Over at Lowes, they have a new bundle that features a Dewalt 20V Max brushless drill and impact driver combo kit, and a rotomolded cooler.
Forgive me for being a little judgemental, but I don’t think this is a good deal. Well, maybe it is, let’s take a look.
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It starts off with the DCK277C2 brushless drill and impact driver kit. The drill is the seasonal DCD777 compact brushless drill, while the impact is a seasonal single-speed DCF787 model that came out last Fall.
I had recently been confused into thinking the impact to be the DCF887, which is Dewalt’s latest and greatest multi-speed impact driver, but it’s not. The DCF787 seems to be a special entry-level model solely intended to be bundled with the DCD777.
The DCK277C kit will be on sale at Lowes for $159. It’s currently $176-180 at Amazon, and I’m willing to guess that it’ll be on sale there too.
This special bundle will be on sale for $229 starting around Black Friday.
The rotomolded cooler is priced higher than the $70 price difference between the tool combo kit and this special bundle.
It just seems to me that the bundle should cost less. Or that maybe the cooler should be bundled with a better brushless tool kit.
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If you’re buying this set, with its entry-level tools and lower capacity battery packs (I think it comes with 1.5Ah packs and not the usual 2.0Ah batteries that come with Dewalt brushless tool kits), is it because you have modest needs, or because you’re on a tight budget?
My instinct would be to spend less money and get better tools. I wouldn’t have a fancy yellow cooler, but that’s okay.
I feel lukewarm about these imported Dewalt coolers. If the kit instead included the Dewalt USA-made cooler that the product manager said they were trying to get built, I’d be a bit more excited.
But spending over $200 on an entry-level cordless drill and impact driver combo kit and an imported cooler? It just doesn’t seem like a good deal to me.
The same brushless kit will be on sale at Home Depot in a different bundle, one with a ToughSystem tool case, and it’ll be priced at $179 starting around Black Friday. That seems like a better deal.
I figured this might be an interesting discussion to have. So what do you think? Is this deal hot or cold?
Would you buy this bundle? How would you feel if you received it for the holidays?
Price: $249, $229 for Black Friday
Buy Now(via Lowes)
If you ask me, if I needed a new compact brushless drill and a compact brushless impact driver on a budget, I’d step up to Milwaukee’s individual 1-battery brushless drill and impact driver kits, which will drop to $99 around Black Friday. So that would be $200 for both kits.
The $30 left in my wallet wouldn’t pay for a rotomolded cooler, but could pay for a soft cooler and some ice packs. Or I’d put a cooler on my wishlist and spend that $30 on some new hand tools or power tool accessories.
fred
Probably aimed at gift-givers – rather than tool users.
The yeti
Its actually sort of brilliant. Everybody brings a lunch. . This is just another way for dewalt to plaster their brand name on yet another product . A very large and visible product at that . Im assuming a coffee maker is in the works somewhere
fred
How about a Dewalt microwave – maybe the joke will become reality:
https://discuss.toolguyd.com/t/flexvolt-microwave/1006
The yeti
Heck that microwave would be handy for truckers and rig hands . Be able to have a hot lunch on a cold day with no power . Moving rigs there is a lot going on. A lot of hungry men . No power . I can actually see the microwave selling
Cr8on
We sub to an electrician that brings a microwave to the job site every day, and he’s a DeWalt user…. Hed’ed be an owner for sure!
Mahalo
With FlexVolt, the sky is the limit! hahaha
SiSiX
You know, as crazy as it sounds, given how microwaves are actually used (generally short-ish on times, infrequent usage) I could actually see a market for one.
10 1-minute runs is 10 more hot sandwiches than you had before. Heck, those microwaves in the gas station usually take 45 secs to get a sandwich warm/hot and I believe they’re only 1000w units.
I can see a shop that’s invested in DeWalt Flexvot batteries having a couple of spare batteries that could be used daily for such a use.
dcustar
I hope a battery-operated coffee maker is in the works, whether it is made by Dewalt, Ryobi, Ridgid, or Milwaukee. The only one out (by Makita) is in the battery platform in which I have no investment.
JMG
If someone were to give this to me for Christmas, I would probably thank them very much, and then look around for someone else who might really need it and pass it on. My relatives have taken to just buying me alcohol for the holidays, as they have given up on trying to guess what I might already have…
I might keep the cooler though. 😉
I do have a bit of sticker shock about the larger size coolers Dewalt is beginning to offer. I saw several of them on Acme Tool’s site and about choked on the $349 price tag on the largest unit. I wish I could get a real explanation as to why an item like that would command a price much higher than many cordless tools drag down. One that might ease the sticker shock a bit.
OhioHead
Price out an Engel, Pelican, Cabela’s (Yeti) rotomold cooler, they are pricey but work very well. I have an Engel 35qt, I need a 45/55 for a bit more storage.
A coffee maker or microwave using an 20v or Flexvolt battery would sell for reasons listed previously.
Bob
Haha, a microwave wold drain a battery in like 1 minute. Scavengers use microwave transformers to make welding machines, Fun to think about though.
The yeti
Cool
fred
Say they could use two 9Ah batteries.
