You may have read our review on the Bosch PS21-2A which was very favorable for the 3rd generation Bosch 12V Max Pocket Driver. The PS41-2A Impactor ($169, Ohio Power Tool), which was also recently updated (now in its 2nd generation) while not as big of a leap as the PS21, still saw a solid improvements in performance. We received one of these for testing and tried to push the Impactor to its limits. We also compared it to a popular Drill/Driver model to highlight some of the benefits of the Impact Driver.
Bosch PS40-2A vs PS41-2A
The PS40-2A was one of the first impact drivers of its kind when it came out several years ago and remains incredibly popular still today. It was the first of any ultra compact tool to get the 3 LED light ring, for brightest most direct lighting of the work area for almost any tool including 18 volt tools. For the PS41 model these LED lights seem even brighter. The already compact unit also gets smaller with the PS41-2A but manages to still achieve improved performance (see below).
BPM: 3,000 to 3,100
RPM: 1,800 to 2,600
Torque: 800 to 930 in.lbs
The PS41-2A also gets a battery life gauge which was not on the PS40 model. In the PS41-2A kit you get the new BAT412 batteries which offer similar run time as the BAT411 but better cold weather performance and more consistent power until the very end of the battery life.
Bosch PS41-2A vs Makita 18V Drill/Driver
Just to be clear in this comparison we aren’t looking to put down the Makita 18V tools in anyway. We were just trying to gauge the performance of this 12V impact driver against a compact 18V drill/driver (this one just happen to be on hand); it could have been a Milwaukee, Bosch, Dewalt, etc. Many people have still not added an impact driver to the tool box and the 18V drill/driver remains the most common tool for driving screws, drilling, hole making, etc. We used a 1” Bosch DareDevil spade bit with both tools to see how fast and how well each tool would perform. This is not the ideal task for an impact “driver” but it does do a very nice job testing the higher end torque more so than driving a few hundred screws.
When using the 18V Makita drill/driver it powered through the thin boards in high gear and was faster than the Impact Driver. Unfortunately the PS41-2A is only a single speed, as with most impact drivers even 18V, so it was expected it would be slightly slower on this task. On the thicker wood we tested the Makita barely scratched the surface on high gear so we had to switch to low gear. On low gear the drill/driver was not as fast as the smaller 12V impact tool. In addition several times the drill/driver jammed up and seriously jerked the whole tool around, wrist and all. The Bosch impact driver on the other hand has almost no jerk because while the impact mechanism hits rapidly several times a second it also releases just as often. The end result is that the Impact Driver delivers around 60% more torque while being far easier to use. If you were using one of these tools all day it seems like the smaller, lighter, more power, less wrist strain option would be an impact driver vs drill/driver.
Bottom Line
Simply put Impact tools are awesome tools and everyone should have one. If you are in the market for a 12V impact driver, currently the Bosch PS41-2A has the best performance numbers while being the most compact in overall length. To see more on this tool check out the images in this Facebook album or watch the Youtube video below.
