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Overall Rating

Decent, but definitely not the best out there
Pros: (1) Got some power, (2) 18 volts lithium ion powered
Cons: (1) Not variable speed, (2) a bit heavy, (3) still relatively big compared to the competition

Overall, it looks to me like this impact wrench might be outdated compared with what’s out there today. Most of today’s cordless impacts are variable speed. You have MUCH better control with variable speed, especially when you are trying to put nuts back on. With this Makita wrench, soon as you hit the trigger, it goes full speed.

The wrench seems somewhat powerful, but I found a couple of (maybe frozen?) lugnuts this guy could not take off. It was on a ‘03 Corolla (I think using 21 mm nuts), which is not even close to a tank. I don’t know if the car’s lugnuts were put on by impact guns before at a shop, but I had no problems with any of the other lugnuts on that car.

My other gripe about this wrench is the size and weight. I did some specs comparisons of the latest cordless impacts out there today (i.e. Milwaukee 2663-22, IR W360P, and Craftsman c3 19.2 cordless impact wrench) and the Makita is the longest as well as heaviest of the bunch. When you read the Makita product description, they mention how the tool is compact and light. I’m guessing it’s when comparing it to electric impact wrenches at the time the tool came out. Those electric impacts are much heavier and bigger. But now today’s latest cordless impacts are more compact and lighter than this Makita. Check out the specs for the 3 other wrenches I had mentioned and see for yourself.

I actually got the Craftsman c3 19.2 impact wrench with the lithium ion batteries to try out and honestly, I like it much better than the Makita. It has variable speed, is smaller, lighter, much cheaper, and feels just as powerful as the Makita even though it only has a rating of 200 ft lbs of torque. I did some tests like tightening a lugnut to 150 ft lbs and trying both the Makita and Craftsman on it. Both wrenches zipped off the nut very easily. When removing a standard 80 ft lb torqued nut on my Honda Civic, it really seemed like the Craftsman zipped them off easier compared to the Makita. I don’t know if they overstated the torque on the Makita or understated it on the Craftsman, but both wrenches seem just as powerful, however the Craftsman felt a bit stronger. Though that is just going by my observation and feeling, so there is no scientific facts or hard numbers to prove it. I don’t know if this is because the Craftsman has a faster IPM (impacts per minute) compared with the Makita. Anyway, since I only need an impact gun for my cars at home (I’m never going to working on big machinery), the Craftsman seems plenty powerful enough for me.

I will say the Makita LXT series has good batteries and chargers so if you already have an investment in them, maybe you have no choice but to go with this tool if you need something with more torque. I ended up returning the tool because of the cons, but I’m hoping Makita is working on some next generation high torque cordless impact that will address all the shortfalls I mentioned. As of now, I am sticking with the Craftsman I bought.