Side by Side Comparison of: DEWALT vs Black & Decker

I purchased this drill as a gift for my husband back in 2012 and he was very excited to be surprised with a powerful drill to use for household projects.He had a cheaper brand previously that he used for projects but it never had enough power and jobs took much longer than they do now. We have owned this drill for 5 years now and it has held up extremely well. It certainly lives up to the DeWalt name and I highly recommend it. This thing has helped us hang mini blinds throughout our home, changed out all of the screws in our doors, hung countless wall hangings, and the list goes on.I love that this drill has so many additional add-on components you can also purchase to turn the drill into an electric saw, etc.

Historically, I have loved DeWalt tools. They are a cut above, and seem to last forever. My wife was strapped for my gift one Christmas, and Lowes was happy to guide her to the famous, yellow shop radio that has a DeWalt charger. When time came to get a new drill I chose this one because my prize radio charger has an 18 volt max. So Ladies, take heed and buy your man an 18 volt DeWalt tool. Oh, by the way, this is a great drill!

I love, love, LOVE my new DeWalt DC970K-2 drill!! After the first full charge three weeks ago, I began using the drill around the house I moved into. You know: mounting towel rings, fixing odds and ends, putting up various racks and rings to hang things on, etc., etc. I have been constantly switching out drill bits with Phillips head screwdriver bits. My DeWalt behaves like a true work horse, keeping up with the pace and loving every minute of it! And I am still using the battery from the first charge!

I needed to replace the batteries in my old Dewalt drill and ran across this deal. New drill + 2 batteries for a just a few dollars more than batteries alone would have been. SOOO glad I went for it! Can't tell you how handy it is not have to switch back and forth between drilling and driving tools when using only one drill! And of course, this is a great drill. After using it for a few months, getting it dirty and a bit scraped, I can't tell which of my 2 is the "new" drill and which is the "old" one without looking closely--which I see as a testament to the durability of Dewalt drills, since the old one is over 10 years old. The new batteries are smaller and lighter weight than the oldies, which is nice, and they're totally interchangeable with the old ones in the tools.

We need a little more battery life but work great. Great tools

Great quality, the battery stays charged for a long time. I bought this as my starter drill and I could not be happier. Comes with a variety of setting and easy can add any drill bit or screw bit. I can't think of a job in the home that I needed a higher (professional) grade drill.

Good drill, does a decent job drilling wood, plastic, thin metal. Can kind of handle concrete if you have the right bits. Like that the charge on the drill lasts for a long time between charges. Nice small lightweight portable drill.Do be careful ordering on Amazon though, the latest offering listed on Amazon that seemingly matched what I originally ordered shipped me newer model BDCD8C instead of LDX172, a smaller lighter 8V max lower RPM drill with micro USB based charger. I like the micro USB design, be cool if they can stay with that for the same type of power needed for the LDX172. This newer model seems to have less settings as well on the drill. Return it if you want the LDX172 but got the BDCD8C, or try and see how it works for you otherwise. I kept mine since I just wanted a spare, and think BDCD8C may be fine for my everyday needs (we'll see, I haven't really used it yet).

The drill works fine and I had the opportunity to test customer service at Amazon, UPS and Black and Decker. The product arrived a day late (thanks UPS) after I paid extra for next day delivery; Amazon made me whole and gave me a $10 coupon. UPS was its usual disaster here; did not deliver on time; despite my having a notation on my account that I did not require a signature, they refused to leave it; then delivered it to "...a local store..." (any chance you might tell me which one UPS?); I had to pick it up. I have asked Amazon never to use UPS when there is an alternative. Now...the drill. Light, easy to use, enough power for a little drill and driver. However, it would not fully charge - the light kept flashing. I had a Chat session with Black and Decker customer support; they asked for a copy of the invoice; forwarded them Amamzon's confirmation; "...Keep the old one (it works with a less than perfect battery); and a new one is coming in 3-5 days..." Not bad...except for the dreaded UPS. They will have to stop paying their drivers by the number of drops; if they get behind, they make excuses and dump them at a store. What a bucketshop.

