Dewalt DCF887N-XE

Powerful, compact and durable, a very handy tool – I bought this impact driver as part of a five piece kit in June 2020, when I finally decided on DeWalt as the tool brand I would buy into, after some research and asking various friends. In hindsight I think I made the right decision, and I wish I’d taken the plunge into the DeWalt cordless tools sooner! I persisted with a mediocre corded Bosch… Read more

drill for my driving needs for far too long!

This is the first impact driver I’ve owned. I had used my friend's Makita impact driver a bunch of times, but for some reason I was dismissive of the need for such a tool when he suggested I get one. That was naive, because I’ve since found the impact driver to be an almost essential tool to have. They drive screws way more easily than my old Bosch drill. And they go a long way in overcoming the issue of a Phillips bit camming out of a Phillips screw. My old drill struggles to drive some of the longer 14g batten screws into hardwood, for example, but this impact driver has no problem. It also has no trouble driving 12g roofing screws into hardwood without pre-drilling. I’ve mainly used it with hardwood and it’s managed everything I’ve thrown at it.

I also have a cheaper DeWalt impact Driver which I got from a redemption, the DCF787N-XJ, and with 170 Nm of torque, it’s noticeably less powerful than this DCF887 with 205 Nm of torque. The DCF787 seems to start impacting much sooner than the DCF887, so I’d recommend this one over the cheaper one.

The three LED’s surrounding the hex holder of the drill are fully effective at lighting up the working space. It’s quite compact, so useful for driving screws in tight spaces. It’s lightweight, well balanced and comfortable to hold; it seems to fit my large hands perfectly - certainly a lot better than my Bosch drill which caused my hand to ache after a while.

Another feature I love is the chuck design, which contains a spring to eject the bit and enables me to change bits quickly and easily with only one hand.

I’d recommend using a smaller 18V battery with it, like the 4 Ah or 5 Ah, rather than the larger 18V/54V Flexvolt batteries, in order to save on weight. My kit only came with the larger 6 Ah batteries, and it made the drill a little unwieldy to use. The 4 or 5 Ah batteries are more than sufficient - they last so long that I basically forget about charging them. They would last me a week of heavy use, or weeks of light use.

I can’t think of any negatives with this driver, it ticks all the boxes for me.