A reader spotted a new Dewalt brushless reciprocating saw, and also asked a question about new Dewalt technologies.
Houston wrote:
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Wondering if you’ve had a chance to try DeWalt’s new XR Power Detect tools? I ordered the DCS368 recip saw to replace a very beat long-in-the-tooth DCS380 at work, but am wondering if the rest of the lineup is worth the price tag. As of right now I think they only have the hammer drill/driver (DCD798), circ saw (DCS574), and recip (DCS368). Lowes also seems to be the only place I’ve found them.
Indeed, I see the new circular saw, a new hammer drill, and the new recip saw featured in this post.
Dewalt XR Power Detect?
Dewalt has not sent out any press materials about this, but according to Lowe’s, Dewalt’s Power Detect is a new cordless power tool technology that “detects high-capacity batteries to maximize tool output.” In other words, you get higher performance with next-gen high capacity Li-ion batteries.
The Dewalt DCS368W1 kit comes with (1) 8Ah battery, a fast charger, and a tool bag. It’s unclear as to whether there will be a bare tool.
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Dewalt has not announced the new tools, but Lowe’s already has them in-stock for shipping. Other retailers don’t even have listings up, and so these tools might be exclusive to Lowe’s for a time, as an early launch partner or similar.
- 1-1/8″ stroke length
- 0-3000 SPM variable speed
- Tool-free lever-action blade clamp
- LED worklight
Lowe’s description says that with the 8Ah battery, users can expect up to 44% more power output and 60% longer runtime compared to the DCS367P1 kit, which is their compact brushless reciprocating saw kit with a 5Ah battery.
Kit Price: $279
Buy Now via Lowe’s
Compare: FlexVolt Saw Kit via Amazon
Discussion
To me, the new Dewalt 20V Max reciprocating saw looks a lot like their FlexVolt reciprocating saw. Spec-wise, both saws have a 1-1/8″ cutting stroke length. The FlexVolt saw (DCS388) operates at up to 2950 SPM, and the 20V Max saw 3000 SPM.
With the new 20V Max Power Detect saw, it is strongly suggested that you must use the 8Ah battery to see the power benefit compared to their other 20V Max brushless circular saw, and that using a lower capacity battery would result in lower performance.
There’s nothing to indicate that this saw won’t work with Dewalt’s standard batteries, but you do need high capacity XR batteries to maximize performance.
With the FlexVolt reciprocating saw, you must use a FlexVolt battery, as Dewalt 20V Max batteries won’t work at all.
This new Power Detect tool tech seems like it’ll blur the lines between 20V Max and FlexVolt cordless power tool systems.
This kit, DCS368W1, is only available at Lowe’s right now, which is interesting because they don’t carry any Dewalt FlexVolt tools.
So, Home Depot has Dewalt 20V Max Atomic and FlexVolt tools, while Lowe’s gets Dewalt 12V Max Xtreme Subcompact and now these new 20V Max Power Detect tools?
Price-wise, the FlexVolt 1-battery kit is $299, and the 2-battery kit $349. The 20V Max Power Detect reciprocating saw is $279, and you get an 8Ah battery instead of 6Ah.
The higher-voltage FlexVolt tool *might* run more efficiently, and so we can’t make any good guesses as to runtime benefits. Still, it’s hard to imagine that a 20V-class brushless saw running on an 8Ah battery won’t have greater runtime than a 60V-class saw running on a 6Ah-equivalent battery.
Which option do you find more appealing – 20V Max with Power Detect, or FlexVolt 60V Max?
Big Richard
There is one picture on the hammer drill page that reads:
“Maximize Your Performance With High-Capacity XR Batteries*
*VS 5Ah Batteries Or Less”
So it sounds like the DCB206 6Ah XR batteries should give the power bump too. I assume the Flexvolt DCB609 9Ah and DCB612 12Ah would as well. I have to think any 21700 based battery will “detect”, with the exception of the 3Ah DCB130.
My only question would be, what about the circa 2016-2018 DCB206 and DCB609s that used Panasonic/Sanyo 20700 cells. The electronics should be the same, so I would expect the same results.
Cr8on
Hummm the drill is listed as having 1072 inch pounds torque. Interesting, are they dropping UWO?
andrew
I enjoy that they are just playing catchup with TTi with this system, milwaukee has had their FUEL sytem running for 8 years now and they had this benefit the second they started using 21700 cells
Chris
I can go throw the battery on my 996 or any other tool right now and I get a power difference, this just takes better advantage of the new batteries
Big Richard
andrew, I don’t know about that. XR was already on par with Fuel (brushless premium lineups). Then Milwaukee came out with Fuel HO to “catch up” to Flexvolt (next level corded power lineups). While any tool benefits slightly from the new battery tech, only a select few Fuel tools are designed to maximize performance only with HO batteries (Super Sawzall, chainsaw, table saw, etc.). This is not “catching up” to anything. While similar to Fuel HO, if anything these next gen XRs are seemingly positioned in the middle.
