DEWALT DCF887D2 vs DCF887M2 vs DCF895D2 vs DCF895M2 Review

Fasten it Faster with DeWalt Impact Driver Kits

You have the drill. Now get the impact driver. Why do we recommend having a driver? They are lighter and smaller than drills, and faster and more powerful for sinking fasteners. Let’s look at these four DeWalt driver kits so you can choose the best one for you.

DEWALT DCF887D2 20V MAX XR Li-ion 2.0 Ah Brushless 0.25″ 3-Speed Impact Driver Kit

If you’re a pro, don’t settle for less than a brushless motor. All the impact drivers in this review run off brushless motors. They are the best choice if you want durability, power, and efficiency. They last longer, don’t need maintenance, run cooler and quieter, and get more done on a single battery charge.

With that said, let’s look at the DCF887 impact driver that is featured in this kit as well as the next one below. It weighs just 2.65 pounds without the battery, and measures 5.3 inches back-to-front. (That’s a little bit shorter than the barrel on DeWalt’s DCF886.) Already you can see that it’s a lot lighter and smaller than a regular drill. But its size doesn’t dictate its power.

The brushless motor puts out an impressive 1825 inch-pounds of torque at speeds up to 3250rpm with 3600 impacts-per-minute. It has a 3-speed transmission and a variable-speed trigger for precision work. In fact, if you need serious precision work, put it in the first gear (0-1000rpm) and take it slow with torque up to 240in-lbs.

The second and third gears range between 0-2800rpm and 0-3250rpm, with up to 1500in-lbs of twisting power in 2^nd gear, and 1825in-lbs in 3^rd gear. Need to sink 3-inch deck screws into redwood? No problem. Got a lot of sheetrock to hang? Perfect. The impact driver will become your favorite tool when it comes to putting together 2x4s and the like.

The chuck on the DCF887 is a ¼” hex chuck so you can only use bits with hex shanks. On the bright side, changing bits is really easy. Slide back the sleeve, pop in the bit, and you’re done. You can do that with just one hand. This driver will accept bits as short as 1-inch long.

Around the chuck are three LED lights. They get rid of shadows where you’re working much better than the earlier models with just one LED. These operate on a 20-second shutoff delay. They run on the same battery pack as the driver does.

The batteries included in this kit have a 2.0Ah (amp-hour) capacity. That doesn’t mean they will run for two hours straight. In case you didn’t already know, 1 amp-hour (1Ah) means a device using one ampere of current can run for an hour (under perfect conditions). If your driver needs more than one amp of current (and it does), it will run for less time. Doubling the capacity, or amp-hours, of the battery pack doesn’t mean that it will run for twice as long, but it will have about a 30% improvement.

More features of the DeWalt DCF887D2 kit

DeWalt offers a 90-day money-back guarantee, a 1-year free service contract, and a 3-year limited warranty
Comes with kit box, belt clip, charger, and two 2.0Ah lithium-ion batteries

DEWALT DCF887M2 20V MAX XR Li-Ion 4.0 Ah Brushless 0.25″ 3-Speed Impact Driver Kit

Let’s move on to the DCF887M2 kit. It contains the same DCF887 impact driver that we just described above as well as two larger capacity battery packs. Instead of repeating ourselves about the driver, we’ll look at what makes this kit different.

It’s the batteries that put the “M2” in the name of this kit. They are 4.0Ah capacity lithium-ion battery packs that are part of DeWalt’s 20V MAX XR lineup. They’re “double” the capacity of the batteries in the DCF887D2 kit. For a while, they were the highest capacity batteries on the market, but have since been surpassed by 5.0Ah packs.

When we say “double” the capacity, that’s not literally the case. Each 1.0AH increase in capacity doesn’t bring a full hour of operating time, but it does raise it by about 30%.The only advantage of this kit over the one above is the inclusion of higher-capacity batteries.

