The DEWALT DCBL720P1 XR is a classic 20V brushless leaf blower with an excellent reputation with customers. Designed with a nice balance between power, affordability and features. It’s not the most powerful blower you can buy but for the average homeowner it’s an excellent choice.
We know that you have your own unique criteria that you’re looking to find in a DEWALT blower so we are covering a full range of blowers for you choose from — all are excellent and worth your money. The DCBL770X1 60V FLEXVOLT is the most powerful and advanced of the group, and the DeWalt 40V DCBL790M1 is perfectly in the middle between those models.
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DEWALT DCBL720P1 | Best DEWALT 20V Blower
There’s no arguing about the fact that DeWalt is generally seen as one the top brands in electric tools. There’s also no doubt that battery-powered tools have fast become the preferred choice for many. So in this article, we’ll look at three battery-powered leaf blowers from the DeWalt.
Video Review | DeWalt DCBL720P1 20V Leaf Blower
https://youtu.be/quevdU4iIEk
First, we’ll review the DeWalt DCBL720P1 – 20V which is a smaller multi-purpose blower. We’ll then move on to the DeWalt DCBL790M1 – 40V and finally, their newest and most advanced leaf blower, the DeWalt DCBL770X1 FLEXVOLT 60V MAX.
All of these leaf blowers have one thing in common, they’re made by DeWalt, so you’re assured of the quality and engineering brilliance that we’ve come to expect from the company. We’ll look at the differences and let you decide which DeWalt leaf blower is the best option for your needs.
We’ll then go on to look into the company itself, taking a look at their warranty agreement and how their quality standards work, asking the question: are they still as dependable as in the past? Because we’re reviewing battery powered tools here and the Flexvolt system is brand new, we’ll also be covering batteries and in particular, why the Flexvolt system is so different from other batteries.
DEWALT DCBL720P1 | 20V Cordless Blower
Features:
- Up to 400 CFM of air volume at 90 MPH to clear debris
- High-efficiency brushless motor maximizing run time and motor life
- Innovative axial fan design that maximizes on air output and run time
- Lightweight and ergonomic design maximizes control and minimizes stress on your arm
- Low noise during operation – 61 dB(A). Ideal for noise sensitive regions and properties
- Variable trigger and speed lock for full power control
- Part of the 20V MAX* system of tools
✓ View or download the MANUAL for the DEWALT DCBL720P1 20V blower.
Includes :
- DCBL720 Blower
- 20V MAX* 5.0Ah Lithium Ion Battery
- Standard Charger
This is a smaller lighter leaf blower, weighing only 7.1 lbs. It’s a very handy tool for smaller garden jobs and is equally useful around the workshop, home or garage for clearing away dust and other debris.
While not the most powerful leaf blower we’re reviewing in this list, it’s capable of up to 400 CFM of air volume at 90 MPH. This is enough power to move a good amount of garden or household debris and dust at a very reasonable speed. Though if you’re working with a large yard area, you may want something more powerful.
Quiet and Lightweight | DEWALT DCBL720P1 20V Blower
The 5AH 20V battery has a good working time and will give you around 15-20 minutes at full power. Obviously, you’ll get more time at lower speeds. The trigger control gives excellent speed control and it has a locking mechanism to keep it at a selected speed without holding the trigger.
The DeWalt DCBL720P1 is an excellent blower to keep around the home, it’s small, light and does not require much storage space.
Tech Specs:
- Air Speed : 90 mph
- Air Volume (cubic feet per minute) : 400 CFM
- Amp Hour : 5.0 AH
- Noise Rating :61 dB(A)
- Power Source : Lithium Ion
- System 20V MAX*
- Watt Hours : 100 Watts per hour
- Weight : 7.1 lbs
DEWALT DCBL790M1 | 40V Cordless Blower
Features:
- Up to 400 CFM of air volume at 120 MPH to clear heavy debris
- High-efficiency brushless motor maximizing run time and motor life
- Variable trigger and speed lock for full power control
- Lightweight and ergonomic design maximizes control and minimizes stress on your arm
- Designed to withstand everyday heavy-duty usage
- Xenon housing makes it ultra-durable
- Part of the 40V MAX* system of Outdoor Power Equipment
✓ View or download the MANUAL for the DeWalt DCBL790M1.
Includes :
- DCBL790 Blower
- 40V MAX* 4.0Ah Lithium Ion Battery
- Standard Charger
The DeWalt DCBL790M1 is a little larger and heavier than the baby DCB720P1 and weighs 10.4 LBS. As one would expect, this comes with more power. It moves 400CFM of air at 120 MPH which makes working with larger volumes of debris quite a bit faster and will move debris over a greater distance.
