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From the very beginning I could tell qulity was no longer an issue. Piece of S**T. Out of the case the clutch didn't work (2 settings 1 and drill). Dewalt used to make very reliable tools. That's why I bought this one, my old 12v finally died. The speed range slips anytime it runs for more then 5 screws, and on long jobs batteries only last about 15mins and require 45mins to charge. On top of all this DeWalts' customer service sucks.
Dewalt Cordless tools are decent enough but they seem to be trying to make extra profits by selling more batteries. Battery life is so poor that in a few years you'll spend more than the tool cost on batteries. Everyone that I know that has purchased Dewalt is switching to Porter Cable, Rigid, Bosch and even Ryobi.
The drill is fine and does what I want, but I cannot finish a job before both batteries are drained. When fully charged they drill fine in to a solid tree stump. But after drilling three 1/2 inch wide 12 inch deep holes the battery gives out and has to be swapped.Now Dewault has come out with longer life batteries, I wonder why, but for those of us who already have the drill maybe they should offer an upgrade program to make buying the new batteries cheaper so we get the most out of an otherwise decent drill.
As my cabinet business grew, I bought another one of these drills. This drill has NEVER let me down. I make cabinets on the side and, naturally, I'm a weekend warrior. As is the same with most batteries, try and run your battery out before charging it, and let it charge fully (until the light on the charger stops blinking). As far as the speed settings go, always remember to use "1" for driving screws and "2" for drilling holes. I've always got a couple of batteries in the charger, and I'm always prepared to start working.
Second, the counter-sink looks so much nicer. First, it will prevent future (or immediate) cracking in the wood. Third, it's just a lot easier to drive that long screw. If you've got substandard screws, your drill might tear off the head ;-). The DW928K-2 was the first cordless drill that I purchased (over 5 years ago) and I've been extremely impressed with its performance. My 14.4 DeWALT came through like a trooper. But hold on tight, the drill's so powerful that it could break your wrist.
The lower number is slower (yeah, I'm a fast one). Slower driving of screws will reduce stripping and breaking bits. My corded drill burnt right out. Though I've been able to drive 3" wall anchors with no problem, I would suggest pre-drilling for a couple of reasons. A great advantage to buying 14.4 DeWALT drills is that there's a whole brigade of DeWALT tools that use the same battery, and they all come with their own battery and charger.
The pinnacle of the drill's performance was mixing thinset for laying tile. Even a friend's big 1/2" chuck Makita was getting too hot to hold and I was smelling smoke. I have two drills, a flashlight, a circular saw, and I just purchased a right-angle drill in the same line. There are jobs that are too much for this drill, but they are generally big professional jobs (not for the standard weekend warrior) and that's why DeWAL makes an 18v and 24v line.
Consumer Reports warns that this model's battery life is only fair, and I've found that to be true. It only sank about four dozen screws before a battery that had charged for five hours gave out. The screws were long, and they were drilled into dense wood, but I was still disappointed.Otherwise, it is a very impressive drill, with lots of torque.
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