Snap on impact gun alternative

[Bill Edwards]

Your are aptly tagged Bear then as my Dewalt 18v is hefty enough to handle especially lying on your back under a car undoing nuts of different sizes and torques.

I cannot imagine anything on any car that couldn't be undone with the Milwaukee 1/2, the bigger sizes are for plant, wagons, tractors etc.
I actually have a compact M18 - nowhere near the power of the big ones as it's meant to be small and lightweight - and it undoes all car wheel nuts and most 4x4's and vans along with almost all driveshaft and crank bolts. Almost nothing on cars and pickups that are a challenge.

Good things rarely are buddy if you want reliability then its Milwaukee

Oh there's no need to tell me, I use nothing else for the cordless gear. However, I'd avoid anything that isn't brush less now as I did have to send my old impact in (it was under warranty though so free) and it was the brushes that got changed. Brush-less is the way forward.

 

[Bill Edwards]

I have a bosch 18v 1/2".
It's the high-torque version that they do.

Made sense for me as I have all the bosch batteries so I bought it as a bare unit.

It has just as much power as a snap on. Build quality is not as good (although all parts are individually available). It's also nothing like the same sort of finish as the snapon / milwalk versions. The plastic casing will get scratched up easily and the rubber grip is no were near as tough.

Suits me as I only use it for machine assembly and the odd wheel change on my own car. I would think it would end up looking tatty pretty quickly if you used it in a garage or for farm work etc.

Having said that I have had it a couple of years and taken a fair few rusty bolts out of farm machines etc. and it's held up pretty well considering it was half the price of the snapon gun.

To sum it up, the bosch will do anything the others will do and do it as often as you want.
If I was going to use it all day every day I would get the snapon. I think dropping the bosch from the worktop would be enough to break the casing up. I have dropped my mates snapon gun loads of times and he's never even noticed!

I use SO for a lot of tools as they work better and last longer than most others. And once upon a time their cordless impact wrenches were highly regarded.
However, that has long since past as their guns are rubbish compared to what Milwaukee offer. Not one of the professional mechanics I have spoken to who are using SO guns are happy with them, they all regret not getting Milwaukee having seen and tried what their co workers have.

Snap on have really fallen behind with some of their cordless gear, and as if performance wasn't enough then their warranty isn't good enough either, it's either two years or one - Milwaukee are three.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Yea I have had some various Milwaukee cordless tools. Very nice and they do seem to be at the top of the quality game with them.

If I needed 1 tool to use all day every day then that' the sort of thing I would be getting.

As it is, I have a large collection of various tools that get used for all sorts of random jobs.
In terms of options bosch have loads of battery variations and a much bigger range of tools that take those battries than snapon or Milwaukee.

I use cordless tools a lot, my main single investment is probably the £1k+ of battries though so I prefer the wider range of the bosch lot as I can get a better return on the cost of the battries that way.

 

[steveo3002]

got a couple of milwaukee here ..smaller 1/2 and the big boy , the big one is a beast and will snap stuff easily , but you ideally need a smaller one too for getting into tight spaces

 

[chris pruteanu]

I have two Milwaukee hammers, the 1/2” old brushed 18v which has packed up shortly after purchase and the 3/8” brushless one which I bought 3 years ago and still going strong. I recently bought a 9 Ah battery and it’s a month now and I didn’t charge it yet ! I use it almost any day of the week ! I rarely put in the compressor on and get the snap on windy gun, the Milwaukee impact does it so much better without need for hoses on cars too far to reach !
Only downside is they don’t last cosmetically too well, the rubber has delaminated and it’s looking in a sorry state however I might buy a new set of covers and get it looking good again ! I like snap on rubber covers, keeps them tidy for a lot, lot longer !

 

[Mr shiney]

I have the Milwaukee and its excellent.