Cordless variable speed impact screwdriver? Does it exist?

[Mort Stevens]

I bought one of these last week - http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...7KL&lpage=none It will do exactly what you want - it's variable speed control is very good - and it's pretty small/well balanced. It works just like a drill and the hammering motion doesn't kick in until torque starts to build up.... driving screws or drilling pilot holes it's hard to ask anything better!

[Karl Brogger]

Third one from the top is the best tool I've found for putting on plates:



www.kleintools.com

[Sam Shank]

Well- it's not really the plates that I need the driver for every now and then you need some really long 8-32s for different reasons - your wrist can get tired.

Thanks all.

[Kevin Groenke]

I recently picked up the Makita 10.8v driver/impact kit. This is nice set, the tools are comfortable and the impact is surprisingly torquey for such a small drill the battery life is acceptable for occassional around the home/shop tasks. The vs on the drill/driver is easily modulated and it has 2 speed ranges. There are the requisite X#of clutch settings, but the highest isn't quite high enough IMO.


We've had a couple of the the Milwaukee 12v drill/drivers at work for about a year. These are very similar to the Makita, but I think have a bit more torque. After using both I think I would go with the Milwaukee in the future. Milwauke makes some other cool and unique tools that use the same battery.


Both the Makita and Milwaukee are available in versions with conventional keyless chucks. A 1/4" quick release is nice at times, but it's also nice to be able to throw anything into a drill chuck. If I buy any additional drill/drivers, they will have conventional chucks.



Small tools are fine and dandy and impact drivers are useful for some tasks, but if I'm drilling more than a few holes or driving dozens of screws, I'm still going to reach for one of the many Panasonic 15.6v, 1/2" drill/drivers with 3.5ah NiMH batteries in the shop. After 10+ years and handling/using every other manufacturers drills the Panasonics are still my favorites. At ~$200 for the kit, I also think it's a better value than either of the mini-drivers mentioned above.



-kg