Milwaukee 1/2-inch cordless impact wrench, 18 V

What it is good at

• Removing wheel nuts and suspension bolts that a hand ratchet will not shift
• Running on the same battery platform as the rest of the tools you own
• Variable speed so a nut can be started without cross-threading it

Check before you buy

• Drive size and socket type: impact-rated sockets, never thin chrome ones, on a power tool
• The rated torque against the jobs you have in mind, remembering that removal and tightening figures differ
• Battery platform and whether you already own batteries and a charger for it

Who it is not for

Final tightening of wheel nuts, and any fastener with a low torque figure that a hand tool should reach instead.

A cordless impact wrench is the tool that turns a two-hour driveway job into a twenty-minute one, because the fasteners that stop a hand ratchet are exactly the ones it is built for. The trade is control: it delivers force continuously, and force applied to the wrong fastener does damage quickly.

Choose the platform before the tool. A bare tool that shares batteries with what you already own is the cheaper and lighter path, and high-torque and compact versions of the same wrench cover different spaces in the same garage.