DeWalt Reviews

This is not your typical dustbuster but an actual vacuum cleaner in a very small format. I use this machine on my boat and it picks up anything, from small dust to pieces of paper and nails etc.

I have now used it for the past 1 1/2 month and I still did not have a need to recharge the battery.

Noisy, certainly, however I guess that is also due to the small space I am using it in.

Worth my money

To sum it up, works great!
Not as noisy as I thought it would be

Despite the noise I really like this vac. Let's face all shop vacs are noisy so don't complain about it. It has sucked up spare change from my truck, saw dust from my jobsites,spilt screws from the back of my truck, etc. I think it works better than I expected. Very useful for my line of work. It is not a big corded vac, if you need a big corded do not buy this, if you need a handy small vac that is good for quick clean up's in outlet poor area's this is the tool for you. P.S. I have even rigged it up to the dust collection port on my chop saw...worked great.

I am building a log home and I purchased this tool anticapating driving hundreds of screws. Plywood sub floor; 1 1/2" spruce loft decking; 1 1/2" spruce roof decking and 5/4 " redwood exterior decking.
I started using the tool on the plywood subfloor using 1 1/2"
screws and started experiencing problems. About 1/2 of the screws only drove in about an inch. At this point I contacted the manufacturer's rep. and was sent replacement drive bits. Apparently the bits were only engaging part way into the screw heads and soon stripped. Replacing the bits after driving about a dozen screws helped a little though I soon ran out of bits. I then contacted the manufacturer and found them extremely helpful. They sent me a new driver and some more bits but this still did not solve the problems. I was still driving about 40 percent of the screws about half way and breaking about 10 percent of remaining screws. I finally gave up and drove the screws with my cordless drill.
This is the most frustrating power tool I have ever used and I have had over 45 years of woodworking experience.

I purchased this tool from and honest tool store owner. I asked him about the tool and he said "The pros won't use it". I bought it anyway. The interchangeable tips are made of metal (which I like) but they do not easily swap out (tight fit). When I changed the tip for the first job I had to tap in the right sized tip with a hammer. The depth guage adjustment is ok, but you need a screwdriver to loosen the adjusting wheel, not a big deal but I wish it had all adjustments by hand. Then I started using it to secure sheetrock to a ceiling. The first half dozen screws were butchered until I got the depth set right. Then the unit started working fine for about the next two dozen screws, countersink was good. Then the next screw came out sideways and the bit hopped off the screw. I figured no problem I'll keep pushing on....This happened to every single screw I tried for the next 100 of so screws. I took the unit apart and checked for jamming, piece of broken screw, anything that might make it act this way. I put it back together and still every screw came out sideways. I figured that I was probably one of those guys that just can't screw so I finished the job with my Dewalt drywall driver. The next day as luck would have it the Hilti rep was at a local Home Depot store with the full line of their products. They had a drywall driver model SF4000 available for try out with a with a sheet of drywall that had plywood backing. The Hilti unit looks to be mostly plastic so I was a bit leary...but I tested the heck out of the gun using several strips of screws and EVERY SINGLE SCREW was countesunk perfectly. You can adjust the tip on the Hilti unit for different size screws rather than replacing the tips, you can fine tune the depth setting by rotating a collar (no tools needed). Back at the job site the Hilti has worked perfect! Like I wished the quickdrive had worked. I wanted to try the quick drive for sub floor but so far the engineers here in San Jose, CA have refused to sign off on the use of screws for subfloor, they insist on nails even though quick drive says the screws are ICBO 5350 rated. I will try to determine what is wrong with this unit and get it fixed. But for drywall, I doubt I will touch anything other than the Hilti from now on.

I purchased the Quikdrive system for deck work, not so much for the speed but to keep off my knees. I was truly impressed with how easy it was to attach the extension and use. I drove an entire 12' X 20' deck with TREX decking in less than 80 minutes, that's 940 screws, including the time it took to keep the 1/8" spacing. Previously it took 5-6 hours. It never jammed, but did have 4 screws bend over when driving them, quickly fixed by straightening and driving them in with a cordless driver. I would highly recommend this driver, the time saved compensates for the higher cost of the screws.

Drill over heated and failed after just 5, 5/32 holes for Tap Con screws. I had to finish the job with my far less expencive Ryobi 18 volt cordless drill.

For the past month I have been repairing a 20x24 deck out off the back yard. This three year old drill my buddy brought has been a work horse. I was so impressed I bought one the other day. First job was to drill down into the concrete 2 half inche holes 2+ inches deep. This brand new drill with a new bit went into the concrete like it was wet wood. This is my 4th or 5th drill and my first corded one. I expect it to be my last also.