Dewalt says their DCB609’s can deliver180 Watt-hrs each.
So two batteries at 360 Watt hours – should be able to power a compact microwave for something like 1/2 hour of run time
Rick
Hi, we make the coolers. I can tell you that these coolers, including the ones included with the kit, are premium roto-molded coolers (the same process used to make Yeti coolers). What this means is that each cooler is rotationally molded rather than blow molded. The difference is time and strength. A blow molded cooler is molded in about 1 min (Igloo coolers are an example). Plastic is extruded into a mold, air pressure is applied and internal water lines are used to cool the plastic quickly which causes it to solidify. On rotationally molded coolers we produce 10-15 units per day per tool running 24 hours. The mold is opened, resin is poured into the mold top replaced and into an oven where it is slowly heated and the mold rotated. When it comes out of the oven it continues rotating but cools from ambient air. This slow heat up and cool down causes the shell of the cooler to be very strong and not brittle. Imagining the same process and tool hardening. We use a premium polyurethane foam to insulate and we take special steps to ensure it does not delaminate when in extreme heat, as well as certain procedures to optimize foam density for consistent R value. Which also reminds me that these coolers should be called temperature maintainers. If you dump a bag of ice into a hot cooler it will melt ice very effectively. But if you want to optimize ice retention, you need to prechill. As for the lunchbox, it is a very solid roto molded cooler that will keep your food and drinks cold while lasting a long time on the jobsite.
Stuart
Are you talking about the ones made in China, or upcoming ones made in USA?
Maitai
I don’t buy yellow power tools, I like good ones…I buy teal colored power tools instead.
James R.
One of the reasons I enjoy Toolguyd and it’s comment section is the relatively high level of maturity that flows. People have personal preferences, share their experiences and views on things.
Rarely does anyone have to sling insults towards one brand, or another based on their personal opinions.
Let’s stop with the juvenile insults, can we?
fred
Here here!
I’ve commented before expressing my surprise about how passionate some folks get about their tools – or a brand that they particularly like. Sometimes this gets to the point of exclusivity and narrow-mindedness. That sort of thinking is hardly ever (probably never) in anyone’s own best interest.
Having bought a lot of Makita (teal as Maitai calls them) for a business, I never grew so attached to them (they were tools after all) to exclude consideration of other brands. Weighing the evidence, some folks must like yellow (Dewalt) power tools to have made them the best selling brand – and that goes for red (Milwaukee) as well since they seem to occupy the #2 selling slot.
What can be more constructive, is to recognize that personal experiences – based on our own proclivities, nature of our business, style of working and human factors – may also be based on one-off tools – not the entire production run of a company. IMO, sharing those experiences – putting them in context along with cogent observations and recommendations for improvement would be much more valuable to ToolGuyd readers than comments that just bash one brand in favor of another.
Paul
It’s not which one is best – It’s which one is best for you!
Paul
There are so many DeWalt kits out there it’s almost impossible to keep them all straight. I just purchased the DEWALT 20V MAX XR Brushless Lithium Ion Compact Drill/Driver and Impact Driver Combo Kit, Mfr # DCK283D2 at Farm & Fleet for $229 and I’m very happy with that price.
This kit includes the DCD791 – 20V MAX Compact Brushless Drill/Driver, 1 DCF887 20V MAX 3-speed, Compact Brushless 1/4-in Impact Driver, 2 Batteries, Charger, and a really nice zippered bag.
This is my first non-Craftsman set in quite a while and I really like the build quality of the drill and driver. It’s hard getting used to the automatic bit lock on the impact driver but that’s not a problem at all!
James R.
This is the kit I’ve been eyeing since last Christmas. It just keeps eluding my grasp!!
JoeM
Honestly, it is beginning to bug me that the “Entry Level” Drill is sold at all. Now it has an Impact Driver sibling? Based on their sheer presence in the kit makes this a “Never Buy” for me. I wouldn’t buy it for myself, or my worst, most hated enemy, as the saying goes.
Am I the only one who thinks these “Special Packages” should have the Compact Hammerdrill and Basic Multi-Speed Impact together for a reduced price, rather than a cheaper, throw-away model set with bonus feature for barely more than they’re worth? Seriously. The Holiday Sales are THE time to clear stock on your best stuff, not the time to drop self-made knock-offs all over the shelves where your full priced tools should be.
I like the cooler. Would be nice if it had Tough System or TSTAK attachments though. Toss your cold drinks and a lunch in the stack with your tools while dragging your tools to the workspace. Easy stuff. Not to mention it’s DeWALT Yellow, rather than TSTAK/Tough System Black. You’ll never mistake which one has cold water waiting for you, or you and the crew, on a hot day. Hydration is ALWAYS important, so why not embrace that, and make the Cooler a necessary part of everyone’s tool kit? It only takes a few minor features added to incentivize this. PLUS it has real health value for anyone working with tools.
vinny
Dewalt makes coolers but won’t make a 20v router. At least my lunch will stay cool.
dcustar
How about a combo of a drill, circular saw, and oscillating multitool in a rotomold cooler for $250? Large batteries, 3.0 or 4.0 mah, but I can’t remember which. A local pawn shop has one of those in new packaging.