Milwaukee M12 stubby impact: 1/4" vs. 3/8" drive

[Rudy R]

I’m on the verge of buying one of the Milwaukee stubby impacts. I already own other Milwaukee tools, so I am staying in the “family” since I already have both 12v and 18v batteries on hand. I was set on getting the 3/8″ stubby, but I noticed that @EricTheCarGuy uses the 1/4″ stubby. It does have slightly lower torque, which is not a problem since I will be using this mostly to buzz things off and on quickly. (I already have the monster 1/2″ impact if I need to break anything loose.) Looking at Milwaukee’s specs, aside from the torque, the dimensions show the 3/8″ is actually about a quarter of an inch slimmer to fit in tight areas which in the grand scheme of things really isn’t a big deal.

I have been using a Black & Decker Matrix drill with the impact attachment for this purpose and it works great (on the Matrix, you can change the head from a drill bit chuck to an impact driver or other accessories), but it’s longer and more bulky, and starts to get a bit heavy after tearing down everything to, say, remove a cylinder head.

Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I have a lot more 3/8″ sockets and extensions than the other sizes. I didn’t know if Eric found an advantage to the 1/4″ over the 3/8″ that I’m overlooking. Cost isn’t an issue–I believe all three stubby impacts are the same price.

Thoughts?

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