Cordless Drill or Impact Driver: Which to Buy First

What actually decides this purchase

The question sounds like drill versus impact driver, but the kits answer it before any torque figure does. Six of the eight kits here contain both a 1/2 in drill/driver and a 1/4 in impact driver. Two do not: the DeWalt DCD771C2 is a drill/driver alone, and the DeWalt DCF787C1 is an impact driver alone. Buy either single-tool kit and the other half of the work waits on a second purchase.

The reason both tools matter is in what each one publishes. All six drill/drivers list a 1/2 in chuck, which is the part that holds a round drill bit for a pilot hole. Two of them also publish a numbered clutch, Ryobi with 24 positions and Milwaukee with 16, which is the control that stops the tool at a set resistance when a small screw is seated. The impact drivers publish torque instead, from 1,400 in-lbs on DeWalt’s DCF885 to 2,300 in-lbs on the Ridgid, plus impacts per minute. That is the specification for deck screws and lag bolts, and it is the specification furniture assembly barely touches.

So the obvious number, impact torque, is the wrong one to optimize for a first tool. It ranks the kits in this order: Ridgid 2,300, Ryobi 2,200, Milwaukee 2,000, DeWalt DCF787 and Makita 1,500, Craftsman 1,460, DeWalt DCF885 1,400. The top figure is about 64 percent above the bottom. That gap matters on old deck framing and lag bolts. It does not matter at all on the screws that hold a bookcase together, and it says nothing about the drill/driver in the same box.

How to match a kit to your projects

Start with the projects you will actually do this season, then read the drill/driver line before the impact driver line.

If furniture assembly comes first, the drill/driver’s low-speed range and clutch are the figures to compare. Ryobi publishes 0-500 RPM and a 24-position clutch on the PBLDD01. Makita publishes 0-500 RPM on the XPH12Z but no clutch count. DeWalt’s DCD771 publishes 0-450 RPM, and Craftsman’s CMCD700 the slowest low range here, with no clutch count on either kit page. Milwaukee publishes a 16-position clutch and 1,400 in-lbs, but only a 0-2,100 RPM top speed and no low range. Ridgid publishes 800 in-lbs and a 2,100 RPM maximum with neither a low range nor a clutch count.

Drill torque itself splits into two ratings that do not compare. Milwaukee, Ridgid, Ryobi and Makita publish in-lbs: 1,400, 800, 750 and 530. DeWalt and Craftsman publish UWO, unit watts out: 300 and 280. UWO is a DeWalt and Craftsman rating and does not convert to in-lbs, so the two DeWalt kits and the Craftsman can be compared to each other on that line but not to the other four.

If deck repair comes first, read the impact driver line and the battery line together. The Ridgid, Ryobi and Milwaukee impact drivers publish 2,000 in-lbs or more. Below them, the DeWalt DCF787, the Makita XDT13Z and the Craftsman CMCF800 sit between 1,460 and 1,500 in-lbs, and the DeWalt DCF885 in the DCK240C2 combo is at 1,400.

If concrete is involved, the drill line changes again. The Milwaukee 2904-20, the Makita XPH12Z and the Ridgid drill all publish a hammer mode. Milwaukee describes its hammer mode as being for brick, block and concrete; the Makita and Ridgid pages list the mode without describing its use. The DeWalt, Ryobi and Craftsman drills are plain drill/drivers.

The battery in the box is the spread nobody reads

Included capacity is the widest gap between these kits and the one that touches every job. DeWalt’s DCK240C2 and DCD771C2 ship two 1.3Ah packs. Craftsman ships two 1.5Ah packs, and DeWalt’s DCF787C1 ships a single 1.5Ah pack, the only one-battery kit here. Ryobi ships two 2.0Ah packs. Ridgid ships one 2.0Ah and one 4.0Ah, a mixed pair. Milwaukee and Makita each ship two 5.0Ah packs.

At the same voltage class, more Ah means more runtime per charge. Two 5.0Ah packs hold roughly 3.8 times what two 1.3Ah packs hold. Battery weights are not published for any kit here.

Charging speed is published for one kit only. Makita states that its Rapid Optimum Charger delivers the fastest charge times in its categories. That is a manufacturer claim rather than a measured figure, but no other kit here makes a charge-time claim at all.

