Used Snap-On electric impact - Bad idea?

[Bennylava]

I really like the form of the 3/8 snap-on electric impact. I like that it's small and narrow. And I like that the battery goes up inside and isn't a big mass on the bottom. So I figured I'd check ebay, but man they all look like they've seen 9/10 of their service life.

Probably a bad idea to buy a used ebay one right? One of those isn't something you'll find lightly used. It's not something some guy bought at home depot and sat on his shelf for years.

Or am I wrong here?

 

[413dan]

If you're set on the snap on version and not a similar equivalent, why not buy once, cry once? Start saving up if necessary, and reward yourself with a nice new tool that you will take care of and keep in better shape than it sounds like you are seeing for sale second hand. A dealer may also have a trade in that you could at least look at before pulling the trigger to determine shape rather than an online auction. Good luck.

 

[dsimatt]

Do you mean one like this?

 

[Bennylava]

Do you mean one like this?

Like this:

 

[SilverJimmy]

Not a good idea if you are trying to do anything very tight. Those are a Ni-Cad battery tool and not very powerful. The CT761 shown in the @dsimatt is an amazing tool that will pull the lug nuts off a 1 Ton truck all day long! As a bonus Snap-On will rebuild it to like new for a very reasonable flat rate fee.

 

[charbar]

As said, skip the old ni-cad ones. I bet snap on doesn't even make the batteries for them anymore and that's probably why you see them for sale cheap.

The current model ct761 I have (had) a love/hate relationship with. Very nice when they work but mine never worked. I had to have three just to keep in rotation because I always had one or two taking a **** on me. Batteries were less than impressive I thought too. I finally got tired of constantly sending my snap on 14.4 volt stuff in for repair and buying batteries so I literally gave it all away and bought Milwaukee m12 tools as a replacement. Haven't looked back.

Milwaukee 2454-20 is a nice comparison if you like the size and form of the snap ons.

 

[CGarage]

Milwaukee.

 

[Bennylava]

Milwaukee 2454-20 is a nice comparison if you like the size and form of the snap ons.

Yeah nice, that's the size and form I'm looking for. Looks like it might be the 2454-22 now?

Also if there's anyone else that makes one like that, well then I'd have some pricing options. I'll check to see if dewalt or the others make one like it.

 

[lotus_esprit]

The CT861 is the later brushless version and supposedly more reliable, I’ve had two used 861’s for around equivalent of 130USD that are both excellent; that said I have had at least five of the older CT761 which I’ve picked up for 60 - 70USD that have been problem free.

New casings are sold cheaply by Snap On so even the most oily and beaten up guns can be rejuvenated by being fitted with new casings of your preferred colour.

 

[dsimatt]

Not a good idea if you are trying to do anything very tight. Those are a Ni-Cad battery tool and not very powerful. The CT761 shown in the @dsimatt is an amazing tool that will pull the lug nuts off a 1 Ton truck all day long! As a bonus Snap-On will rebuild it to like new for a very reasonable flat rate fee.

I bought the impact well used off the snappy truck for a good deal and last awhile before I had issues. Sent it in paying the flat fee and got a like new one back. I’ve done it a few times on other stuff and worked out well.

 

[KnurledNut]

The CT861 is the later brushless version and supposedly more reliable, I’ve had two used 861’s for around equivalent of 130USD that are both excellent; that said I have had at least five of the older CT761 which I’ve picked up for 60 - 70USD that have been problem free.

New casings are sold cheaply by Snap On so even the most oily and beaten up guns can be rejuvenated by being fitted with new casings of your preferred colour.

The CT861 has been recently updated to the more powerful CT861AM.
It’s pretty impressive.

I am not a big Milwaukee fan. Have they made an impact with a rocker trigger yet?

 

[charbar]

I am not a big Milwaukee fan. Have they made an impact with a rocker trigger yet?

