Which Dewalt Driver?

[Nineeightyone]

I'm loving my new Dewalt hammer drill, and picked up an inexpensive drill/battery/charger kit (primarily for the 2x 1.5ah batteries) as well. Now I'm looking for a decent driver.

I've got a project coming up that will likely utilize a ton of screws, Tapcon and deck screws primarily. I'd like to have a dedicated driver for this, so I don't have to change bits and whatnot. I'll be dealing with pressure treated 2x12s a lot for this project, and driving 1/4" tapcons into block walls in my garage.

What's a decent driver that's up to the task? If I can find something that comes with a second charger as well as some larger batteries, that'd be great too, but value for the money is key here. Brushless is ideal as well. There's a kit at Lowe's with the DCF787 driver as well as a charger and a 1.5a battery for $99, which isn't awful but I wonder if there's a better deal to be had.

 

[Psychwarfare]

I have that driver and it's worked well installing lag screws etc in some old growth wood. I wonder if it would benefit from a bigger battery.

 

[jd_1138]

That's about the best deal there is. May be able to get a bare impact driver off ebay for $50 but then again it won't come with a battery and extra charger that you want. You need a larger battery though. That one looks like the 1.5 or 2 amp. A larger battery will last way longer.

You'll love the impact driver. It will zoom fasteners into stuff like nothing. A pilot hole drilled with the other drill will keep the wood from splitting. If it's a deck, maybe consider a hidden fastener system like Camo so the screws won't be exposed.

 

[PelicanPines]

I have 3 battery hammer drills, two Dewalt, one M12 Milwaukee. It's rare that I have to break out my wired hammer drill to get a job done. Agree... the dewalt is great.

Impact drivers... I have hmmm... close to a dozen battery drivers... The dewalt version of similar size to the hammer drill is nice and can be had in a deal from time to time. Sadly a lot of the deals just past.

Check out CPO outlets... I have had luck with their refurbished tools...

 

[kctyphoon]

For the record, I'm not exactly sure how many models DeWalt offers - but Brushless does not automatically mean more powerful. Just FYI. You have to check and compare torque specs so you know what you get. My brushed m18 was noticablely more powerful then the Brushless DeWalt I had.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Thanks guys! I'm looking at this kit, my main reason for wanting brushless wasn't so much power but rather removing a wear item (brushes) from the equation.

I've never changed brushes on anything though, so it's possible I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[Voi]

I've got a project coming up that will likely utilize a ton of screws, Tapcon and deck screws primarily. I'd like to have a dedicated driver for this, so I don't have to change bits and whatnot. I'll be dealing with pressure treated 2x12s a lot for this project, and driving 1/4" tapcons into block walls in my garage.

What's a decent driver that's up to the task?

I recently upgraded to a brushless drill and driver and found that the impact driver was too powerful for driving Tapcons into poured walls or slabs. My driver has all of the speed control in the trigger and once I snapped a few Tapcons I switched to my drill and had no issues.

Others here have mentioned the same thing. Thought I should bring this up in case you think you'll need a second drill so you have one set up as a dedicated driver for this project.

As far as Dewalt, I have used several of their impacts and have liked all of them except for a brushed 12V version. That one was just a bit too slow.

 

[Wamsutta]

I recently upgraded to a brushless drill and driver and found that the impact driver was too powerful for driving Tapcons into poured walls or slabs. My driver has all of the speed control in the trigger and once I snapped a few Tapcons I switched to my drill and had no issues.

That's interesting. I wonder is an impact driver with 3 separate speed ranges would be better for Tapcons.

https://www.dewalt.com/products/pow...v-max-xr-14-3speed-impact-driver-bare/dcf887b

 

[ChrisLS8]

Yes they have 3 seperate power/speed levels. We use those XRs at work and normally on setting 2 then for driving 3/8 ez anchors we use the 3rd setting if it's only a couple so I don't have to walk back to the jobox for the impact gun

 

[Kaizen]

I have two of that dewalt but not the brushless. Loved the first one so much I bought a second. Lightweight. I e gone through almost three buckets of deckmate screws 2.5 inch. All in one driver. Forget how many that is but the buckets are like 120 bucks a piece. Battery charges quick enough to keep going but good to have a spare charging while you work. Also used this for all my roof screws. I think that was several thousand. Absolutely love it. Never use my drill anymore to sink screws. Impacts take so much less arm strength to push into the screw without it stripping


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wamsutta]

Yes they have 3 seperate power/speed levels. We use those XRs at work and normally on setting 2 then for driving 3/8 ez anchors we use the 3rd setting if it's only a couple so I don't have to walk back to the jobox for the impact gun

Which power setting do you use for Tapcon screws?

 

[Voi]

That's interesting. I wonder is an impact driver with 3 separate speed ranges would be better for Tapcons.

https://www.dewalt.com/products/pow...v-max-xr-14-3speed-impact-driver-bare/dcf887b

I assume that would be better but I can't say for sure.

Also, my Makita impact driver was marketed as having three speeds but turned out to be trigger only. When it showed up I took a screen grab of the retailer's ad & showed it to the Makita rep for my area. He acknowledged it was misleading & blamed it on the retailer.

I doubt this is common but thought I'd mention it.

 

[ChrisLS8]

Which power setting do you use for Tapcon screws?

I use the 2 setting never really snapped anything but you have to know when to let off

 

[Wamsutta]

I use the 2 setting never really snapped anything but you have to know when to let off

Cool, I learned something today that's very useful. Thanks.

 

[ChrisLS8]

Cool, I learned something today that's very useful. Thanks.

No problem. Maybe we can do a part 2 on proper detent location