XR->Power Detect XR->Flexvolt
Fuel->……..->Fuel HO
Andrew
All the fuel tools have been setup to work better with different batteries for a while, a 8ah HO runs my fuel drill a lot better then the 5 or 9s ever did and that wasn’t designed with HO batteries in mind
Big Richard
I agree, as I said above any tool benefits slightly. I swapped all my XC5.0s for XC6.0 HOs a while ago. But it is the same with current DeWalt tools, they run better when you use the larger 21700 based batteries than when you run older 18650 based batteries. Same with Bosch 18v and their new Core batteries. That is already known. No one is arguing that.
Mike
Dude dewalt came out with 21700 cells before Milwaukee so what is your point
Mosh
I was actually waiting to read stuart comment about sounding alot like Milwaukee xc….
Stuart
It is essentially a Milwaukee High Output-like way of doing things.
Mosh
What I meant….
Yoshivan
I’m pretty happy with their previous 20v recipro saw.
Can you find out that this one still has the 4-way blade position clamp that they eliminated on the Flex model which was a huge drawback ?
I’m just curious!
Stuart
The close-up image of the blade holder shows a cross-like slot, which looks like a 4-way blade clamp to me. We won’t be able to confirm this for certain until Dewalt is ready to take questions about the new tool.
Big Richard
It does not have the 4 way blade clamp, verified via purchase.
Yoshivan
Good to know and sad to the fact.
Thanks for the update!!
Chris
Niceee. About time we got a brushless recip saw. (Aside from the Flexvolt and compact models) I hope it has an adjustable shoe. Otherwise I likely won’t even consider it.
xrh07
still no adjustable shoe. And still no rafter hook.
Dewalt does not know how to make a proper reciprocating saw.
Yoshivan
Seriously?
Nathan
I have a corded milwauke 15Amp, and the adjustable shoe is really just a length and it’s not even that much. IE it’s not really all that useful – but it is some useful I will grant.
andy
Adjustable shoe is nice to extend blade life since they often wear out at the base first, especially with metal cutting.
Tjb
I’ve never seen an adjustable shoe on a dewalt recip saw. Just a floppy hinges shoe. Makes me wonder if it’s patented. It’s the most idiotic thing about dewalt’s recips.
Mike
I have a black and Decker recip saw with a adjustable shoe so I don’t think its patent, but that said I hate adjustable shoes they always fall off on any saw I’ve used
Will
my Dewalt brushless saw has an adjustable shoe, not sure why they dropped it. Without it you waste a lot of cutting area on a longer blade if used correctly.
Angel Flores
Can you all post the link to the article that references all the New tools. I find myself a little intrigued.
Big Richard
Check this out, this is about the only details there are right now.
https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=dewalt+8ah
Humberto
Where is a dewalt battery ratchet
A W
It almost seems like they’re more interested in creating exclusive lines for both HD and Lowe’s than they are in innovative solutions.
Not a bad strategy from a market share perspective, but it does tie up R and D in creating products for each lineup that presumably could go towards expanding their utility for end users.
Bruce
Well, when they said power detect, what I wanted it to mean was: “Detects live wires hidden in wall and gives me a warning light.”
Matt F
I wasn’t thinking this at first, but now I really want it. Power is off if I think I am close to anything, but it is the times when you think you are not near anything that get you in trouble.
How about flex gas line detect too while they are at it? I was moving a return duct run in the floor of my finished attic. I knew where the gas line started up from the basement and where it ended up. All made sense, they lined up nicely. I was two stud/rafter bays away and very surprised went I pulled the cut piece out and see gas line. Someone was apparently feeling creative when it went in.
Corey Moore
This is exactly what I thought when it showed up in my Tapatalk inbox lol
Corey Moore
A little disappointed to see them playing Milwaukee’s game, but the core tools have been overdue for an upgrade. I’m still opposed to the concept that selling tools that some batteries can’t fully power is somehow doing us a favor, but already owning a lot of high cap batteries means I’m not really effective. At least the batteries already existed when this came out, and we didn’t have to hear about “yellow lithium” to be why we need new batteries for tools already in production lol
Corey Moore
Affected* it’s too early for me to be typing.
Matthew Cote
Instead of a little more power how about a rafter hook?
Sincerely, every framer out there running dewalt.
Mark
Maybe one day they will catch up to Milwaukee. I got rid of all my Yellow last year in favor of the much more advanced Milwaukee products.
Jbones
When I first got a flex volt tool I put one of the batteries on my 20v 6 1/4” circular saw and noticed immediately that it was operating with much more power and the blade speed noticeably increased! I’ve been very impressed with all my flex volt tools and I often run the batteries on non flex volt tools to get longer run times and max power.