DeWalt’s New 9-Tool Cordless Combo Kits
By Chuck Cage
The phrase “9-piece” generally brings visions of fried chicken to our minds — not cordless tools. But DeWalt seems determined to give you the ‘whole hog” with their two new incredibly-complete 9-piece 18V XRP cordless combo kits.
The first kit — the DC9PAKRA — contains:
- the DC925 hammerdrill
- the DC390 circular saw
- the DC385 reciprocating saw
- the DW960 right angle drill
- the DC410 cut-off tool
- the DCW919 flexible floodlight
- the DC330 variable speed jig saw
- the DW059 impact wrench
- and the DC550 cut-out tool
The second kit — the DC9PAKIA — includes:
- the DC925 hammerdrill
- the DC390 circular saw
- the DC385 reciprocating saw
- the DW056 impact driver
- the DC410 cut-off tool
- the DW919 flexible floodlight
- the DC330 variable speed jig saw
- the DW059 impact wrench
- and the DC550 cut-out tool
So, in the -RA kit, you get a right-angle drill and in the -IA kit you get an impact driver — definitely an interesting difference. Either way, you get two big “contractor bags” to carry the tools in along with two 18V XRP batteries, a 1-hour charger, and lots of blades and small accessories.
The DC9PAKRA starts around $975 on the street, while the DC9PAKIA is a tad more expensive starting at close to $1000. (Careful shopping puts them in the same range, essentially.) This is just about as close as it gets to one-stop-shop for 18V cordless tools.
One concern, though. The lithium-ion revolution that started earlier this year at the top end (28-36V) and bottom end (10.8V) of the voltage range is quickly pushing toward the middle. We expect to see more and more li-ion tools until eventually they’re the market standard, so buying into older technology this heavily might not pay off — unless you’re using them so heavily that you’ll be buying more next year.
The DC9PAKRA [DeWalt]
The DC9PAKIA [DeWalt]
Street Pricing (DC9PAKRA) [Froogle]
Street Pricing (DC9PAKIA) [Froogle]
August 13th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I wonder about the lifetime of the new Lion batterys. Remember the iPod? It has Lion, but after ~100 charges, the batteries go flat. I think that they have a shorter lifetime then NiCad or NiMh
August 14th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Does Dewalt make retrofit Lion battery packs for this line? Seems like a good compromise…
August 14th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
DeWalt makes great tools and the 18v XRP are among the best. This kit is a bit larger and pricier then I would pay personally but it does have a majority of the tools I would need for most jobs. Interesting comments on the LIon batteries. Is DeWalt trying to dump their old XRP products in favor Iion?
September 17th, 2006 at 2:05 am
So it appears that the difference between the DW056 impact driver and the DW059 impact wrench is the chuck and the torque. I can see using the wrench with some 1/2″ impact sockets, but the driver with its 1/4″ hex collet just doesn’t strike me as a big deal. I’d gladly trade the driver for the right-angle drill, but trading the wrench seems like a bad idea. Poor kit design.
That being said, I have no concerns about the 18v XRP batteries. They’re NiCd, which performs extremely well in the high-drain powertool applications, and usually exhibits longer cycle life than lithium-ion batteries. They’re also more tolerant of temperature extremes, something to consider if you ever leave your tools in the truck during winter.
It looks like they make quite a variety of tools in the XRP line, including a fluorescent worklight that beats the crap out of the incandescent floodlight above, and a wet/dry vacuum looks like it’d eat your Dustbuster for breakfast. Unfortunately, no weedwacker, hedge trimmer, or leaf blower. I’d really like to settle into a single heavy-duty battery standard for everything portable. (With maybe a Skil ixo2 as a derringer…)
April 18th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Just got the first set with the impact driver. Quality is a bit hit or miss. Fit and finish left some things to be desired. Very powerful drill though. Reciprocating saw is nice.
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 am
Eric
Thanks for sharing. I agree and would add that th