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HF Cordless Impact?

shima

shima

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Hi guys,

I am thinking about buying my first impact wrench. I don't have a compressor, so I am looking at cordless impacts.

There are a couple that I have in mind...
  1. The Milwaukee that everyone loves: https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2767-20-Torque-2-Inch-Friction/dp/B077H7JP1D
  2. The Harbor Freight Earthquake XT: https://www.harborfreight.com/power...ss-xtreme-torque-impact-wrench-kit-64195.html
The Milwaukee is about $300 if I get the battery and charger with it. It is proven from what I can tell. 1400 ft/lbs breakaway, 1000 ft/lbs fastening.

The Harbor Freight is about $30 cheaper and comes with a little case to carry everything around in. It has great reviews on the website but I am not sure how long it has been around. 1200 ft/lbs breakaway, fastening torque not listed.

The question: has anybody bought the Harbor Freight tool and been unable to break away a nut on a squarebody? I am basically trying to determine if 1200 ft/lbs is enough. It sure seems to be but what do I know?

Thanks for whatever you got to say!
 
$30 is not enough to go to HF. Anything electric from them is going to give you trouble. Batteries are a big issue with cheap tools, they are never very good. If you want to save a few bucks get a corded electric from a major manufacturer.
 
HankScorpio said:
$30 is not enough to go to HF. Anything electric from them is going to give you trouble. Batteries are a big issue with cheap tools, they are never very good. If you want to save a few bucks get a corded electric from a major manufacturer.
Click to expand...

Battery was a big thing for me and ultimately made me decide the DeWalt over HF. I had a Craftsman with SEVERAL batteries. All of them died or worked for a very short period of time. Needless to say, I wanted to pay attention to the battery more this time. DeWalt XR batteries are great comparatively.
 
HankScorpio said:
$30 is not enough to go to HF. Anything electric from them is going to give you trouble. Batteries are a big issue with cheap tools, they are never very good. If you want to save a few bucks get a corded electric from a major manufacturer.
Click to expand...

Agreed. X2
 
Yeah, spend the dough on the Milwaukee or grab a Dewalt.

Or get a Kobalt one. I have had my kobalt for 5 years. It's a good piece.

HF electrical tools are sucky. Only ones I buy are the 14.99 disposable angle grinders. Go through about 2-3 a year.
 
Justin V said:
Yeah, spend the dough on the Milwaukee or grab a Dewalt.

Or get a Kobalt one. I have had my kobalt for 5 years. It's a good piece.

HF electrical tools are sucky. Only ones I buy are the 14.99 disposable angle grinders. Go through about 2-3 a year.
Click to expand...

I won't waste money on thsoe angle grinders, they are absolute garbage and don't last. However I've been using a HF impact for years......:dunno:
 
I smoked a hf sawall once. I got 3/4 the way through a 2 1/2 exhaust pipe before smoke was rolling out of the vents on the sides of the thing. I immediately boxed it up and took it back.
That was 2006. Haven't touched anything with 110v or battery power from hf since.
I will admit, it looks like they are trying to become a real player in the us tool market, their tools are getting substantially better. And based on the way their stores are popping up, It's working.
The American quest for cheap Chinese shit continues.... Oh wait that's another forum.....
 
I've used the crap out of my Milwaukee for 6 years now and it still work great. You can kind of upgrade it with bigger batteries. I remember when I got mine the 5.0 was the big battery. Not I have a 9.0 and I've seen 12.0 are available. My Milwaukee goes in the truck for pretty much every trail run.
 
Thanks everyone! I remembered last night that I've got an old $100 Amazon gift card. That fact combined with your guys' feedback sort of makes this one a no-brainer for the Milwaukee. Cheers.
 
I am running the Rigid brand cordless tools from Home Depot. They are a fair bit cheaper than Milwaukee but have just as good of a reputation and lifetime warranty on the tools/battery in a kit if you register it. My friend who is a contractor and abuses them daily recommended them.
 
kennyw said:
I am running the Rigid brand cordless tools from Home Depot. They are a fair bit cheaper than Milwaukee but have just as good of a reputation and lifetime warranty on the tools/battery in a kit if you register it. My friend who is a contractor and abuses them daily recommended them.
Click to expand...
You got the ridgid cordless impact?
 
i got a ridgid as a gift and love it had no trouble, it's a 1/2 impact
 
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kennyw said:
Yes, I have used it to tear down at least 6 parts trucks and who knows how many repairs on my trucks in the last couple years. Never had an issue.
Click to expand...
Good to know. I'll have to add one to my ridgid stuff.
 
The only downside to rigid is the battery warranties are shorter (1 or 2 year) when purchased outside of a kit and they track serial numbers on the warranties.
 
kennyw said:
The only downside to rigid is the battery warranties are shorter (1 or 2 year) when purchased outside of a kit and they track serial numbers on the warranties.
Click to expand...
Damn. I just had a battery go down. I was going return it this weekend. (Ran out of time) But I didn't know what the protocol was. Or what they would do for me. I am pretty sure I didn't register it when I bought it.
 
beags86 said:
Damn. I just had a battery go down. I was going return it this weekend. (Ran out of time) But I didn't know what the protocol was. Or what they would do for me. I am pretty sure I didn't register it when I bought it.
Click to expand...
I had one battery fail and it happened to be one of the extra's I bought. Luckily I emailed myself the receipt using the self checkout and was able to get it warrantied based on that (still in the 1 year period). But you have to call Rigid and provide the receipt numbers for them to verify the warranty.
 
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