I like to think of myself as a master carpenter but I am most likely wrong. Nevertheless, for hanging things in and around my apartment and assembling IKEA furniture, this drill can't be beat.The power is more than adequate to drill pilot holes in drywall to attach drywall anchors. I have also used it to drill pilot holes in real wood to screw legs onto tables. This drill will also help you breeze through assembling most furniture. The speed settings are nice to avoid stripping your screws or over screwing your stuff.Complaints are most certainly the battery life. It is abysmal. On a full charge you will probably get like 2-3 hours of basic use out of the thing. Obviously, that starts to decrease rapidly if you are doing some heavy drilling or trying to like build a home. But if that is your use case for this drill, you clearly have no idea what you are doing on this page anyways. For most, assembling tasks the battery life is plenty. If you remember to charge it after every use then you never realize how bad the battery life is which is why I gave it a five.For the price, can't beat it.

My Sears Craftsman 9 volt cordless drill died after 20 years. The battery was discontinued even from Sears web site. Being disabled I had lots of time to surf the web. This 7.2 volt seemed heavy enough for my DIY work, and the low cost gave cause to worry if it was a keeper. VOILA...it not only exceeds my expectation, it is a mechanical genous. First you don't remove the battery, simply plug the charging cord into the handle each night to re-charge. It held up three days on my first project. Second the dial the velocity barrel has a photo of of each size screw, plus drill & screw settings. I especially like the built-in battery, much lighter than the add-on batteries.....easy grip, weight & balance. I have already recommended it to my contractor....I love it !

I was absolutely shocked by how good this cheap little drill is. I bought it because of the price alone to have something I can leave permanently in our motorhome for all those jobs that come up. I would have been satisfied with something 1/4 as good.The power is excellent for simple around-the-house jobs, the screwdriver bit storage is a nice touch (I'm always losing the screwdriver bit on my main drill), the base is nice so it stands up, and it's small so it doesn't take up a ton of space. No complaints at all.

I loved this product it is really great. I bought it for my boyfriend and I so we could get some small projects done. It is perfect for small projects. I wanted to let everyone know that is complaining on how it doesn't work well with big projects is beacause that is the one you bought. There are other ones on this site that are more expensive. the heavier and more expensive the more give and take you'll have with the product. That means heavier than a 7.2 voltage if your working with heavy wood. And the reason the drill bit is loose is to tell you it not in all the way. you should always check drilling in mid air to make sure it doesn't move. All drills are made this way otherwise you can break the drill bit. This product ia truly good if you understand it.

My Hubby seems to like his new Tool by DEWALT. he needed to purchase a new drill/driver quickly because his went out right in the middle of a project so I got him this one. He said it has enough power for all of his around the house needs.*I paid FULL PRICE for this item and I am under no obligation to leave a review, positive or negative* I hope you found this information helpful*

I'm a little disappointed because I thought this had a light when you push the trigger and that the bit would be magnetic, but both of these are things I got confused about. They are not included in this item, but they are on other models.So far, it works great and charges fast. The bag is perfect, so much better than trying to fit everything perfectly into those clunky plastic cases

Excellent, light weight and powerful. We use these in a production environment and haven't smoked one yet. Beware, the product picture shows a far better charger than what you get. Instead of the conditioning charger, you get the old fashioned 1 hour charger.UPDATE! The variable speed trigger switch is cheaply made. A heavy load on the drill will burn the switch and convert it to an ON/OFF switch, or worse. Still a great drill for normal usage.Update2! Attached photo shows the new switch verses the XRP switch. Yes, the meaty XRP switch will fit into your new drill after you burn out your wimpy switch.

This is a great drill! Dewalt always meet my expectations. The one negative thing about this order has nothing to do with the drill itself. The listing says this comes with a "double ended screwdriver bit and kit box" but it didn't. The list on the actual packaging of what's included doesn't list the drill bit.

