Earlier today, Mark wrote in with a tough question. He had just purchased a Dewalt 20V Max cordless power tool combo kit, a 5-tool brushed motor kit, and was wondering if another kit he saw was a better value.
After a bit back and forth, I realized I had sorted through many Dewalt combo kit options and arrived at what looked to be some pretty solid recommendations. These are all kits I’d be able to justify purchasing for my own needs.
Best Dewalt “One and Done” Cordless Combo Kit
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I don’t even know how I came upon this kit. There it was, in an open browser window, along with a few other seasonal promos. The price is said to be good thru July 14th, 2018, but supplies might be limited.
This Dewalt 20V Max combo kit, model DCKTS780D2M1, is a 7-tool kit that I hadn’t seen before.
It offers a mix of brushless and brushed motor tools, comes with (3) Li-ion battery packs, and a ToughSystem tool box to hold everything.
The drill is a compact brushless hammer drill, and not one of the seasonal promo models, either. It’s the regular DCD796 model. That’s a plus right there. And I also really like that it comes with (2) 2.0Ah compact battery packs, and (1) 4.0A higher capacity battery pack.
The compact pack will pair better with the smaller tools, and the higher capacity battery with the saws or grinder, but you can also mix and match according to your needs and the tasks at hand.
A ToughSystem rolling tool box is a nice inclusion.
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Here’s a list of the tools you get:
- Brushless hammer drill
- Standard brushed impact driver
- LED flashlight
- Non-premium circular saw
- Non-premium reciprocating saw
- Angle grinder
- Brushless oscillating multi-tool
Price: $499
This looks to be the BEST Dewalt cordless power tool combo kit for $500. You get a very good selection of tools, 3 batteries, and the drill is a brushless model.
Dewalt probably could have gotten away with bundling this kit with only 2 batteries, or swapping the ToughSystem tool box for contractor bags, or giving you a lesser drill.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
The Most Giftable Dewalt Combo Kit
Here’s the Dewalt 9-tool cordless power tool combo kit that made Mark doubt his recent 5-tool combo kit purchase. This kit, DCK940D2, comes around nearly every holiday or Father’s Day shopping season.
Here are some older posts and deal discussions.
It’s actually a good value.
Here’s what I said about it last holiday season:
While this might not be the kit I’d personally pick out for myself, it offers a very good selection of tools at high bang for the buck value. I’d feel compelled to upgrade the drill and as mentioned pick up a larger battery pack to power those saw’s with.
These days, Dewalt has a brushless drill that’s sold seasonally at the $99 price point, and I’d like to see this kit updated with that model. There’s really no reason for the DCD771 to be on the market anymore, since there’s something better at the same seasonal price point.
- DCD771 Drill/Driver (Compare Price)
- DCF885 Impact Driver (Compare Price)
- DCS381 Reciprocating Saw
- DCS393 Circular Saw
- DCS355 Brushless Oscillating Multi-Tool (Compare Price)
- DCL040 LED Worklight (Compare Price)
- DCG412 Angle Grinder (Compare Price)
- DCR006 Bluetooth Speaker (Compare Price)
- DCD740 Right Angle Drill (Compare Price)
- 2x 2.0Ah Li-ion Battery Packs
- Standard Charger
- Tool Bags
This kit is a good value, but it’s more of a “big bang for the buck” combo for those that don’t know what they want or might need. It’s a good giftable kit.
Compared to the above 7-tool combo kit, this 9-tool kit has a lesser drill, it gives you 2 tool bags instead of a nice rolling tool box, and it only gives you 2 compact battery packs. I think this kit would be a little more personally appealing if one of those compact batteries were upgraded to a higher capacity pack.
But, for what it gives up, you get 2 additional tools, a right angle drill, and a Bluetooth speaker. Personally, I think the 7-tool combo kit is the better buy, and it’s the one I’d want. But if I were shopping for someone else, or were a lot less tool-savvy, this 9-tool combo kit is still a very good value.
Price: $499
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Buy Now(via Home Depot)
(The Bluetooth speaker should come with an AC adapter, and so it won’t hog one of the two included batteries if there’s a wall outlet available.)
The “Better Core Tools” Brushless Combo Kit
Knowing that Mark was doubting his purchase of a Dewalt 20V Max 5-tool cordless combo kit, I gave it some thought and recommended that he look at this 4-tool brushless tool kit instead.