While this model is pretty handy for general work around the home and workshop, it really comes into its own when working over a larger yard area. All the features are the same as the smaller model, so it also has the same locking trigger control as the Dewalt DCB720P1.
It’s a more powerful machine, which means that it requires more battery power. The 40V 4AH battery should give you a little more working time but not enough to be of much consequence. Later in the article, we’ll look at how the voltage and amp-hours affect the battery life relative to the power of the motor.
Informative Video Review | DeWalt DCBL790M1 40V Blower
Tech Specs (DCBL790M1 Dewalt 40V):
- Air Speed : 120 mph
- Air Volume (cubic feet per minute) : 400 CFM
- Amp Hour : 4.0 AH
- Noise Rating : 67 dB(A)
- Power Source : Lithium Ion
- System : 40V MAX*
- Watt Hours : 160 Watts per hour
- Weight : 10.4 lbs
DEWALT DCBL770X1 FLEXVOLT | 60V Cordless Blower
Features:
- Powers through debris at up to 423 CFM of air volume at 129 MPH
- Flat concentrator nozzle increases air speeds to 175 MPH to power through stubborn debris
- High-efficiency brushless motor maximizes run time and motor life
- Variable speed trigger and speed lock for total power control
- Lightweight and ergonomic design maximizes control and minimizes stress on your arm
- Designed to withstand everyday heavy-duty usage
Includes:
- DCB770 Handheld Blower
- Concentrator Attachment
- 60V MAX* 3Ah Battery
- Charger
This is the newest leaf lower from DeWalt and uses the 60/20V Flexvolt system that is being introduced throughout their battery tool range. According to DeWalt, this new battery technology increases your working time by up to 4 times. Though the term “up to” is always optimistic, it will give a substantially better working time than the other two. One advantage of the Flexvolt battery is that is compatible with their older 20V tools, so you can extend your working time by a lot using this battery in DeWalt tools designed for their standard 20V batteries.
It doesn’t look very different to the older 40V model but does weigh slightly less (9.8 LBS). This weight is quite remarkable because it’s a good deal more powerful. The DeWalt DCBL770X1 Flexvolt has a capacity of 423 CFM at 129 MPH. The new model has more versatility by including a flat concentrator, with this attachment you can increase the airspeed to 175 MPH which will reduce the CFM to 287.
The 60V 3AH battery is more complicated to calculate battery time than standard batteries because at 20V the battery will be capable of 9AH – more about that later.
You won’t find a more advanced battery than the 60V Flexvolt and with battery power becoming more common, I won’t be surprised if other manufacturers start coming up with similar technologies. The entire design of the blower is a serious upgrade from previous versions. It is more powerful with less weight and gives you more working time. An impressive piece of technology. Of course, if you want the best you’ll have to pay for it and the 60V Flexvolt leaf blower is more expensive than the others.
Tech Specs:
- Air Speed (Flat Concentrator) : 175 mph
- Air Speed (Round Nozzle) : 129 mph
- Air Volume (Flat Concentrator) : 287 CFM
- Air Volume (Round Nozzle) : 423 CFM
- Amp Hour : 3.0 AH
- Noise Rating : 67 dB(A)
- Power Source : Lithium Ion
- System : 60V MAX*
- Weight : 9.8 lbs
DeWalt Warranty
DeWalt offers one of the best warranty agreements you’ll find. All their tools have a 3-year limited warranty, 90-day money back guarantee and a free 1-year service plan. They also offer a 7-year limited warranty with the same 90-day money back guarantee and free service agreement. DeWalt mechanics and hand tools carry a lifetime warranty.
The term “limited warranty” means that the there are certain limitations to what is covered by the warranty. On their website, they give a clear indication of what these are. There isn’t any fine print or long lists of exceptions.
The warranty will cover any defects that that become apparent during the warranty period. This will exclude normal wear and tear, abuse or repair attempts by unauthorized agents. The warranty will also be void if the tool is tampered with. All this seems fair and logical with no confusing or ambiguous information.
What we should be aware of, however, is that the warranty does not cover accessories. When it comes to battery tools, it should be noted that batteries and chargers are listed as accessories. So your battery is not covered by the warranty. This shouldn’t be much of a problem because the money back guarantee is not subject to the same conditions as the limited warranty. If you return the machine in the same condition and with its original packaging as when you purchased it within 90 days, you will get your money back.