I've actually used this drill a lot lately making winter shelters for the feral community cats where I work (all have been trapped, neutered, and returned). I haven't even had to recharge the battery after the initial charge. The only thing I will say is that it gets really heavy for me (crazy-ish cat lady) after a couple hours of drilling holes and driving screws into plywood. I also have a corded DeWalt which is lighter, but it's easier to work without having to drag an extension cord.

I don't do a whole lot of DIY, so I didn't need a $300 drill. After a little research and comparison shopping, I went with this Dewalt. Have used it once so far and am very pleased. It's small & lightweight, but powerful. This one comes with a soft carrying case/bag. I saw some other vendors (Sears) had the same drill with the hardshell case; but it was a little more expensive and not worth it to me. This kit does NOT come with a standard screwdriver drill bit, but there is a spot at the base of the drill to hold one. I had one from my old drill, but it would be nice if they included one in the kit.

A perfectly handy tool if you just wanna hang pictures on the wall. Don't expect this to screw through hard materials though. The motor doesn't have very strong torque.

If you're looking for small driver/drill to put light furniture together, get some holes for picture frame or small stuff around the house. The drill does its job!

It is not a super heavy duty drill. Don't expect to be doing heavy construction with this thing. HOWEVER, it is perfect for most in home installations and crafts. Its also really tiny, so it's easy for me to stick it in a drawer. You can use basically any drill bit with it, since the mouth is adjustable, so you can tighten or loosen it as much as you want. Also good is that it is wireless, so very convenient, and it can also drill in reverse.

Nice little drill. I've gotten through a good number of home-projects with this.I've used it to drill into my crawl-space for wiring jobs, and drill holes in metal a couple times.When the battery runs out, I always wish I could plug it into a wall-adapter to instantly start using it while the battery charges, but alas, it's not possible. (If Black & Decker is reading this, this is a cheap feature addition for your next version of the product!)

I haven't tried using this on larger projects, but for the honey-do-list around the house, this thing does the trick. I enjoy how light it is, without feeling cheap. I haven't really noticed a difference in the torque settings (currently using 1 for my projects around the house), but moving it up to drill, I don't really notice a difference.I will say that you should be careful, as the other users have mentioned, about the speed. Since it goes at 1 speed, you should make sure that the bit is in the screw securely. I practiced on items that weren't affixed to the wall to get used to the drill.Reason for 4 stars is that the flat head does not do well on screws that have a wider hole. I was torn between getting a used Dewalt at the pawn shop for about double the price, but glad I got this. My wife can use it fairly easily and has been a great help on checking off things on my to-do list.

its pretty good for odd jobs. drills very well and tightens the screws pretty well. nto very heavy and feels balanced.battery does not last very long when it is used. so it will drill few holes and screw in few screws but it drains the battery pretty fast. unused it lasts pretty well but in use it does not. Its not a problem as long as the jobs are not too many. remember it is for light home use only.the battery takes ages to charge. almost overnight. i was hoping to use it while it is charged (while it was fully drained) and it works only on battery and does not draw power from wall to run. Thus, one needs some battery juice to work.

It worked well...while it worked. My husband received this on Father's Day and used it for several projects around the house and in the man cave. On Tuesday of this week (only 2.5 weeks after receiving it), he showed me how it's sparking when in use. I'm definitely contacting the company about getting a replacement.Overall, the power is there, but the longevity isn't. Very disappointed.

The drill is great but the batteries with this set drain very quickly. I would recommend choosing the DeWalt kit with more amp hours

Dewalt is a good brand. This is hard to use because it's heavy. I'm usually ok with heavy products, but this is awkward and heavier than it should be.

not rating this on performance yet, but it is much heavier than expected. It is stated that it is lightweight design at 5.2 lbs, but it feels like that without the battery. Drill feels very heavy in hand

