Milwaukee Tool Review: Stubby Impact 12V Fuel 3/8" Drive

I've been using the M12 drill, 1/4" driver and hammer drill for several years. These are the best cordless drills I've had. What I appreciate the most, especially this last year of increased travel for work, is how small and light weight these are. They are very easy to move around the country with.

My most recent discovery is the compact charger.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...e6-W8lOAhnYecYCuUk0aAv24EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
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MarvinL said:
https://www.protoolreviews.com/tool...-fuel-1-inch-high-torque-impact-wrench/44552/

Now even the big boys can put they're air impacts to rest.
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You don't get a realistic perception of how big that tool is until you figure that it has a 9.0 battery in it which is very large when physically compared to the smaller batteries.

I'm waiting on the interchangeable tank back pack sprayers to drop a bit in price before I snag one and two spare tanks. I spray three things with regularity and hate washing out the tanks or having 3 shitty pump up sprayers that die in a year or two.
 
We have a Milwaukee weed eater with the 9.0 battery and we love it. No more hard to start two stroke that the gas gums up on after it sits for a month or two. For the average home owner you will never need more power.

I will say electric has came a long ways in the last few years ,and I find myself switching more and more to electric. I don't think I could ever stomach a electric car tho. I would maybe consider it if it would go 500mi on a tank and change as fast as I can fill up with gas. At the end of the day tho there's still nothing quite like a supercharged V-8.
 
MarvinL said:
We have a Milwaukee weed eater with the 9.0 battery and we love it. No more hard to start two stroke that the gas gums up on after it sits for a month or two. For the average home owner you will never need more power.

I will say electric has came a long ways in the last few years ,and I find myself switching more and more to electric. I don't think I could ever stomach a electric car tho. I would maybe consider it if it would go 500mi on a tank and change as fast as I can fill up with gas. At the end of the day tho there's still nothing quite like a supercharged V-8.
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Yep, we just picked up two of those and sold the Troybilt gas versions on Offerup. I use the 12.0 batteries in them.
 
One thing to keep in mind with the big impacts is they need a good battery.
I have an assortment of 4.0 and 5.0 used batteries and wasn't able to remove the crank pulley bolt on my fzj80, ~340ftlbs and locktite. Once I grabbed a new battery it came right off while almost spinning the impact out of my hand.

The heated sweatshirts are worth their weight in gold, the jackets are unimpressive.
 
Update on the Milwaukee 12V Fuel impact.

I think @mrblaine sums it up to the effect of "you can judge the handiness of a tool by the amount of times you pick it up"

My son bought one around Christmas and we've used the crap out of it on vehicles.

The past few weeks I've been using it on farm equipment getting ready for spring. Removing 7/8" lug nuts on the transport wheels, removing 5/8" bolts and 3/4" bolts that were previously tightened with an 18V Hitachi impact. It hasn't failed to loosen any of those. It couldn't break loose the 1" bolts holding the transport wheel hubs on ( found its limit!)

This thing is a "piss cutter" don't hesitate to buy it.
 
mrblaine said:
There is certainly nothing wrong with that tool at all and I wouldn't even care if the bigger one never came out. For daily use, the bigger smaller one is lighter and easier on us is the only reason we use it.

One thing that is overlooked as to why you may want a bigger tool like that one is the power robbing use of extensions. We use that big one dropped down to 3/8" sometimes when we stack 3-4' of extensions together to reach a bellhousing bolt. The normal 3/8" doesn't have enough grunt to hammer through all the extensions and break something stubborn loose. The big one doesn't even try that hard to do it.
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It’s a beautiful thing. Just longer than a business card, 6 ah battery, 250 ft lbs torque.

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Milwaukee Tool has spent a ton of money developing tools for the trades and has taken over the cordless tool market with top rate tools. Almost all of my plumbers have made the switch to Milwaukee and they keep inventing new tools. I can't believe how much torque you can get from a battery operated tool.

In 2017 I was on the National Board for the Plumbing Contractors and our Convention was in Milwaukee that year. Milwaukee Tool invited us to use there Conference Room and provided lunch and a complete tour of there facility, It was very impressive. Our closing ceremonies were held at the Harley Davidson Facility with the little know Milwaukee Tool Shed Band.

