Porter Cable Impact Driver

[nate379]

I've been looking at these for a while do drive screws.

Walked by them this morning and this guy was on sale for $99, compared to $145 this summer.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?acti...TER-CABLE 12-Volt 1/4" Cordless Impact Driver

12V NICAD battery. Came with charger, 2 batteries and a nice canvas bag for it too.

So... once again, go to Lowe's for $10 of stuff and walk out with over $100

 

[stevejh82]

Is this the first impact drive that you have owned? Just wondering how well they perform driving screws and the like. I have thought about purchasing one of these as well.

 

[nate379]

It is the first one I have, but I have used them before. Most of the contractors that did work on my house used them for running in screws.

 

[stevejh82]

The I have is an 18v dewalt, it works pretty well for carpentry/remodeling type work. Thought about keeping one in the garage as the rest of my tools of that nature are in a trailer that goes with me on jobs.

 

[Stuey]

I was looking at this one too, but might spend a little extra on a Makita or Bosch.

I don't know if I can trust the Porter Cable tools at Lowes yet since they replaced the Black & Decker tools. Something tells me that these are B&D tools under the PC label.

Anyhow, let us know how you like it! $99 really is a pretty good deal, regardless of brand.

 

[HandyManny]

Porter cable has always made good power tools for the professional builder. They have reinvented their image lately by recreating the appearance of most of their power tools within the last year and a half. This one will be great for driving screws and lag bolts, that's what it's intended for - the building and construction trade.

The new Porter Cable 12V drill I looked at a few days ago is surely no relabled Black & Decker I can tell you. It was a bit nicer than my DeWalt. Both Porter Cable and Delta tools have always been prefessional grade power tools, but they mostly sold through specialty woodworker shops or specialty tool store until recently. I think they are now trying to compete with DeWalt by capturing the pedestrian DIYer market as well. All these professional contractor grade power tool companies have by now found the financial benefit of making their power tools available to the DIYer. All the DIYer seem to want to emulate the pros anyway.

 

[Major Ramifications]

It is my understanding that the new PC cordless stuff at Lowes is the old B&D Firestorm line. Whether that is true or not, $99 is a good deal. Impact drivers are VERY useful tools.
For anyone else wanting one like this, you can get the Bosch for $124.99 as an impact driver
http://www.dryesupply.com/p-560-bosch-23612-impactor-12-volt-cordless-impact-driver.aspx

or impact wrench
http://www.dryesupply.com/p-561-bosch-22612-12v-impactor-cordless-impact-wrench.aspx

 

[Stuey]

Porter cable has always made good power tools for the professional builder. They have reinvented their image lately by recreating the appearance of most of their power tools within the last year and a half. This one will be great for driving screws and lag bolts, that's what it's intended for - the building and construction trade.

The new Porter Cable 12V drill I looked at a few days ago is surely no relabled Black & Decker I can tell you. It was a bit nicer than my DeWalt. Both Porter Cable and Delta tools have always been prefessional grade power tools, but they mostly sold through specialty woodworker shops or specialty tool store until recently. I think they are now trying to compete with DeWalt by capturing the pedestrian DIYer market as well. All these professional contractor grade power tool companies have by now found the financial benefit of making their power tools available to the DIYer. All the DIYer seem to want to emulate the pros anyway.

According to a few people in this thread, the new PC tools are rebadged B&D Firestorm tools.

Two years ago, I was looking at cordless drills. There was an 18V PC in the $150-$180 range. Now, you can get a drill and a circular saw for $109? C'mon... it was more than the image that was recreated. Do you expect me to believe that a $109 drill and saw kit is marketed towards the building and construction trade?

That said, PC does make phenomenal tools. It's just that I don't trust that these new ones are really native Porter Cable designs.

 

[nate379]

I haven't bought a tool yet that I found to be pure junk so I'm sure it will be fine. It will come in handy doing a deck next year for sure.

 

[06wt]

i have a dewalt, and the new milwaukee lithium ion, impacts and love them. there is nothing better to drive screws with then impacts. The milwaukee is light wieght and it only takes 15 mins to charge

 

[vartz04]

I love my ryobi,

1500 in/lbs (125 ft/lbs) I use it on the truck all the time with a socket adapter, Popped the seat bolts out of my silverado to get the seats out and do a good pre winter cleaning. Its 18v and Li-Ion, $150 bucks on ebay for it and the battery/charger. I bought the bare tool since I have the rest of the li-ion line.

enjoy your little driver.

 

[HandyManny]

According to a few people in this thread, the new PC tools are rebadged B&D Firestorm tools.

Two years ago, I was looking at cordless drills. There was an 18V PC in the $150-$180 range. Now, you can get a drill and a circular saw for $109? C'mon... it was more than the image that was recreated. Do you expect me to believe that a $109 drill and saw kit is marketed towards the building and construction trade?

