New Impact Driver

Stuart Ablett

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Messages
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Location
Tokyo Japan
A while back during the second Aparto Renovation, I bought a couple of Hitachi Impact drivers that was June 2009, so two years on and of the four batteries that came with the two drills, only one will hold a charge.

I think I now have six cordless drills with two batteries each and chargers that are basically junk :( I decided that I would bite the bullet and buy a new "Good" one and be done with it.

I was really looking hard at the Makita impact drivers, the 14.4v Lithium Ion units, they do look great, but at the store they had the newest Hitachi Lithium Ion units on sale.

The Makita 145 Nm (107 lb ft) weighs 1.45Kg(3.2lbs)
The Hitachi 160 Nm (118 lb ft) weighs 1.3 Kg (2.8lbs)

the kicker was the Hitachi was on sale! Regular 56,000 yen ($700) on for 39,800 yen ($487) the Makita was 49,000 yen ($611)

I ended up with the Hitachi following me home!

hitachi_WH_14DBAL_impact_driver_b.jpg


hitachi_WH_14DBAL_impact_driver_a.jpg


I sure hope these new Lithium Ion batteries are all they are cracked up to be, I'm getting tired of the stack of worthless cordless tools I have laying around.

I should maybe cord a few of them, like our dearly departed Nikki used to do...

>> Cording Cordless Drills <<

... but for now, I think I like this new Hitachi.

The LED light comes on with the touch of a button, and if you forget to turn it off, it turns it self off after a few minutes. The speed is controlled by how much you push the trigger, but it also has three speed settings , 0-500, 0-1200, 0-2000, and 0-2600 rpm. The battery takes 22 minutes to fully charge.


Yep, I think I'll like this impact driver!

Cheers!
 
Hey!!! Get that philips head bit out of there. Where's your good Canadian Robertson tip? :gonnagetit:

I'm don't wanna sic the embassy on you.

:rofl::rofl::rofl:






ps: weird seeing Hitachi in blue. It's all green on this side of the pond.
I got a set of the compact hitachi's, (this and this: two kits means 2 chargers + 4 batts, so I'm good for a while) and I really like them for around-the-shop.

But I think if I were shopping now I'd take a hard look at the Rigid, due to the lifetime battery warranty...
 
I think the Lithium Ions are much better than the nicads, but most likely they will eventually die as well.

Did you give any thought to getting the battery packs rebuilt?

I really don't understand why replacement batteries seem to cost 90% of the cost of buying a new tool. Guess it's a marketing ploy to get you to buy new :D

Hey, Can you tell me what the purpose of the impact driver is? I've never had one of the cordless impact drivers. I've never had any problem driving screws and such with my regular cordless drills. But I have been seeing more and more of the impact drivers on the market.
 
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Hey, Can you tell me what the purpose of the impact driver is? I've never had one of the cordless impact drivers. I've never had any problem driving screws and such with my regular cordless drills. But I have been seeing more and more of the impact drivers on the market.

That is what I said until Makita had a sale - buy a drill and get a free impact driver, or vice versa. For the past several years I have used the impact driver all the time, and haven't driven a screw with the drill - it is that much better. The impact driver spins fast at first, then switches to impact mode when the screw gets tight - it sounds like an auto repair shop. I have driven 1/4 inch or so lag bolts without a pilot hole, no problem (even hard enough that the bolt sheared before the driver gave out). Yet with all the power, almost never strip a screw head. It appears to be efficient too - the unit is lighter, and the battery lasts much longer than when I used the drill as a screwdriver.
 
Hey, Can you tell me what the purpose of the impact driver is? I've never had one of the cordless impact drivers. I've never had any problem driving screws and such with my regular cordless drills. But I have been seeing more and more of the impact drivers on the market.

I used a DeWalt 18 volt to drive 1/2" lag screws into treated lumber. Easy--much easier than using the drill.
 
That is what I said until Makita had a sale - buy a drill and get a free impact driver, or vice versa. For the past several years I have used the impact driver all the time, and haven't driven a screw with the drill - it is that much better. The impact driver spins fast at first, then switches to impact mode when the screw gets tight - it sounds like an auto repair shop.

Very interesting... That makes sense. Thanks!
 
Yep, I upgraded to the makita when adding the lean to's onto the big barn. What a difference! Hard to describe or imagine but once one is in your hand and working, you will not grab a drill to drive a screw again! Congrats Stu, looks like a good one.
 
Congrats on the new tool, Stu. :thumb:

We use Milwaukee 12v lithium ion drill/drivers a lot every day at work, and I'm sold on the li-ion batteries compared to the nicads. We typically get about a week of work out of a battery before it needs to be recharged. For most of what we do, the regular drill is all we need for driving screws, although occasionally we have to drive long lag screws into studs to install heavier pieces of art. A few weeks ago, I discovered Perry (my boss) has had a Milwaukee 12v impact driver in the truck for a year or so, but had never used it...he didn't really know what they were useful for. Last week we were hanging a large heavy piece and he was having a heck of a time driving the screws to install a cleat, so I went out to the truck and grabbed the impact driver. (After a year or more in the truck, the battery was still nearly fully charged.) I had to cajole Perry into trying it, but all it took was one screw, and he was sold. His eyes opened wide with amazement, and he was grinning from ear to ear. He had no idea that driving a 4" lag could be so easy. :D

A few years ago I bought the Hitachi 14.4v nicad drill, and shortly afterward I got the matching impact driver impact driver. Each of them came with two batteries, so I had a total of four. After a year or so, the batteries were getting to the point where they weren't holding a charge very well at all, so I decided to get more batteries. I found that I could buy a single battery for $50, or a refurbished impact driver with two new batteries for $49.95. So now I have a drill and two impact drivers and six batteries. But as expected, the new nicad batteries are getting pretty wimpy (won't hold a charge overnight), so the whole set has become a hassle to use for any extended period of time. I can drill a few holes or drive a few screws, but if I need to use the drill or driver periodically throughout the day, I need to swap batteries out one or more times to do it.

