Best 1/2" Drive cordless impact

[RKSpeed]

My personal experience with the De-Walt gun. It has decent power, but not amazing. Couple things i didnt like, it had a rocker switch(just like the Milwaukee) for on/off and also had a locking pin on the anvil to hold the socket on instead of a hogs ring. Very annoying when you take the socket on/off. Overall decent gun for the money, but next time Ill buy a Snap-On or try out the Matco.

Edit: My brother had the same Snap On gun that is pictured in post #36 and it was awesome. Never tried the Matco gun out...but im sure its nice.

 

[Shehzada]

Many replies to the thread about non 1/2 impacts. I'll make it easier for you OP.

Here's the best 1/2" cordless impact out there right now,

Here's the runner up,

I wouldn't waste money on anything else.....

Thanks to everyone for the input and reviews. Now can the Bosch IWHT180 be considered 2nd Runner Up ?

 

[Shehzada]

Matco

Thank you.

 

[Danglerb]

Is there a big demand for really high torque cordless impacts?

If so I would guess we will see continuous improvement and more power.

 

[Shehzada]

Is there a big demand for really high torque cordless impacts?

If so I would guess we will see continuous improvement and more power.

I've been wrenching on my personal vehicles ever since I was in college. I currently live in an apartment building and do not have the luxury of pneumatics, since we don't have a garage.

Over the years, I have gathered up some great tools to make the job go easy. Now I'm in the market for a cordless impact ever since I saw a friend use one to take off the crankshaft pulley bolt off my Accord. I had no idea a cordless would have that much power............but apparently they do.

 

[Monte]

Snap-On maximum torque = 542 Newtonmeter
Matco working torque = 576 Newrtonmeter
Bosch maximum torque = 650 Newtonmeter

 

[GSteg]

I got the chance to use the Bosch recently. Unless it was defective, power output was similar to the SO. Neither one excelled over the other despite the torque ratings.

 

[Shehzada]

I got the chance to use the Bosch recently. Unless it was defective, power output was similar to the SO. Neither one excelled over the other despite the torque ratings.

I can't seem to find any reviews on the Bosch model......besides the input on this thread.

I'm ready to purchase the SO. Anyone have any tips on how I can get the best price, discount etc?

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

Only discount you get is from eBay or Used.

 

[ncfh]

Tell me about it. My SO guy won't deal at all on them, even if I buy an extra lithium battery and some other stuff.

"They sell like hotcakes, I don't discount them at all, ever."

"Okay. Well you can forget about selling one to me, ever."

I'm looking at the Matco now.

I have been leaning toward the 18V Milwaukee 1/2" and 3/4" impacts because I already have a bunch of their other stuff and they have a 5 year warranty. But after scouring thread after thread, reading reviews, and playing with the SO gun, I resigned to get the SO. But now...

 

[GSteg]

I had the 1/2" Milwaukee M18 gun not too long ago. I actually like the feel of it more than the SO. It's lighter and better balanced (SO is top heavy). But since it doesn't have the mass of the SO, it doesn't dampen the vibration as well. Very powerful gun though. I would put it up right next to the SO. From a value standpoint, it beats the SO by a long shot. It's a shame it the impact doesn't get dampened as well otherwise I would have kept it.

 

[Danglerb]

My thought is that we will see steady improvement, so if you want more power, wait, its coming. Especially since people seem willing to pay good premium for slightly more power.

OTOH a ton of work has been done with an IR 231, and seems like many even reasonably priced cordless have that level of torque or better.

BTW I don't think anybody mentioned the Dewalt 36v impact.
http://www.tiretoolsonline.com/DeWa...rdless-Li-Ion-Impact-Wrench-Kit-_p_37895.html

 

[Griff93]

Any of you guys with the BTW450 makita mind telling me where it's made? How about the milwaukee as well?

 

[GSteg]

Don't know about the Makita, but my Milwaukee was made in China.

 

[fixitguy75]

The best cordless impact imho is the Matco. I have one and it is a great impact and it is more powerful than the snap on i had.

