V. B. Hunt
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2025
It works fine, once the screw is started. It could be better if there was a retractable sleeve to hold the screw steady while starting it. It is better than a basic drill and bit because, once adjusted, it won't overdrive the screw and because, once a screw is started, it will stay on the screw and not slip off. For those two reasons, it did speed up the job I bought it for. If you already have a clutched cordless driver, you would be better served with a magnetic sleeved screw and bit holder. For a standard non-clutched drill, just get the Montana Brand Tools adjustable depth stop screw guide, instead. It's much cheaper and gives your drill everything this has and then some. If you need to drive screws quickly because your job requires you to drive hundreds or thousands of screws per day, I would bite the bullet and get a good Senco kit instead. I only bought this because I needed something quickly and this would arrive same day. Now that the job is done and my adjustable depth screw guide is here, I'll probably sell this just to not have another specialized power tool floating around.There are 2 other things that I must add. My gun arrived sealed brand new in the box (it even had the new electrical motor smell the first few times running it); however, it was made in Mexico, not in the USA, and it only came with a single #2 Philips bit. There was no included Torx/star bit.
Customer
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2023
Love the Dewalt line. Broke mine on a big job and was able to get this gun quickly. Works great already went through 100 sheets of rock without a stutter.
Sven
Reviewed in Canada on October 1, 2016
One of the best out there
Alexander Bell
Reviewed in Canada on December 9, 2014
Excellent products, fast delivery.
Truant
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2014
First off, the manual sucks. Period. However, the tool is outstanding, once you figure it out. The nose cone takes a good pull to remove. Pull the bit with a pair of pliers (at least the manual does say that) and insert a 1" bit of your choosing. Don't use the longer 2" bits. Seat the bit with a light tap. The depth adjustment is set by turning the nose cone to expose @ 1/8" of the bit for a flush set, but you'll have to experiment. The nose cone markings lead you to believe it's a three detent setting, but it's a continuous thread. Hold the metal clutch collar when you turn the nose.When the depth is set, just engage the screw head, push and let 'er rip. It drove 3" #10 stainless deck screws in PT SYP in less than a second, with a perfect flush set. I like Torx heads and not one screw head got chewed. Phillips and square drives are a little fussier.If you need to back out a screw that's set just pull the nose cone and reverse the tool. When you replace the nose, the depth setting is the same.You can also lock the trigger and keep the tool running, just using the clutch, but I don't see the advantage. Maybe in drywall?
Cheri Marks
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2013
I purchased the Dewalt DW257 for a decking project I'm working on. Unfortunately, I never used it because I could not remove the bit that came with the driver and replace it with one for my decking screws. I ended up using my cordless drill/driver for the project. Now, a month later, I decided to tackle the issue of removing the bit that came with the Dewalt driver. To make a long story short, I tried using a pair of Visegrips with a bench vise to no avail. I ended up clamping the bit holder in the vise and using a mallet and chisel to extract the bit. In doing so, the metal retainer ring/clip broke. I'm very disappointed in the quality of this driver. Possibly I just ended up with a defective unit?
ocean
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2011
I had the earlier version of this driver for 18 years before I had to replace it with this one. I've built many decks and hung many sheets of drywall with it. The torque output of this driver far surpasses a drywall driver. Buy with confidence. This tool will give you tens of thousands of driven screws and many years of service.