DeWALT DCD996 Review

Today I'm going to introduce you to the DeWALT DCD996P2. It's a brand new hammer drill out by DeWALT. I will give you a detailed description of the main product features and will tell you about my practical experience of using it. Hope this will help you to decide if this product is worth purchasing.

The drill looks great. It has a pleasant design combined with good usability. As any other DeWALT product, it is yellow and black. The handle and top back part are rubberized. All the details and parts look solid expensive. Professional quality. It's a premium tool and when you hold it you see that it's made with attention to details.

The big thing about this hammer drill is that it provides 38 500 blows per minute! It's a very good result. If you compare that to the Milwaukee 2704 which does 32 000 blows per minute you'll see that the new Dewalt really packs a punch when drilling in concrete, masonry, and similar stuff.

The new DCD996 has the same 2000 RPM as the previous model DCD995. The biggest upgrade though is in torque. You can see that the new model has 820 UWO (Units Watts Out ) versus the older model's 650 UWO. So it has more power and this allows it to be a full replacement of a corded drill. There are 3-power modes:

• Speed 1: 0 to 450 RPM and as your higher torque setting for the largest holes
• Speed 2: 0 to 1300 RPM which is for medium sized holes and medium tasks
• Speed 3: 0 to 2000 RPM which is the maximum possible value. This sped is perfect for smaller holes like 3/4 inch holes.

A new thing for this tool is a metal chuck called a nitro-carburized metal ratcheting chucks. The nitro-carburized refers to a case hardening process. It makes the nose of the tool harder and more durable. The Chuck also features carbide inserts.

The drill has 11-speed clutch, drill mode, and a hammer mode. Setting 1 is for the lightest duty jobs like drilling in small screws. Setting 11 eleven is almost like the drill setting.

A very cool thing is that the drill can work with both 20 and 60-volt batteries. If you want the tool to be lighter you can use 2 AMP Hour battery, or you can take 6 APP Hour battery for a longer lifetime and more power. Of course, larger battery will increase the weight. So as you see the is the option for customization. You can use the battery you need.

• Single drill: 3 pounds 7.3 ounces
• With 2 AMP Hour battery: 4 pounds 3.75 ounces
• With 6 AMP Hour battery: 5 pounds 12.65 ounces

LED

The drill has a free mode LED. Mode one stays on for 20 seconds after you depressing the trigger. Mode 2 is a little brighter than mode 1. Mode 3 is the lightest one among the 3 available. DeWALT calls it Spotlight mode. This light stays on for 2o minutes. 

Handle

The package includes 360-degree side handle. If you are right-handed you will most likely prefer it to be on the right side, but you can also place it on the left side or at any angle. 

Practice

Now let's see how it works in practice. I tried to make some holes with different settings and the drill works great. It has a lot of torque and a lot of power so drilling wood is not a problem for it.

Drilling concrete is also easy with speed 3 and hammer setting on. This is a really powerful tool in its class. You can feel it's power when you are working.

All the torque settings are also great. Setting 2 is perfect for small screws. Setting 7 is good for long 2-inch deck screws. I'm really impressed with how it works.

DeWALT DCD996 Purchasing Options

When purchasing DeWALT DCD996 you have several options: to buy a bare tool, a drill with two batteries, or a special impact combo kit. Here is a comparison of these options:

Bare Tool	(1) Hammerdrill (1) Belt Hooks, 360 Degree Side Handle As you see this is the cheapest option. But you should remember that it comes without batteries. If you don't have any DeWALT batteries you should go with another option.
Bare Tool + Battery Pack	(1) Hammerdrill (2) Premium XR 5.0Ah Lithium Ion battery (1) Belt Hooks, 360 Degree Side Handle This is a combination of the bare tool and DEWALT DCB205-2 20V MAX XR 5.0Ah Lithium Ion Battery pack. Amazon will offer you this option but I don't recommend to buy this. Why? Because you can get a much better deal.
Kit	(1) Hammerdrill (2) DCB205 - 20V MAX* XR High Capacity Li-Ion Batteries (5.0Ah), (1) Charger, (1) Belt Hook, 360° side handle, Kitbox In my opinion, this is a better option than two above. You will get a battery charger and two batteries. But it is still not the best option.
Impact Combo Kit	(1) Hammerdrill (1) DCF887 20V MAX* XR 1/4" Impact Driver, (1) DCB203 20V MAX* XR 2.0AH Lithium-Ion Battery, (1) DCB606 20V / 60V MAX* Flexvolt 6.0AH/2.0AH Lithium-Ion Battery, (1) DCB118 20V / 60V MAX* Fan-Cooled Rapid Charger, (2) Belt Hooks, 360 Degree Side Handle, Contractor Bag. This combo kit is the winner in my opinion. It has everything you may need. Many of you may think that the combo kit is much more expensive than other options, but it is not! I recommend visiting Amazon and compare prices there. It is a little bit more expensive than the previous option, but you receive much more for the money. I absolutely recommend to buy this combo kit. It has many positive reviews and many people are absolutely satisfied with it.

Thank you for reading this review. DeWALT DCD996 is a really amazing tool every man must have in his garage. If you are looking for a good bithdday or Christmas present this is what every man will deffinitely like.