What Is DeWalt's Most Expensive Tool? (And What Makes It So Pricey?)

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DeWalt is widely known for its power tools, earning a generally positive reputation among both DIYers and professionals. The brand's catalog is mostly composed of hand tools and electric power tools, with new specialty tools, like the 2025 DeWalt copper tubing cutter, being released each year. Yet, as extensive and successful as DeWalt's products may be, they're generally affordable for non-professionals. At least, most of them are. The most expensive DeWalt tool currently on the market is the 3-in-1 air compressor-generator-welder combo, retailing at around $6,000 from Home Depot and $6,900 from CPO Power Tools.

The price is high but fair. The machine is powered by the gas generator, so it's a big asset for job sites where plugging into the power grid is not an option, such as farms, construction sites, and industrial jobs. It's also a space-saver. By combining a generator, welder, and compressor into one, which are placed above the 30-gallon gas tank, it allows for easy mounting to truck beds. Curiously, all three tools are powered by the same Honda GX390 gas engine, which is also a commonly-used engine in top-rated power washers.

Some people may argue that a compressor-generator-welder isn't a tool, while some may recall paying more money for DeWalt products in years past. Due to the subjectivity of the investigation, we've restricted the criteria to only include consumer-facing DeWalt-branded devices that are available online from major retailers. Using those benchmarks as a guide, DeWalt's compressor-generator-welder unit is the clear winner for the brand's priciest tool.

Yes, the DeWalt compressor-generator-welder is about $6,000, but when you consider the total cost of buying all three tools separately, the high price makes sense. The machine's air compressor delivers a maximum output of 175 psi. DeWalt offers an almost identical standalone air compressor with those specs, including the 30-gallon tank and 175 psi output, and it even uses the same Honda GX390 gas engine. Priced at around $3,075, the DXCMH1393075 gas compressor is basically a carbon copy of the 3-in-1 combo — minus the generator and welder.

You'd pay a pretty penny for the welder on its own, as well. The welder on the DeWalt 3-in-1 unit operates between 50 and 200 amps. This gives it the ability to weld lines between iron alloys (including steel) as thick as half an inch in diameter. A close portable equivalent with similar specs is the Renegade VOLT ES 200i (a DeWalt-brand affiliate). At around $3,959 on Amazon, the VOLT ES 200i can serve the same functions as the welder in the 3-in-1 unit, though its price also includes four DeWalt Flexvolt batteries, which are individually expensive enough for many people to consider refurbishing their old ones.

The keystone of the DeWalt 3-in-1 unit is its generator, which powers both the compressor and the welder. Rated at 5,500 watts, it can also be used to power devices with power cords via its two standard outlets and one twist-lock-style receptacle. DeWalt generators with similar specs range in price, from the $800 DXGNR5700 to the $1,000 DXGNR6500, but very few surpass the 3-in-1 unit's 30-gallon tank capacity. Thus, when you add up the individual prices of all three tools separately, DeWalt's most expensive tool starts to seem like a bargain.

Declaring a single product as the most expensive comes with some caveats. For starters, different people have different definitions of what qualifies as a tool in the first place. You might believe that a compressor-generator-welder combo machine isn't really a tool but better described as a piece of industrial equipment, or you might have paid more money for specialty DeWalt-brand products from business-facing retailers in the past. Plus, prices can depend on location, availability, and even seasonal price adjustments between different retailers. For this article, we compared the retail prices of all DeWalt devices, handheld or otherwise, across all major online power tool retailers, such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Acme Tools, Amazon, and ToolUp.

For perspective, the most expensive Milwaukee tool is a 325-foot modular pipeline inspection system — not exactly the first tool that comes to mind when you think of DeWalt or Milwaukee. But even the most expensive DeWalt handheld power tool is a niche, specialty item. The brand's 60V MAX 6 core drill kit falls around the $3,000 mark, depending on the store, so it still sits well outside the price range of the tools most people associate with DeWalt. Indeed, the big black-and-yellow brand name can be found on both small electric screwdrivers and colossal 3-in-1 combo machines.