Because of my experience with nicads, I've decided that any new cordless tools I get will be li-ion powered. To get me started on that route, Perry bought me my own 12v li-ion Milwaukee drill and impact driver - with four batteries and two chargers - as a bonus for a couple of good weeks at work. (They're for use in my shop...I use his tools on the job.) Milwaukee has a pretty extensive line of tools and gadgets (including an electric-heated jacket) that run on their 12v li-ion batteries, so I think this will be a good form factor to stick with for a while. :thumb:
 
...Hey, Can you tell me what the purpose of the impact driver is? I've never had one of the cordless impact drivers. I've never had any problem driving screws and such with my regular cordless drills. But I have been seeing more and more of the impact drivers on the market.

Brent, one thing Charlie mentioned, but which bears repeating...impact drivers are much less likely to strip out a Phillips head screw than a regular drill/driver. Imagine trying to drive a 3" Phillips head lag screw into dry wood (with no pilot hole). With a drill/driver, you'd be pressing as hard as you can with both hands, maybe even leaning on it with your chest, and still stand a good chance of having the head strip out before the head is driven flush with the wood. With an impact driver, you can do it one-handed with firm pressure, and surprisingly, the bit doesn't slip in the screw head slots. It just makes more noise doing it. :D
 
congratulations on the new tool Stu. Don't know much about hitachi but we have used lots of the makita and Dewalt at work. I have the dewalt at home due to it being able to use any of the old dewalt 18 volt batteries from 96 on as well as the new lithium ones. smart planning from the dewalt design team on that one. I really enjoy how light they are and that they have a light and are small enough to get into those tight spaces.
 
the kicker was the Hitachi was on sale! Regular 56,000 yen ($700) on for 39,800 yen ($487) the Makita was 49,000 yen ($611)



Cheers!

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Holly Three times more expansive than here Batman:doh::doh::doh:
Oh and drills are for drilling holes. Impact drivers are for driving screws:thumb::thumb:
 
Hey, Can you tell me what the purpose of the impact driver is?

Brent,

The purpose of an impact driver is to make sure your drill can have a peaceful retirement. If you pick up an impact driver now, your drill will rest on the shelf gathering dust until California tumbles into the sea and you're sitting on beachfront property. Then you can use your impact driver to build a new dock... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
For those that are unaware the Lithium ion technology batteries have a limited number of cycles of charge and discharge to them. So if have a tool like this, dont keep charging the battery. This is where i think many wrecked their ni cads too.

The other thing that is worth mentioning is this type of battery should not be messed with.

There was a post the other day about shocking nicads back into life etc.

DONT DO THIS WITH LITHIUM ION TECHNOLOGY BATTERIES.

The huge benefit is energy density and thus lighter weight for the size of pack.


As to the impact driver for any guys here who suffer from arthritis and have it in their wrist joints this is the tool for you.

When i used to use my drill (a panasonic 15.6v) to drive deck type screws into lumber and the drill did not have the torque set to kick out then the twist in the drill would work my wrist something terrible. It throb like crazy in the evening after a day of doing that.

Enter the Dewalt 18v impact and its sweet heaven. No pain at all after a day of drilling screws.

Now there are some nice small impacts available in the 12/10v (depending on whose marketing nonsense you believe) impacts and drills available.

Take a look at the Bosch. there is also this Bosch a smaller one.


And for our fine woodworking :rofl: the small bosch drill/driver is a beauty to work with also lithium. (Thanks Rennie;))
 
Rob brings up a couple of good points. The impact driver is indeed a big help to those of us with hand problems. Much less wear and tear on the ol' body using the impact.

Weight is getting to be a bigger and bigger consideration for me, too. I've got cordless tools including 18v Craftsman and Ryobi, 14.4v (12-ish volts, actually) Hitachi, and now the 12v (10-ish volts) Milwaukee. Most of what I do with either the drill or drivers is comparatively light work...punch a few holes, drive a few screws. I've learned that I'd much rather use (and carry around) the smaller, lighter ones. They still seem to be able to do everything I need them to do. Yesterday, for example, I installed about 25 pictures in a rec room in someone's house. For a single picture, I typically removed two or four screws (to remove the old hardware), drove four new 1/2" screws (to install our hardware) and drove two 1 1/2" screws into wall anchors or studs to hold the wall hardware. That's at least 200 screws. That's a lot of pulling the drill out of the holster and putting it back in. The lighter weight really makes a difference in that case. And as far as power is concerend, the little 1/2" screws don't tax the tool very hard, although the 1 1/2" screws into studs are a bit of a workout for it, but still well within the tool's limits. With that many screws in a day, I did have to swap out the battery about halfway through, but I had already been using that same battery for about five days before that. :thumb:

What I was using:

41w93ryJIrL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


And in the truck, for the harder screws:

41xbrtgO6rL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Holly Three times more expansive than here Batman:doh::doh::doh:
Oh and drills are for drilling holes. Impact drivers are for driving screws:thumb::thumb:
Life in the big city Chuck :(

At least the bits I buy locally fit, the US spec units use a different spec bit, and I know, I know, I could buy a LOT of bits for the price diff, but there you are.

Now at least I have a warranty :rolleyes:

I will say that this unit is one of these new "Brushless" motor units, supposed to be much better but :dunno:
 
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