 

[Gooman24]

Snap-On builds about the nicest but not worth 555 dollars. The Dewalt works just as well and the price is about 1/2. When it comes time for service or batteries it's easier and cheaper as well. For the price of the Snap-On I can buy a corded impact, the generator to run it with and a set of sockets for it

The dewalt definitely doesn't work just as well as the snap on. As far as the rest you could buy the generator and the corded impact and still be only at half the torque of the snap on and the mac. Can't walk out of your house with the gen/corded gun under your arm and throw in on your front seat and drive off in 2 seconds either. You really should use or at least research the tools before you put them down and lead other people in the wrong direction.

 

[GSteg]

Dewalt does work as well if your main objective is to remove lug nuts on passenger cars.. The Snap On picks up where the Dewalts leaves off. Honestly there is little incentive to go with a Dewalt over a Milwaukee. At least with the Milwaukee, it's more compact and the trigger actually works better because it doesn't toggle and you get variable speed. Not to mention, it's more powerful

 

[Paumanok]

OP, I'm also a farmer, so I know where you're coming from with the "dirty,gritty,rusty" threads. I ponied up and bought the snapon. All I can say is it's the bomb. It has never let me down. As long as you're not trying to break loose things that are better suited for a 3/4" impact. So nice for fixing broke down equipment out in the field.

 

[Monte]

The good thing about the Makita 18 Volt impact wrench is that you can use the batteries in their bicycle too

 

[Greatbear]

I have the DeWalt 1/2 incher as well. While adequate for some jobs, it only has a 300 lb/ft rating, and I think that it probably optimistic. When I had found out about the upcoming Bosch and it's ratings, I decided to get one of those, since I also have a few Bosch 18V kits. The difference is like night and day.

 

[toolfreak]

My thought is that we will see steady improvement, so if you want more power, wait, its coming. Especially since people seem willing to pay good premium for slightly more power.

OTOH a ton of work has been done with an IR 231, and seems like many even reasonably priced cordless have that level of torque or better.

BTW I don't think anybody mentioned the Dewalt 36v impact.
http://www.tiretoolsonline.com/DeWa...rdless-Li-Ion-Impact-Wrench-Kit-_p_37895.html

I compared my snap on to the 36v dewalt this month. He tightened the bolt up and hammered on it for about 30 seconds, put mine on there hammered about 15 seconds and broke the bolt. It turned a full turn farther before it broke the 12mm bolt.

 

[The Dutchman]

Hi. Guess I'm the new guy. Glad to be here!

For weeks I've been cruising the net looking for the best deals on the most powerful 1/2"
cordless impacts, & other tools as well, such as 1/2" [edit] reversible drill, 3/8" impact, & 1/4" female impact driver. It seems Matco has the most powerful 1/2" impact, but with the numerous torque ratings out there (ultimate, breakaway, max, normal working, stall torque, etc, you really don't know what can do what.

I finally settled on the Milwaukee line, except for the 1/2 [edit] drill, where I went With Ingersoll Rand. (A few years ago I bought an IR 3/8 cordless ratchet & the charger that came with it still charges any lith-ion IR battery.)

I think I made the right decision, esp. with the 2663 Mil 1/2 impact. Everything's a compromise, & although the Matco MCL18IWVS 1/2 impact may be a little stronger, its significantly more bulky. What good is the most powerful tool if it can't get on the fastener in question? Moreover, I also got the 2664--Milwaukee's 3/4 drive impact rated at 525 (!) "normal" torque rating. The 2663 (1/2 impact) kit with 2 lith ion batteries, a charger, & the 2664 3/4 impact bare tool came to $100 less than what I would have paid for the Matco 1/2 drive kit, plus the Matco salesman said it's only a 1 year warranty for batteries & tools. (Milwauke--5 year, albeit a limited warr) Plus, if you're handy enough to take these things apart, Milwaukee publishes parts lists/diagrams.

I bought the Milwaukke stuff unbeknownst to my local Snap-On dealer, who lent me his personal Snap-On CT6850 1/2 impact to try out for a week. Power-wise it seems to be a draw between the 6850 & the Mil 2663. Just gut feeling here.

