Explainers
Which tool does which job, and which labels mean what they say. Each of these 6 opens with the short answer.
If you can only have one, get the drill. It makes holes, it drives screws, and its clutch stops them before they sink too deep. An impact driver drives long screws and lags faster and without wrenching your arm, but it takes only 1/4 in hex bits, has no clutch, and is a poor tool for big holes. Most combo kits pair the two because most jobs end up needing both.
Read the full answer →A hammer drill is a drill/driver with a hammer mode added for masonry. With the mode switched off it does everything a drill/driver does, but it's usually a little longer and heavier. If you will ever drill into concrete, brick or block, buy the hammer drill; the price gap is small. If you never will, the plain drill/driver saves weight. For regular or large masonry holes, get an SDS rotary hammer instead.
Read the full answer →No. An 18V pack and a 20V Max pack are both five lithium-ion cells in series. Each cell is about 3.6V under load and about 4V fully charged with nothing connected, so the same pack is 18V nominal and 20V at rest. DeWalt and Craftsman print the resting number; Milwaukee, Makita, Ryobi, Bosch and the rest print the nominal one. DeWalt's own small print gives the nominal voltage as 18.
Read the full answer →Yes, when the price gap is small, and on most platforms it now is. A brushless motor runs cooler, gets more work from each charge and has no brushes to wear out. A brushed drill is still fine for hanging shelves a few times a year. Every one of the 74 tools this site ranks is brushless, so the choice that's left is between a brand's brushless tiers.
Read the full answer →UWO stands for unit watts out: DeWalt's own rating of a tool's power output, measured under DeWalt's own conditions. Craftsman, a sister brand, uses it too. It isn't torque, it can't be converted into torque, and no brand outside that family publishes it, so a UWO figure only compares with another UWO figure. Newer DeWalt tools publish MWO, max watts out, a related DeWalt rating.
Read the full answer →Same mechanism, different job. An impact driver has a 1/4 in hex collet for screwdriver bits and is built for screws and small lags. An impact wrench has a square anvil, usually 3/8 or 1/2 in, for sockets and is built for nuts and bolts, with much more torque, published in ft-lbs instead of in-lbs. Screws, get the driver. Lug nuts and seized bolts, get the wrench.
Read the full answer →For what each number on a spec sheet means, from torque to anvil type, see how to read a power tool spec sheet, where every range is computed from the catalog.