Cordless 3/8 impact DC823B

berettafan · 02-17-2017, 05:33 AM

Been thinking about a cordless impact for quite some time now. I have a Craftsman 1/2" air impact and it is a beast. handles suspension work on my jeep easily. last year I bought a butterfly air impact and it too is pretty cool for getting into smaller spaces. but....the hose and the noise....

well a recent exhaust project on my Tundra prompted me to look into a cordless impact. after the initial install with the butterfly 3/8 air tool and fighting with the hose I decided I was going to buy the dewalt 3/8 18v impact tool. already have an 18v dewalt drill and it's been a great tool for years. probably one of my best all time tool purchases.

well to make a long story short this 3/8 18v impact might be the second best purchase I've made. had to get under the truck to loosen/retighten bolts to get the rear pipes to hang more evenly and this little thing was the perfect tool for the job. now these were freshly installed 14mm bolts, not 15 year old brake bolts or trailer lugs. For those I know there are bigger, stronger impacts but for $98 (tool only) I think this thing will do all manner of jobs around the house and garage very nicely. it is not heavy and is considerably smaller than my cordless drill which helps with tight spaces. even has a little led light.

berettafan · 02-17-2017, 05:40 AM

here's a pic I found online to give an idea of the scale. you can see the 18v batter is actually much bigger than the base of the tool.

1990C4S · 02-17-2017, 06:07 AM

I have a cheap Ryobi. I build a lot of stuff and do a lot of repairs, it is my most useful tool.

Shockingly good value. I paid $100 for a drill and an impact gun, two batteries and a charger.

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

I've got 2 Dewalts and a Bosch cordless impact driver

the battery size depends on the amp-Hr rating and type, there are multiple 18v batteries that work on the 18v tools, They come/came in Li-Ion, NiMh & NiCd fom 1.x to 4 amp-hr

Dewalt really pissed me off w/ their lack of support for 18v tool batteries, The had a 4 amp-hr Li-Ion battery seen above on the big Dewalt that went bad after a year of use, they refused to stand by their very expensive product.

Though bigger than the 057 Dewalt(about the same as the bigger Dewalt)the Bosch is a far superior product

berettafan · 02-17-2017, 07:34 AM

for track use they say the Milwaukee stuff is hard to beat now.

what I like about the 3/8 is size and weight. didn't realize there were so many 18v battery versions. my batteries have been great for years. if they start to die i'm hopeful I can just take them apart and put new cells in them.

rusnak · 02-17-2017, 12:00 PM

I use a 1/2" impact driver wrench. It works as an impact driver, but also doubles as an impact wrench. Great tool to have.

Festool looks interesting too. I'm fairly happy with the Bosch stuff.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

+1 on Bosch. I bought their LI drill & impact combo set a few years ago and am totally impressed. The LI battery packs are outstanding.

speeder · speeder's Garage

I have a Matco 3/8 cordless impact gun, real professional tool that I bought used some time ago. When it was working, it was my favorite tool out of a large and expensive collection.

It technically still works but the batteries or the charger went bad, (can't remember which now), so it sits in a box w my snap-on 1/2" cordless impact w the same issue. I need to dig them out and get the power issues resolved.

RedNiner · 02-17-2017, 12:44 PM

Ridgid, sold at Home Depot and probably elsewhere, offers a free lifetime service guarantee which includes free replacement batteries. Don't have one (yet) but I had heard of this deal, which is very good.

rusnak · 02-17-2017, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Bosch LI battery packs are outstanding.

I agree. This is why I stay with Bosch. I looked at everything, including Metabo, Hilti, Festool, etc. Bosch and De Walt have the best batteries at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedNiner

Ridgid, sold at Home Depot and probably elsewhere, offers a free lifetime service guarantee which includes free replacement batteries.

This would be shocking if it turns out to be true. It sounds like one of those things you hear that turns out to be not quite completely true.