This kit, model DCK483D2, has a brushless drill, brushless circular saw, brushless 3-speed impact driver, LED flashlight, and (2) 2.0Ah batteries.
From the link he sent me, it seemed that Mark paid $550 for his 5-tool brushed tool combo kit. That kit was bundled with Dewalt’s premium 3-speed brushed hammer drill, premium circular saw, premium reciprocating saw, standard impact driver, and LED flashlight.
I didn’t realize it at first that he might miss the added power and speed range of the premium brushless drill. Although, for a lot of tasks, maybe he’ll benefit from the smaller size of this compact version. That all depends on his needs and wants. It’s tough to know what others can compromise on.
The saw included in this kit has a brushless motor and larger blade size. The impact is a big upgrade, and although the drill isn’t a premium 3-speed version, I’d say it’s at least side-step, rather than an upgrade or downgrade.
Compared to the kit Mark bought, and even compared to the other kits above, this kit is less expensive, leaving some money on the side for another tool or additional Li-ion batteries, going by his presumed $500-$550 budget.
The downside is that, if I were to pair this kit with a bare tool reciprocating saw, I’d also want to add a high capacity battery or two. So when all was said and done, I’d end up spending more.
Ultimately, I think this kit offers a better “core tools” selection than the other Dewalt cordless combo kits available.
It’s a reasonably good everyday value, and it doesn’t require a lot of thinking. The other combo kits mentioned here, however, are not year-round offerings. The 7-t00l kit looks to be new for the 2018 Father’s Day and summer shopping season, and the 9-tool kit is a regular seasonal offering. For someone reading this post in say September, or February of next year, I would be confident in calling this 4-tool combo kit a good choice.
Price: $399
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Buy Now(via Acme Tool)
The next step up is Dewalt’s 5-tool brushless power tool combo kit, DCK594P2, which upgrades the compact brushless drill to a premium hammer drill, replaces the (2) compact battery packs with (2) higher capacity packs (5.0Ah), and adds in a compact brushless reciprocating saw, but it does all this by increasing the price point from $399 to $699.
Summary
To sum things up, the 7-tool combo, DCKTS780D2M1, seems to offer the best balance and highest value for the money, the 9-tool combo, DCK940D2, might be more appealing to some individuals, and the 4-tool brushless combo, DCK453D2, gives you fewer but better core tools to start with.
The 7-tool combo is the best “one and done” combo kit.
The 9-tool combo kit might give some the appearance of “best bang for the buck.”
The 4-tool XR combo kit is the better choice for those who want better “core tools” and who might be prepared to spend more money down the line. I say this because I think the saw might benefit from being paired with a higher capacity battery pack, which isn’t included with this combo kit.
What I Would Buy
If I were buying a kit for myself, it would be the 7-tool combo kit. If I didn’t need a reciprocating saw right away, and wanted a better or more featured drill, impact driver, and circular saw, it’d be the 4-tool XR brushless combo kit.
If I were looking to buy a combo kit for someone else, and I didn’t know what they wanted or needed, it would be the 9-tool combo kit. A better drill won’t matter to someone who needs a right angle drill. And who can’t use a Bluetooth speaker?
Your Thoughts?
What would your realistic dream Dewalt 20V Max cordless combo kit look like?
Jared Richael
The one I would buy would be any Bosch combo kit ?
John804
I’m glad you posted this today. I’ve spent the last two days looking at the seven and nine tool sets that you discussed above, and ordered the seven tool set just this morning. It’s nice to know I made a good choice. I have a cheap rechargeable, water-resistant Bluetooth speaker from Anker that will last for days on a single charge, and the extra battery seems more useful for me than a right-angle drill.
My local Home Depot had six of these sets in stock yesterday afternoon. They were out of them by this morning.
Thanks again for the great information on this site.
Stuart
Thanks, and you’re welcome!
There’s something to be said when I find it hard to sort through combo kit offerings, but there are just so many!
In a later email, the reader brought up a 10 tool combo kit, which swaps the right angle drill for a blower and vacuum, and costs $100 more than the 9 tool combo kit. Personally, I’d rather take the 7-tool kit and spend part of the $100 on the other tool of my choice.
