DEWALT 54V XR Flexvolt Paddle mixer

New to the market, DeWalt’s 54V XR FlexVolt Paddle Mixer could be a game changer, we got our hands on one and asked our very own Graeme Shelton to review it. Here’s what he thinks of it…..

Initially I was sceptical about the power, performance and battery life of a cordless mixer knowing the stress and torque a Plasterers 110v or 240v mixer goes through on a daily basis mixing countless bags of backing coat, drywall adhesive, finishes and renders.

1st impressions are great as it comes with a decent M14 160mm positive paddle. The mixer feels as heavy and durable as my 110v leading German mixer, is of a similar design and shape and comes with 5 speed settings on an easy to use thumb dial on the right handle along with the trigger below.

When using the brushless mixer it changes through the 5 speed settings smoothly and feels well balanced and sturdy with very little vibration.
The enclosed batter docking is a great design idea as it protects both the battery and the docking station connections from splashes, dirt & dust.
The mixer comes with a 3 year warranty when you register your purchase online.

There is an attachable security appliance (purchased separately) that fixes to the mixer that enables the owner to download an App on their phone and trace the tool in the event of it getting stolen, which is a fantastic idea as tool theft from sheds, vans and building sites has been on the increase in recent years.

The fast charger is wall mountable anywhere by fixing 2 drywall screws, it’s fan cooled when charging and will fully charge the 54v 9ah battery in approximately 85 minutes. The light flashes red when charging and remains lit when fully charged. The 54v Li-on batteries are really impressive as they come with a 3 green light fuel gauge and are backwards compatible with any 18v XR DeWalt cordless power tools. So the 54v battery will fit any 18v XR Bare units and run as an 18v.

I’ve since bought a DeWalt DAB radio and used the 54v Flexvolt battery to run it while the mains power was isolated by the electrician on a job I was working on recently.

I’ve been using the mixer every day for a week and found and can confirm (exactly as it says in the book) it takes 85 minutes to fully charge a flat battery and does mix through up to 12 bags of finish on 1 fully charged battery. The jobs I’ve been working on during that week determined the size of my mix and the material used but I’ve mixed 2.5 bags of finish, 2 bags of bonding and 2 bags of drywall adhesive at a time and had no problems getting through any of it. On larger jobs and areas I’d have no concerns with it mixing through much bigger buckets of plaster.

Come Spring time I’ll be using the DeWalt 54v mixer on my external render jobs and I’m confident it’ll go through 5 bags of Monocouche Render as easily as my current 110v mixer but with the DeWalt cordless mixer I’ll have the added benefit of being able to mix wherever I work and on any lift of the scaffold without having to carry the transformer or worry about extension leads and cables running through and around obstacles and scaffold poles and creating a trip hazard on site.

Having looked at the specification of the other cordless mixers on the market I can say based on the performance and equivalent power to 2000w corded mixer and having backwards compatibility with 18v tools in the DeWalt XR range the DeWalt 54v Flexvolt is the best of the bunch and I would highly recommend it.

Regards, Graeme
& GS Plastering, Liverpool