1) If you are going to school to learn how to fix stuff, you should be eligible for SEP discount. That should makes the Snap On model the cheapest.
2) If you are working professionally, you may well have tool truck service. That would likely be Snap On, so again, that would tip the scales in Snap On's favor.
3) If, as Jake reports above, you can sell your used Snap On gun for what you paid for it, that alone makes it the world's best deal hands down. I doubt any gun you can buy at HD will hold it's value like that.
4) The race for the most powerful gun, may quickly become irrelevant. The new crank pulley sockets make a mediocre gun perform like a top model. I have a 500ftlb Bosch that does everything I ask of it.
My advice is to therefore choose a gun that is small and light, shares batteries with other power tools you need or have, and has the easiest warranty. I wouldn't get too involved with one manufacturer's removal torque claims. I think they are junk science. And those new sockets make any real performance difference between these guns irrelevant.
