tca,
Like others have hinted at, Dewalt has 2 main lines. The one you bought is the crap model. I would not piss on that thing.
The models you want to look at are in the XL series. It is also easy to tell them apart from the full metal housing & gearing upfront. Also the XL logo. If you get extra batteries make sure to get XL series batteries as well.

If you want a small compact one, you will want the DCD791D2
[Link: amazon.com]

They are 2x the price of that POS you bought, for a reason. They are awesome.