I've owned and used the Dewalt 505 hammer drill for 10+ years now. It has made me literally 1000's of dollars in work and it's still going strong. Twice I thought it was all done with. Once a wire came loose from the trigger from all the drilling and once the hammer action stopped. Took it all apart and everything in the gearbox looked OK. Put it back together and it worked fine again. I think the ball bearing inside slid out of place is all. Tough little drill for sure. Maybe it's no Hilti TE75, but I didn't have to remortgage a house to buy it either. Enjoy. :>)

rather get the DW272. I don't know if it was an isolated instance, but I couldn't keep the nose assembly tight. I believe the threads were stripped, and it wouldn't stay tight.

The DW272 has not had the same problem. When I purchased it, my instinct said "plastic isn't durable and it looks like it could be weak at the nose", and well in this case it proved to be true.

I certianly wouldn't rate the DeWalt tools based on the quality of this drill/driver...they make better products, I own many...and will continue to buy them.

I went out and got this for a deck I was putting up. After owning the DeWalt DW 257 for 24 hours and using it to screw down 5/8 pressure treated deck boards to 2X12 joists the thing wrung itself completely in half. Immagine the look on the clerks face when I returned the gear/ clutch assembly in one hand and the body in the other. Needless to say I got a refund and bought something else. While I love my DeWalt framing nailer and a DeWalt/ Emglo compressor I'm now leary of buying yellow....

I purchased the DW257 about a month ago and layed the boots to it immediatley. I intalled a new sub-floor on the already existing 3/4 inch floor. I used 3" floor screws to go into the house floor joists. Worked beautifully, the screws zipped right in. The depth adjuster worked great.

I have alot of drywalling to do as well. I have been using it for the drywall that I am now doing (waited to write this review untill I used it on drywall). Again, the screws zip right in, the depth adjustedment makes this tool dummy proof.

I have read a couple of the reviews above. You certainly have to learn how to hold and balance the tool in your hand for clean fastening (like any other tool). Once you do that... this tool is it!!

I purchased my DW735 as a quicky (read: impulsive) replacement for a Jet JWP12 that died in the middle of a job. (The poly belt broke.) Uncharacteristically, I didn't research the tool before buying. I should have. Although the planer is satisfactory, the knives are not. I planed about 80 lineal feet (yes, JUST 80 feet!) of antique white oak 1x6s before suddenly finding the blades too dull for the feed rollers to overcome the resistance. This occurred suddenly...within the span of three boards! Going along just fine in the "dimensioning" mode when the feed became slower and slower until finally, the boards quit feeding. The dull knives offered too much resistance. I cleaned the feed rollers with acetone, thinking there was contamination causing them to lose friction. This helped for one board, then the feeding stopped again. These boards were salvaged church kneelers from 1900. I had rough planed them of old varnish and grit to clean wood with a DW675 power hand planer and then ran them through the DW735 to true and thickness to 3/4". Surprised and annoyed, I flipped the knives and continued with the project. I surfaced another 50 linear feet without incident. A few days later, I start another job that required surface planing some 2x10 Select structural Doug fir. These were new clean planks. I managed to surface two sides of one plank before the feed stopped again. Cleaning the rollers had no effect. The blades were SHOT! I tried just a very shallow pass (the material removal gauge didn't even register that material would be removed, but failed halfway through when the planer kicked out a 20 amp dedicated breaker. Cranked up the planer head and removed the plank. The resultant stopped cut was barely perceptible, perhaps less than 1/64th of an inch. Hardly a heavy cut! I've seen some snipe that was greater. So, now I've got two planers and both down! I've ordered replacement knives, but what a PITA. The knives on the Jet were three years since replacement with a huge amount of varied lumber under their belt and although not sharp, still managed to bull through some 2x10s without complaint. I've found some aftermarket knives for the DW735 online at Infinity Cutting [...]. Apparently not laminated or reversible, but anything is better than the stock knives!

We have been pleased with the DW735 Planer, it works well for our needs. The knives are the weak point in the system. They seem to wear quickly. This could be due to the abrasive nature of the particular wood (Makore) we are milling at this time. I think DeWalt does a good job overall but could do better with the knives.

I liked another reviewer's idea about reversible, solid carbide knives. As it is, the DeWalt knives don't wear down any faster than the replaceable knives on other planers I have owned. I have had a woodworking habit for over 40 years and, luckily for me, I can now sell enough of my work so that I can afford little luxuries like replaceable planer knives. I used to sharpen my own. It was one of my least favorite things to do. If you can afford it, go for it, even if you work mostly with redheart. This little DeWalt planer is a gem, a great planer for the price. By the way, it costs almost as much to send them out to be sharpened. The only way to save money is to make a jig (I haven't seen a good one for sale in a long time) and spend an hour or two grinding and honeing, honeing and grinding. I do that to this day with the knives on my jointer. It's annoying.

