DEWALT 18V Cordless XR LI-ION Twin Pack Review: a no-nonsense combo for DIY and light trade work

I’ve been using this DEWALT 18V Cordless XR LI-ION Combi Drill & Impact Driver Twin Pack (DCZ298S2T) for a while now on typical home and light site jobs: building shelves, assembling kitchen units, fixing battens to brick, and the usual random DIY that friends suddenly remember you for. I’m not a pro carpenter, but I’ve killed enough cheap drills over the years to know what feels solid and what feels like a toy.

Right away, this kit feels like proper gear, not bargain-bin stuff. You get a combi drill, an impact driver, two 1.5Ah batteries, a fast charger and a TSTAK box. On paper, it ticks all the boxes for someone who wants one kit to cover most drilling and screwdriving jobs around the house or on smaller jobs. No weird gimmicks, no nonsense features – just the basics done fairly well.

In practice, I used the combi drill mostly for drilling into wood, masonry and metal, and the impact driver for driving long screws into studs, decking boards and coach screws into wall plugs. I pushed it a bit: 6mm and 8mm masonry bits into brick, 32mm spade bits into joists, and 100mm screws into treated timber. Nothing crazy, but enough to see if it chokes.

Overall, the kit gets the job done without drama. It’s not perfect – the small 1.5Ah batteries are the weak point and you feel that on longer jobs – but the tools themselves feel pretty solid. If you’re expecting a heavy-duty trade setup that runs all day, you’ll hit the limits. If you’re a serious DIYer or doing lighter site work, it’s a decent, no-frills combo.

Looking at the price this usually goes for and what you actually get, I’d call the value good but not mind-blowing. You’re paying for the DEWALT name, the XR 18V platform, and a proper twin pack with a decent case. Compared to cheaper brands, it’s obviously more expensive, but you’re getting better build quality and access to a big ecosystem of batteries and tools. Compared to higher-end DEWALT brushless combos with bigger batteries, this sits in the mid-range: fewer features, smaller batteries, but a lower price.

Where the value is a bit mixed is the 1.5Ah batteries. For a kit at this price, 2.0Ah or 3.0Ah would have made it a much easier recommendation. You can absolutely work with 1.5Ah, but if you plan to do bigger projects, you’ll probably end up buying a larger battery later, which adds to the total cost. On the other hand, if you mainly want a reliable drill and driver for home use – shelves, furniture, small renovations – the included batteries are enough to get you through most tasks without feeling like you wasted money.

The Amazon rating of 4.5/5 from around 100 reviews matches my feeling: most people will be pretty happy with it as long as they’re not expecting trade-level runtime. A couple of reviews mention missing batteries or registration issues, which sounds more like seller or admin problems than the tools themselves. Performance and build quality seem to satisfy the majority of users.

So from a value angle: if you want something tougher than entry-level DIY brands, and you’re okay with adding a bigger battery later if needed, this twin pack is good value for money. If you already own DEWALT XR batteries, it’s even better, because you can treat the included 1.5Ah packs as lightweight spares and lean on your bigger packs for serious work.

The first thing you notice picking them up is the weight and balance. With the 1.5Ah batteries, both the combi drill and the impact driver feel fairly light for 18V tools. That’s nice for longer sessions above head height. The combi drill is a bit front-heavy with a masonry bit in, but nothing unusual. The impact driver is noticeably more compact and fits easily between studs and in tight corners, which is where it really earns its place in the kit.

The grip is classic DEWALT: rubber overmold, slightly chunky handle, but it sits well in the hand. I used it with and without gloves. With gloves, the trigger and direction switch are still easy to reach. The forward/reverse switch has a firm click, so you’re not accidentally flipping direction all the time. The chuck on the combi drill is metal and feels solid when you tighten it. I didn’t have any issues with bits slipping during my tests, even when hammer drilling into brick.

Both tools have a single LED work light near the trigger. It’s bright enough for cupboards, under-sink work, and lofts. Nothing fancy – no halo light or multiple LEDs – but you can see what you’re doing. The only minor gripe is that the light doesn’t stay on for long after you release the trigger, so if you’re trying to position a screw in a dark corner, you end up half-tapping the trigger just to get the light on.

In terms of size, the impact driver feels genuinely compact. I used it inside a narrow cupboard to fix brackets and it was much easier to manoeuvre than the combi drill. The combi drill is more standard-sized, not especially short, but not a brick either. Overall, the design is practical and clearly aimed at people who actually use tools, not just want something that looks flashy. It’s not the most modern-looking kit in the DEWALT lineup, but it feels like it was built to be used and knocked about.

The kit comes with two 18V 1.5Ah Li-Ion batteries. They keep the tools light, which is nice, but you definitely feel the limited capacity on longer jobs. Doing a mix of drilling into brick and driving screws, I could drain one battery in under an hour of fairly continuous use. For quick jobs around the house, that’s perfectly fine. For a full afternoon of work, you end up swapping and charging more than you’d like.

The good thing is the 30-minute charger is genuinely quick. If you manage your breaks properly – swap to the second battery, put the first one on charge, grab a coffee – you can more or less keep working without a full stop. But it does mean you’re thinking about battery management more than you would with 4.0Ah or 5.0Ah packs. For someone doing occasional DIY, it probably won’t be a big deal. For repeated weekend projects or light trade use, I’d seriously consider budgeting for at least one higher-capacity battery later on.