I can use it but there are issues. First of all, when I am drilling through wood, quite often the drill bit slips out. I do my best to tighten it, but too often I end up with a bit in the wood and drill in hand. I then have to try to fit the drill back over the bit then tighten the drill around the bit (usually at an awkward position). THis is quite annoying. Other times, I guess I exerted enough strength to get the drill bit IN the drill and I can actually drill.Another issue: Sometimes, although not always, even with my weight behind it, pushing hard, I cannot seem to drill the hole I want and need into the wood of a project. Maybe this is supposed to be a super light-weight drill and what I need is a hammer-drill. I am kind of a hobby-DIYer so maybe I'm just using the wrong tool for the job. On the other hand, it can drill for white awhile before it needs the battery recharged or replaced with the second battery. Still, it was quite inexpensive and maybe I am getting what I paid for

Not too sure but I think the batteries don't hald as much of a charge as the Rigid drill I replaced. I've only done a couple of jobs and it seems the batteries do not last all that long before needing a recharge. They seem to recharge fairly quickly though. Overall seems powerful and no performance issues, Price was good for what you geet. The bag ought to be an inch or two bigger so you can put some bits and such in with the drill et al.

This will be sufficient for small jobs, but the battery charge does not last more than about 5 minutes of use.

This is a good little drill A decent value versus cost. There are only two drawbacks. First, I would prefer it if it were possible to control the pace of the drill bit. It appears that you can only operate the drill at full speed regardless of how little pressure you attempt to apply to the trigger. I am currently using it to twist wire for vaping which requires some finesse. This drill does not allow for a slower pace. Also, it seems like it takes a long while for it to fully charge (which can be frustrating). All in all, this is a good drill for smaller projects around the house.

This drill is very small and more like for pushing screws OUT of the wall rather then IN a wall. Yet maybe art projects. It is not a powerful drill, that's the DESIGN. What is MISSING for 5 stars is that (you can see in the SECOND picture of the product page) the drill screw driver set ATTACHED to the "foot" part is STICKING out, so each time I take it out of my tool bag I scratch my hand and potential bleed it. Damage in my skin!

I purchased this bad boy to unmount and then remount my tv which had hex bolts in the wall. It was successful for taking the hex bolts out, but failed to have the power to remount the bracket. The battery life also leaves a lot to be desired, but if you're looking for something simple to hang a picture ect ect this will do. I used it to put together some furniture successfully also, but the battery died halfway through. I'd recommend going one size up on the voltage.

This drill is great for certain uses.Great as a screwdriver--but only if you are using screws that fit the head provided (you get both Phillips and regular, in a double-ended head). For small or very large screw heads, you will need to get additional heads.Great as a drill--but only for softer woods, plastic, etc. In hard wood or metal the bit binds very easily and the drill won't turn it. The reason is that the keyless chuck makes it impossible to tighten down on the drill bit enough to get a tight clamping action on the bit, so the bit will not spin when it gets hot or encounters hard material. You have to drill very, very softly in this case; not as good as a normal drill with chuck key.Battery is powerful and lasts a long time without charging. Takes hours to recharge, so best to leave it overnight or most of the day.Lightweight and nice, comfortable grip.Sometimes the stand at the bottom gets in the way; I would prefer not to have this design feature.Bottom line: very good tool, but limited by the keyless chuck.

There are a lot of people out there saying that this isn't variable speed. They're right, it's not variable speed, but it's definitely variable power. There are 11 power levels (1-10 then for driving screws). Each should be used depending on the type of job you're doing. If you use a power that is too strong for the job you're doing then the power of the drill might break whatever you're working on.I'm new to drills, so it took me a while to realize that this was variable power --I had to break a light cover first.Overall, I really enjoy this drill. So why three stars? The drill, although very powerful, can only function at its full power for about 10 minutes, if that. I would say for drilling screws into cedar wood I could get about 6 - 8 screws in before I lost power. To make matters worse, it would take a full 24 hours to charge before I could use it on that power setting --which is the highest the drill has. This made projects that should have only lasted a could of hours last a couple of days. I'm sure you can understand my frustration.It must be noted that if you're only doing light work, this drill can charge decently in about an hour.All in all, I still think this is a good little drill. It is powerful to handle the heavy duty work, it just won't last long doing it.