A lot of combo kits are slightly different from each other, especially during promo seasons like this one. But the above combos seemed to stand out as having the most value, or bang for the buck, the 7-tool combo especially.
While this post is coherent (or at least I hope it is), you should have seen the email thread, where I had to do a lot of thinking aloud. Once I had narrowed things down and worked out the clear distinctions and justifications between the different combo kits, the post practically wrote itself.
Framer joe
You won’t be happy with that set,if your not buying premium tools your better off with Ryobi
John804
The kit arrived and is very nice.
My only complaint is that minimal accessories were included. No guide for the oscillating tool, no wrench for the grinder, no saw blade. Two oscillating blades, one grinding disc, a side handle for the grinder, and a hex wrench for the circular saw were included. The additional parts were easy to find, however, and eReplacementParts seemed to have the best price.
All things considered, I still think this is a great kit at a good price. The additional accessories were a pretty minimal expense.
GP
If only the combo had the jigsaw instead of the drill
Brett
Boy I never looked closely at that circular saw before. Blade right and a proper dust discharge port. If only I had some DeWalt batteries already.
Ian Catalano
You should try to find DCK695P2….very similar to DCK694P2, but 695 comes with a grinder as opposed to the oscillating tool in the 694. The grinder is $160, the oscillating tool is $130. I found 695 at Runnings two weeks ago for $649. Awesome set of tools!
I do still wish that Dewalt would let us build kits our way!
JJ
I wish they had a pick and choose option so you can customize the kit. Seems that every kit comes with a drill and impact wrench and not everyone needs them.
I prefer to buy individually and it is definitely less expensive if you carefully and strategically shop for these tools.
To me, these combo lots are a marketing scheme to get customers giggly and thinking they are getting a deal, when in fact they are being stuffed with a crappy drill that is no better than a $15 Harbor Freight Bauer drill.
Stuart
They do have promos like that every now and then.
With combo kits, they’re priced so low because of volume sales, and sometimes compromises, such as including slightly less features versions of tools.
The drills in the 7-tool and 4-tool combos discussed above are the latest and greatest best compact brushless models you can buy. The same is true about the impact driver in the 4-tool combo. The only models more featured are the “Tool Connect” bluetooth models, but those aren’t really upgrades.
Micheal
Do you have an article on the difference from the Cheap Drills you mentioned versus the better? What are the really benefits or differences?
Stuart
The DCD771 is larger and less powerful.
The brushless ones… that’s something I hadn’t fully investigated yet because of time constraints. I would imagine that power, convenience features such as LED worklights, and possibly durability of components?
There must be reasons the DCD777 can retail in a kit for $99 seasonally, and something like the DCD791 kit sells for $179.
The 4-tool and 7-tool kits above feature the DCD791 or DCD796, which are the no-compromise brushless drill and hammer drill models.
The 9-tool combo has the larger and lower powered mass market drill from before the DCD777 brushless mass market drill kit came out.
Framer joe
I would not recommend buying these sets, if your not buying premium brushless tools your much better buying a Ryobi tool set, DeWalts brushed tools are no better then Ryobi and you’ll get many more tools for the money with Ryobi…….buy the best or buy Ryobi…
Stuart
I completely disagree. First starters, you get more power and features with Dewalt’s combo-kit version tools than Ryobi’s. For example, Ryobi’s circular saw in a lot of their kits? 5-3/8″. Dewalt’s? 6-1/2″. Even if power is matched up, there will be a question of durability.
In general, Ryobi power tools are not on-par with Dewalt’s, but that also doesn’t mean they’re not good. Many of them are, and some of them are if you can accommodate certain compromises.
What you bring up is a good discussion for another time. There *are* times when I’d recommend Ryobi over Dewalt, for certain users.
The focus of this post is on Dewalt combo kits, mostly aimed at those who are intent on spending $400-500 on a Dewalt combo kit. There’s no explicit or implicit mention that any of these Dewalt combo kits are the best cordless combo kits out there, period. Although, the value of that 7-tool combo kit does outshine a lot of the promos I’ve seen from other brands.
Framer joe
With respect your wrong. I’m a builder and own every companies tools almost every tool,they have Makita, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Ryobi and others… To say a 6 1/2 circ is better then a 5 3/8 is nuts. Neither will perform anything like a 7 1/4… durability?