If you haven’t yet used a power tool with a lithium-ion battery, try it, you’ll like it. The batteries are lighter and smaller. They last longer on a single charge so you get more work done. They don’t have memory effect, so you can charge them as often as you need, and it won’t reduce their capacity. They run well even in freezing temperatures, but don’t like too much heat. In fact, the DeWalt charger won’t even start the charge cycle until the batteries cool down enough.

More features of the DeWalt DCF887M2 kit

DeWalt offers a 90-day money-back guarantee, a 1-year free service contract, and a 3-year limited warranty
Comes with kit box, belt clip, charger, and two 4.0Ah lithium-ion batteries

DEWALT DCF895D2 20V Max XR Lithium Ion Brushless 3-Speed 1/4-Inch Impact Driver

The DCF895D2 kit includes the DCF895 ¼” impact driver. Why would you want this one instead of the DCF887 described above? To begin, it weighs a few ounces less and is a little bit smaller. If you need to drive fasteners in tight spots or overhead, this one may be just what you need. It weighs just 2.2 pounds without the battery, and measures 5-1/4” inches back-to-front.

Its maximum torque is 1500-in-lbs, a bit less than the DCF887. It’s also a little less speedy. The 3-speed transmission offers three gears: low at 0-950rpm, medium at 0-1900rpm, and high at 2850rpm. The impacts per minute that accompany these three speeds are 1300, 2400, and 3300ipm. So the trade-off for a smaller size is a little less power and speed. That’s not to say this driver can’t handle big jobs. It is a pro tool, after all.

Like the DCF887, the DCF895 has a brushless motor. That gives it more than half again the runtime of a driver with a brushed motor. It runs cooler, quieter, and will last for years under normal use.

Being an impact driver, it doesn’t have a clutch like a drill does. Its chuck accepts ¼” hex bits, and they are easy to swap with just one hand. Pull back the sleeve, pop in the bit, and you’re done.

Around the collar are three LED work lights. They turn on when you press the trigger, then turn off after 20 seconds. Since there are 3 lights, they don’t cast shadows on your work area like the old one-LED design did.

The driver runs on the included 20V MAX XR lithium-ion battery packs. These batteries have a built-in fuel gauge so you can monitor how much charge is left.

More features of the DeWalt DCF895D2 kit

DeWalt offers a 90-day money-back guarantee, a 1-year free service contract, and a 3-year limited warranty
Comes with kit box, belt clip, charger, and two 2.0Ah lithium-ion batteries

DEWALT DCF895M2 20V Max XR Lithium Ion Brushless 3-Speed 1/4-Inch Impact Driver

Finally, we’ve come to the DCF895M2 kit. The only difference between it and the DCF895D2 kit described above is that this one has two 4.0Ah capacity battery packs. That rating makes it look like they have double the capacity (4.0Ah versus 2.0Ah), but in reality it’s only about 30% more. That’s still a good deal for someone who uses their impact driver a lot. More battery capacity means more runtime between charges. Plus, the 4.0Ah capacity batteries are compatible with the whole range of DeWalt’s 20V MAX XR power tools, so you can use them with your drill and more.

This kit has the DCF895 impact driver we covered in depth above. It’s a little smaller and lighter than the DCF887 driver we discussed first, and a little less powerful. If you want the smallest driver with the largest capacity batteries, this is the kit for you.

More features of the DeWalt DCF895M2 kit

DeWalt offers a 90-day money-back guarantee, a 1-year free service contract, and a 3-year limited warranty
Comes with kit box, belt clip, charger, and two 4.0Ah lithium-ion batteries

Recommendation

If you want the maximum power and runtime you can have with one of DeWalt’s impact drivers in these two kits, get the DCF887M2 kit with the 4.0Ah battery packs.

If you don’t mind the smaller capacity batteries, but still want the most power, get the DCF887D2 kit.

If smaller and lighter is better for you, get the DCF894D2 kit with the 2.0Ah batteries.

If you want to combine small and light with long-lasting batteries, get the DCF895M2 kit.

DEWALT DCF887D2 vs DCF887M2 vs DCF895D2 vs DCF895M2 Review