This gives you enough time to test the battery properly and we’ll look at how you can do this a little further on. A battery has no moving parts and it either works or it doesn’t. This means that if you receive a battery with your new tool and it is performing properly from the outset, it will continue to function properly for the rest of its normal lifetime.
Learn more about the various Dewalt warranties and what they mean.
How Batteries Work?
Battery specs have a list of information that may seem confusing if you don’t know what it all means. So let’s look at this in some detail. The information that is most relevant to you, as a consumer, is the voltage shown by a number followed by the letter V and the ampere-hours which will be a number followed by the letters AH.
Volts
The voltage rating will always be followed by the term “MAX*”. An asterisk always means that there is some fine print somewhere which makes some people nervous – what are they trying to hide? In this case, there’s nothing to hide, it’s just a technicality that applies to any battery. The Max (maximum) battery rating is the open circuit voltage at full charge. This means the voltage directly after charging with no load on the battery (it is not being used).
The moment you add load, in other words when you switch the machine on, the voltage will drop by about 10%, this is known as nominal voltage and that will be listed somewhere as the fine print relating to max voltage. The nominal voltage is the voltage that the battery will run at for most of its charge cycle. The voltage drops slightly as you discharge the battery and as it reaches low charges it will decrease faster until there simply isn’t enough charge to keep the motor running.
When you buy a new battery always charge it according to the owner’s manual. The DeWalt manual gives very precise and detailed information on how to charge and use your battery correctly. It’s important to read this carefully and follow the instructions completely.
The best time to test a battery is immediately after its first charge cycle. Using an accurate volt meter, you should check the voltage before you use it. The voltage should be exactly the same as the Max voltage rating for that battery. It’s important that you use a good volt meter, cheap ones are not always calibrated that accurately and may not give a 100% accurate reading. This is important because if the voltage is lower than the max voltage, even by 1V, the battery will never perform to its full potential and will deteriorate faster.
This is where the 90-day money back guarantee comes in. For the first 3-5 charges, always check the voltage as soon as you remove the battery from the charger, it should always be the same as the max voltage. Also, check that you get a correct amount of usage time from the battery in between charging, we’ll look at how to calculate this shortly. If the battery does not work properly over the first few charge cycles, return the tool in accordance with a 90-day money back guarantee conditions.
Amp-Hours
Amps-hours are pretty straightforward, it’s the amount of current (amperes) that the battery can deliver over a set period (hours). A 4AH battery will deliver 4 amps in one hour or a ratio of this figure like 1 amp over 4 hours, 2 amps over 2 hours etc.
Calculating Battery Use Time
One can never determine the exact time that a battery will deliver a usable charge because there are too many variables. Ambient temperature will play a role in how well a battery performs. When we use a machine, we don’t necessarily use it a constant power setting – we will use the machine faster or slower depending on what we’re doing.
The amount of stops and starts will also affect running time, albeit only slightly. The law of inertia means that any movement from a point of complete standstill will require more energy than keeping an object in motion. In short, you need more power to start a motor than it takes to keep it running. Finally, a battery will lose voltage incrementally as we use it and one has to factor in a voltage loss percentage over its working time.
Taking all this into account, one can still determine within a reasonable range, how much time you can expect from a battery when starting at full charge. To do this, we need to determine the ratio between power (how many watts the motor delivers), voltage and the amp hours for the battery.
We have all probably encountered the formula P=VA sometime through our schooling and it’s very likely that you’ve had very little use for it. When it comes to batteries, this formula is important. Now there’s no need to go dusting off your old school text books, we’re going to do the work for you.
To do this, we need the power rating for the motor (Watts), as well as the voltage and amp-hours of the battery. Our first step is to determine how many amps the motor is drawing at full power. This means re-arranging the equation to put the A (amps) to the left of the equals sign. Our formula now looks like this: A=P/V; amps is equal to power divided by voltage.
We then have to factor in power loss. For standard lithium-ion batteries, we work with a 15% loss factor, to account for the variables mentioned above. The Flexvolt system is much more efficient in that it will arrange the connection between the battery cells to maximize the power delivered at either 20V or 60V. For this reason, we use a lower power loss factor for these batteries – 5%.
As an example, I’m going to calculate the estimated run time at full power for the DeWalt DCBL790M1 – 40V. Unfortunately, they don’t give the watt rating for the motor in their spec list or on the blower itself, it didn’t help contacting the guys at DeWalt either because they couldn’t tell me how many watts the motor produces. We’re going to assume it’s about 500W for this calculation.
Step 1 : Calculating current at maximum power.
