Battery-Operated Compact Impact Driver, 1/4 in. Hex Drive, Tool Only

SUMMARY: A nice piece of gear. BACKGROUND: I have ¼ in. hex drivers from several manufacturers but wanted to try out the New Klein design. FIT AND FINISH: My first Klein power tool. Nice looking tools, certainly on par with other manufacturers as far as overall appearance and engineering. FEATURES: From the Home Depot page, with my comments as appropriate. Klein's Compact Impact Driver for professional impact fastening and drilling applications offers 210 ft-lbs of max torque to get the job done fast. Engineered and designed by Klein Tools in the USA, the impact function makes this tool particularly useful for driving fasteners in wood, metal and concrete. The variable speed trigger provides better control. Users can change driving bits quickly with the 1/4-Inch quick connect chuck. Powered by 20V lithium-ion DeWALT batteries (sold separately). • 210 ft-lbs of max torque for professional impact fastening and drilling o In the same range as comparable tools. • 1/4-Inch Hex Quick Connect with variable speed brushless motor o One issue with the quick connect. I have to pull the collet to get driver bits in. My other drivers allow the bits to slide into the lock. This can be a pain. o I don’t know if it is the brushless design, or the speed control, but this seems to be the most easily controlled variable speed of any of my drivers. • Compact design for excellent balance and control in tight spaces or overhead applications o Not really any bigger, or smaller, than my other current generation tools. Balance is affected by the batter size you mount in it. But, with a 2 or 3Ah battery it’s the right weight for me. o The owner’s manual mentions a “Lift Ring (H)” but the drawing says H is the LED. I could find anything like a lift ring. • LED light for better visibility o Not a flashlight…but good for eliminating shadows in dark recesses. • Forward/Reverse/Lock trigger button o Pretty standard for most power tools today. • Safety lockout switch o Don’t look for a second switch. The direction button is the lockout switch. • Engineered and designed by Klein Tools in the USA o Not a bad design Klein! • Powered by DeWALT 20V lithium-ion batteries (sold separately) o Don’t know the details of this but I LOVE the idea of using another manufacturers battery. Probably the same company, but still better than adding another battery/charger to the herd. OPERATION: Nothing new here. Speed control is a plus for me. Loading bits in the collet is a down-check. SUMMARY: Great addition to the tool collection. PROS: Great speed control. CONS: Must pull collet ring to load driver bits.

I’m very surprised to see Klein going into these types of tools. I wasn’t too sure on what to expect but I won’t lie and I had low expectations and I was wrong. It’s pretty compact and I was really happy to see that you can use Dewalt 20 V batteries. For a moment there I thought Klein was going to try and make a battery. But the Dewalt 20 V fits right on it and works like a charm. The chuck on it has double bearings which hold the fittings really good and they won’t slip out under high stress which I was impressed by. Also doesn’t have a lot of wobbling around when it spins at full rpms. It’s brushless so battery life was really long but I did have a 4ah on it. I can see a full-time electrician adding this impact to their tools and it won’t be anything too crazy as long as they’re on the DeWalt platform. I drove all kinds of screws up to 4 inches with no problem. The variable speed trigger is actually pretty nice and works really good. I do wish it had different speed settings because it is only one setting but with a variable trigger. It does have plenty of power for anything I threw at it. I even bored some 1 1/4 in. holes with it. I’m not sure but this impact reminds me of the earlier Dewalt models. It has a nice bright light to see if it’s a little dark like an electrical box. The only thing that I maybe question is it doesn’t have very high RPMs. It doesn’t have that but the torque is there for anything I did so it balances out. I was driving a screw into a 2 x 6 and I literally just kept going and it just kept going till I couldn’t see it at all, all the way into the board. That really impressed me because I thought it would lock out or some thing which by the way never happened to me. This impact is solid and built well I just wish it had a little more features but considering I haven’t seen this from Klein before it’s really good. Also I wish it came with the belt clip which in my opinion should be standard by now with every company. It will definitely get the job done and makes a nice addition to my electrical set up. Really looking forward to see where they go from here. Good tool and if you’re on the DeWalt platform I recommend it. Feels like it will last a long time

I really like this Klein tools impact driver. It is distinctly quieter than my other major brand impact driver. It still hard the same 3100 IPM (impacts per min). The trigger is easy to vary the RPM, not all on or off as some seem to want to do. It is rated up to 210 ft-lbs, which is a little lower than others, but this driver has not had any issue driving lag bolts for me. Again much quieter. Very nice that I can use any Dewalt 20V Lithium ion battery. I have plenty of those around. Finally, good balance with anything up to a 4AH battery.

This is an impact driver. The beauty of that is when you are driving really long screws it turns with an "impact" and drives scews much better than a regular drill. Think of the air wrench they use on lug nuts at the tire center. It gives a whole bunch of little impacts to keep the screw going in or to loosen it to get out. It easily drove a #10 3 inch scew into my loose deckboard. The work light could be a little brighter but was bright enough to see fine. The driver uses 1//4 inch hex bits that lock in. You pull on the bit retainer and drop the bit in. It locks in place and because of the hex shape the bit can't slide. My only dissapointment was that it is the tool only. That means it does not have a battery and charger included.It uses the DeWalt standard 20V batter so if you have a DeWalt you are in luck. If you don't, be ready for a little sticker shock. The batteries with charger are over $100. The single pack is only $30 less than the double pack so get the double pack. I had the Flexvolt from my circular saw. It is heavy for a drill battery but works fine and has 9.0Ah so it will run for ever without recharging. I would definitely recommend this, especially if you already have a DeWalt tool or are planning on getting one.