Motor type stacks with battery size

Three kits are brushed: the DeWalt DCK240C2 on both tools, the DeWalt DCD771C2, and the Craftsman CMCK200C2 on both tools. The other five are brushless on every tool they contain. The one published figure that quantifies the difference is DeWalt’s own: the brushless DCF787 delivers up to 57 percent more runtime than a brushed motor.

The point a first-time buyer should notice is that the three brushed kits are also the three with the smallest batteries, at 1.3Ah and 1.5Ah. Runtime per charge is being cut from both directions on those kits. It is a reason to expect more recharging mid-project than the Ryobi, Ridgid, Milwaukee or Makita kits.

Weight figures are not on one basis

Overhead work on a deck railing or ledger board is where tool weight gets noticed, and the published figures do not line up cleanly. Milwaukee and Craftsman publish tool-only weights: 3.3 lb and 2.2 lb for Milwaukee’s drill and impact driver, 2.7 lb and 2.49 lb for Craftsman’s. Makita publishes with the battery installed: 4.2 lb and 3.3 lb. DeWalt publishes 3.6 lb and 2.8 lb for the DCK240C2 pair and 2.1 lb for the DCF787 without stating the basis. Ryobi publishes 2.84 lb for its drill/driver and nothing for its impact driver. Ridgid publishes no weight for either tool.

Two figures deserve care. DeWalt’s DCF787 at 2.1 lb and Milwaukee’s impact driver at 2.2 lb tool-only are within a tenth of a pound, so neither is the lightest impact driver; they are near-identical. Among drill/drivers with a published tool-only weight, Craftsman’s 2.7 lb is the lowest, though Ryobi’s 2.84 lb on the Home Depot listing does not state its basis. Makita’s figures are the largest on the page, and they are also the only ones that include a 5.0Ah battery, so they are not directly comparable with the rest.

Warranty is where a registration step hides

Coverage terms differ by more than a factor of two, and one program depends on something you do after purchase. Milwaukee publishes a 5-year limited tool warranty. Ridgid publishes a Lifetime Service Agreement with free parts and service for life, but only if the kit is registered within 90 days of purchase. Miss that window and the lifetime coverage does not apply. DeWalt’s DCK240C2 and DCD771C2 publish a 3-year limited warranty with 1 year of free service and a 90-day satisfaction guarantee. Makita’s 3-year warranty is stated to cover the batteries and charger as well as the tools. Ryobi and Craftsman publish 3 years. DeWalt’s DCF787C1 page states a 3-year term without the service and guarantee lines stated on the other two DeWalt kits.

When the single-tool kit is enough

The DCD771C2 makes sense in one situation: furniture and small fastening are the whole plan for now, deck work is genuinely later, and you want DeWalt’s 20V MAX platform. It contains the same DCD771 drill/driver that DeWalt puts in the DCK240C2 combo, so adding the DCF787C1 or another 20V MAX impact driver later builds the combo rather than duplicating it. Done that way you end up with a brushless 1,500 in-lbs impact driver and three batteries instead of the combo’s brushed 1,400 in-lbs DCF885 and two.

The DCF787C1 alone makes sense only if you already own a drill. It has no chuck, takes no round drill bits, and ships one battery, so there is no spare on the charger while you work.

If deck screws or lag bolts are on the list this season, neither single-tool kit is enough. The DCK240C2 combo covers both jobs in one purchase on the same platform, with the trade-offs of brushed motors and 1.3Ah packs already described.

What a first-time buyer will not think to ask

The impact driver’s own controls vary, and they are not clutches. Ridgid publishes a 3-speed selector for adjustable power and control. Milwaukee publishes 4-Mode Drive Control with Ultimate Trigger Control. The other impact drivers publish speed and impact-rate figures only. If you expect to use an impact driver on anything smaller than a deck screw, those selectors are the published means of backing it off.

Finally, the platform you buy into is the batteries, not the tools. Every kit names its own: DeWalt 20V MAX, Milwaukee M18, Ryobi 18V ONE+, Makita 18V LXT, Ridgid 18V MAX Output, Craftsman V20. The next tool you add will share those packs and that charger, which is why the Ah figure on the kit line matters as much as anything on the tool line.