Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought mine directly from the Worx website and got a significant savings with a special holiday price and new customer coupon. Before going further let me state I am not a shill for WORX. I did what anybody should do. I researched the Switchdriver after watching some of the infomercial and found very few real world reviews because it is new to the market. I did find several PR placements that said nothing meaningful about real world use. I even read a review about how the rotating driver head wears out but suspect it is conjecture and not based upon long term use. I have attempted to post a similar review on the Worx website but it never gets approved and posted by the Worx website moderator. If it ever does get posted there I will update this review. Meanwhile, if you read the Worx website reviews keep in mind they appear to ONLY post super positive reviews. DUMB CHARGER (no auto shutoff or cell balancing) That said, it arrived with drill, a charger and two 1.5 ah 20 volt batteries. I have a 2013 cordless Jawsaw which came with a battery and a spare I bought. The 2015 charger is a similar' "dumb" design but slightly different green/red display scheme. Luckily, both turn solid green when battery is fully charged. Both are clumsy to release from the battery pack. WARNING: Do Not leave the batteries plugged into these dumb chargers. It will kill them. Continuous charging of a Li Ion battery is a fast track to premature battery failure. Failure to remove a battery pack from the charger is probably the root cause of batteries not lasting. Ideally, store them with half a charge but these batteries are pretty robust and don't suffer from the memory effect that Nicads are known to suffer from. That said, storage temp is important. They really like being stored in a controlled environment not hot or freezing. If Lithium battery storage in your house scares you then switch to corded drills or buy a used metal ammo box to store the Lithium Ion batter packs. IN THE BOX and first impressions Drill, charger, two batteries with instructions. Plus, there are two drill bits and one #2 Phillips included. The Switchdriver is a compact and comfortable design. I grabbed a charged pack and did some testing of the new drill. I inserted the Phillips bit in one chuck and the drill bit in the other. The chuck operates quite easily and changing a hex head bit is simple. The switching head position is locked in place to prevent accidental rotation. It requires releasing or unlocking to swap driver head. A simple trigger releases the rotating head. Simple and elegant design. Drilling holes in wood requires high speed setting. Driving is done at low speed. The electronic torque control clumsily behaves like a battery that's having the voltage cutoff due to a discharged battery. I don't like it because it mimics a discharged battery pack. Pros Compact size --Well balanced --LED light illuminates some of the work area --Conventional locations for reverse switch and low/high speed switch. --Swapping driver heads is easy and quick --Total price, if shopped well, is less than two batteries. If you need batteries buy them in a discounted kit. However, the kits with two packs are the older style 1.5 amp hour picks. Newer model Worx trimmer kits have 2.0 amp hour packs. Amp hour rating is more than just capacity or size of the "fuel tank". It directly affects the packs ability to deliver current. I suspect Worx will changeover to the higher capacity packs across the board once they turn inventory over. Remember, amp hour (ah) rating is akin to the size of your "fuel tank." CONS --Torque output is underwhelming at 330 inch lbs. or 27 ft. Lbs. That is amazingly low for a 20 volt drill / driver. I could not drive Kreg screws into a pre drilled joint. --electronic torque control is virtually worthless to me. It simply shuts off the current and acts like your battery is low and the torque load has stalled the switchdriver. I am marking this down to 3 starts as a result. --Charger does not diagnose or balance the cells when charging. Nor does it shutoff when the pack is charged. Hence, their nickname is "dumb charger." --LED light should have a delayed off so it can triggered on to find the screw head without spinning the drill or driver it. (This feature is standard on competitive offerings ) --No belt clip or hook which is often standard on cordless drills. --No carrying case although HF offers a range of different size bags for a reasonable price. BOTTOM LINE Bottom line is the unique easy to switch multi-head design is fast if your project requires repetitive drilling of holes and driving of screws. You really need to pre-drill every hole in a 2x4 because the screws cannot be driven in like you would expect with a 20 volt sized drill / driver. Design objective was met with the final product but as a drill and driver it is average at best except for the switchable head. Worx designed-in a unique selling proposition and delivered but the other features are average at best in terms of maximum torque. Every company strives for some type of differentiation. Home Depot Ridgid power tools have an honest to goodness lifetime service agreement including battery packs which differentiates Home Depot brand from the rest. Worx has their Switchdriver in the competitive arena of cordless 20 volt Drill / Drivers. Overall, not a bad purchase if you are looking for spare batteries for another Worx power tool. For 15% less than buying two spare batteries I got the batteries, the charger, and a low torque 20 volt drill. With that in mind I give this drill and driver 3 stars. Edit 12/31/15 -- I have twice attempted to post this same review on the WORX web page but it never gets approved by the Worx moderator. Therefore, be wary of AVERAGE review scores of Worx products on the Worx website. Only super positive review ratings are posted on the Worx website. EDIT 1-13-16 Update -- It has been a month since I bought this hybrid drill & driver. The review I wrote remains unchanged. I used it along side the other drills and impact drivers I own. The Ridgid 12 volt combo has more torque and is smaller. The 12 volt Dewalt impact driver has a charger that allows you to leave the battery in the charger after it is charged. Of course, the torque is in a different league. My 18/20 volt Ridgid drill and impact driver costs $30 to $50 more. Like the 12 volt DeWalt impact driver you can drive a 3" deck screw into 2x4 without pre drilling. That being said I do like the switch driver to be at hand or nearby because I store it with a deck screw sized drill in it but parked in the us engaged position. I can quickly grab it if I need to drill a pilot hole. I am still pleased with the purchase because for the discount price I have two more batteries for my Worx cordless Jawsaw. 2-17-16 UPDATE I still use the Switchdriver but not as a primary drill and driver. I also have two Ridgid 12 volt lithium ion impact drivers and drills plus a 12 volt Dewalt impact driver. These 12 volt combos have monstrous torque compared to the Worx Switchdriver. In addition, I have a 18/20 volt Ridgid combo drill and impact driver which is heavier but incredibly nice more powerful. That said, I like having the Switchdriver handy with a drill bit installed but positioned in the protected position. I find myself using it for drilling pilot holes. It is handy to have it at your fingertips. 3-25-16 Update I still use the drill once in a while to drill small pilot holes. Leaving the drill bit in the Switchdriver with the drill stored near the handle is inherently a feature I find quite desirable. Just grab it a drill the hole. 11/25/17 update I seldom use this drill and driver combo. It is a toy like device. 5/28/18 update This drill and drive combo never gets used. It is time to sell it to someone else.