Cordless Impact Wrench

[Joseph Crivelli]

Yesterday I got a Craftsman C3 19.2-volt Cordless Impact Wrench (17090). It seems to be a solid, hard-working tool.

I’ve had the C3 19.2-volt Cordless Impact Driver (17080) since last June, and it’s been an great performer.

For me, the Impact Driver is like my Bosch Reciprocating Saw. I don’t always need it, but, when I do, nothing else will do.

[Callan Campbell]

While I've not moved from my multiple pneumatic impact wrenchs/guns over to cordless ones, I HAVE fallen in love with my two 1/4" hex drive lithium Ion battery impact drivers. My smaller 10.8 volt Makita at work has become an "must-have-it-working" for everyday use kind of tool.:cool:
While my old reliable, my 14.4 Makita drill/driver gathers dust in the drawer below the new little impact Makita. Since I have compressed air at work and at home, all my impact guns still see regular usage, but you DO see how many people are picking up a 3/8" battery gun to supplement their existing air powered ones. It's a common sight now in many auto shops. My 10.8 Makita is the 1/4" hex version, and gets used easily for both small screws and larger bolts since you can get adapters to use your regular sockets with it in either 1/4" or 3/8", or even 1/2". I haven't bothered with the 1/2" adapter, it gathers dust in my kit of driver bits:D:D:D
The trade-off is still the increased weight of the battery tools versus a plain air powered tool once the cordless tool is of larger battery voltage, even with the smaller, lighter Lithium Ion models. Also , for automotive applications, you're not always given much room to work with, so the battery models tend to get shut out of as much available room access to do the same jobs, unlike the smaller pneumatic tool versions.

[Darin Kauffman]

I use a Makita 18v impact driver, and I would be lost without it. I install doors and windows mainly these days, so it sees a lot of use. It can twist off screw-heads ever so often, and even break the tip off of the driver too, with all of the extra torque. Handy little tool. Light too.

[Joe Shinall]

I also have the C3 series drill and looking to get the impact driver. I used one of my friends and it is a very solid tool like you say. I have the recip saw, right angle drill, and small circular saw too in the C3 series and have been happy with it all.

[Bill LaPointe]

The newest issue of Wood magazine has an extensive review of the small Lithium Ion drivers. I was amazed at the number of fasteners that they can drive. I think that most of us have followed the flow and keep getting cordless drivers with bigger batteries. I use 18v in most all of my drivers and really don't need that much power for most uses in the shop. I use the Ryobi driver most of the time because it is smaller and lighter weight. After reading the reviews in Wood I am going to take the next small driver home that comes through my store.