In this review
The cedar fence on the east side of the house went up over two weekends last April. Forty-two pickets, eleven rails, three gates. I drove every screw with the DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Drill and Impact Driver Combo Kit (DCK240C2), and halfway through Sunday morning I was swapping batteries every thirty-five minutes. The tools themselves never quit. The 1.3 Ah packs they ship with absolutely did.
That is the honest summary of this kit. The drill and the impact driver are good tools at a fair price. The batteries are the catch. If you go in knowing that, the DCK240C2 is one of the most sensible first cordless kits a homeowner or weekend handyman can buy.
DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Drill and Impact Driver Combo Kit (DCK240C2)
Two-tool 20V MAX kit with the DCD771 half-inch drill/driver (300 UWO, 0–450 / 0–1500 RPM two-speed), the DCF885 quarter-inch impact driver (5.55 inches front to back, 2.8 pounds), two 1.3 Ah lithium-ion batteries, charger, and a soft-sided contractor bag.
Rating breakdown
Build Quality and Feel
The plastics on both tools have the slightly rough matte finish DEWALT has used for years. It takes a scuff without scratching, and the rubber overmold on the grips has not separated or rolled even after eighteen months of being tossed into the truck bed and kicked under workbenches. The DCD771 weighs 3.6 pounds with a 1.3 Ah pack. The DCF885 comes in at 2.8. You feel the difference on overhead work, and you feel it by hour three.
The drill’s half-inch ratcheting chuck tightens by hand and holds. I’ve heard the complaint that it slips under heavy torque in metal, and I did have it release a 1/2-inch spade bit once boring through a doubled-up 2x10 header for a ceiling fan brace. Tightened it harder the second time. It held. That is a technique issue more than a tool issue, but it is worth knowing if you’re coming from a keyed chuck.
The DCD771 Drill for What Drills Do
Two-speed. 0–450 RPM in low for driving. 0–1500 in high for drilling. 300 unit watts out. That last number is DEWALT’s marketing language for torque-speed product, and what it translates to on a job is this: it will pilot-drill through dimensional lumber all day and it will drive 3-inch deck screws without bogging as long as the wood is not green oak.
Through the cedar fence pickets, high speed with a 7/64 pilot bit was clean and fast. On the 5-inch lag screws into the gate posts, low speed with a socket adapter got me through. The clutch has fifteen positions plus a drill mode. I mostly work in drill mode and feather the trigger, which is what anyone with trigger discipline ends up doing regardless of what the clutch claims to do.
What it is not: a hammer drill. No masonry setting. If you need to anchor into concrete, you need a different tool or a different kit. DEWALT makes a hammer-drill combo (DCK277C2 and up) for not much more, and if half your work is concrete, buy that one instead.
The DCF885 Impact Driver is the Star
The impact driver in this kit is the reason I still recommend it. It is the older non-brushless DCF885, and it has been superseded on paper by the ATOMIC and XR models, but on the work bench it still does what an impact driver needs to do.
It’s short. 5.55 inches front to back means it gets into joist bays, engine compartments, and under-cabinet spaces where a 7-inch brushless will not fit. On a rusted sway-bar end-link nut on my wife’s Subaru, the DCF885 broke it loose in maybe three seconds. A hand ratchet would have taken fifteen minutes and a pipe extension. I have used a 20V MAX XR impact driver (DCF887) that is a newer, more efficient tool, and the DCF885 does not match its speed or battery economy. It does not need to for most jobs.
The three-LED ring around the chuck is the detail I keep coming back to. A single top-mounted LED casts a shadow directly where you are driving the screw. Three LEDs evenly spaced around the collar kill that shadow. On a crawlspace blocking job last November, working one-handed with a flashlight in my mouth, the difference between a ring light and a spotlight was the difference between seeing the screw head and guessing. The twenty-second delay after the trigger release is a small kindness that lets you reposition without going dark.
Real-World Testing
Cedar fence rebuild, two weekends, roughly 90 screws per weekend. The fence job alone burned through four full battery charges. Both 1.3 Ah packs together gave me about seventy-five minutes of mixed drilling and driving before I was waiting on the charger. The charger itself is a basic 40-minute unit. It works. It is not fast.
Engine bay work on the Subaru: transmission mount bolts, sway bar links, a stripped dust cover on the brake backing plate. Three separate weekends. Impact driver shined. Drill was secondary, used mostly for a drill-out on a snapped bolt.
Kitchen install for my brother-in-law: hanging upper cabinets into stud, installing soft-close hardware on twelve drawers and six doors. The DCF885’s 1/4-inch quick-release chuck and the one-handed bit loading are genuinely useful when you are holding a cabinet against a wall with your hip and a laser level with your chin. A full battery got me through one wall of uppers. The second wall needed a charge swap. A 4.0 Ah pack would have done both on one battery.
What the 1.3 Ah Batteries Hide
This is the one thing every potential buyer needs to hear clearly. 1.3 Ah is a small battery. For context, a 4.0 Ah runs roughly three times longer. A 5.0 Ah, about four. DEWALT ships this kit with 1.3 Ah packs to hit the $199 price point. It is the single biggest compromise in the kit.
What 1.3 Ah is fine for: hanging a picture wall, assembling a bed frame, installing a ceiling fan, adjusting a cabinet hinge, drilling pilot holes for a coat rack. Homeowner punch-list work.
What 1.3 Ah is not fine for: framing, decking, fencing, any job where you are running tools for more than forty minutes at a stretch. If that describes your next project, budget another $80–$100 for a 4.0 Ah pack (DCB204 or DCB240) before you even start. You will thank yourself on hour three.
The good news is the 20V MAX platform is massive. Every DEWALT 20V MAX battery fits every DEWALT 20V MAX tool, from the 2014 DCD771 you just bought to a 2024 brushless chainsaw. That ecosystem is the real reason to buy into this kit.
What Could Be Better
The contractor bag is soft-sided and zip-top. It holds the tools, the batteries, the charger, and a small bit set if you’re clever with the packing. It also pools sawdust in its bottom and gets ripped on anything sharp. I retired mine after eight months and bought a hard TSTAK case.
Both tools are brushed motors. In 2026 that is the older design. Brushless DEWALT combos (DCK279C2, DCK2050D2) run longer, generate less heat, and have slightly smaller form factors. They also cost $100 to $180 more. If you are a daily-use tradesperson, spend the extra. For weekend work, brushed is fine, and these motors still run after a decade of use in plenty of hands.
The impact driver is loud. Around 95 dB at arm’s length. Hearing protection is not optional, and I say that as someone who learned it the hard way.
Who Should Buy This
- The homeowner who has never owned a cordless kit and wants one set of tools to handle fence repairs, deck screws, furniture assembly, and odd jobs for the next five years.
- The apartment-to-house upgrader who needs a serious drill and impact driver but does not want to drop $450 on a Milwaukee M18 FUEL kit they will not fully use.
- The person who already owns one 20V MAX tool (a leaf blower, a light) and wants to build out the platform sensibly.
Who Should Skip It
- Daily tradespeople. Go brushless. The ATOMIC DCK279C2 or XR DCK299D2 kits pay for themselves in battery runtime.
- Anyone who mostly drills concrete or masonry. You want a hammer drill.
- Buyers who already own a different battery platform. The cost of re-platforming exceeds any savings on this kit.
If you’re building out a full DIY toolkit, check out our complete DIY category coverage for more tested power tools and hand tools.
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