6 Best Impact Drivers of 2025, Lab-Tested and Reviewed
Our rigorous tests help you find the ideal impact driver for your heavy-duty projects
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If you’re an avid DIYer, you need an impact driver.
To the untrained eye, an impact driver may seem like just another drill. But this extremely versatile cordless power tool drives screws more efficiently into wood, metal, and cement than traditional cordless drills can, making it a popular choice for heavy-duty home improvement jobs like building a deck or a fence.
“For any job involving driving more than a few screws, you really can’t beat the power and speed of an impact driver,” says Matt Schimmenti, CR’s test engineer for impact drivers and cordless drills. But it’s worth taking the time to find the right model.
The best impact drivers can drive fasteners into hard materials like brick or concrete with ease and drive screws into wood without the need to predrill holes. The worst fail to drive fasteners all the way in or lose their charge before you’re even half-done with your project.
Read on for reviews of six of our top-rated standard and compact impact drivers, listed in alphabetical order. Our latest tests include models from big-name pro brands, including Festool, Makita, and Milwaukee. During testing, we found all the models we recommend require hearing protection for safe use.
For comprehensive buying advice and to learn more about how impact drivers differ from cordless drills, see our cordless drill and impact driver buying guide. And check out our roundup of the best cordless drills to expand your collection of power tools.
Best Standard Impact Drivers
Full-sized impact drivers typically run on batteries ranging from 18 to 24 volts. They’re the best option for big jobs like building a deck or pergola.
Cat is best known for its commercial excavation equipment, but its DX71 impact driver provides a professional level of power at a reasonable cost. In addition to packing tons of power, it charges quickly, handles well, and provides ample run time, too. It’s very loud, though, and you’ll need to use hearing protection for safe use. As with most models, this pick comes with a storage case, a built-in LED light, and a battery-charge indicator on the charger. It has a standard three-year warranty.
One caveat: Cat doesn’t make as many power tools as these other brands, so if you want to swap batteries between all of your power tools, you may want to look for a brand with a more robust lineup.
In the world of tools, Festool has an almost mythical reputation. The German brand is a favorite among high-end contractors, but its tools—including this TID 18 HPC 4,0 Plus impact driver—are priced accordingly. It earns top marks for power and run time in our tests, thanks in part to its large 4.0-amp-hour battery. Like most models, it boasts an LED light, a storage case, and a battery-charge indicator. It also comes with two batteries and has a three-year warranty.
The Flex FX1351-2A delivers stellar performance, with a top-tier power score and top-notch run and charge times. It’s not the best with handling, and it’s louder than other models in our tests. But it’s loaded with extra features, like a battery-charge indicator, a storage case, a built-in bit storage holder, and an LED work light to help in low-light job conditions. And it comes with a generous five-year warranty.
Best Compact Impact Drivers
Smaller impact drivers typically run on batteries from 12 to 14 volts. Despite their size, they pack plenty of power for jobs like installing cabinets and hanging shelves.
The compact Hilti 3554486 impact driver is even more cost-effective than the Makita and Milwaukee drivers. It performs excellently in our handling and run time tests. Plus, it comes with two 22-volt batteries with a charge level indicator light. Its power rating is good, but it’s pretty noisy and isn’t as strong as the other two options here. For convenience, it has a built-in belt hook and a storage case. The two-year warranty is on the short side compared with other top impact drivers.
The Kobalt KXID 1424A-03 performs well in our tests—its power is excellent, its run time is better than average, and its handling is passable. The Kobalt impact driver comes with a storage case and bit storage, plus an LED work light and a built-in belt hook for convenience. That said, it takes a while to fully charge the battery and it’s extremely noisy, so you’ll need to use hearing protection to use it safely.
The Milwaukee 2850-22CT typically costs less than the Makita XDT16R, and it’s just as loud, but it still earns strong marks across the board in CR’s tests. This model’s power is top level, and its run time, handling, and charge time ratings are above-average. It’s also packed with the same features as the Makita but comes with a five-year warranty, two years longer than Makita’s.
How CR Tests Impact Drivers
We put impact drivers through their paces in our lab. To calculate a model’s power score, we measure both the torque it can generate and the number of impacts per minute. Unlike a cordless drill, an impact driver hammers—or impacts—a screw while it turns, significantly speeding up the process. We make those assessments about power and impact using a special machine called a dynamometer.
To assess run time, we measure how long a single battery can power the unit under a standardized load on our dynamometer. We also run tests to see how long it takes to fully charge the battery.
CR’s experts use each impact driver to drive screws into multiple layers of laminated beams, taking note of attributes such as the balance and feel of the tool. We also look at the handle size and weight of the unit to determine an overall handling score.
Then we measure sound in decibels at the user’s ear to get a score for noise. Impact drivers tend to generate more noise than their similar-looking cordless drill cousins, and as it turns out, all the models we tested require hearing protection for safe use.
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