That said, PC does make phenomenal tools. It's just that I don't trust that these new ones are really native Porter Cable designs.

They are no more B&D than DeWalt is. Both being B&D owned. Take a look at the new stuff. Seems much better to me that the Firestorm stuff was. The $109 package deal must have been a brief promotional sale when they reintroduced the new look. Right now I don't see it at any on the Lowes near me. Right now that redesigned Porter Cable stuff is selling in the $150 to $180 range per individual tool.

Porter Cable and Delta may have been taken under the B&D corporation, but given both those professional bands history and involvement in the trades it would really **** that Porter Cable would now be relinquished to a cheap line of Black & Decker like Firestorm was. But you never know.

Of course DeWalts feel and quality seemed to go downhill when Lowes and HD started selling this stuff in large volume to the public. Even Costco was selling Dewalt for a while at real cheap prices for a package deal.

 

[nate379]

I looked at the other brands, but the problem was I had to put a whole kit to get that one tool I wanted. I already have 2-3 drills, sawzalls, skil saws, etc so I don't need more!

 

[Stuey]

They are no more B&D than DeWalt is. Both being B&D owned. Take a look at the new stuff. Seems much better to me that the Firestorm stuff was. The $109 package deal must have been a brief promotional sale when they reintroduced the new look. Right now I don't see it at any on the Lowes near me. Right now that redesigned Porter Cable stuff is selling in the $150 to $180 range per individual tool.

Porter Cable and Delta may have been taken under the B&D corporation, but given both those professional bands history and involvement in the trades it would really **** that Porter Cable would now be relinquished to a cheap line of Black & Decker like Firestorm was. But you never know.

Of course DeWalts feel and quality seemed to go downhill when Lowes and HD started selling this stuff in large volume to the public. Even Costco was selling Dewalt for a while at real cheap prices for a package deal.

18V drill + circular saw kit, still $109

There's also a 4-tool kit for $159.

You're right, some of the newly redesigned tools seem to be genuine PC. My local Lowes only seems to carry the lower end cheaper ones, though.

It's hard to differentiate between their Firestorm replacements and PC's contractor-grade tools. At my local Lowes, 4 out of 5 of their power tools are priced at $70 or less. When's the last time you saw a professional quality reciprocating saw go for $60?

 

[stevejh82]

I remember reading an article in Wood magazine about PC coming out with a "competitively priced" line of tools to compete with ryobi, hitachi, etc. This gun is in that category of tools, not the older top of the line stuff.

 

[bcmach]

http://tooliday.com/

 

[nate379]

That's ok. Just because I like fish and alcohol doesn't mean I have to eat caviar and drink champagne. This guy is all about fish sticks and beer.

I remember reading an article in Wood magazine about PC coming out with a "competitively priced" line of tools to compete with ryobi, hitachi, etc. This gun is in that category of tools, not the older top of the line stuff.

 

[HandyManny]

18V drill + circular saw kit, still $109

There's also a 4-tool kit for $159.

You're right, some of the newly redesigned tools seem to be genuine PC. My local Lowes only seems to carry the lower end cheaper ones, though.

It's hard to differentiate between their Firestorm replacements and PC's contractor-grade tools. At my local Lowes, 4 out of 5 of their power tools are priced at $70 or less. When's the last time you saw a professional quality reciprocating saw go for $60?

Hmmm Interesting that they would do this. Didn't see that set for that price at my Lowes, but obviously per your link Lowes is offering this. What I saw was the 18V drill and other tools. Some were in the $160 to $180 range and $200+ range. I mean the drill, impact gun, and recip saw that I held seemed very solid and felt as if they were made of good grade materials. They felt more high end than even the DeWalt and Milwuakee stuff on the shelf. Wonder why Black & Decker would take the same brand name (PC) and offer two different grade of tools under the Porter Cable name, being that this is not Porter Cable's legacy to have ever done this. B&D is just going to ruin Porter Cables name.

I guess it's nothing new. Up until the early 1990's Black & Decker offered two different grades of power tools. One for contractors and builders and another seperate line for the home consumer, like most of there stuff today. Skil still has two different grade of power tools too. One a more professional grade and the other a consumer grade. But I have noticed that Skil is going more the home consumer market with most of it's stuff.

 

[stevejh82]

That's ok. Just because I like fish and alcohol doesn't mean I have to eat caviar and drink champagne. This guy is all about fish sticks and beer.

With you there 100%, I'd like to buy one as soon as I get some extra cash

 

[Danglerb]

Impact drivers seem to have no real standard for torque, and one of my first USELESS tools is a Craftsman cordless impact driver that I have yet to find a screw it will turn.

