Thread: When is a drill better than an impact driver?!

I chose a cordless drill over the impact driver because the impact drivers have no clutch & i was concerned with stripping or over screwing screws into wood. I've seen a demo video of the impact drivers in action up against a regular drill & they are far better at driving into timbers, prob perfect for the building site etc but i just couldn't see them being useful in cabnet making etc. I went with a makita 14.4v just with the Ni Cd batterys too. 99% of the time cordless drills don't get much of a work out here so i couldn't see the point in the extra expense of ion batterys.

Originally Posted by Dusty Dave

Any opinions?
When is a drill/driver a better choice than the matching impact driver - is it really useful to have both?!

Yes. The drill is better when you are actually drilling holes. Sometimes we forget that drills drill holes.

I bought an impact driver last year for the first time, and its great for when you need the brute force - I used it to screw down decking.

But the drill / driver is a million times more useful - it has a very wide variation in speed which gives better control, so you can carve out a very small hole at slow speed, or drive a screw until you feel the point just come through the other side and touch your finger.

If you don't have anything, I'd spend as much money as possible on a really top quality drill/ driver first. The cheaper brands will have cheaper parts, such as plastic gear casings, loose clutch, less torque etc. They also often have poor quality control, so you will need the 3 year warranty. LiOn is the new standard so only buy that and make sure you get two batteries.

I'd go with Makita or Dewalt or Hitachi and just buy the drill driver, then if you find you need the impact driver for a particular use, buy an ozito, but you'll use the drill much more often so spend more money on it.

This is what I will buy next time. All steel gears and casing, electric brake, 13mm one handed chuck, 3 speed transmission, go-faster stripes...

Dusty Dave,

Drills are for drilling holes and they can be used for driving in screws. Impact drivers drive in screws a lot better IMO.

I have a 12V Makita driver/drill and a 12V Ryobi impact driver. The impact driver is variable speed and is fantastic at driving in screws it just takes a little bit of practice in speed control.

My choice is get a good quality driver drill (since it can do both functions) and look around for an impact driver. Make sure you get two batteries and that you can purchase more batteries at a reasonable price.

My Makita came with 2 NiCad's and I have since purchased 2 NiMh batteries at about $70 each.

In all my woodwork (which is 80% furniture based) these to tools have serviced me well.

The only reason I went for the 12V versions is I managed to obtain some dead batteries for both tools and ripped out the cells and put in a cord to connect to a 12V deep cycle battery. I only use this in the workshop and I never run out of charge.

Steve

I've got the Bosch GSR10.8 drill/driver and use it for nothing but screwing. Its light, its compact and has enough torque to drive in large screws. Its the most comfortable driver I have ever used and works perfectly for cabinet work. I wouldnt use it for drilling as the RPM is too slow and find it tears the wood on entry.
For drilling I use my Hitachi impact driver cause of the high RPM. I initially bought it to use as a driver but found out it was too fast and too powerful. I'd end up screwing the screw half way through the timber before I realised it. But its great for driving things like roofing screws or large bolts.
Not sure what the prices are like in aussie but over here the price difference between Bosch and Ozito isnt a hell of alot and would recommend spending a little extra getting the Bosch. Something you wont regret when your half way through a job and your ozito burns out.

Thanks, I think the fog is beginning to clear!

One of the reasons for my confusion is that many of the impact drivers actually come with some hex shank DRILL bits in the kit. Given that their rpm (prior to the impact mech cutting in) is so much higher, it is tempting to figure that the impact driver is probably just as good (if not better) at drilling than the slower drill/driver.

I guess though that it is more an issue of finesse? The impact driver would probably make a better tool for general site joinery and heavier work as it will drive larger screws in tight and fly through the odd pilot hole. In the workshop and with smaller, more delicate projects it might prove a bit brutal?

The GMC is a highly capable tool, I just feel the need for some more nimble options for probably 2/3rds of what I do. One option is a little cordless screwdriver (the 4v Ryobi kit is a little ripper for under $60 BTW), but the 10.8v stuff isn't that much bigger yet it is so much more powerful and has swappable batteries etc. Anything bigger would really be a waste as I have a perfectly good, brand new, 3 speed 24v hammer drill sitting here anyway.

I understand well the eternal argument for quality over price, and I do have a serious crush on those little blue Bosches, but the Ozitos don't seem like bad little tools either and the hex chuck on the Bosch GSR bothers me as it seems like it would seriously limit its usefulness for drilling. The Ozitos are a bit cheaper at retail price but with Bunnies discount (which is linked to margin) there is a decent saving to be had...

I have the Hitachi 12v impact driver & the 18v drill. I find that I use the impact driver waaaay more than the drill. The only time the drill comes out is when I need a hole..

Hi Dave

I have a few 18volt Dewalt tools, the drill/driver is a terrific tool, but I recently purchased the impact driver and am blown away with the power and results. I have been driving 4" bugle battens through 2" pine into very seasoned hardwood with no effort. It is great for general construction work but probably a bit of overkill for cabinetry. It also weighs about half as much as the drill.
Dewalt have released their new li ion batteries and they will work in their existing tool range unlike the Makitas, you do need a new charger, but the new charger will still charge the old batteries.

Good quality tools not only pay for themselves in longevity but also give much better results in use

Cheers

You can buy both 1/4" hex shank adapters for small drill bits as well as stand alone keyless chucks that fit & lock into 1/4" hex chucks. Most screw hole borer/counter sinkers are also 1/4" hex. However, if the impact function cuts in I doubt if the drill will go round for very long with the adapter

If you have trouble finding a light duty chuck - try Jaycar Electronics - they sell them to go in drill/drivers.

According to the Bosch rep at the Sydney WWW show, you can buy the Bosch 10 volt tools without batteries if you are on a limited budget. He also claimed they were looking at ~30 tools to use the 10 volt battery pack, including the torch, also a sander & grinder............

I recently bought the Hitachi 14v NiMH impact driver (recommendation was panasonic or hitachi from the builders I knew). The advantage of the Hitachi is that all their batteries of the same voltage are compatible ... I bought a NiCad 14v Hitachi drill as well (cheap as it was "old" technology) and all the batteries will run either tool and will all charge on the NiMH charger.

Oh yeah the reason for the purchase of the impact driver was to drive tek screws straight through 3-4mm mild steel while assembling the new shed and house, which it does well ... otherwise I couldn't have been able to justify the $600 (even to myself!) (the asking price for assembly was $5-6k so it was easy to justify)... but I guess you're talking the lightweights?

Even so you pretty my can't stall a good impact driver .... you can burn out even a good drill if you stall it and keep the juice on!

Thanks again everyone. I'm beginning to think I could probably cover most of my bases with a small impact driver alone. Most of what I'm doing at the moment is assembling storage units for the workshop / camper / 4WD out of ply etc. I just find the big GMC a bit on the heavy side for continuous use, but a baby drill might not have the torque for a decent tight result. A baby impact driver is probably ideal and should be fine for a few pilot holes too.

The small drill is tempting mostly because they are so darn cute and they make a nice pair sharing the same battery. I guess only experience will tell whether it actually gets used in the workshop, but I do like to phart around with my various projects while camping so it would no doubt see some use if I had it.

Had a bit of a look at AEG's website though, and came across this:



It's a 12v Li-Ion drill-driver and should be here by September. Also coming are some other tools to match (eg impact driver). The idea of 12v is cool because with minimal finagling it could probably be persuaded to run off a car battery

Round and round it goes...


For those wanting more gratuitous eye-candy here are the Bosch:



And the Ozito:

"When is a drill better than an impact driver?"

When you value your ears...