The only person buying a bulk set is a diy guy,so any saw will do., because hes choosing low quality tools to start. He’s not looking for performance. Just a mass amount of tools.,low cost.
Hence Ryobi is a much better deal and platform for that type of guy. .. I don’t recommend buying brushed DeWalt tools,your paying a premium,for the same quality as others.
The guy above buying that 7 piece set will be disappointed.
Thank you
John804
Your comments are interesting. I’d like to explain what lead to my choice. Ryobi may make fine tools, but I wasn’t interested in their lineup for a number of reasons. Among those reasons are the fact that all of my family and friends use Dewalt 20v systems, giving me battery compatibility with those that I work with. Because of that, I’ve also used many of these tools already. This kit happens to have exactly the tools that I use the most and would like to have in cordless form.
I’ve looked at the tools used by different builders to put up about 10 houses in my neighborhood over the last few years. They’ve all had Dewalt, Makita, or Milwaukee, and knowing the thin margins that these companies operate on in my area, the fact that they’ve spent the money on those brands seems significant to me.
I also respectfully disagree that a DIY-oriented person doesn’t care about quality and is looking for the most tools for the buck instead of for performance. I’d rather buy once and have tools that will last and a battery system that stands to be available for a long time.
I’ll certainly admit it if I’m not happy with this purchase, but it was a reasoned decision and I suspect it will work well for me. My intent here was just to explain the reasoning behind the decision, for whatever its worth.
I hope you have a great weekend and best of luck with your business.
Josh Walters
Not too relevant, but best Dewalt deal I got was on Cyber Monday from Acme tool. They had 40% off and Dewalt was running their buy a Drill driver combo recieve 2 free tools. So all together I got the XR Drill and Driver, 2 5 amp hour batteries, Trim Saw, and Reciprocating saw for 316. Add a Multi Tool kit off Amazon, and 2 more 5 amp hour batteries all together for about $540.
skfarmer
i have or have used every tool mentioned above. are the premium tools better? sure they are. are they twice as good ? no. are the 10% better? maybe. get the tools you want and move on both of the larger kits are good value and allow you to get a lot done
as an example , i have a compact drill and a premium brushless drill and premium brushless hammer drill. they all drill holes . when drilling holes over your head or in a tight location. the compact is the one i choose. if i need a side handle or slower speed the premium is a better choice. i also have the basic impact driver and the brushless premium 3 speed model. it’s nice to have 3 speeds but honestly it’s not a deal breaker. i grab the one that is handy as they both drive screws and have a similar feel.
i do know this. cordless tools are addicting and once you buy into a platform it is easy to want more. i know it is an investment but it is far cheaper to buy the larger sets than to buy a 2 or 3 piece combo and add singles. when i switched from 18 to 20v max i started with a 4 piece combo (compact drill, basic recip, impact driver and light) added some singles and ended up with a premium drill/impact kit and a premium hammerdrill/impact kit.
i now have 3 drills, 3 impact drivers, 3/8 impact, grease gun, oscillating tool, jig saw, recip saw , circular saw, grinder, 3 different lights and a vacuum. a mix of basic and premium tools. happy with all of them
Ron
Marketing wank aside, if your considering switching to the yellow batteries, it’s a smart move in the long run, based on all their interchangeable tools that ALL accommodate the Dewalt 20v and FlexVolt battery packs. If you haven’t seen the new lawn tools and mover, it’s time to do some Googling and start hitting up the “Ms.” for Father’s Day!
Cheesebilly
Interesting comments. What it all boils down to is what personal experiance u have with make and model. As mentioned above , drills drill holes. every make, every model. they all turn around and around. Battery power indicators are nice so after u climb a 3 story house to cut a vent u don’t lose power half way through your cuts. Batteries are your main focus. reason being is these companies do not make spit on the tools. I have run the same 18v xrp hammer drill for 12 years. bought it one time, it has fallen off countless roofs, dropped off scaffolding etc. I have thought bought over 16 batteries for that tool. getting the batteries on sale for 100 bucks a pair.
So $800 bucks to keep a $160 dollar drill going. Am switching to the 20v because of, and the only reason, the several different amp batteries for the tool. The tool is or should be a one time buy irregardless of brand, you will be buying powere for it for the life of the system. the 18 volts are more expensive then the 20 volts cause they would like everyone to upgrade. So buy what you like and whats easily available to you.