Minor Gloat........

[Stuart Ablett]

....... I bought a corded cheap impact driver a while back, a DIYer level Ryobi unit, I'd not had an impact driver before, I'm really impressed with it, even though it is a real cheap one, but it sure does a good job.

I was down at a local place buying bird seed for the kids bird, this place sells all sorts of things from socks to sockets, and DVD players to pots and pans, they have a limited quantity of tools, but sometimes there is something of value. I saw they had a cordless impact driver, imported by a Japanese company, made in China. Looks robust enough, but I have no illusions that it is a Makita or a Hitachi quality of tool. That being said, the Makita or Hitachi units all start around $300+ and are of the NiCad variety, to get into the Li-Ion batteries, well they are even more money.

Here is the unit..........

Nothing special really, 14.4V NiCads, two batteries, 30 minute charger and two driver bits, plus the toss in the garbage case, but......... I paid just over $60 for it.

I know, I know, you get what you pay for, yep, I do believe that, but this was on sale, it was 60% off, in a flier they had this week (I did not see the flier) so I hope to get some use out of it.

What really changed my mind is the really poor performance that the last two name brand cordless drills I've bought gave me, the Bosch drill has already had two batteries die, just about a month after the warranty expired and the Panasonic drill has had clutch problems, it slips even when on the "Drill" setting, this too happened just out of warranty

I may very well live to regret it, but for less than half the price of a name brand drill unit, I have this impact driver.

Time will tell!

Cheers!

[Kerry Burton]

Well, I know looks aren't everything, but it does look good.

Best of luck with it!

[Al killian]

Let us know how much abuse it takes after a month or so.

[Vaughn McMillan]

It's amazing that they had one with your name already on it.

Good luck with the new driver. My impact driver is fast becoming my most reached-for tool.

[Ad de Crom]

Stuart, that could be a good buy, looks very good.
And why spend more monye than needed, I go often to a German food store, called Aldi, and they have besides food, also tools and other machinery like table drills, computers, and so on.
I bought a couple of years ago a table drill by them for a ridiculous price of 19 euro, that is something else than buying a table drill from a wellknowned branchname. And after more than two years in use, I'm still happy with this table drill.

[Travis Johnson]

I don't see anything wrong with buying a cheap tool now and then. I often do if the price is right and I...

1. Want to see if its something I really use
2. Use only occasionally, but when I need it, it works the best

If its the first item, and I find I use it a lot more then I thought, then I'll go out and buy a good one.

If its the latter item, then its a crap shoot. If I only use it a few times, and lets say its a 60 dollar tool that only lasts a year or so, you have to divide the number of uses by the dollar amount to get the cost per use. If the tool got used a dozen times before it crapped out, and cost 60 bucks, then that is 5 bucks a use. Was it worth that, or not? That is what you have to figure out.

In my case my biscuit jointer is in this boat. When this one craps out, I'll replace it with another cheap one. I don't use it enough to justify the high quality kind, and yet when I need it, I need it.

[Ed Gerhard]

I think it's worth a roll of the dice. From what you say you can buy 5 like this one for the price of a Hitachi, maybe 6 for the price of a Hitachi with Li-ion. So how long would the Hitachi last, and how long would 6 of these last (not that you want to run out right now and buy 5 more). But it's a point on the curve for the decision making. Of course if it's a piece of if it's really bad so it's annoying to use it (I like it when I can enjoy using a tool, in addition to getting the job done), then all else is moot...it was a bad idea. Something else to consider, which from your post I'm sure you have, is battery life...those Li-ion batteries are pricey. Hope this one works out. Let us know. Those impact drivers grow on ya, don't they?

[larry merlau]

hey vaughn,, what ya runin as a impact driver? are you refering to the bosch compact? been lookin hard at one of those just havnt bit it yet..chris mire has got me lookun at it thugh from the sounds the extra torgue is handy and doesnt eat much more juice than low powered ones. must be in the transmission..

[Stuart Ablett]

Yeah Ed, that is pretty much what I figured.

I have not used it much at all, but is seems to work just fine. It has a one year warranty on it so......

This unit is NiCads, and you can tell, it is a tad heavy, but I hope to get some good use out of it.

Cheers!

[Greg Cook]

hey vaughn,, what ya runin as a impact driver?

Larry,

Vaughn got a great deal on a Hitachi....

http://familywoodworking.org/forums/...hlight=hitachi