And of course it depends on what you need. On a budget, I'd try to avoid buying what you don't really need and instead buy better quality tools you'll actively use.
Impact guns never touch my vehicles other than as a last-resort. I keep my vehicles well-maintained and use anti-seize where appropriate, and always torque the fasteners to spec. That means a torque wrench, not an impact gun. One of my cars has fancy, expensive two-piece lugnuts and I'd kill someone if they put an impact gun to them. Of course, I don't let the tire shop have my car (only the wheels), so an impact gun will never kiss my lugnuts.
We're all different, of course. I'm ****-retentive about my own vehicles. If I had $2 lugnuts and very cheap wheels, I'd have no problem using an impact on my wheels. But how often would I have them off on a vehicle I didn't spend much time maintaining? Almost never, which means the impact gun would save me a few minutes every several years. That's just me, and I'm not telling anyone else what tools are right for them. I'm just saying that if you're looking for an air tool as a gift idea, pick one you have a need for that isn't easily met by a hand tool, and select a decent-quality one. For me, the die grinders (Ingersoll-Rand 3101G is fantastic for the price) and random orbitals (I love the Dynabrades) see much more use than all of my other air tools combined. Well, not counting blow guns. For others (flat-rate mechanics, for example), it's a completely different story.