I wish I had a 3/4" drive torque wrench so I could torque something to like 600 ft-lbs and REALLY see which gun has the most cohones!

Sorry for long post. KS

P.S: The Milwaukee 3/4" gun is actually shorter than the S-O 1/2 6850 & the Matco 1/2 gun.

 

[Shehzada]

Hi. Guess I'm the new guy. Glad to be here!

For weeks I've been cruising the net looking for the best deals on the most powerful 1/2"
cordless impacts, & other tools as well, such as 3/8" reversible drill, 3/8" impact, & 1/4" female impact driver. It seems Matco has the most powerful 1/2" impact, but with the numerous torque ratings out there (ultimate, breakaway, max, normal working, stall torque, etc, you really don't know what can do what.

I finally settled on the Milwaukee line, except for the 3/8 drill, where I went With Ingersoll Rand. (A few years ago I bought an IR 3/8 cordless ratchet & the charger that came with it still charges any lith-ion IR battery.)

I think I made the right decision, esp. with the 2663 Mil 1/2 impact. Everything's a compromise, & although the Matco MCL18IWVS 1/2 impact may be a little stronger, its significantly more bulky. What good is the most powerful tool if it can't get on the fastener in question? Moreover, I also got the 2664--Milwaukee's 3/4 drive impact rated at 525 (!) "normal" torque rating. The 2663 (1/2 impact) kit with 2 lith ion batteries, a charger, & the 2664 3/4 impact bare tool came to $100 less than what I would have paid for the Matco 1/2 drive kit, plus the Matco salesman said it's only a 1 year warranty for batteries & tools. (Milwauke--5 year, albeit a limited warr) Plus, if you're handy enough to take these things apart, Milwaukee publishes parts lists/diagrams.

I bought the Milwaukke stuff unbeknownst to my local Snap-On dealer, who lent me his personal Snap-On CT6850 1/2 impact to try out for a week. Power-wise it seems to be a draw between the 6850 & the Mil 2663. Just gut feeling here.

I wish I had a 3/4" drive torque wrench so I could torque something to like 600 ft-lbs and REALLY see which gun has the most cohones!

Sorry for long post. KS

P.S: The Milwaukee 3/4" gun is actually shorter than the S-O 1/2 6850 & the Matco 1/2 gun.

Thank you for that informative post.

 

[Toolhorder]

If I had to do it all over again I would get the Snap-On vs. the Matco. I have the Matco 3/8 impact gun and had a problem getting it repaired. I ended up having to email the CEO of Matco to get it resolved and even then it was less than pleasant. The Matco dealer won't stop anymore and I can't get the rest of my stuff replaced anymore unless I mail it.
I ended up getting the newer style 3/8 impact they just come out with but I was told no warranty on the new one and was treated like I wasn't a valued customer. YMMV but I'm sticking with Snappy for future purchases.


EDIT> I wouldn't waste my money on anything that's not marketed to professional techs. Reading this thread is like a bunch of guys recommending a claw hammer to use as a ball pein for automotive work

 

[The Dutchman]

Hehe, thanks, Shehzada.

 

[The Dutchman]

EDIT> I wouldn't waste my money on anything that's not marketed to professional techs. Reading this thread is like a bunch of guys recommending a claw hammer to use as a ball pein for automotive work[/QUOTE]

No offense, but I think you're painting with too broad a brush. Over Christmas last year I went up to my brother's place to work on his wife's minivan. He has no air compressor, so on an impulse I bought a Dewalt cordless 1/2" impact wrench, M/N DW059. This was before I had brainstormed cordless impacts. It seemed to have the torque of a cheesy 1/2" air gun. It was OK taking off lug nuts & some of the fasteners for the motor mounts, but it couldn't do anything with the axle nuts up front.

Not so for the Milwaukee 1/2! I was using a torque stick to tighten the lugs on an E250 recently. I had the trigger depressed, waiting for the stick to stop turning, but it just kept going. I had to stop when I thought I was gonna snap the wheel stud! (either 9/16 or 14mm stud.) This brings up another issue as to whether or not cordless impacts are compatible with torque sticks, but maybe that's for another day.