This was not from that night but a Youtube I found


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@mrblaine - With this thread back in December you started me on a total Milwaukee addiction. I was looking to go cordless on my tools anyway. I just wasn’t sure which company/platform to go with. I was always tired of not having the right tool and having to get the extension cords out for everything. But that morphed into me getting there stubby and then getting about 14 other cordless tools from Milwaukee over the last several months.

So now I have two stubbies and a mid torque impact, a drill and impact driver, a circular saw, hacksaw, a rotary tool, an inflator, two ratchets a couple lights and a couple job site fans.

These tools make working on my vehicles and my home so much better than it used to be.

My favorites are the stubby and the inflator. I’ve used every one of the tools I bought except the circular saw so far. I got the 6 ½ inch because it’s right handed and because for big jobs with a ton of cuts I’d use my 7 ¼ corded anyway.

Just used the impact driver for hanging some new siding on my shed yesterday. How did I ever get along without it? Before this I’d have been using a coded drill and bits and cursing repeatedly.

So thanks for this thread. But my wallet hates you for it. LOL.
 
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mde8965 said:
@mrblaine - With this thread back in December you started me on a total Milwaukee addiction. I was looking to go cordless on my tools anyway. I just wasn’t sure which company/platform to go with. I was always tired of not having the right tool and having to get the extension cords out for everything. But that morphed into me getting there stubby and then getting about 14 other cordless tools from Milwaukee over the last several months.

So now I have two stubbies and a mid torque impact, a drill and impact driver, a circular saw, hacksaw, a rotary tool, an inflator, two ratchets a couple lights and a couple job site fans.

These tools make working on my vehicles and my home so much better than it used to be.
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It is fairly astounding how much easier they make things.

My favorites are the stubby and the inflator. I’ve used every one of the tools I bought except the circular saw so far. I got the 6 ½ inch because it’s right handed and because for big jobs with a ton of cuts I’d use my 7 ¼ corded anyway.
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I thought I needed the larger one, I bought it and used it a fair bit. I could never quite get used to it being left hand so I bought the smaller right hand version. I haven't used the other one since. I don't know what a big job with a ton of cuts entails in your world, but I built a complete set of stairs, landing etc. with the small one and not once did I feel the need to walk over to the tool cabinets and pick up any of the 4 7 1/4" worm drive saws in there.

Just used the impact driver for hanging some new siding on my shed yesterday. How did I ever get along without it? Before this I’d have been using a coded drill and bits and cursing repeatedly.
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I've shown that to a few folks who actually use tools for a living and for some reason, the absolute effortless driving of construction screws the impact drivers have seems to escape them. I hung lots of cabinets with a corded screw gun and Phillips drive bits and screws. Using an impact driver with Torx construction screws is almost life changing.

So thanks for this thread. But my wallet hates you for it. LOL.
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And my wallet hates my friend who started me down the Milwaukee Fuel road by giving me the M12 Fuel Impact Driver. Worse, my retired neighbor who helps me with the packaging has been doing the Offer Up thing mostly in Milwaukee stuff. He has landed a few deals that give me duplicates that I don't need but can't pass up and he finds great deals on batteries. I quit counting the 12.0 AH when I got more than 5.

I did a rough count the other day and was over 37 tools so far with only a couple of the non Fuel versions being something I have some disappointments with. Most notably the soldering iron and heat gun. They work, they aren't attached to cords, they are convenient in that regard. They are not to corded versions what their stablemates are though.
 
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mrblaine said:
Worse, my retired neighbor who helps me with the packaging has been doing the Offer Up thing mostly in Milwaukee stuff. He has landed a few deals that give me duplicates that I don't need but can't pass up and he finds great deals on batteries. I quit counting the 12.0 AH when I got more than 5.
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Feel free to box up those deals and send them along to me. 😇

I just picked up the 1/4" hex impact driver, and it's one of my favorite tools already. It came in a bundle with the M12 Fuel hammer drill, which is also cool, and a spare M12 3/8" ratchet...all for $200. Couldn't pass those up. The 3/8" stubby impact is next, and then the 1/2" big poppa impact... which is, as stated, MASSIVE. It will bust lugnuts on heavy trucks with ease.
 
