Dewalt Drill/Saw deal at Lowes. - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Colorado Fatboy · 04-28-2008, 08:02 PM

So, I went to Lowes today to pick up a few things. Of course I had to hit the tool section.

I saw a sign that said 20% off all power/pneumatic combo kits. (Excluding the Dewalt 4 piece compact kit they have for $199 which they don't have in stock of course.) Looking at the other Dewalt stuff I see a hammer drill and recip saw kit The price tag below it says $279 everyday low price. Now this is the XRP kit with 2 batteries, DC925 hammer drill and the DC385 recip saw.

Thinking this can't be correct (seeing how they had the same kit with the circ saw instead of the recip for $369) I find the person working the area. He verifies that it is 20% off since that is the "everyday low price" marked at $279.

When I get up to the checkout it rings up at $279. The cashier calls a Mgr over and we go back to look at the sign and talk to the guy I talked to earlier. Mgr agrees that I get 20% off of $279.

I walked out with that kit for $223 plus tax!

If anyone is interested the part number is DC2PAKCA and Lowes item # 240314

2ndGen · 04-28-2008, 11:44 PM

I made a killer deat at Home Depot today.

http://www.contractortalk.com/f40/home-depot-deal-38616/

ExteriorGuy · 04-29-2008, 12:12 AM

I have always been a huge fan of dewalt...though recently we got a new dewalt XRP hammer drill (actually the whole set), and after about 4 months the keyless chuck just...well didn't work. real weird, I can tighten the chuck and drill/screw forward, but when you decide to use it in reverse, the bit will just fall out. So basically a great drill, horrible keyless chuck

WilsonRMDL · 04-29-2008, 06:24 PM

I made a killing at home depot the other day too. Picked up a Dewalt 12" SCMS for $499. They had $100 off if u spent 599+

nywoodwizard · 04-29-2008, 07:08 PM

These aren't the greatest drills, so I'm not sure you got such a bargain. Poorly designed chucks, chuck failure, and the batteries don't seem to hold a charge very long.
As soon as the rest of my drills start to crap out I'm going to try some another brands with lithium batteries either the milwaulkee or makita.

Colorado Fatboy · 04-29-2008, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nywoodwizard

These aren't the greatest drills, so I'm not sure you got such a bargain. Poorly designed chucks, chuck failure, and the batteries don't seem to hold a charge very long.
As soon as the rest of my drills start to crap out I'm going to try some another brands with lithium batteries either the milwaulkee or makita.

Well, I have to disagree with that totally! I have 3 guys working for me now. They are all using the Dewalt 18v hammer drills. We have not had very many problems. Personally I have tried the Milwaukee 18v and Porter Cable 19.2v hammer drills. Neither one was worth a darn compared to the Dewalt. If you want to talk about bad batteries the Milwaukee NI-CAD line was the worst I've ever seen! If you do some research you will see the Milwaukee and Makita LI-ION batteries aren't doing much better.

We are getting about 2 years out of the Dewalt batteries. I think that is pretty good considering they can be bought for about $60 each. The only problem I've ever had with any of the drills is one switch that went out.

About a month ago one of the guys had his drill stolen. I was going to try another brand. There seems to be a lot of Makita fans on here and I thought I would try one. I still have my trusty ol Makita 9.6 volt stick style battery drill that I use around the house. Doing some research I found a pattern of complaints about the Makita. The chuck being a POS and the bits "just falling out". Not to mention the people that say "I love my Makita it's GREAT! The transmission has only lost 3rd gear 3 times, but it's been replaced under warranty"

I almost went with the Rigid but learned on the Rigid forums that their LI-ION batteries that are supposed to be 3.0 amp hrs are really only 1.5 amp hrs. With the amount of $$ we have invested in Dewalt I decided to stick with them. I did get a 18V Nano Hammer Drill and it has been in use for a month or so. The batteries seem to charge faster than the XRP, run-time is a little better compared to a XRP that was bought in 12/06. One of the main reasons I bought the kit I posted about was for the batteries. I want to see how the Nano compares to a NEW XRP.

