Accessories

good, but could be better
i've used the makita and milwaukee, but not the dewalt or any other brand so take this for what it's worth. battery life on this tool is better than on the makita, but it's also a larger tool so it's tougher for small spaces and might lead to more fatigue over the course of the day. i haven't had this problem, but i have had situations where having a smaller driver would have been helpful. of course there are always going to be situations where you wish you had a smaller driver, but the bigger the tool, the more frequent that situation will crop up.
after about a year's use the black plastic nose cap fell off. i glued both portions of it back on and that seems to have solved the problem.
in terms of power i've never had a problem with this not being able to do what i ask of it. i haven't had to drive a lot of lags or anything, though.
i felt like the makita had a greater tendency to jumpt out of the fastener, but maybe that was my misuse rather than the tool design. other than the size, the only advantage of the makita over this one is the led light which comes on when you tap on the trigger and stays on. useful and thoughtful design.
solid tool overall and i'm happy with it, but i do wish that it were smaller. if i were buying today i'd probably go with the smaller milwaukee impact driver.

Beware objects in mirror are weaker than they look.
This is a typical Milwaukee tool. It is stout! I have several other 18 volt 1/4" hex impact drivers, but I wasn't prepared for this one. The first time I used it to tighten 7/16 nuts on 1/4" bolts it sheared off the first one instantly. I thought hmmm, must have been a soft one. I went a little easier on the following bolts and had no further trouble. A couple weeks later I tried to remove the nuts. I was very surprised, I had to use my longest box end wrench to get them to turn, they felt like they were welded in place. I am sure they had stretched. I don't remember ever in my life having to use so much force to loosen a nut on a 1/4" bolt. I am pretty sure it would have taken less effort to just tighten them and break them off.

I loaned this tool to a friend of mine who built a 24 x 24 deck using composite deck boards with joists on 12" centers. He used it for 5 days on the original battery charge driving about half of the over 1200 stainless steel hold down screws. With the Lithium Ion battery this thing is the energizer bunny of impact drivers. I continue to be very impressed with it. The only drawback I can see is due to its tremendous power it can be real hard on bits and screws if you aren't paying close attention to what you are doing with it. It can break just about anything you touch with it without even working hard. This tool needs to be used with restraint. I love it.

red tools rock
Very good impact drill. The specs speak for themselves. I have two more Milwaukee drills, a cordless kit with sawzall, and trimsaw. All tools are bullet proof. The Milwaukee impact is a little heavier than its Dewalt counterpart, but worth its weight in gold. When I first got it, I tested it out by driving 1/2 inch lag screws into a 4x4 (without pilot holes) and it drove them in without a hiccup. Try a Milwaukee and you'll be a believer.

very solid performer
This is my first impact driver, and I will say that they are very impressive. Drives screws in 1/2 the time, and even helps suck the two boards together (which isn't always easy without reversing the screw first). Medium lags are no problem (didn't try any larger ones). There aren't a lot of extras; the LED light works well and the spare bit clips are typical.

Like all my other Milwaukee power tools, this one seems well built and comfortable. Forward/reverse switch is exactly where it should be (like their drills) and the trigger pull is smooth. And the lithium v18 batteries are fantastic.

A belt clip would be nice. And I expected it to be a bit lighter; feels just like their drill/hammer drill, but that's no big deal.

I purchased this one b/c I already had Milwaukee v18 tools (for over 7 years now... VERY happy with them) and didn't want more/different batteries laying around.

at least it's cheap
This tool is bigger and heavier than others in its class but it's the minor annoyances that should have been designed out that bother me the most. First it requires a lot of torque to start impacting and if you're in an awkward position it's hard to get enough forward force on the bit to keep it from skipping out before the tool starts doing what it's supposed to do and impact/drive the fastener. Next the LED is under the front housing so in dark places your fastener head is in shadow, and even if you get enough reflected light on your screw the bit has to be turning to have the LED on, so setting the bit in has to be done in the dark either way. Then even in lighted areas getting a flathead bit to turn just enough to align with the screw slot is frustrating because the variable trigger is too coarse.

On the plus side it blows away my buddy's 18v Dewalt in simple driving duty; about twice as fast.

Overall I'm keeping this only because my V28 charger works on the V18 battery and I won't have to buy a complete kit from makita or dewalt, but I don't recommend it.