Lowes has a Hitachi 12V impact driver for $170. I don't know if it is any
good, but it is quite a bit cheaper than the competitors.
"Tee Blue" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1Xctb.119$so3.28@okepread05...
> Anyone have experience with these?
>
> I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with
cordless
> drills when building decks.
>
> I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
>
> Any info would be appreciated.
My buddy just bought 2 of them to use on a large metal building he is
putting up. He bought the 14v Dewalt and the 12v Makita. He likes the
Dewalt, I like the Makita (I don't like anything Dewalt makes so far).
They are great for screwdriving especially long screws or self tapping
screws used to attach metal roofing to c channel. They take the torque
out of driving screws. Just when the regular cordless drill would start
to twist your wrist, the drivers go into impact mode and continue to
drive the screw. I would never go back to using a drill to drive
screws. The drivers are lighter that most drills also. I don't know if
they have the torque for driving large lag screws, perhaps the Dewalt
18v does, otherwise get the cordless impact wrench.
Tee Blue wrote:
>Anyone have experience with these?
>
>I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with cordless
>drills when building decks.
>
>I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
>
>Any info would be appreciated.
>
Tee Blue <[email protected]> wrote in
news:1Xctb.119$so3.28@okepread05:
Thanks to all for the info & opinions.
> Anyone have experience with these?
>
> I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with
> cordless drills when building decks.
>
> I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
>
> Any info would be appreciated.
Not the 12V but,
About a year and half ago, a rep from Makita gave me a 24 volt cordless
impact to try out. (They were trying to get my company to buy their
product.) The Dewalt corded impact I use is going on 7 years old. I
use it day in day out driving tons of 1, 3 & 4 inch lags...it's never
failed. The Makita felt like a toy. I could feel the tool coming part
at the seams when it was working under a heavy load. So bad, that I had
to wear a glove to keep from getting skin pinched. In tough wood, it
would just bog down and die. The beefy weight of the corded Dewalt makes
easy work of driving lag bolts. The Makita gave me real work out. Even
with what the rep said was Makita's top of the heap, most advanced
battery and charger, I'd get about 12 4" lags driven before the thing
would be too dead to carry on. (I can get 3 times that out of a single
charge on my Dewalt 18 volt drill!.) I had to use 3 batteries to get
through a job. I would drain 2 in the time it took to charge 1 on the 20
min. fast charger. So even with a cordless tool, I had to have
electrical power nearby to complete a job. I can't imagine any battery
lasting very long if it needs to be charged several times a day. And dem
batteries aint cheap! I ended up using the Makita for about a month.
When I returned it to their rep, it and the batteries were pretty worn
out.
IMHO, if you'll be driving very many lag bolts at one time, the corded
Dewalt is the way to go. I replaced the factory cord with one 30' long.
The extra long cord is handy. Never tried driving deck screws with
the Dewalt impact...it might be a little much.
When power is not available, I use the 18V Dewalt cordless drill. It
handles the job better (in my opinion) then the 24V Makita impact ever did.
Did I mention that I didn't care too much for the Makita? Hope this helps.
Tee Blue wrote:
> Anyone have experience with these?
>
> I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with cordless
> drills when building decks.
>
> I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
>
> Any info would be appreciated.
I have the Hitachi and it is great. It's so small and light it feels like a
toy but it can really drive screws home. I'll let you know in a year or two
how durable it is. The battery holds up for about 150 or so screws meaning
you have to keep a spare on the charger at all times. I will probably wind
up using it more than a cordless drill.
My Hitachi cordless drill has been really dependable so I expect the impact
driver to hold up nicely. For anything really heavy I'd still break out the
air hose and my air gun.
Jim
"AL" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1sjtb.154904$275.471676@attbi_s53...
> Lowes has a Hitachi 12V impact driver for $170. I don't know if it is any
> good, but it is quite a bit cheaper than the competitors.
>
> "Tee Blue" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:1Xctb.119$so3.28@okepread05...
> > Anyone have experience with these?
> >
> > I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with
> cordless
> > drills when building decks.
> >
> > I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
> >
> > Any info would be appreciated.
>
>
I've got the Makita 12 volt model. cheapest price was from Spokane
Power tools that goes by another name on the 'net. something like
northwestpowertools.com or similiar. maybe northwesternpowertools?
I can't say enough good about it. Used it today, as a matter of fact.
Very compact, very strong, and easy to control, as it slows down when
it's under load. Starts out over 2k rpm, then slows as the torque
requirement rises. I didn't shop for the others; I like Makita better
than DeWALT, in general, for cordless products.
Tee Blue wrote:
> Anyone have experience with these?
>
> I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with cordless
> drills when building decks.
>
> I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
>
> Any info would be appreciated.
oh, the coolest thing about them is they reduce 'cam-out' to nearly nil.
Tee Blue wrote:
> Anyone have experience with these?
>
> I'm getting tired of wrestling lag bolts and stripping screws with cordless
> drills when building decks.
>
> I've been looking at 12v models. Makita, Panasonic, DeWalt
>
> Any info would be appreciated.