Not that I'm aware of. I thought I might miss the rocker trigger when I ditched Snappy and went to Milwaukee but I dont find it to be a big deal. I can run the forward/reverse selector on the Milwaukee with the inner part of my thumb and index finger....no different than most drills that have been made for the last 30-40 years that we are all used to. Not a whole lot of times I need to be screwing something in and out repeatedly fast anyway.......in the shop at least

The Snap Ons are cool little impacts for sure. I just had **** luck with them and some of the other 14.4 tools and I eventually got fed up with it. I don't abuse my junk but I expect certain things from my tools and they weren't cutting the mustard for me.

That's my story anyway.

 

[ecotec]

The CT861 has been recently updated to the more powerful CT861AM.
It’s pretty impressive.

I am not a big Milwaukee fan. Have they made an impact with a rocker trigger yet?

I don’t know if the rocker trigger has a patent issue or why Milwaukee doesn’t offer them.

When Milwaukee finally does offer it, Snap-on will lose some business and there will be a glut of used Milwaukee impacts and ratchets for a long while.

 

[dnschmidt]

The Milwaukee stubby is extremely powerful and frankly sort of cheap these days so why screw around with an antique? 500 ft-lb with the 5.0 XC battery which is more than enough for anything without 18 wheels. DeWalt makes a small impact as well that will run rings around that Snap-On. The only Snap-On cordless tools that made sense were their ratchets which with the introduction of the new 70 ft-lb Milwaukee's don't make sense anymore either. TTI and SBD's main business is cordless tools, Snap-On's is dual 80 ratchets.

 

[mervyn]

I really like the form of the 3/8 snap-on electric impact. I like that it's small and narrow. And I like that the battery goes up inside and isn't a big mass on the bottom. So I figured I'd check ebay, but man they all look like they've seen 9/10 of their service life.

Probably a bad idea to buy a used ebay one right? One of those isn't something you'll find lightly used. It's not something some guy bought at home depot and sat on his shelf for years.

Or am I wrong here?

It's gotten harder to find certain things on eBay in good condition. It takes some digging. I bought a Milwaukee impact a couple years ago and it was nearly mint.
Then you have a lot of sellers that want more for a used item than you could buy a new one.

 

[i84x]

It's gotten harder to find certain things on eBay in good condition. It takes some digging.

Second hand prices for power tools are a bad joke. Looking at used everything on ebay has had a hard life and looks like its more fit for the skip, then costing the same or more than a new or updated version.
Like you say it takes some real digging to actually get a reasonable deal on something.

 

[AEAdam]

My son gave me a Milwaukee 2562 M12 from work they were trashing due to a broken charger. Looks like this:

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/--/web-images/sc/e4f2ac8f125a4b849a4d302808828d41?hash=0b76395bd2c16990fdab18f89c8b6c26&lang=en&mw=1400

Its an M12 with gobs of torque, maybe similar to the one @dnschmidt mentioned earlier. Side by side, the CT861 makes around 100ftbs.

I don't own the Snap on, but I think these are 2 very different tools. The CT861's comparably low torque could make it particularly agile. Milwaukee seems to believe more torque is always better. Its got a slightly higher max rpm and it could be difficult to control. Mine has 3 speed settings on it which helps, but I don't have enough time with it to assess how usable that is in the real world.

I feel a little like the Milwaukee is a tool without a clear purpose. Its got the guts to do work on suspensions, but with a 3/8" anvil, can't realistically carry 100% of the sockets I use. Its very possible its really a stubby, mid torque, 1/2" gun with a 3/8" anvil. And I could see Milwaukee doing that.

Flip side, Snap on may have designed a 3/8" gun that produced enough torque to handle 90% of the fasteners we access with 3/8" drive.

Point is:
1) I'd be very careful about the comparison to the current much higher torque Milwaukee guns.
2) I don't feel there have been thoughtful enough reviews from actual mechanics on this subject.
3) More torque isn't always helpful.

Many here experienced this during the cordless impact gun space race a few years ago. Go back and read those GJ threads, where people here were trading in 500ftlb guns for 1000, then 1500ftlb guns. And many were talking about crank pulleys on cars they didn't own. At the end of the threads I recall, people were saying the monster guns were too heavy, tough on wrists, too big, and just too much tool.