What's the latest on cordless impact guns?

I'm generally slow to adapt and have been using a 550 ft/lb air impact gun which sounds like more torque than it feels like it actually generates.  And airing up the compressor for every wheel change gets old.

So I'm thinking it's time to up my game and get an electric.  What do we like?  It won't be used for "pro" use (all day every day) but modest hobbyist who wants to just leave a battery on the charger for a week at a time and then have big torque when wanted.

Is $200 a fair budget for such a thing?  A friend just bought a Kobalt 24V for $179 which sounds like a decent deal if the tool doesn't suck.

We picked up a 450ftlb dewalt on black Friday a few years ago. I use it almost exclusively now. I think we paid $219. 

I bought the smallest 20v Dewalt 1/2" drive they make and it's done the horse trailer, camper, and Miata lug nuts with ease. DEWALT DCF880M2 20-volt. A little over 200.00 but if you already have Dewalt 20v tools you can get it new on Ebay, tool only, much cheaper.

I've been looking at the Milwaukee fuel 18v lipo combo lately. 

I think any of them will do lugnut duty pretty well.

If you need a serious impact for tough jobs though I've heard good things about the earthquake from hf. Next time I can't get something off with my Craftsman, I'll trot over to hf and bring the quake home.

I've used the Old Milwaukee M18 for several years and its been very consistent but is freaking huge.  I also have a smaller 3/8 M12 Fuel Impact that I grab for a lot of things just because it is smaller and lighter and I don't really need the power of the bigger impact.  Every blue moon when nothing else works I'll still grab my Ingersol air impact but its been well over a year since the last time its left my cabinet. 

Another DeWalt 20v user here. I hardly ever use the pneumatic impact gun anymore.

I used Pat's Dewalt 20v recently and was amazed by its capabilities. 

Another vote for the Dewalt 20v 1/2 drive. I bought one a couple of months ago and it’s a beast. I haven’t even fired up my compressor since I bought it. 

DeWalt 20v.

The real answer is there's several good cordless impacts out there right now, but DeWalt seems to have the broadest and deepest ecosystem of other tools that share the powerpacks. I reached a point where I hated having so many different batteries, chargers and tools. A couple years ago I started investing in the DeWalt 20v system and I adore each and every tool I have so far.

John Welsh said:

I used Pat's Dewalt 20v recently and was amazed by its capabilities. 

Mine is the 1100+ ft lbs one and if my 650# IR air gun is any comparison they’re not lying.  The IR air gun has not come out since, and feels like a baby toy compared to the battery powered dewalt.  I got it on ebay for 230 shipped new in box from a pawn shop in vegas.  I know nothing, see nothing, hear nothing!

Milwaukee or harbor freight. The M12 has handled most everything I've thrown at it. The HF is equally as tough, if a bit finicky.

Sorry I'm just still very very anti Dewalt cordless from their NiCad days. Corded stuff is fine, but I'll never use another cordless from them. 

I have the DeWalt DCF899. 700 ft-lbs continuous, 1100 breakaway torque. I also bought the bare tool on eBay at a really great price.

It's a great tool, I hardly ever drag the hose from the garage anymore. My almost exclusive use is to change wheels on my autocross car before and after each event. 

I went with the DeWalt brushless tools since I had an excellent experience with my old DeWalt 18 volt brush motor tools.  I got over 10 years of use from the batteries. 

When the brushless tools were first coming out, DeWalt offered a kit with 2 batteries, a charger, a drill (DCD771)and a quarter inch impact driver (DCF855). All of this was only $199. I was due for a pair of new batteries, and the kit was the same price.

The new Milwaukee M12 stubby is great and handles most stuff (250ft-lbs) without breaking your arm. The HF Earthquake is beastly and comes out for big jobs.

RevRico said:

Milwaukee or harbor freight. The M12 has handled most everything I've thrown at it. The HF is equally as tough, if a bit finicky.

