DeWalt - DCK277C2 20V MAX Compact Brushless Drill and Impact Combo Kit (Rating: 5)

I picked up the DEWALT DCK277C2 20V MAX Compact Brushless Drill and Impact Combo Kit on sale at Lowe's last week. For a little over $150.00 I got two of the latest brushless tools, a charger and two battery packs. Considering this was right next to a $99.00 driver only that was not the new Brushless, it felt like Christmas.

We have been using Milwaukee's M12 in the shop for several years now under very hard use, and have been very impressed with those kits. They are apparently indestructible, being used and abused by a mix of trained pros and just learning college students. The little 12 volt batteries in various capacity seem to offer all the power we need.

Most of the time.
Which brings me to the DeWalt 20v.

The Kit includes:
1) DCD777 20V MAX Compact Brushless Drill/Driver
1) DCF787 20V MAX Compact Brushless 1/4" Impact Driver
2) DCB207 1.3Ah 20V Li-Ion Compact Battery (2 Pack)
1) Charger
1) Kit Bag.

Every so often we do need more than the 12volts do comfortably. Usually when that occurs I am happy to break out the 110volt extension cord and a big power drill. But this time I also needed a powerful impact driver, and going cordless would make life easier.

I spent the last few days drilling 3/4" dia x 2"-3.5" deep holes in mahogany, maple and some other hard tropical woods.
I was using a mix of cherry dowels and 3"-5" "Timberlock" lags.

I had on hand a pair of the next size up battery packs, the DCB203 2.0Ah batteries and used them for the first test with the lighter 1.3Ah batteries charging in reserve.

Much to my surprise with the brush-less 20v DeWalt drill and driver, after a few dozen such holes and lags in thick 3.5" hardwood, both batteries still read "full"! I had not put a dent in the charge. If I'd tried that with the Milwaukee 12v I would have had a battery swap in the mix. I've also been using the older DeWalt that is "pre-brush-less" 20v, and I truly believe the claim of 30% more life from a battery is under rating the advantage. The weekend went on like this, with the tools continuing to impress me re: battery performance. Come Sunday night, I had not needed to reach for the spare batteries, we still had good charge on the first pair.

The kit came with the requisite soft carry bag, charger and two of the lightest power battery packs available.
I considered docking the kit 1 star due to these packs, however given the price paid and the value of the tools I decided not to. Larger packs would have clearly = higher cost. I did not even know these particular packs existed, they are so small (1.3 amp hours)

However, it is great to know that DeWalt who has been a leader in cordless tech and flexibility since the early B&D Professional days, has a HUGE variety of battery packs available for all of these 20V tools.
The 1.3Ah pack is the smallest, next is 2Ah, then 3Ah, 4… and so on.
These drills are even compatible with the multi hundred dollar 20-60v "flexpack" batteries. (I suspect on one of those you could charge the battery in May and keep drilling until September!)

All around great kit. The feel and balance is very good, the 3 l.e.d. lights are vastly superior to single work light kits where you can put the shadow right where you need light the most.

If you need power, highly recommended!