We recently have been using the RIDGID 12V Palm Impact Driver Kit R8224K ($99, Home Depot) around the shop to get a feel of this new type of tool. While 12V compact impact drivers have been around for sometime this unit takes away the trigger so the effective area when in the hand is far more compact and usable in a tight space than anything we have seen before.
We really like the feel when using this impact, you tighten and loose by the pressure you apply downward, so “hand tight” is a very light pressure while if you really want to drive a larger fastener just push harder. The button on the side is for the light and the forward/reverse switch is on the top so all very easy to use.
What we did not like about this kit was that it only came with 1 battery, so you will either have some downtime or need to spend more on a 2nd battery if you wanted to use it consistently. Taking this into consideration, this isn’t a cheap impact driver with 12V Dewalt, Milwaukee, etc around the same price point. If you don’t mind paying a small premium for the compact user-friendly design take a look at this one. We would not be surprised in the least to see others copy this design, we really like it!