Poor adjustment on the base. Wish I hadn't burned the box so I could send it back.

This trimmer suffers from several critical defects:
The depth adjustment is difficult to use and worse loosens often during use unless you tighten the lock knob with a tool instead of your hands
The base doesn't sit at a reliable ninety degrees so one side of the router trims to a different depth than the other
The collet has an on-board lock that grabs the motor leaving you with no leverage to loosen it, i.e. you have just one wrench and holding the motor with one hand while turning the wrench with the other after a 30,000 rpm motor has tightend the collet isn't fun.
Not ready for prime time.

This router is poorly built. I send back the one I received for replacement and the new one had the same problems. On both routers the base was not square with router and they had high vibration. I also found the routers to be heavy, large and awkward to use. These routers deserve 0 out of 5 stars.

Black and Decker is the brand for you. As a neophyte woodworker without any guidance, I thought this was a solid brand. After mowing through various B&D drills, sanders, etc, I have seen the light. These are hobbyist tools. Unlike my other B&D purchases, I had time to return this one before I found out how lacking it was. This router couldn't spin any decent sized bits and bogged down easily on hardwoods. I would have to do miniscule increments on every cut. On top of that, the plunge mechanism would slip repeatedly. Returned it and bought another brand that I won't mention as this review is to warn you off this one - not sell another.

This is a decently designed router. The handle is pretty comfortable, the switches work well and feel nicely designed, and the dust extraction is great. It seems to have plenty of power, and the plunge action is very smooth. However, it has a couple of fatal flaws.

First, the base is not compatible with template bushings, and no one makes a compatible baseplate, although there are a few clear acrylic ones that you could drill your own holes in (patwarner.com and Lee Valley sell them). This may not seem important initially, but if you continue to work with the router, you will almost definitely want this ability.

Second, most other common attachments aren't compatible either, like the Jasper circle jig or an edge guide. Most router companies make their own edge guides, but not B&D. And all the common aftermarket guides aren't compatible either (for example, the Microfence). This won't be too much of an issue if you use this router in a table though, which I didn't do.

Third, it only has a 1/4 inch collet. It seems to have enough power for a 1/2 inch collet, and lots of other routers in this power class have the capability, although not necessarily at the same price.

If B&D added some compatiblity, I'd like this tool a lot more. As it is, there are much better options out there (Ryobi 180PL, Porter-Cable, Bosch, DeWalt...)

I was looking for a simple router that could do amateur routing. I wasn't looking for the expensive industrial 1/2" bit router. This router is the best value that I could have chosen, and I have been very impressed by it. The soft start and variable speed features are very helpful while the depth stop is amazing. You can stop it at any depth and pretty easily change to another depth with a built in ruler. One of the only problems I have found so far is that the line of sight can be bad when the router is down and unless you have good lighting, it is hard to see the bit to line things up sometimes. Another of the minor problems is that it is a bit heavy, but this only gets in the way when putting it into a router table, which you do not need to remove from the table to remove the bit. In another review, the person said that the router did not have attachments, but Black and Decker now makes the edge guide that works really well with the router. All in all, this is a great router and a great price for everything you get.

It seems that Dewalt has made some improvements internally to this gun. I use it on a regular basis and feel I have got my dollars worth. It feels good in the hand and I have NEVER had a Jam. The only negative was when I used ring shank nails. I did have to fiddle with the dept adjustment a few times prior to getting it right. No leaks at all. Heck and I was in the mood to rip into something today. This is a very good gun for the price range. It's great that Bostitch is now offering a 7 year limited warranty on there nailers but I can't see paying double when this Dewalt gets the job done. I may just make a special request at the Dewalt web site to see what if any changes they have made since these other older reviews. In my experience Dewalt customer service will get back to you within 24 hours unless you email early and then you may just get a reply the same day depending on the matter. My name is Scott and I am a tool addict. Thanks for letting me share.

I have used this gun for almost two years. Has worked good for me so far. It nails off shear panel as fast as I can go, and has good grips on the nose for toe nailing. The only draw back I have experienced is that it jambs more frequently than the older Hitachis (I have not used one of the newer ones yet). For the money this is a good nail gun, but when I replace it I will buy a Hitachi.

