cordless drill recommendation

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:44 pm

I'll provide a 4th bump for Mike's Hitachi. That thing is great. The drill is basically light enough to justifiably be used as a cordless screwdriver / light duty jobs as needed, and the impact is amazingly useful for just about anything you would spin on or off with a socket wrench.

From a durability perspective, I LOVE my DeWalt 18v drills, though. I drilled EVERY hole for every wire in my new garage (and there's a LOT of them) using either the basic or right-angle cordless. Had them for at least 4 years now, and with 2 batteries you always have charge (unless using the circular saw - that drains them quick). Both have been dropped from ladders multiple times, and both have torque to spare, enough to nearly break your arm if you happen to bind a 4" hole-saw up. Mine aren't even the XR ones (which I think have stronger gear housings).

I've personally had good luck with Goodyear and Greatneck 24v impacts from Pepboys as well ($60 on sale). First one (Goodyear) lasted 5 full years of AX+RX tire changes. Second one (Greatneck) breaks lugs loose just as well. These are on the bulky side, of course, but with battery removed still fits in my mobile/track tool box.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Mon Dec 05, 2011 8:58 pm

Dustin Fredrickson wrote:

I'll provide a 4th bump for Mike's Hitachi. That thing is great. The drill is basically light enough to justifiably be used as a cordless screwdriver / light duty jobs as needed, and the impact is amazingly useful for just about anything you would spin on or off with a socket wrench.

From a durability perspective, I LOVE my DeWalt 18v drills, though. I drilled EVERY hole for every wire in my new garage (and there's a LOT of them) using either the basic or right-angle cordless. Had them for at least 4 years now, and with 2 batteries you always have charge (unless using the circular saw - that drains them quick). Both have been dropped from ladders multiple times, and both have torque to spare, enough to nearly break your arm if you happen to bind a 4" hole-saw up. Mine aren't even the XR ones (which I think have stronger gear housings).

I've personally had good luck with Goodyear and Greatneck 24v impacts from Pepboys as well ($60 on sale). First one (Goodyear) lasted 5 full years of AX+RX tire changes. Second one (Greatneck) breaks lugs loose just as well. These are on the bulky side, of course, but with battery removed still fits in my mobile/track tool box.

+1 on the cheapo Goodyear. I've had mine for about 3 or 4 years and while it doesn't have the ultimate power of the Dewalts it works fine for the price. I break the lugs with a breaker bar.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 9:11 am

RobLupella wrote:

I break the lugs with a breaker bar.

That defeats the whole purpose of an impact gun IMO. BTW, I had two of the el cheapo ones and neither would break lugs loose that were torqued to 100 ft-lbs.

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:06 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

I break the lugs with a breaker bar.

That defeats the whole purpose of an impact gun IMO. BTW, I had two of the el cheapo ones and neither would break lugs loose that were torqued to 100 ft-lbs.

^^^
What he said. You essentially have a cordless drill. I had one of the cheapo 24v Goodyear units from PepBoys. It was useless from day one. I'm on the DeWalt team these days. I have what VK has - the kit with the 2 NiCd batteries. It laughs at lug nuts. I have air tools at home, but I rarely use them. If I can fit the Dewalt in there, I use it.

The size and weight are the disadvantages of the big boy guns like the DeWalt and the Milwaukee. There are some places that they just don't fit. The smaller guns like Mike's Hitachi look to be the way to go. IIRC, Dewalt makes a smaller impact as well.

Edit...you can find the smaller Dewalt w/o batteries for $90

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:33 am

TomFreeman wrote:

Vincent Keene wrote:

RobLupella wrote:

I break the lugs with a breaker bar.

That defeats the whole purpose of an impact gun IMO. BTW, I had two of the el cheapo ones and neither would break lugs loose that were torqued to 100 ft-lbs.

^^^
What he said. You essentially have a cordless drill. I had one of the cheapo 24v Goodyear units from PepBoys. It was useless from day one. I'm on the DeWalt team these days. I have what VK has - the kit with the 2 NiCd batteries. It laughs at lug nuts. I have air tools at home, but I rarely use them. If I can fit the Dewalt in there, I use it.

The size and weight are the disadvantages of the big boy guns like the DeWalt and the Milwaukee. There are some places that they just don't fit. The smaller guns like Mike's Hitachi look to be the way to go. IIRC, Dewalt makes a smaller impact as well.

Edit...you can find the smaller Dewalt w/o batteries for $90

Interesting experiences. Both my Goodyear and my GreatNeck cheapies have no issues breaking lugs at 85 ftlb, so long as battery is semi-fresh (i.e. charged right before a race weekend). Admittedly, they won't do the truck's lugs (120, IIRC), regardless of charge. Certainly if you are regularly working in the 100 ftlb range, I would probably look for something better. However, I also wouldn't recommend depending on a 1/4" drive Hitachi (or anything else) for regular use in this range, either....

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:45 am

Dustin Fredrickson wrote:

Both my Goodyear and my GreatNeck cheapies have no issues breaking lugs at 85 ftlb, so long as battery is semi-fresh (i.e. charged right before a race weekend). Admittedly, they won't do the truck's lugs (120, IIRC), regardless of charge.

I've read somewhere that the torque rating on all these type of tools is the 'on' or tightening power vs. 'off' or loosening power. From what I've read, the latter is quite a bit less than the former. Even though a lug is tightened to 100 ft-lbs, it takes substainally more torque to 'break it loose', which is where the el cheapo models fall short.

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:37 pm

For me it is just a faster way of getting the lugs off and at $65 it was a cheap alternative to a DeWalt. It is MUCH better than the even cheaper HF impact I had before

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cordless drill recommendation

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