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Bill,
I understand the thrill of the chase but just go buy the Milwaukee.
You can set custom speed/torque profiles with your phone over Bluetooth.
Come over you can try out mine.
Jerry, I find the variety of Milwaukee impact wrenches dizzying. So many different sizes and so many different model numbers within each size. I wish I could find a simple chart that describes them all. I look at them one at a time and by the time I've looked at three of them I forget what the first one does.
I don't think I need the 1100 ft-lb models. In the videos I watch, guys are taking off most everything with the mid-range 1/2 inch and even the 3/8 units. Size and weight is another consideration. I don't want to spend $350 on a tool that can't fit into the spaces where I may need to use it. If everything I did was on an F-250, the big gun would be fine. But on an S2000 or an Austin Healey??? The weight of the gun is another consideration. The big one weighs in around 7 pounds. That gets old if you are under the car working up. All the Bluetooth and electronic control from the phone sounds nice, but will I ever use it? Will I even learn how to do it? Sometimes i think the mid-range would be all I'd ever need. then I see how versatile the 3/8 unit is for getting into tight places. I already have a compressor and an air gun, so what exactly are my needs?
Last year I ended up buying another Harbor Freight cheapie for the trailer project. I decided that unit would live and work down the Cape and would see time out on my dock and on the boats. Given the likelihood of seeing salt water, I didn't want to buy a high end unit for that application. Now I just bought the Ryobi on sale and that will end up being a Christmas present from my wife. Will that do everything I need between hand tools and the air gun? I won;t really know until I try it. The Ryobi deal was so good, I regret buying the HF unit. So maybe I pass the HF gun on to my son, move the Ryobi down the Cape, and then buy a Milwaukee for the garage. First world problems, right?
In this video the 3/8 seems to be doing a lot of work. It is small and will fit into tight places. So maybe I need two? Or maybe i don't need any.
Harbor Freight is my friend; you can't take it with you and it not like you are a professional who will use it daily.
I don't dispute any of this. I did kill my first HF 1/2 impact cheapie just doing lug nuts at autocrosses for one season. I bought a second one for the salt water world of the Cape, hoping that they have improved since i bought the first one back in 2004 and figuring that if it dies a corrosion death I won't be too upset. The Ryobi recommended by Mark cost only about $15 more than the HF unit. It is rated better, but we'll see if it is.
a for the Bluetooth Bill, I configured one of the settings for 70 ft-lbs on tightening.
I've found it to be reasonably accurate and then finish the last 15ft-lbs by hand torquing.
so far it's been pretty accurate as I always get about a quarter turn before clicking.
but i'm a Tim the Tool Man, bigger is better, kinda guy.
of course I've also added the M18 5" random orbital sander, the rotary cutting tool and the oscillating cutting tool.
I haven't bitten on the cutoff grinder yet.
The Milwaukee M18 3/8" stubby impact is one of the best purchase I've made....fits in tons of tight places and can remove lug nuts. The key is to buy a Fuel model, they pack more punch and have brushless motors.
I also own the M18 1/2" Fuel for big stuff. It does have a pressure sensitive trigger which is kinda nice.
You may want to go to LetGo and/or OfferUp to see if a very good condition used unit is available for a favorable price. I picked up a nearly, damn new Milwaukee hex-drive impact there for $45. I got it on OfferUp from a seller in the next town.
So on Conedodger ‘s advice I bought myself the Ryobi One + 18v Lithium 1/2 in. 3 speed impact wrench. It was on sale for $90 something dollars. It came with a nice soft-sided case.
The three components of the kit fit well inside, including the manuals.
While this kit is priced at about the cost of a HF cheapie unit, the components all appear to be much better made.
This is a fairly compact unit. It fits comfortably in the hand, is not very heavy, and is small enough to get into some tight spaces.
In addition to the variable trigger control, it has three speed settings on the top. They serve as a safety setting to prevent you from applying too much torque. More on that later.
Another nice feature is the charge light indicator. You turn it on to see how much of the charge remains and then it turns itself off. It also has a neat three-bulb LED "head light" in the anvil housing that illuminates the work area. I tried to take a picture of it lit, but it didn't look good. The "headlight" turns itself off a few seconds after you release the trigger.
The battery charged up in about an hour. It took me only a few seconds to get used to the forward and reverse controls. At first they seemed counter-intuitive, but then I got the idea. Give the trigger a very light squeeze and the head light comes on. Nice as you can find the fastener without the anvil spinning. This unit has a brush type motor, which is understandable at this price point. You can smell it the second you run it. The smell will bring you right back to the days of Lionel train sets and Aurora HO slot cars. Like most brush-type motors, it also shoots sparks, so be careful about flammable gasses and liquids.
I tried it on some lug nuts. Using a torque wrench I determined that some of the lugs were tightened to over 130 ft-lb. The Ryobi easily removed them. Using the power settings, I learned that number 2 will get you to about 50 ft-lbs which is a perfect set-up for lug nuts so you can snug them up quick and then use the torque wrench for the final tightening.
I don't know how much work you can do on a single charge yet. I haven't had time to test that out. But so far I'm very impressed with this unit.
Hope it meets expectations. Don't think you can go too far wrong at that price.
It seems much better than expected, Mark. It has much more torque than the HF units in the same price range and the fit, finish, design and build quality are all far superior. Durability remains to be tested over time.
This looks attractive, I've been looking for one lately as I've got a bunch of work to do on my cars. I also have the Ryobi One system with other tools, and never had one go bad on me, other than some old school batteries on the first generation Ryobi tools, the latest batteries are much better. I have to check this out in coming days , sounds perfect for my needs and I like the size as you noted. Thanks for posting.
This looks attractive, I've been looking for one lately as I've got a bunch of work to do on my cars. I also have the Ryobi One system with other tools, and never had one go bad on me, other than some old school batteries on the first generation Ryobi tools, the latest batteries are much better. I have to check this out in coming days , sounds perfect for my needs and I like the size as you noted. Thanks for posting.
They do go on sale, so look around for the best price. I don't know if you can get the kit for less than the $90s, but who knows??
11-29-2018, 05:27 AM