I am a novice, I am bulding a 1700 sq ft addition. I have been using this gun for several days framing up some walls. The gun has jammed a couple of times, but all I had to do was "rack the action" and if fired just fine. I did notice that it will stop firing if there is only about 2 nails left in the magazine. I just make sure that I refill it when I notice it getting low. I dont know why this gun got so many poor reviews. When I used to work construction the guns we had "bostich" were always jamming, and missfiring. I am really pleased with this gun!!!

Assembly was easy but the spring-loaded anchoring pins that pop into the holes in the sleeves of the handle support were faulty. This is a dangerous flaw as the security of the handle in maneuvering the saw is essential. I have to attempt to file the inside "chads"(!) of the holes to allow the pins to more fully penetrate the hole and be secure. Otherwise seems fine.

Although this thing was designed to be used with the Dewalt saw, I called Trojan to inquire if it could be used with the Bosch 4000 saw. They assured me that all I would need to do is cut a plywood base to fit the Bosch. That's easy, so I bought it. I like the Trojan instead of the Rousseau Mobile Max mainly because it costs about 25% less, but it also does not interfere with the left side support. The included directions made wheel assembly sound simple enough, but I think it would result in a sloppy fit. The design allows a lot of play between the end caps, wheel bearings, and washers. I would expect one of the wheel bearings in the cheap wheels to pop out within a short time, leaving you with a "flat tire". While attempting to assemble the wheels, I found the OEM axle supplied with my stand had an outer diameter larger (.510") than the inner diameter (.499") of the wheel bearings. Maybe they double chromed it or something. Although it is close, when I tried to slide one of the wheels onto that axle, it would not budge. With a little more persuasion the wheel bearing popped out of the wheel. I don't think the wheels can be installed onto that axle without damaging something. That ticked me off for a while, but I moved on. I mounting my Bosch saw to the stand by cutting a custom base from .75" plywood. It looks like a square donut to allow saw dust to fall out. I mounted the saw to the new base with .25" x 1.75" bolts and t-nuts to keep it all flat. I mounted the base to the stand with .375" x .75" bolts and t-nuts. I bought a 36" piece of .5" o.d. steel rod to replace the axle. The base of the Bosch is larger than the base of the Dewalt. For the wheels to clear the saw base, I needed about another inch between the stand and each wheel - so the OEM axle would actually have been about 1.5" too short for me even if it had been the right diameter. To take up the space, keep the assembly tight and help support the wheel bearings, I used two .5" i.d. x .5" thick collars with set screws and two washers between the stand and each wheel. I cut the axle down with my angle grinder fixed in a jig. I used another .5" set collar on the outside of each wheel. Despite the extra work and $15 of parts, I'm now really happy with the set up. I was prepared to have to do some extra fitting to make it work and I have proven that you can use the Trojan Saw Caddy with the Bosch 4000 saw. The stand and wheels are now solid and it is easy to take down and move. I expect this to last for a long time.

As soon as I saw a picture of the SC-744, I knew it was exactly what I needed - my shop is essentially an 8x16 tool shed. I received the stand a little before Christmas and had it unpacked and attached to the saw in about 10 minutes. I found the stand to be a well-considered design, very well made and quite stable when upright or on the wheels - when I paid attention to the principles of leverage. Everything fit together right out of the box except for the second set of legs that I tried. They didn't slide smoothly into their sockets, as did the first. A quick swap of leg sets front-to-back and they slipped right in.

In the last six weeks, the SC-744 has allowed me to move my saw from the shop to the back patio and to the carport with no trouble at all. Even up, over and down the 3 steps from the shop door to the carport was no problem.

If you need to make a "portable" DeWalt 744 truly "mobile", this stand would be your best choice.

I have two tools (drill & screwdriver) that use this battery system. I have 2 battery chargers (one with each tool) and three batteries. The tools work fine - when the batteries work. However both chargers are useless (one after only one battery recharge). Not sure about the batteries - no working charger to test with.

Based upon this limited sample, and comments by others, I would suggest staying away from Black and Decker Fire Storm systems

The Black and Decker website claims these batteries will recharge 300 or 500 times (depending on which page you view...). My drill with 2 batteries is about 5 years old, and I would say I have recharged the batteries no more than 15-20 times. They are now vitually useless. They will recharge, but in 3-5 days on the shelf they are completely dead. As others have mentioned, I can go buy a new drill with 2 batteries and accessories for [...], or pay [...] for 2 new batteries. Guess which I will do...

I love this cordless tool set, it does everything. I realy need the jigsaw tip right now but the batteries both willl not take a charge. Did these new bateries solve the problem? No, it appears the charger has died. Now I'll order a charger and will have 4 batteries. That'll keep it going for a while.