more expensive than the whole kit. Instead for just over $100 you get two batteries, a fast charger, a soft case and the of course the drill. Frankly if I had other DEWALT 20V tools, I'd buy this kit just for the batteries. This drill is a no-nonsense drill. There are very few bells and whistles, just a workhorse powerful drill with great batteries. It's extremely small and lightweight, probably half of the weight I'm used to holding with normal NiCad battery drills. However after getting used to the lighter weight of the battery, it feels balanced and stable, with a good fit for my larger hands. But it has at least the same amount of punch of a bigger heavier drill, lasting longer with no fade. I love that this drill performs at 100% and dies quickly - the performance is strong until the end. And with the fast charger, by the time battery A is dead, battery B is fully charged and ready to go. The batteries also seem to hold their charge for indefinite periods of time. One feature I like is the light (the one bell and/or whistle this drill has). I've had other drills with lights - that's nothing new. However, in a few different models, the light would only operate when the trigger was being pulled. If I'm lining up a bit or a screw in a circumstance that requires light, it's not easy to do if the drill is spinning. This light stays on for ~10 seconds after the trigger is released, allowing you to tap the trigger to engage the light, line up the bit or screw, and resume drilling/driving. The build quality is great. The drill feels solid and strong. My only complaint is the plastic chuck. While I've had no trouble getting up to 1/2" bits into the chuck firmly, it feels cheap - much cheaper than the black metal DEWALT chuck I'm used to. But I guess with this product they had to cut corners somewhere, and if I can still firmly grip a bit, I don't care what the chuck is made out of. Note: DEWALT seems to be measuring their drills in Unit Watts Out, rather than in/lbs. While this makes sense, as UWO supposedly takes into account both speed and torque, it's confusing. According to this article on ProToolReviews (http://www.protoolreviews.com/buying-guides/max-watts-out/13109/), in/lbs can be approximately calculated with the following formula: Speed (RPM) x Torque (inch pounds) / 560 = Max Watts Out (estimated). Note that you must use the lower speed to get the higher torque reading. At 300 UWO, that puts this drill at about 373in/lbs in the low speed setting - not the best, but not bad. Certainly there are more powerful drills, but this one is certainly competitive, and with a name like DEWALT, I felt it was the best bang for my buck. I have yet to be proven wrong. Read more