A=P/V, therefore A= 500/40
Giving us: 12.5A
Step 2: Calculating the amp-hours.
Because this is a 4AH battery, we divide the amp-hours by the current used.
4/12.5 = 0.32 hours
Step 3: loss factor.
At a nominal loss factor of 15%, we now subtract from this time.
15% of 0.32 is 0.05,
0.32 – 0.05 = 0.27 hours
Step 4: convert the time to minutes.
There are 60 minutes in an hour, so we multiply our answer by 60.
0.27 X 60 = 16.2 minutes
This is an answer based on a variable loss factor, so we can say that you will get 15-20 minutes usage from a battery.
Dewalt Flexvolt Battery | How it Works?
The Flexvolt system is unique and much more efficient. It works by using 12 X 5V cells in the battery. When used at 60V all 12 cells are connected in series which multiplies the cell voltage by the number of cells – 12 X 5V = 60V. When the battery is switched to 20V, the cell configuration changes to 4 cells connected in series (4 X 5V = 20V). This gives you 3 banks of 20V cells connected in parallel, by doing this the AH is increased by 3 times.
Watch this Video to See How Flexvolt Works
The Flexvolt motor is designed to be more efficient and maximize the flexible voltage of the battery. So when we calculate the running time of Flexvolt system we use the same method as with other batteries, but use a lower loss factor. We can say that the nominal loss for these batteries is 5%.
Are DeWalt tools the same quality as they used to be?
Part of writing about tools requires spending a lot of time on discussion forums where users and experts discuss various topics about tools and tool manufacturers. This gives one insight into what people think and what’s happening in the industry. A topic that comes up regularly is the fact that tool manufacturers outsource their production to other countries to cut costs.
There are all sorts of political debates about this but in the end, they are irrelevant. When we buy any product, be it a car, TV or piece of machinery, we want the best quality at the most affordable price. Virtually all manufacturers use production facilities in developing countries, mostly in Asia, Central Europe or South America to reduce their production costs. This may be for some components used in the product or even the entire item.
Some say that if a tool from a European or US brand is made in China, why not simply buy a cheaper brand that is also made there? It really isn’t that simple. If we look at DeWalt tools, they have two categories. Their premier tools carry a promise: “Made in the USA with global materials”. These tools are built at one of their 7 production facilities around the US and may have some parts that are made in other countries. DeWalt tools that don’t carry this label are most likely produced in a foreign country and the complete product is shipped to the US.
DEWALT FLEXVOLT 120V Miter Saw | DHS790AT2
What we have to understand is that there is enormous competition in developing countries to secure contracts to produce products and components for major US and European brands. Governments will often offer investment incentives to foreign companies to help grow their economies and factory owners will compete to offer the best prices. This does not mean that a company like DeWalt will simply choose the cheapest option. There are a number of criteria that a factory has to meet in order to secure a manufacturing contract. These would include:
- Factory equipment. Tolerances of the tooling used and other machinery specifications have to be met.
- Factory conditions. In many cases, especially with electronic equipment, there will be strict standards when it comes to air quality and temperatures of the working environment.
- Materials used.
- Quality control standards.
One may find a tool from an unknown brand name that looks exactly the same as a well-known product and has the same specifications, just at a much lower price. Don’t be fooled, the lower price is mostly due to cutting costs by not meeting the same quality standards that are required by major brands that have to protect their reputation.
To make sure that a factory meets these standards, DeWalt will send a team of experts to inspect the facility before awarding the contract. If a factory does not meet the required standard, they will not be given the go ahead. Before a foreign company can begin production, their staff will be trained by DeWalt technicians to ensure that they work according to protocol.
Once production starts, DeWalt officials will do periodic site inspections at the factory to check that the factory continues to meet the required standards. A final quality control inspection will be conducted on random products selected once they arrive in the US. Products will be tested for functionality and scientific tests will be done to determine whether the specified materials are being used and that they meet all the standards required by DeWalt.
It is through this rigorous quality control process that major companies, like DeWalt, are able to keep their promise to consumers. Cheap imitations usually don’t offer the same warranty as the more recognized brands. This is because their products are made using inferior materials and the manufacturing protocols aren’t as strict.
Is the DEWALT DCBL720P1 20V Blower Right For You?
If you came here just wanting to know about the DEWALT DCBL720P1 then we hope that you have the full picture of Dewalt blowers so you can make an informed buying decision. Either way, you can’t wrong with any of the Dewalt leaf blowers mentioned in this article. They are all excellent and worth the cost.
Learn more about Dewalt tools by visiting the Dewalt site.
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