- May 28, 2011
- 1,550
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So, I've been meaning to put a bit of info up about this for quite a while, but I've been busy not having time to even sleep. I've finally got time to put up a small review (honestly more like a long opinion).
Most of my workers use DeWalt. I had 2 Makita guys, now I only have 1 Makita guy (he moved, not switched brands). Several of us made the jump to LION DeWalt, specifically for the brushless versions because we're literally drilling thousands of holes through dimensional lumber and we're eating several sets of brushes per job. The new, higher capacity (and much lower weight) batteries were a HUGE success. Heat dissipation is awesome, with the metal body of the big drill (their biggests, the DCD-995) barely getting warm, where the 18v XRP would actually smoke if pushed too hard. The power of the 995 is phenomenal, MUCH higher than the DC-950/970 we all used before. It's said to produce around 725 inch-pounds in gear 1, much lower than the 1090 inch-pound rating of the Makita DHP481 (I bought one for my remaingin makita guy), yet it was able to power through things that the makita would quit on. I believe this is due to the more conservative over-current shut off that makita uses, which probably means it will last longer.
The 20vMax impact doesn't perform noticeably different than the XRP 825, other than being lighter. I don't like the new ergonomic shapes, the smaller handles where unnecessarily shrunk, the small rubber bumpers tend to fall off very easily, and we've had 2 impacts crack the battery base away from the handle from drops. This has NEVER happened to any of our XRP tools.
There is/was a HUGE design flaw on the DCD995 brushless hammer drill though, it caused 3 of our units to completely fail.
They've moved the LED from it's location above the trigger to the battery base. However, they didn't fill the space left open, and when the trigger is depressed, there is a straight path for foreign bodies to enter the inside of the drill. When drilling straight up, which is very common for electricians routing wires through the top plates of walls, the wood shavings fall right into the hole and damage the inside of the unit.
We spend hours cleaning them out without taking the drill apart (which would ruin our warranty), but eventually they stopped working. We tried taping over the hole, which would eventually bind the trigger and cause huge headaches.
Finally, after 3 months of calling DeWalt and threatening to switch all ~100 tools we have over to the new Milwaukee Gen 2 stuff, they informed me that the problem had been fixed, and they were sending me a new drill for free. They didn't replace the other 2 units, but they're still under warranty so they'll probably be replaced when we get them into the repair shop.
So, beware if you purchase a DCD995 (which I HIGHLY recommend), that it's the newer model with no opening above the trigger. Simply squeeze the trigger and look.
Most of my workers use DeWalt. I had 2 Makita guys, now I only have 1 Makita guy (he moved, not switched brands). Several of us made the jump to LION DeWalt, specifically for the brushless versions because we're literally drilling thousands of holes through dimensional lumber and we're eating several sets of brushes per job. The new, higher capacity (and much lower weight) batteries were a HUGE success. Heat dissipation is awesome, with the metal body of the big drill (their biggests, the DCD-995) barely getting warm, where the 18v XRP would actually smoke if pushed too hard. The power of the 995 is phenomenal, MUCH higher than the DC-950/970 we all used before. It's said to produce around 725 inch-pounds in gear 1, much lower than the 1090 inch-pound rating of the Makita DHP481 (I bought one for my remaingin makita guy), yet it was able to power through things that the makita would quit on. I believe this is due to the more conservative over-current shut off that makita uses, which probably means it will last longer.
The 20vMax impact doesn't perform noticeably different than the XRP 825, other than being lighter. I don't like the new ergonomic shapes, the smaller handles where unnecessarily shrunk, the small rubber bumpers tend to fall off very easily, and we've had 2 impacts crack the battery base away from the handle from drops. This has NEVER happened to any of our XRP tools.
There is/was a HUGE design flaw on the DCD995 brushless hammer drill though, it caused 3 of our units to completely fail.
They've moved the LED from it's location above the trigger to the battery base. However, they didn't fill the space left open, and when the trigger is depressed, there is a straight path for foreign bodies to enter the inside of the drill. When drilling straight up, which is very common for electricians routing wires through the top plates of walls, the wood shavings fall right into the hole and damage the inside of the unit.
We spend hours cleaning them out without taking the drill apart (which would ruin our warranty), but eventually they stopped working. We tried taping over the hole, which would eventually bind the trigger and cause huge headaches.
Finally, after 3 months of calling DeWalt and threatening to switch all ~100 tools we have over to the new Milwaukee Gen 2 stuff, they informed me that the problem had been fixed, and they were sending me a new drill for free. They didn't replace the other 2 units, but they're still under warranty so they'll probably be replaced when we get them into the repair shop.
So, beware if you purchase a DCD995 (which I HIGHLY recommend), that it's the newer model with no opening above the trigger. Simply squeeze the trigger and look.
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