After that I took the axle nuts off some passenger car; I think it was a Buick century. One of those axle nuts with a crush to it, so as to be self locking. Rust galore on the male threads. Piece of cake.

These are all subjective scenarios, though. When I can do some objective operations I'll get back w/the results.

Actually, I did remove a lug nut, torqued to 150 lb-ft, with my Mil 3/8 impact, M/N 2651. Then I ran the nut in to the stall point, which turned out to be >130 lb-ft; <140 lb-ft. I'm not sure my Snap-On 3/8 air gun (AT380) would have been significantly stronger.

This is a great thread.

 

[craftsmanfann]

with my personal experience i would recommend the milwaukee m18 2662-22 1/2" its very powerful it was able to take off lugs on a toyota highlander that i had hammered down with my ir titanium and i was able to get a damn good deal on it at around $300 on amazon. but if you must have one of the truck brands the matco is the way to go with it having the most power and all.

 

[Zebu Fellenz]

EDIT> I wouldn't waste my money on anything that's not marketed to professional techs. Reading this thread is like a bunch of guys recommending a claw hammer to use as a ball pein for automotive work

IMO it's more like saying not to use Proto or Armstrong tools if you're an automotive tech because they're industrial brands not targeted at techs. Granted quite a few of the impacts mentioned in this thread won't measure up to the current Snappy or Matco guns but others will be very close or the same at a significantly lower price.

I own the Bosch gun but have also used the Snappy. IMHO they're pretty much the same performance wise.

 

[Toolhorder]

Using a torque stick on a cordless impact is asking for trouble. We had a lube/quick service guy that used a SO cordless impact on a car with a torque stick and had lugnuts coming off later. I made him use a torque wrench after that. I think that if power output from the battery is lower than you think the stick will stick click making you think it's at the correct torque when it's not. Air guns have instant torque and electric guns tend to hammer away to get there more.

 

[osborn.ozzy]

Not so for the Milwaukee 1/2! I was using a torque stick to tighten the lugs on an E250 recently. I had the trigger depressed, waiting for the stick to stop turning, but it just kept going. I had to stop when I thought I was gonna snap the wheel stud! (either 9/16 or 14mm stud.) This brings up another issue as to whether or not cordless impacts are compatible with torque sticks, but maybe that's for another day.

This is a great thread.

it kept spinning because it wasnt tight yet

 

[Toolhorder]

IMO it's more like saying not to use Proto or Armstrong tools if you're an automotive tech because they're industrial brands not targeted at techs. Granted quite a few of the impacts mentioned in this thread won't measure up to the current Snappy or Matco guns but others will be very close or the same at a significantly lower price.

I own the Bosch gun but have also used the Snappy. IMHO they're pretty much the same performance wise.

I think you're missing my point which is whatever you buy that's marketed at brick and mortar home improvement stores isn't going to give you the best performing product for automotive repair. Car and Driver did a whole article on cordless impacts and didn't even compare the SO or the Matco gun even though Matco's gun won an award last year as the best gun in the industry and I'm pretty sure SO's gun is the leader in sales in the industry looking how many fly off the truck.

I've never used the Bosch gun to be fair but I don't buy tools from companies that make washers and dryers either. I generally haven't be impressed with their fuel injection technology or their crappy parts so I'm not exactly lining up to buy their tools.
If you're a german car/tool fanboy I guess you just see the good things Bosch makes and ignore the rest.

 

[rodknocker]

had my CT6850 1yr 3mo. It lost all of its power. After paying $569 to buy it, now they are making me pay another $100 flat rate fee to repair when its just 3months out of warranty. I have been a life long loyal snap on customer, but after being treated like this, I'm done with them.

 

[Shehzada]

had my CT6850 1yr 3mo. It lost all of its power. After paying $569 to buy it, now they are making me pay another $100 flat rate fee to repair when its just 3months out of warranty. I have been a life long loyal snap on customer, but after being treated like this, I'm done with them.

Wow! So much for Snappy service.

 

[tebro]

I bought the Snap-on version 2 or 3 years ago, I use it everyday for work and play. Very rarely am I not able to undo a bolt/nut. The only thing that took awhile was the weight and the length.