2022 test3 productsPower Tool Batteries
Which Power Tool Battery Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 3 power tool battery options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Ranked first
DeWalt PowerStack
Price shown in test: $119 to $120
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Specs | Impact Driver Max Torque | Impact Driver Lag Bolt Test | Hammer Drill Max Torque | Reciprocating Saw Test | Air Blower Test | Cold Temperature Lag Bolt Test | Battery Capacity Test | Construction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1DeWalt PowerStack$119 to $120 | claims 50% more power than the DCB203, 25% smaller pack, and the lightest option; cells made in China, pack assembled in China, manufactured around the same time as the 2 Ah battery tested (2021); weighs 312 g (14.5% lighter than the 2 Ah battery); fully charged voltage 20.67 V (0.1 V higher than the 2 Ah battery) | 1,950 PSI in the 15-second bench test, 225 PSI more than the 2 Ah battery (about 11.5% more torque), and tied with the 5 Ah battery, both reaching the impact driver's ceiling | 5 lag bolts at 7.6, 8.57, 6.43, 6.49, and 7.0 seconds, average 7.22 seconds, about a second faster than the 2 Ah battery's 8.16 second average; after discarding each battery's slowest time, the 5 Ah battery is described as averaging over a second faster than the PowerStack, though the PowerStack's own discard-adjusted figure is not stated separately | no-load RPM 1,997 (matching the other two batteries); held up much better than the 2 Ah battery under load, running for 10.5 seconds (4 seconds longer) and reaching 366 in-lbs of torque (50 in-lbs more than the 2 Ah battery, about 15% more), though 10 in-lbs behind the 5 Ah battery's 376 in-lbs | 3 cuts at 10.14, 10.04, and 9.73 seconds, average 10 seconds, barely edging out the 5 Ah battery's 10.1 second average and far ahead of the 2 Ah battery's 15.4 seconds; the only test in the video where the PowerStack outright beat the 5 Ah battery | started at 68 mph; 1 min: 67 mph (about 7 mph faster than the 2 Ah battery at that point); 2 min: 60.2 mph; 3 min: roughly the same as the 2 Ah battery, nearly drained; ran out of charge about a minute faster than the regular 2 Ah battery, the shortest runtime of the three, attributed by the narrator to giving up energy faster due to its higher discharge rate | ambient baseline average 6.88 seconds (a separate baseline run from the earlier 7.22 second average); after 12+ hours at about 0 F: 6.74, 6.79, 5.98, 7.65 (likely hit a knot in the wood), and 6.08 seconds, average 6.4 seconds after discarding the slowest time, actually faster than its own ambient baseline; essentially unaffected by the cold, unlike the other two batteries | at a constant 5 A draw, started at 19.63 V (near 100 W); down to 19.28 V after 1 minute; began dropping off quickly at 1.3 amp hours (16 minutes); fully drained at 17 minutes 36 seconds, totaling 1.43 amp hours / 24.7 watt hours, the shortest runtime and lowest total capacity of the three, despite holding a higher voltage than the 2 Ah battery for roughly the first 10 minutes before dropping off sharply around minute 11 | dismantled (with some effort to pry apart) to reveal five stacks of soft, flexible lithium ion polymer pouch cells, instead of cylindrical 18650 cells |
| 2DeWalt 2.0 Ah DCB203around $50 | claims 40 watt hours capacity; cells made in Korea, pack assembled in Mexico; manufactured around the same time as the PowerStack tested (2021); weighs 362 g; fully charged voltage 20.57 V | 1,725 PSI in the 15-second bench test, the lowest of the three and described as unable to keep up with the impact driver's demands | 5 lag bolts at 8.6, 7.91, 7.65, 8.77, and 7.96 seconds, average 8.16 seconds, the slowest of the three | no-load RPM 1,996; lost RPM almost immediately under load and gave up at 6.38 seconds, reaching only 311 in-lbs of torque, the lowest of the three | 3 cuts at 12.67, 16.93, and 16.58 seconds, average 15.4 seconds, far slower than either the PowerStack (10 seconds) or the 5 Ah battery (10.1 seconds) | started around 68 mph; 1 min: 59.7 mph; 2 min: 58 mph; 3 min: 57.6 mph; 4 min: 56.6 mph; did not quite complete the full 5-minute test before running out of charge | ambient baseline average 8.01 seconds (a separate baseline run from the earlier 8.16 second average); after 12+ hours at about 0 F: 11.2, 10.24, 10.59, 9.53, and 8.67 seconds, average 9.7 seconds after discarding the slowest time, close to 2 seconds slower per bolt than its ambient baseline, by far the worst cold-weather degradation of the three batteries | at a constant 5 A draw, started at 19.78 V; outlasted the PowerStack, running for 22 minutes 5 seconds, totaling 1.8 amp hours / 30.5 watt hours | dismantled to reveal six individual cylindrical 18650 lithium ion cells |