My Bosch PS40 does ok on small stuff, but its "rated" 800 inoz or whatever should break a M6 bolt, and it just rattled away doing nothing. 9" ratchet broke it loose without issue or fuss, so most of the time its two tools, something to break it loose or tighten it down and the PS40 to spin it up or down.

 

[vartz04]

Impact drivers seem to have no real standard for torque, and one of my first USELESS tools is a Craftsman cordless impact driver that I have yet to find a screw it will turn.

My Bosch PS40 does ok on small stuff, but its "rated" 800 inoz or whatever should break a M6 bolt, and it just rattled away doing nothing. 9" ratchet broke it loose without issue or fuss, so most of the time its two tools, something to break it loose or tighten it down and the PS40 to spin it up or down.

I want to get a torque wrench and run a test on mine. It says 1500 in/lbs - 125 ft/lbs, which I think is semi accurate since i ran these in with my 1/2" air impact on the low setting (no idea what that equates to) and it took them out without issue.

Next time I go home im gonna put a lug nut on at 125 ft/lbs and see if the cordless will take it off. if not ill keep adjusting the torque until it does. I have 6 lugs maybe ill put one at 150, one at 125, 120, 110, 100, and 90 and see what happens.

 

[Danglerb]

Maybe also use the torque wrench to take a couple off and see how much force was required, may not be the same as the force from putting it on.

 

[vartz04]

Maybe also use the torque wrench to take a couple off and see how much force was required, may not be the same as the force from putting it on.

good idea. My guess is it would be more to take it off than put it on. I could be wrong though.

 

[Major Ramifications]

The static friction of breaking it loose will be higher than the dynamic friction of turning it in. I would say oil the threads and underhead area, torque it down good with the impact, then use a beam torque wrench to see where it breaks loose.

 

[vartz04]

well we had a power surge, fried both my ryobi batteries, I returned the set and went to lowes and bought the porter cable dril/impact/light kit. It claims 1600 in lbs vs the 1500 from the ryobi. I never got a chance to test the ryobi, but I will test this one.

Mine is the 18volt, the 12 volt is rated at 1400 in/lbs which is really high for a 12 volt tool.

I will say this PC stuff seems a little bit heavier duty than the Ryobi Kit I had. It cost only $30 less than the ryobi kit, and only comes with the drill/driver/light vs the ryobi which has a drill circ saw, recip saw, and light.

I like it a lot, plus the range of tools they offer seems to fit my needs better (most of the ryobi stuff is discontinued/impossible to find) so we will see how this kit pans out. So far, I am a big fan.

PS. I had a black and decker firestorm drill before the ryobi stuff, Total Piece, the PC li-ion stuff seems way higher quality, on par with dewalt easily.

 

[CamarosRus]

This thread looks to be cooling down...............

I'd like to report back with what I finally bought. I'm a huge procratinator, and combined with being ****/fussy its a terrible cross to bear. Get out the Popcorn..........

I was on my way to a sellers house to look at a used Craigs List Miwaukee V-18 (1st Generation battery) Lith-Ion 1/2" Hammer Drill, with two 3.0Ah batteries and charger for $125.

Decided to stop at Home Depot to look misc products over. On a Wednesday afternoon HD wasnt all that busy. Fortunate (I think) to run into TTI West Coast manager, TTI District Mgr & TTI Field Rep. I find out that Techtronic Industries North America, Inc. ownes Ryobi, Ridgis and Miwaukee. I cant quote exact words, but I was told that quality started with Ryobi, and went up to Ridgid and Milwaukie was considered the best.

H.D. had big display of the newish M-12 (12Volt) line. TTI guy said they were sellng real well, could hardly keep them in stock. The M-12's are quite compact, Lith-Ion battery slides up into handle and no doubt are great tools.

I just felt that I wanted the 18Volt battery platform. I decided on the promotional left over black friday package 2601-22H (H must stand for H.D.) This SET contains the 2 spd 1/2" Driver/Drill 2601-20 & the 2650-20 1/4" Impact Driver is added basically as a freebie.
Also included in the blow molded red case are two 48-11-1815 Lith-Ion 23Wh (??) batteries (1.4Ah?) and Charger. ALL this for $199.
(Think about what you credit hungry guys are paying for no more powerful truck branded drills/drivers)

I did see these same set up on AMAZON under a different part number for $199 with Free Shipping.

Given everything weve read above, I just feel these are great tool at a great price.

I can buy the 18V XC 3.0AH batteries if ever have the need

I also picked up a 29pc SHOCKWAVE Impact Driver Bit Set ($20). This is Milwaukee's latest, greatest metal/design bit technology that helps prevent bit/tip breakage.

I've also ordered 1/4" Hex x 3/8" square drive adapter to use impact driver with 3/8" Impact sockets. Cant quote the specs, but I'm thinking this impact can keep up with or surpass the S.O. 3/8" impact Gun (???)

Thanks for reading,