The drills we are using are the DC988 which is the model the DC925 replaced. Don't know if that had a better chuck? Or is better than the newer ones? Absolutely no chuck related problems EVER. I did notice the new drill has a different chuck than the ones we currently have. Before the DC988 we had an earlier 2 speed model that was good also. The chucks on the hammer drills are different than the driver/drill.

These drills are used mostly for shower door installations. We are talking some heavy duty hammer drilling a lot of the time. We do a lot of custom work where you are going through hard stuff: porcelain or granite mostly.

2ndGen · 04-29-2008, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilsonRMDL

I made a killing at home depot the other day too. Picked up a Dewalt 12" SCMS for $499. They had $100 off if u spent 599+

Same deal here.

2ndGen · 04-29-2008, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colorado Fatboy

Well, I have to disagree with that totally! I have 3 guys working for me now. They are all using the Dewalt 18v hammer drills. We have not had very many problems. Personally I have tried the Milwaukee 18v and Porter Cable 19.2v hammer drills. Neither one was worth a darn compared to the Dewalt. If you want to talk about bad batteries the Milwaukee NI-CAD line was the worst I've ever seen! If you do some research you will see the Milwaukee and Makita LI-ION batteries aren't doing much better.

We are getting about 2 years out of the Dewalt batteries. I think that is pretty good considering they can be bought for about $60 each. The only problem I've ever had with any of the drills is one switch that went out.

About a month ago one of the guys had his drill stolen. I was going to try another brand. There seems to be a lot of Makita fans on here and I thought I would try one. I still have my trusty ol Makita 9.6 volt stick style battery drill that I use around the house. Doing some research I found a pattern of complaints about the Makita. The chuck being a POS and the bits "just falling out". Not to mention the people that say "I love my Makita it's GREAT! The transmission has only lost 3rd gear 3 times, but it's been replaced under warranty"

I almost went with the Rigid but learned on the Rigid forums that their LI-ION batteries that are supposed to be 3.0 amp hrs are really only 1.5 amp hrs. With the amount of $$ we have invested in Dewalt I decided to stick with them. I did get a 18V Nano Hammer Drill and it has been in use for a month or so. The batteries seem to charge faster than the XRP, run-time is a little better compared to a XRP that was bought in 12/06. One of the main reasons I bought the kit I posted about was for the batteries. I want to see how the Nano compares to a NEW XRP.

The drills we are using are the DC988 which is the model the DC925 replaced. Don't know if that had a better chuck? Or is better than the newer ones? Absolutely no chuck related problems EVER. I did notice the new drill has a different chuck than the ones we currently have. Before the DC988 we had an earlier 2 speed model that was good also. The chucks on the hammer drills are different than the driver/drill.

These drills are used mostly for shower door installations. We are talking some heavy duty hammer drilling a lot of the time. We do a lot of custom work where you are going through hard stuff: porcelain or granite mostly.

DeWalt is "the" cordless drill,
just as Milwaukee is "the" recip saw,
just as Bosch is "the" jigsaw,
just as Skil is "the" wormdrive.

threaderman · 04-29-2008, 08:55 PM

I went to a wholesale tool distributor today and beat lowes by $25.00 on a p-c circ saw, which also included one extra blade ,and a hardshell tool case.At $116.00 total I thought it was a very good deal.

72chevy4x4 · 04-29-2008, 08:56 PM

I got a pretty nice deal on a nano 18v battery and charger at Lowes on the clearance table....$37!

Colorado Fatboy · 04-29-2008, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2ndGen

DeWalt is "the" cordless drill,
just as Milwaukee is "the" recip saw,
just as Bosch is "the" jigsaw,
just as Skil is "the" wormdrive.

You DEFINITELY know your tools!

My lineup is EXACTLY the same!

