The Senco DS225-18V Duraspin Auto-Feed Screw Driver is a high-speed fastening beast of a tool that takes your efficiency to the next level. With a well-rounded set of features, you’ll cruise through your next drywall or subfloor job.
Pros
- Full-featured, purpose-built design that legitimately speeds up your work
- Auto-feeding collated magazine
- Easy bit access
- Smooth depth adjustments
- Lock-on button
- Brushless motor
- Stout belt clip
Cons
- Screw length adjustment needs a bigger button
Recommendation
The team behind the Senco Duraspin DS225-18V Durasping Auto-Feed Screw Driver has this tool really dialed in for hanging drywall and setting subfloor fast. In this game, time is money, and Senco will genuinely make your crew faster and more productive.
Hanging with the Senco DS225-18V Screw Driver
We see guys in the field use everything from drills and impact drivers to drywall screw drivers. Even though models like the Senco DS225-18V are bigger and heavier, they’re also purpose-built for hanging drywall and setting subfloor fast.
Basics
Senco starts with a brushless motor spinning up to 5,000 RPM. You won’t get anywhere near that kind of speed with a drill or impact driver. Because it needs less torque to drive screw, it can prioritize its energy to higher speed. You control those RPMs with a variable speed trigger.
Depth Control
Getting beyond simply controlling the RPMs, the control you get from the feed system is what sets this Senco Duraspin screw driver apart. You set the depth of your drive with a thumbwheel on the left side.
It’s a two-handed operation thanks to a locking button you need to press. Some of our team prefer a single-stage operation, but this design keeps you from accidentally bumping the wheel into a different depth on the fly and leaving a string of slightly proud screws.
Once you release the lock, the metal wheel itself turns super-smooth. Many designs are tight, but this one turns freely. Once you get the depth gauge where you want it, give the wheel a turn in both directions until you feel it click into place.
Adjusting for Screw Size
Setting the length of the screw you’re using is a bit different. Toward the front of the nose area, there are presets for 1 to 2-inch screws. You need to press a small button in and push or pull the mechanism to the size you want.
The motion works well, but the button is small. We found it to be more difficult than it should be considering how smooth the action of the moving parts is.
Auto-Feeding Magazine
Like cordless screw drivers similar to this one, the bit doesn’t engage as soon as you hit the trigger. A spring pushes it away until you apply pressure to the screw. Press down and that’s when the magic all comes together to drive screws in less than a second.
Once you drive your screw, the feed action pulls the next one up on the collated strip and is ready to continue. Combine that action with Senco’s trigger lock-on button and you can move lightning-fast through hanging each sheet of drywall or setting each section of subfloor.
In our testing, the feed system has worked flawlessly. When we ran into a misfeed, it was due to one of our guys switching to a smaller screw and forgetting to switch the size setting. Similarly, proud screws and cam out were the human error issue of releasing the pressure too soon.
The only thing you have to slow down for is putting the next strip of screws in. Just keep your bucket close by as you move.
Speed Testing
If you’re in a worst-case scenario using a standard drill or impact driver, switching to the Senco Duraspin nets you massive time savings. Even if you’re using a standard screwgun without the auto-feed magazine, you’re running slower by quite a bit.
We ran a little subfloor experiment to see just how much of a time difference it makes. Assuming you’re going with an 8-inch interval on 16-inch joists, you have 24 screws to set on each 4 x 8 sheet. With an impact driver, the best we could do was about 4 minutes. Realistically, it’s more like 6 minutes to account for mistakes or to take more time to set each screw well.
Repeating the experiment with the Senco DS225-18V, it dropped to 1 minute. Again, we’d normally slow down a little to ensure we’re setting each screw well.
The question is, what are you going to do with 75% time savings you just gained?
Nosing Around
One thing we really like is that the nose area is more visible than other models we’ve used. It narrows down to roughly the size of the nose on a framing nailer – a big improvement over even other Duraspin models.
It’s more than just about visibility, though. That tapering down allows you to drive in corners better than wider designs.
The nose tip is only attached on one side. It looks like it might be at greater risk of damage than if it were solid on both sides. However, it’s stronger than it looks. It can take a lot of abuse and doesn’t appear to have any inclination to bend during normal use.
Bit Access
Twisting the magazine collar unlocks the feed from the driver to expose the driver bit. It’s a really fast operation that you can do on the fly if you need to back a screw out or just need to get in a crazy-tight spot.
When it’s time to change the bit, pull the red button on the top back to release the 1/4-inch hex collet.
Dark Matters
Having just one LED light on the left side of the tool seems like an odd call. We went ahead and turned the lights off and found it’s very effective, even if you’re left-handed. Because the bottom of the nose is open, the light gets where you need it. The only shadow you’re dealing with comes from the screws, and that’s something we’ve seen with the other auto-feed screw drivers we’ve used.
Room for Improvement?
One area Senco might consider improving this model is when you’re working with the lock-on button. Right now, the drill motor runs the entire time. Adding a pressure-sensitive switch to it would conserve some battery runtime and general noise.
As users, we’d have to balance the benefits against the additional cost, though. The kit comes with two batteries and each one can drive roughly 2500 screws. If you can work faster than the other battery can charge (about 45 minutes from dead), you’re something special. That leaves the greatest benefit as noise reduction.
Price
Expect the Senco DS225-18V Duraspin Screw Driver to run $399. That’s for the kit with two 3.0Ah batteries and a charger. The batteries are the newer slim pack style.
The Bottom Line
The team behind the Senco Duraspin DS225-18V Durasping Auto-Feed Screw Driver has this tool really dialed in for hanging drywall and setting subfloor fast. In this game, time is money, and Senco will genuinely make your crew faster and more productive.
Shop Acme Tools Shop AmazonSenco Duraspin Auto-Feed Screw Driver Specs
- Model: Senco DS225-18V
- Power Source: Senco 18V lithium-ion battery
- Tool Weight: 5.14 lbs (2.33 kg)
- Height: 9-9/16 inches (244 mm)
- Length: 13-11/16 inches (347 mm)
- Width: 3-3/8 inches (85 mm)
- Battery: 18V Li-Ion
- Fasteners Per Charge: 2500
- Technology: Duraspin
- RPM: 5000
- Torque : 42 in-lb
- Screw Diameters: #6 – #8
- Power Type: Cordless
- Range: 1″ – 2″
- Warranty: 5 year
- Price: $399