Bought the exact same tool back in 2012 and I loved it. Loved it so much I just bought a second but things have changed since 2012. Technical details indicate it's made in the USA, but it's actually made in Mexico.Feels "cheap" when compared to the exact same tool purchased 5 years ago. Was supposed to come with a double sided bit, didn't get that either. Now comes with a "contractor bag" rather than the hard case that my first one came in, I expected that but the "contractor bag" is junk that I will be throwing away. When I opened the cardboard box the zipper was split open and after some effort I got it working but the teeth of the zipper are so poorly made you can literally pull on the sides of the bag and it pulls apart despite being zipped shut. Think of the cheapest zippered jacket with plastic teeth and you will have some idea how useful the bag is.Hopefully the tool itself proves useful, I would try it out but it didn't come with a bit so I'll have to go buy a set before I can use it. I have been buying and relying on Dewalt tools for about the last 10 years, based upon this purchase I don't think I'll ever buy one again.

Battery life is short, It will last only a couple of hours of screwing in drywall screws. It's also a real inconvenience when the drillis stored charged for a couple of days, then when you try to use it the battery is drained. Dewalt quality is not what it used to be.

After 2 years of using this for odd jobs around the house, the drill fizzled out. It worked well for a while, then it stopped providing much torque...then death. I was expecting a product that would last longer.

Batteries came defective and product returned.

This is a powerful drill compared to my old Ryobi rechargeable. I am quite happy with the performance of this tool. It plows a 3/8" bit through hardwood easily. Having it come with two batteries is a nice plus too.I did however run in to a couple of issues.The first thing that happened was I inadvertently switched speeds while the drill was still spinning and from then on the drive sounded different - not sure what happened. It still works fine and runs smoothly but the drive makes a slightly different sound. Though this was my doing, it does indicate to me a cheaply made gear drive mechanism.Something else was made obvious while I was doing some precision work. I was drilling for small hinges on a cabinet and noticed that the drill bit was wobbling. I had not noticed this before when using larger bits because it isn't as obvious. As it turns out, the chuck wobbles significantly enough that I had trouble holding the tip of a 5/64" bit on center to start a hole.I have requested a return/replacement on this drill because of the wobble. I have Googled the chuck wobble issue and found that other people have had the same problem with this drill. Unless I have more misfortune with my replacement, I will leave this review with five stars. All manufacturers have hiccups now and then - I'll give DeWalt a chance to sort this out. My advice to all is to check your chucks if you can check chucks and may all chuck checks check ok.*** UPDATE ***I received my replacement drill. The new one appears to be true and wobble free - as it should be. Ensuring they make a drill with a straight chuck would seem to be the most basic quality inspection on a drill. I guess they save a few yen by sending some out crooked. These are priced higher then many of the competitor's drills so they should be better quality. Since initially posting this review, I've found lately that DeWalt isn't afraid to put their name on sub standard power tools and hand tools. I purchased their screwdriver set a month ago and had to return it because they were already wearing out and two of the handles started slipping. Like many others, if it said DeWalt on the tool I automatically assumed it would be excellent quality. Not so anymore... This is unfortunate for the Dewalt name.I deducted two stars for lack of quality control and one star for ruining the DeWalt name for me.

Bought this in April 2013 so i wouldnt have to carry a drill to the job. I didn't use it for several months thanks to project delays. When I did put it to use, the drill was off center. Good luck trying to drill a clean hole with this. It's not happening. Compared to my Makita, the battery life is just sad. I wouldn't recommend this drill.

Doesn't have enough power to drill much, even after charging fully. I end up using my corded drill 95% of time, even when it's inconvenient, because this drill only gets very light drilling or screw driving jobs done.

Under-powered; won't even push a grabber screw through at 3/4 - inch dry board! The entire unit is smaller.The one which it replaced was very powerful for all household uses. Evidently this one has 1/2 the battery pack on the bottom of the handle.

I bought this because it was cheap and I don't do enough construction projects to need anything high end. Unfortunately the power on this drill is seriously lacking. We used it to screw large screws into drywall and it could barely accomplish the task. I wouldn't even attempt to use it for something more heavy duty like wall studs or other wood projects. As soon as I have a real project to tackle I will upgrade to something I can actually use. This was just pathetic!

