DeWalt’s 2025 Multi-Head Drill Driver: One Tool to Rule All the Tight Spaces (Yes, Even Inside a Mortise)

Keywords: DeWalt multi-head drill 2025, compact drill for tight spaces, timber framing peg hole drill, right-angle offset driver, DeWalt DCD799 review

Opener:
It has more personalities than a Swiss Army knife—and fits in places your hand definitely shouldn’t go.
No, we’re not describing a sci-fi robot.
Meet the DeWalt DCD799 Multi-Head 20V MAX XR Drill Driver—the shape-shifter of cordless tools, launched December 2025, and already causing mild existential crises among traditionalists.

(Visual suggestion: Photo of the drill with its four heads laid out like Avengers assembling—each labeled with a tiny superhero cape.)

🔧 Four Heads, One Body: What’s in the Box?

DeWalt didn’t just add a new drill to its lineup. They built a tool ecosystem in miniature.
The DCD799 ships with four swappable drive heads, all magnetically locking into the same compact motor body (just 5.3 in / 135 mm long—shorter than a standard ruler):

1. Standard Drill/Driver Head — for 90% of your day-to-day tasks.
2. Right-Angle Head — 90° bend, perfect for edges, corners, and “how is anyone supposed to reach that?” zones.
3. Offset Head — angled at 15°, ideal for flush surfaces and tight vertical spaces (e.g., under beams or inside post-and-beam cavities).
4. Stubby Impact Driver Head — just 2.6 in / 66 mm long, delivering 1,700 in-lbs / 192 Nm of torque in a package smaller than a coffee thermos.

All heads share the same:

• Brushless motor
• 20V MAX XR battery compatibility
• Wrap-around LED ring light

Yes—when you rotate the head, the LED still shines forward AND sideways.
It’s basically a headlamp for your drill.

💡 Fun visual fact: The entire unit weighs 2.1 lbs / 0.95 kg with a 2.0Ah battery—lighter than most water bottles. If it could, it would do parkour.

🏗️ Why Timber Framers Are Losing Sleep (In a Good Way)

Let’s be honest: timber framing is 10% cutting… and 90% accessing awkward angles.

You’ve been there:

• Drilling peg holes inside deep mortises—with a drill longer than the mortise itself.
• Driving lag screws behind a knee brace—while lying on your back, covered in sawdust and regrets.
• Installing metal connectors in tight truss corners—and stripping screws because the angle is impossible.

The DCD799 solves this with surgical precision—and a side of comedy.

🪵 Pro tip: One tester used the offset head to drill through a mock scarf joint while the beam was clamped on sawhorses.
“Normally I’d need a mirror and a prayer,” he said. “This time? Clicked the head on. Done.”

The right-angle head is magic for vertical posts near walls, timber bents, and tight interior corners.
The stubby impact head? MVP for driving 3/8 in / 9.5 mm timber screws into end grain without smashing the drill body into adjacent beams.

🤖 “It doesn’t need more space. It needs less drama.”

🔋 Battery & Ergonomics: Power That Doesn’t Quit (or Hurt Your Wrist)

Running on DeWalt’s proven 20V MAX XR platform, the DCD799 lasts:

• ~45 minutes of continuous drilling on a 5.0Ah pack
• Enough for 200+ 3/8 in / 9.5 mm peg holes in oak

The grip is slim, textured, glove-friendly, and balanced.
The soft-start motor prevents sudden jumps—critical when you’re 2 in / 50 mm from a finished surface.

Even better: all four heads fit neatly inside the hard case. No loose parts. No treasure hunts on the shop floor.

📦 Fun visual fact: The case fits in most tool belts or a lunchbox. (We tried both. The lunchbox was cleaner.)

🆚 How It Stacks Up: Not a Replacement—A Force Multiplier

It’s not meant to replace your main drill.
It’s the special operations tool you deploy when geometry says “nope.”

⚖️ “Other drills adapt. This one transforms.”

🧪 Real-World Test: Inside a Mock Timber Frame

We built a small 8' × 8' (2.4 × 2.4 m) timber bay using:

• 8×8 in / 200×200 mm posts
• 6×8 in / 150×200 mm beams
• Green oak

Then we tested three nightmare scenarios:

1. Pegging Deep Mortises

Using the stub impact head, we drilled 3/4 in / 19 mm peg holes inside 3 in / 75 mm deep mortises.
→ Zero binding. Drill body stayed outside the joint.

2. Bracing Behind a Knee Brace

Driving 3 in / 75 mm lag screws behind intersecting timbers.
→ Offset head fit perfectly; right-angle head was too tight.

3. Hidden Connectors in a Corner Joint

Installing Simpson HD3B brackets in a tight 90° timber intersection.
→ Right-angle head + LED = perfect alignment on first try.

🎯 “Finished the bay in 4 hours. Normally? 6.5. My back thanked me.”

💰 Price, Availability & Who Should Buy It

• MSRP: $249 (tool only) | $329 (with 2.0Ah battery + charger)
• Availability: December 2025 (US/EU/UK/CA/AU)
• Warranty: 3 years

Buy it if you:

• Build timber frames
• Restore historic structures
• Work in boats, cabins, tight interiors
• Install hardware in cramped joints
• Love tools that solve geometry problems

Skip it if you:

• Run CNC-based production
• Want the cheapest option
• Only work in large open-frame environments

💸 “Not the cheapest tool—but likely the most time-saving one you’ll buy this year.”

🔮 The Bigger Picture: Tools Are Getting Smarter

The DCD799 represents a growing trend: modular, adaptive tools that fit real-world human movement—not the other way around.

Instead of four separate tools, DeWalt gave us one tool with four superpowers.
Less clutter. Less cost. More capability.

🪵 Final Verdict

If your work involves heavy timber, cramped joints, angled assemblies, or awkward connector placement, the verdict is simple:

✔️ Yes. Add it to your kit.

It won’t replace your main drill.
But when geometry says “impossible”, this little transformer shrugs, swaps its head, and gets it done.

🌟 “It’s like having four tools—but only one receipt.”