Around 15 years ago I took the plunge and bought one of the (at the time) new-fangled battery-powered impact wrenches that had appeared on the market. I swallowed hard and spent nearly $300 on a wrench touted to have 220 lb/ft of torque, along with two batteries and a battery charger.
The thing weighed about 15 pounds and MIGHT have actually had 180 lb/ft for the first 30 seconds after I installed a fresh battery. Compare that to the latest generation of battery-powered impact wrenches now battling for attention in the marketplace. It’s not hard to find cordless wrenches that brag of more than 1000 lb/ft of loosening torque and 800 or more lb/ft of tightening torque. For the power they produce they’re remarkably “light,” though no cordless tool durable and powerful enough for professional use is every going to be a lightweight.
The other thing that’s heavy duty with the latest generation of battery-powered tools is their price. You can easily spend $1000 for a 1/2-inch drive cordless wrench with two lithium-ion batteries and battery charger. You can also spend $200 and have a cordless wrench, battery and charger very similar to my first under-powered impact wrench. It pays to shop carefully for cordless tools, and to make sure before you buy that you’re getting a tool that performs as well as it’s advertised.
One thing I’ve learned is that there are different ways of rating torque. There are cordless wrenches that produce phenomenal torque for the first couple of seconds after their trigger is pulled, but only for those first few seconds. Other tools are designed to produce a stout amount of torque for 10 or 15 seconds, maybe longer. And when it comes to breaking loose a rusty bolt, the key is that if the initial blast of power doesn’t do it, then relentless hammering will.
I’d hate to give up my cordless tools. I don’t have one of the new super-powerful battery-powered impact wrenches yet, but I’m definitely scheming for a way to get enough money to get one. I probably won’t buy the one with the highest torque rating, but I’ll definitely get the most powerful cordless impact wrench I can afford.