| 3DeWalt 5.0 Ah DCB205 | weighs 629 g, more than twice the PowerStack's weight; fully charged voltage 20.53 V | 1,950 PSI in the 15-second bench test, tied with the PowerStack, both reaching the impact driver's ceiling | 5 lag bolts at 6.08, 5.72, 5.77, 5.67, and 6.64 seconds, average 5.98 seconds, the best of the three; described as averaging over a second faster than the PowerStack after discarding each battery's slowest time | no-load RPM 1,996; held on for 8.5 seconds under load and reached a peak of 376 in-lbs of torque, the best of the three, 10 in-lbs more than the PowerStack and 65 in-lbs more than the 2 Ah battery | 3 cuts at 10.29, 10.14, and 9.73 seconds, average 10.1 seconds, essentially tied with the PowerStack's 10 second average and far ahead of the 2 Ah battery's 15.4 seconds | started at about the same speed as the other two batteries; 1 min: just over 66 mph (about the same as the PowerStack); 2 min: 65.7 mph (about 5 mph faster than the PowerStack); 3 min: 63 mph (about 5 mph faster than the PowerStack); 4 min: 61 mph; the only one of the three to easily survive the full 5-minute test, finishing at 58 mph | ambient baseline average 5.81 seconds; after 12+ hours at about 0 F: 6.89, 6.43, 7.09, 8.77 (likely hit a knot in the wood), and 6.74 seconds, average 6.79 seconds, about a second slower per bolt than its ambient baseline, a real but modest cold-weather slowdown compared to the 2 Ah battery's much larger degradation | at a constant 5 A draw, started at 19.96 V; the narrator manually ended the test at 22 minutes rather than running it to full depletion, since it was clearly going to significantly outlast the smaller batteries per the discharge curve; no final total amp-hour or watt-hour figure is given for this battery, unlike the other two, since the test was deliberately cut short rather than run to a cutoff voltage | not dismantled or examined internally in this video, unlike the 2 Ah battery and the PowerStack |
How it was tested
- impact driver maximum torque bench test using a hydraulic-ram pressure tester, 15 seconds per battery, measured in PSI
- impact driver driving five 5-in lag bolts, time per bolt and average with the slowest bolt discarded
- hammer drill no-load RPM, then maximum working torque driving a lag bolt with a torque adapter, in in-lbs
- reciprocating saw cutting through nail-embedded 4x4 lumber with 10 lbs of added weight, three passes, average time
- air blower air speed over a 5-minute run, measured in mph at 1-minute intervals
- cold-temperature retest of the impact driver lag bolt test after 12+ hours in a freezer at about 0 F, compared against each battery's own ambient-temperature baseline
- battery discharge/capacity test at a constant 5 A draw, tracking voltage over time to a cutoff, with final amp-hour and watt-hour totals
- physical teardown to compare internal cell construction (cylindrical 18650 cells vs. lithium ion polymer pouch cells)
Data notes and caveats
Three-way, same-brand model comparison (DeWalt PowerStack vs. 2.0 Ah DCB203 vs. 5.0 Ah DCB205), not a cross-brand competition, driven by the question of whether the PowerStack's premium price is justified. No single winner is declared: the PowerStack clearly and consistently outperforms the 2 Ah battery, and roughly matches or slightly trails the 5 Ah battery on most tests (beating it only on the reciprocating saw test and cold-temperature test), but the closing statement is an explicitly qualified verdict rather than a clean pick, praising the pouch-cell technology while criticizing its price relative to its capacity and saying DeWalt would need to cut the price and raise the capacity for it to have a bright future; winner/runnerUp/budgetPick are left null accordingly. Meta chapters do not map to individual products (one chapter, "5 Amp Hour Dewalt Battery", spans 143 to 850 seconds and actually covers nearly every test for all three batteries, not just the 5 Ah one), so chapterMap is false. No price is given anywhere in the transcript for the 5 Ah battery.