Good for the price, but not a powerful drill.

The phelps bit stripped with one use. The battery life is not so great, it allowed me to remove 12 screws from chairs before it died.

Maybe it was the photo on the package of the woman drilling into the wall. Or maybe because it's a Black and Decker product and their stuff is generally good. But bottom line is, I was suckered into thinking this actually has 'oomph' enough to, i don't know, DRILL things.Inaccurate.Basically this thing is a heavier version of a children's toy. I tried to build a bookcase (which came with PRE-DRILLED holes), but it wasn't strong enough. I tried to drill into sheetrock to put up a shelf. Nope. I tried to poke a hole into the CARDBOARD backing of some cheap Ikea furniture and... nuthin. This thing just whirs around uselessly. In each case I was better off manually using a screwdriver.Save your money because it's basically an oversized paperweight that makes noise.

Disappointed; drill stopped working after three years of light use. It goes in reverse but not forward. The Dewalt drill I had before it lasted about twenty years. Replacement switch costs about as much as a new drill.

I purchased this product in Jan. 2017 and I just opened it up to use it on a home improvement project. I was surprised to find out that it did not work. The torque control on the tool was stuck and unable to move. It also could not remove or install any screws due to the chuck slipping continuously. I have other Dewalt tools and they have all worked fine except this one. I am requesting this tool be replaced.

The drill performs to my expectations, the batteries are old they do not hold a charge.Previous New batteries have 3x more life.Full charge these batteries only have 30 min of life. Very disappointing for New equipment.I have been a Dewalt user for years, these batteries are Not the same quality. Replacements would be welcomed.

Nice drill, but both batteries died, won't charge or hold any charge after the 2nd charge. Would of returned the lot except this was my 2nd drill for back up and did not notice until the third moth of use.

I will update this review after a few weeks of use; however, I did not receive all of the items listed in the product description. The description states: "Includes two batteries, one hour charger, double ended screwdriver bit and kit box. Contractor bag."There was no double-ended screwdriver and kit box included in the package I received. I may have received a returned drill as the package does not look like it was factory-sealed.Overall, very disappointed in this purchase.

Died after a few months. Gears completely shot.

Have had this drill since 2014. Used it sparingly as one would for hanging an item from time to time or screwing something together. Today, the battery was allowed to charge overnight and does not have the juice to do anything. Basically a dead item. Plugged in, it still does not have the juice to function. Just too weak of a product.

I got this for a few, simple home repairs, because I wanted a light, ready-to-use drill. The first time I used it with no issues, and it did the job well. I put it away when I was done. Then I tried to use it a few weeks later and the battery wouldn't charge. By then it was too late to return it, so I'd say this is a one-time-use waste of money.

Can't even drill into the stud with this. You're better off using your hands and a philips head. This would be suitable as a toy for a kids drilling into cardboard boxes maybe.

I purchased this Black & Decker LDX172C 7.2 volts Lithium-Iron Drill/Driver on March 22, 2015, at this present time, this baterry will not charged, however, as per the manual, it said to take it your local deal for assistance repair; and it was denied. This person refused to give his name.I lives in Panama, and thier is an black & decker representatived here how said that the will not horner this purchase because it was not aquared here in Panama, as the palocy manual said and I (quote) it has two years guarateed, please tell me what to do with said drill-driver.

Our previous power drill broke, so we seen this one on Amazon and decided to order it. Unfortunately was not a sturdy drill at all. Could work temporarily until I pick up a better one. One of those items you would of like to seen before you purchase and the purchase probably wouldn't have happened. Very small in size and no where near as powerful as other ones we have had. Was good price, so decided to pickup.

P.O.S.Good for about two dozen drills then dies. Doesn't charge quickly either. This isnt for actually working on a project but for hanging a few pics of ma and pa. I should've known by the toy size dimensions. Stay away from this one if you want a serious drill get a real one I took the cheap option and regret it. Waste of money, delays my project with recharging & waiting. Time wasted. F word.