Air impacts vs air ratchets? Do I need both?

[tankmech77]

I have 20 dollar HF air ratchet and it works but damn its slow. I got it for removing side/body panels on industrial stuff. TONS of little allen, torx, and 10 mil stuff. I ended up finding a 3/8 IR for 25 bucks at the pawnshop. The interesting and cool feature of that particular model (of which I forgot the actual name but its the 3/8 version of the common IR231) is its adjustable in reverse also. Its pretty sweet because as someone else pointed out earlier using impacts on small allen and torx stuff can have bad consequences

 

[rodsnratfinks]

maybe I mis-stated what I was doing. an air ratched can be used like a normal ratchet meaning using my hands to press the body to break the fastener loose without using the air, then once it's loose use the air to spin the fastener out. I'm not at all suggesting trying to use an air ratchet like an impact, or strike it in any way. Does this clear up the confusion?

Every mechanic I have worked with does this. Tool companies claim that you shouldn't do it, but haven't worked with too many techs that don't use air on just about every fastener.