Colorado Fatboy · 04-29-2008, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 72chevy4x4

I got a pretty nice deal on a nano 18v battery and charger at Lowes on the clearance table....$37!

WOW! I wish my luck was that good

nywoodwizard · 04-29-2008, 09:47 PM

Colorado Fatboy,
I would rather deal with changing batteries than the bits falling out of the chuck. Since the redesigned chucks have points on them you can't center small bits properly, nor does the chuck tighten up properly.

This feature is important to me , while carrying the drill with a $6-8 magnetic tip holder or new drill bits and it ends up falling off in the grass ,while up a ladder, or wherever,and gets lost, its by far not my idea of "the cordless drill". Forget the speed selector switch thats another joke, I'm affraid i'll break if i use it .
I've owned a lot of drills in 30 years and this one is on my shizlist.

WilsonRMDL · 04-29-2008, 10:09 PM

72Chevy:

You just beat my previous record of 2 18V XRP batteries and charger for $20. Good find.

Colorado Fatboy · 04-29-2008, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nywoodwizard

Colorado Fatboy,
I would rather deal with changing batteries than the bits falling out of the chuck. Since the redesigned chucks have points on them you can't center small bits properly, nor does the chuck tighten up properly.

This feature is important to me , while carrying the drill with a $6-8 magnetic tip holder or new drill bits and it ends up falling off in the grass ,while up a ladder, or wherever,and gets lost, its by far not my idea of "the cordless drill". Forget the speed selector switch thats another joke, I'm affraid i'll break if i use it .
I've owned a lot of drills in 30 years and this one is on my shizlist.

You are talking about the DC 925 hammer drill right? Just want to make sure we are comparing apples to apples. I have no experience with this as I just got it yesterday. The Nano DC 927 we got has the same chuck. I haven't heard any complaints yet, so far so good. Time will tell I guess. My experiences are based on the DC 988 and earlier version drills.

This is one of the reasons I chose not to get the Makita:
http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/s...t=makita+drill

bcradio · 04-29-2008, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2ndGen

DeWalt is "the" cordless drill,
just as Milwaukee is "the" recip saw,
just as Bosch is "the" jigsaw,
just as Skil is "the" wormdrive.

you might have to scratch skil off the wormdrive and pencil in bosch on that one.

ever since they bought out skil they put out a pretty darn good wormdrive saw IMHO... i'm sure you've seen it but if not check er out (its sexy)

72chevy4x4 · 04-30-2008, 06:59 AM

wizard, I have the same problem w/ the crappy chuck. What about a replacement chuck-anyone found a REALLY good one? I've had one replaced in a dewalt and it's worked ok, but seems all my new dewalts the chucks are crappy. At this point, it's not feasible to switch to a different brand, I like the convenience of having one style battery for all tools.

XanadooLTD · 04-30-2008, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcradio

you might have to scratch skil off the wormdrive and pencil in bosch on that one.

ever since they bought out skil they put out a pretty darn good wormdrive saw IMHO... i'm sure you've seen it but if not check er out (its sexy)

Bosch owns Skil. Some people just like the direct connect a little better. But i think that i also have heard the Skil version has a little more power than its parent saw.

jiffy · 04-30-2008, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2ndGen

DeWalt is "the" cordless drill,
just as Milwaukee is "the" recip saw,
just as Bosch is "the" jigsaw,
just as Skil is "the" wormdrive.

Dewalt is cordless if you like heavy and batteries that don't last.

Milwuakee invented the Sawzall, but their's is not the best anymore.

Skil wormdrive...if you bought one 10 years ago.

Tools change...companies change. Tools aren't football teams.

bcradio · 04-30-2008, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XanadooLTD

Bosch owns Skil. Some people just like the direct connect a little better. But i think that i also have heard the Skil version has a little more power than its parent saw.

I have not compared power, but Most people seem to think the Bosch has a better baseplate that won't bend as easy (a common problem on the Skil)