One small annoyance: these particular batteries don’t have a charge level indicator. That lines up with one of the Amazon reviews and I agree it’s a pain. You basically find out the battery is low when the tool starts to slow or cuts out. When you’re halfway up a ladder or in a loft, that’s not ideal. It’s not a dealbreaker, but once you’ve used batteries with a simple 3-LED indicator, going back feels a bit primitive.

So, in short: the battery setup is usable but limited. Fine for home users and short tasks, a bit annoying if you’re doing longer shifts. The positive side is that it’s part of the DEWALT XR 18V system, so if you already have other DEWALT tools or plan to expand, you can just add bigger batteries later and keep using the same charger and tools. Out of the box though, expect to hit the runtime ceiling fairly quickly if you push the tools hard.

In terms of build, both tools feel solid and well put together. The all-metal gearboxes give a bit of confidence that they’re not going to fall apart after a year. I’ve thrown the kit in the back of the car, carried it around on a few small jobs, and it’s had the usual bumps and scuffs. So far, nothing has rattled loose, no weird noises from the gears, and the chucks still tighten properly.

The impact driver has an aluminium front housing which is supposed to help with heat dispersion and motor life. I did a run of driving long screws into treated timber, enough to get it warm, and while the front did heat up, it never felt like it was cooking itself. No smell of hot electronics, no cut-outs. I wouldn’t hammer it non-stop for hours like a site impact with big batteries, but for the level this kit is aimed at, it feels up to the job.

The TSTAK box also helps with durability in a practical way. Instead of the tools bouncing around in a thin plastic case, they’re held in shaped inserts and the box itself is sturdy enough to sit or stand on briefly without it flexing like crazy. The latches feel decent and haven’t popped open on their own. I’ve had cheaper cases crack at the hinges after a few months; this one feels like it will last a fair bit longer.

Of course, this isn’t the top-tier, brushless, heavy-duty DEWALT kit that’s built to live on a building site 5 days a week for years. But for regular DIY and occasional professional use, the construction feels more than up to it. Nothing about it feels flimsy or throwaway. If you look after it reasonably – don’t leave it soaking in the rain or drop it off scaffolding – I’d expect it to give several years of honest service without drama.

Performance-wise, the combi drill handles typical DIY tasks without drama. I used it for 6mm and 8mm masonry bits into standard house brick for wall plugs, and it went through at a reasonable pace in hammer mode. It’s not as quick as the beefier brushless models with bigger batteries, but for putting up shelves, curtain rails, and fixing battens, it’s fine. In wood, with a 25–32mm spade bit, it has enough grunt as long as you don’t lean on it like a maniac. You can stall it if you push too hard, but that’s normal for this level of kit.

For screwdriving, the 15-position clutch on the combi drill is handy. I used it on chipboard and MDF cabinets and it helped avoid burying the screws too deep or stripping the heads. That said, once I started using longer screws into studs and treated timber, I basically stopped using the drill for that and switched to the impact driver. The drill can do it, but it feels slower and you feel more resistance in your wrist.

The impact driver is where the kit really earns its keep. Driving 80–100mm screws into timber felt easy, and the impact action means you don’t get that constant twist in your wrist like you do with a drill. I used it on some stubborn old screws when dismantling a frame and it backed them out with less swearing than usual. It’s noisy, as all impact drivers are, but in terms of raw usefulness, this is the tool I reached for the most after the first couple of days.

Overall, performance is pretty solid for DIY and light trade work. If you’re on site all day driving big screws into hardwood or drilling loads of 10mm holes into concrete, you’ll want bigger batteries and probably a higher-end brushless model. But for a mix of home projects, small jobs, and general maintenance, this twin pack does what it’s supposed to do without feeling cheap or underpowered.

In the box you get: 1 x 18V combi drill, 1 x 18V impact driver, 2 x 18V 1.5Ah Li-Ion batteries, a 30-minute charger, and a TSTAK kit box. That’s it, no drill bits, no screwdriver bits, just the core kit. For me that’s fine – I prefer choosing my own bits – but if you’re buying this as your first ever drill, don’t forget you’ll need to buy a basic bit set on top.

The combi drill comes with the usual three modes: screwdriving, drilling, and hammer drilling. You also get 15 torque settings, which is handy when you’re swapping between jobs like assembling flat-pack furniture and then drilling into brick. The impact driver is the compact type with a ¼" hex drop-in chuck, so you just push the bit in and pull the collar to eject. It’s quick and you can change bits with one hand, which is genuinely useful when you’re up a ladder.

The charger is a multi-voltage 30-minute charger, so it works with other DEWALT XR 18V batteries if you already have some. The two 1.5Ah batteries are the lightest in the range, which is nice for weight but not so nice for runtime. If you’re used to 4.0Ah or 5.0Ah packs, these feel like they drain pretty fast once you start doing heavier work like lots of masonry drilling or driving long screws.

The TSTAK box is decent. It’s not indestructible, but it’s miles better than the floppy plastic cases that come with cheaper brands. The tools, charger and batteries fit in properly, and you can stack it with other TSTAK boxes if you already have a DEWALT setup. Overall, the bundle is pretty straightforward: no fancy extras, but the essentials are there and they’re mostly well thought out.