Klein Tools has a long-standing reputation for professional grade quality, and when I saw this impact driver available to review, I took the opportunity to do so. After using it for a month and putting it through various tests, I can say that this is a high quality power tool that anyone will enjoy using. The fit and finish, build quality, and construction are all top notch. And this is NOT a rebrand or reskin, even though it requires DeWalt or Mac batteries. It’s a unique offering designed by Klein and manufactured in Taiwan. The positives: 1. Quality fit and finish 2. Nice knurling on the heavy duty hex adapter 3. Bright light below the barrel lights up the workspace well 4. Compact design 5. Excellent balance (Klein claims it’s designed to remain comfortable at odd angles including overhead work). 6. One of the most powerful impact drivers on the market at 220 ft lbs. The negatives: 1. Honestly, only one and it’s a minor one at that: the hex drive is not quick change. It requires you to pull out on the knurled collar when popping the bit in versus some other brands that allow you to push the bit in and it automatically locks onto the bit. 2. I don’t really consider this a negative, but for those who like speed and torque settings via buttons, you’ll be disappointed to know it’s instead got a sensitive variable speed trigger that leaves it up to you to manually control output. Klein addresses this too: their objective is to ensure you don’t lose the bit. They intend for this tool to be able to be used in situations where safety is paramount and tight spaces are common. Overall, I’m impressed with this tool. I can’t speak to longevity or warranty as I’ve not owned it long enough but if my opinion changes, I’ll submit an updated review.

The Battery-Operated Compact Impact Driver, 1/4 in. Hex Drive, Tool Only, by Klein Tools is a smooth running tool. Apples to apples, it is very close in size and weight to the DeWALT drill driver, with a slightly longer handle and a slightly longer head. According to the specifications, it has more torque than it's counterpart, although I don't have a way measure that, to know for sure. Everything that we have put it through so far, indicates that it stands up to the quality of the Klein tradition. The light is plenty strong enough and in the right place to see what you are doing. The only flaw that I can find is, it has a place for the belt hook that you have to purchase separately, instead of being included. All in all, good job guys, keep it up.

I didn’t know what to expect, truthfully speaking but, I knew it was a Klein Tool and it was powered with DeWALT batteries. I knew Klein made quality products, that has always been my experience. I had no shortage of DeWALT batteries from my lines of work. So right out of the box I immediately noticed how comfortable the grip was. The slender frame weighs in at only 2.3 pounds. Now with one impact headed out for eService this one was just in time and with no time to waste I grabbed a phillips wood screw and ran it right into some old lumber without a screw guide or pre-drilling, mounting a 3/4” iron flange to the barn wall. I recall my immediate thoughts and that was, “wow, how smooth.” Ran the remaining screws and it reminded me of one of my hydraulic drivers based on how smooth, quite and in control I was. Nice! I finished my trailer project over the next day & a half utilizing hex-head self-tapping screws and I had determined that the control I had over this tool was based on balanced engine rotation, quick attach head tolerances and the variable speed trigger design. This impact, in my opinion, had no need for multiple transmission speeds. It was that easy to control. Outside of the LED light being plenty bright, there’s not a lot about the outside to really brag about from an aesthetic standpoint. What was important to me was how it operated and for that, Two Big Thumbs UP Klein!!

I put this impact through it's paces this weekend and I was pleased with the results. At first I was really put off by the lack of speed controls but the variable speed motor/trigger actually works well. It takes a few times to get used to and to get the feel off, but I can get a lot more control with this type of trigger over a speed selector. It's pretty compact but from what I can tell it will do everything I need a 1/4" impact driver to do. I used it around my shop this weekend as I rearranged things. Tool walls, wall mounted cabinets, vises, etc. Lots of screws driven and about a dozen 1/4" and 3/8" lag bolts. It handled everything and I wasn't able to stall it. Battery life is about the same as the Dewalt impact I borrowed the battery from.

This impact driver really surprised me. I intended to give it a real challenge by using both 5/16" and 3/8" lag bolts, 5" long, to hold a standard pine 2x4 to a wolmanized 4x4. I clamped the two boards together to keep them aligned. Initially I intended to not provide a pilot hole. The bolt wouldn't grip the wood so for the 5/16" bolts, I drilled a 3" deep 1/4" hole. For the 3/8" bolts, I drilled a 3" deep 5/16" hole. I'm new to using an impact driver and thought had to provide some pressure to get the bolt into the wood like I would with a drill-bit. I am sharing 3 videos and several photos. The first bolt I installed, I used pressure but for the others I only held the tool in position with very slight pressure. For the first lag bolt, was turning the lag bolt but waiting for the impact socket to stop turning. There was power enough in the Klein Tool to strip the wolmanized wood's hole. I believe this wrench would remove lug nuts from my car but I hesitated to remove any bolts since its winter and I don't have a lift to work with. There are three videos. Hopefully the links are separately selectible.

weak sauce. no power. good to hang up picture frames