Sometimes you might need a little more power or flexibility than just a drill, that’s where an Impact Drill/Driver might come into play.  If you have been following our recent reviews of the i–drill, you know they are a new player to the market.  One tool they have in their lineup is the new Impact Driver model number 1i-impact.

Power Tool Review – i-Drill Impact Driver

Power Tool Model – 1i-Impact

Pros: Power, Balance, Price

Cons: No tool bag

Specifications of the i-drill

• 12V Lithium-ion SANYO battery
• Chuck Size – 1/4″ internal hexagon
• Built in work light
• 3,000 BPM

Nuts & Bolts of the i-drill

Specifications

When you think of a homeowner’s tool, you tend to think of a weak power tool or something that will break on you in about an hour of use.  Well maybe that used to be the case, but with today’s technology and quality control, the mold is being broken.  The i-drill 1i-impact driver feels good in your hand, it fits nice.  Also, with a five year warranty you can’t go wrong.  While we are not saying this is a professional power tool, it does offer a lot of features that the professional power tools offer such as a battery indicator, a LED work light and variable speed trigger.  The 0-3,000 bpm is impressive even at a professional level rating.

Review

Balance is the most important feature of any power tool.  A tool that is not balanced will mean the user gets fatigued quicker and in return produces sloppy work; not to mention a tired arm which means a greater chance of accidents.  The 1i-impact has a nice balance to the tool.  Overall the entire tool is light.  It’s not top heavy, front heavy or end heavy.  When working with the driver, the trigger is very easy to control and hold at a steady pace with the variable trigger.  While you always feel the beating of any driver, the i-drill is kept at a minimum, even for the most sensitive hands.

For our review we wanted to show you the tool in action.  So what we did was set up a 1×4” pine board on top of ¾” piece of plywood.  We used three inch screws and started driving away.  We only showed a couple in the video as we didn’t want to bore you.  As you can see, the driver had no problem handling driving the screws.  True, we didn’t go into concrete, but again as a homeowner, how many times are you really driving into a hard surface.  If you do, most of the surfaces will be pourous such as cinder blocks, etc. which this drill has no problems diving into.

Conclusion

If you’re a homeowner looking for some extra power and extra features, the i-drill impact driver might be a good solution for you.  With their 5-year warranty, it is one of the top warranties in the industry.  This driver has more than enough power and run time to get most home jobs done.  The balance of the tool is favorable, which means less fatigue on the user.  The power indicator is a great feature as it allows the user to know what they are working with before the project begins.  The impact rate of 3,000 is great to give you an extra push for power and speed to cut through most materials to set anchors or other items a homeowner may want to complete with this drive.

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