Sorry I'm just still very very anti Dewalt cordless from their NiCad days. Corded stuff is fine, but I'll never use another cordless from them. 

Since I claimed over 10 years of use from my NiCad batteries, I should clarify. I bought the drill on eBay and the batteries died almost immediately.

Fortunately, I was able to take it to an authorized DeWalt Service location and they honored the warranty. At the time, I figured that the fact that I bought the tool on eBay was why the battery died. Probably old stock or something.

That set, fresh from DeWalt, lasted over 10 years. I bought a second charger, and stored the batteries in between usage in the chargers. 

While I think that is contradicted by the conventional wisdom for storage of NiCad batteries, I found this recommended on the DeWalt website.

I've had my Milwaukee 18v for years and years.  The batteries are finally beginning to be weaker and I've been thinking about replacing it.  I like the thought of 1 battery system for everything but all my other tools are Ryobi, otherwise I would get the DeWalt.

As is, I'll probably buy another Milwaukee 1/2 gun and then the smaller 3/8 stubby for the smaller bolts.

Earthquake xt from harbor freight. Great product

DeWalt owner and fan here also. It replaced a capable Craftsman model that worked fine but the batteries were absolute garbage and cost as much as the tool to replace. Gave that away so I wouldn't have to look at it again and got the DeWalt. Their batteries are terrific. I may have to charge the thing once per year.

RevRico said:

Milwaukee or harbor freight. The M12 has handled most everything I've thrown at it. The HF is equally as tough, if a bit finicky.

Sorry I'm just still very very anti Dewalt cordless from their NiCad days. Corded stuff is fine, but I'll never use another cordless from them. 

Most likely there isn’t a single part in common with a new dewalt and an old nicad dewalt. 

I finally gave in to the need for a cordless impact a few weeks ago since I have been working in the driveway while between shops.  I bought a Milwaukee and love it, the Dewalt was right there in the running when shopping.  For me it came down to the other tools available with the same battery and the Milwaukee electric chainsaw came out well above the yellow one.  Haven’t bought the saw yet but it’s coming sometime soon. 

joey48442 said:

RevRico said:

Milwaukee or harbor freight. The M12 has handled most everything I've thrown at it. The HF is equally as tough, if a bit finicky.

Sorry I'm just still very very anti Dewalt cordless from their NiCad days. Corded stuff is fine, but I'll never use another cordless from them. 

Most likely there isn’t a single part in common with a new dewalt and an old nicad dewalt. 

Maybe not, but 2 years of needing to charge batteries every 6 drywall screws and not even being a good hammer while charging has ingrained in me that cordless Dewalt is garbage.

There are MANY other cordless tool companies with better ecosystems on the market today that I have no need to find out if it's still yellow turds or something actually competent. 

The new Milwaukee M12 stubby is great and handles most stuff (250ft-lbs) without breaking your arm. 

This. I have both the M12 Stubby and the M18 1/2" HTIW. I barely use the 1/2" anymore because it's heavy and it tries to break my wrist every time I use it.

Also keep in mind you aren't just buying tools you are also buying into the battery platform. Is the Dewalt battery going to be the same in 3 years when you need to buy a new drill? Not likely, they've changed their battery connections several times over the decade. All M18 tools have the same battery connection regardless of whether they came out 10 years ago or aren't launching until next year. 

My 1/2" drive M18 Fuel remains undefeated.

I have the small brushless 18v Makita (with the quick change hex chuck type deal all the small ones have) as well as their 1/2" big boy that is again, brushless 18v, and rated at something like 740 lb/feet. The little guy will easily drive tapcons into concrete and the big one will annihilate anything you throw at it. I almost never use the compressor anymore.

I use my 1/4" Ryobi impact all the time and I've been eyeballing their 1/2".


I've always been of the opinion that Dewalt is overpriced and if you're going to spend that kind of money on tools you're better off getting milwaukee.