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Sundowner said:
Feel free to box up those deals and send them along to me. 😇

I just picked up the 1/4" hex impact driver, and it's one of my favorite tools already. It came in a bundle with the M12 Fuel hammer drill, which is also cool, and a spare M12 3/8" ratchet...all for $200. Couldn't pass those up. The 3/8" stubby impact is next, and then the 1/2" big poppa impact... which is, as stated, MASSIVE. It will bust lugnuts on heavy trucks with ease.
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Get the normal 3/8" impact first in M18 Fuel. The stubby is something you get when you work on enough stuff that the normal 3/8" can't get to that the stubby makes sense.
 
mrblaine said:
Get the normal 3/8" impact first in M18 Fuel. The stubby is something you get when you work on enough stuff that the normal 3/8" can't get to that the stubby makes sense.
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I have access to one of the normal 3/8" impacts at work; it's fine, but for some of the machinery there, it's cumbersome...and although the stubby isn't that much smaller there have been a lot of times where that little bit would have made a difference. I figured that if I had to spend money, I'd only spend it once.

More important question: how well do the trimmers work? I need something that's both capable and quiet.
 
I got my 1/2" fuel impact without the battery for christmas for $129, it retails for $250... they were doing a black friday sale and were dumping the extra ones they brought in for the sale...didnt make sense to me. I used my 12v cordless driver and impact to remodel my house. 3" deckmates finally wore out the impact. I bought the new fuel, it has so much power it damages the screws I used to do with the old impact when stripping an airplane down. Too much power. I am going to get a replacement for the lighter duty one. Tim
 
Sundowner said:
Feel free to box up those deals and send them along to me. 😇

I just picked up the 1/4" hex impact driver, and it's one of my favorite tools already. It came in a bundle with the M12 Fuel hammer drill, which is also cool, and a spare M12 3/8" ratchet...all for $200. Couldn't pass those up. The 3/8" stubby impact is next, and then the 1/2" big poppa impact... which is, as stated, MASSIVE. It will bust lugnuts on heavy trucks with ease.
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Believe me the 1/2" impact is insane! We have one of the FUEL ones along with a multitude of other Milwaukee tools, as we run two fully outfitted plumbing trucks. In the process of removing the receiver hitch off the Jeep, the PO had welded the nuts to the bolts. So out comes the impact. I believe they were something like 9/16".
103051


I'll also leave this here...
103053
 
astjp2 said:
I got my 1/2" fuel impact without the battery for christmas for $129, it retails for $250... they were doing a black friday sale and were dumping the extra ones they brought in for the sale...didnt make sense to me. I used my 12v cordless driver and impact to remodel my house. 3" deckmates finally wore out the impact. I bought the new fuel, it has so much power it damages the screws I used to do with the old impact when stripping an airplane down. Too much power. I am going to get a replacement for the lighter duty one. Tim
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All of my Fuel 18's have power reduction settings. I never use them, but they have them.
 
Sundowner said:
More important question: how well do the trimmers work? I need something that's both capable and quiet.
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I have the trimmer only without the ability to convert it to other things. I bought it on sale. My neighbor used it for 30 seconds and then said he wanted one. I told him to borrow mine. He said he would later. I went looking for it later to use it and couldn't find it. Next morning, I asked him what the hell he did with it. He went back into the tool shed for my construction tools and fetched it up. Why did you put it there instead of in the shed with the garden tools. He said it was too good for someone to steal so he hid it. Really, you think they are going to walk past the other 10 tools laying here and take a trimmer first? WTF? The garden shed doesn't have a lock on it. Yeah, I know, but it has a lockable barrel bolt, go grab one of the 20 locks I have hanging in there and lock it up.

Now the lock hangs on the barrel bolt without being locked.

In other words, it works well, very well. I found another on sale and fetched it up for him. He loves it and we don't have to fuck with gas.

That said, if we are reviewing garden tools, I bought the cordless Oregon 40V pole saw. It was so awesome I later bought the hedge trimmer that uses the same battery. As good as the pole saw is, the trimmer is the near exact inverse. Heavy, crappy, multiple passes to trim some jasmine that isn't out of control.
 
Sundowner said:
What's the noise level? It's hard to tell from online videos.
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The power portion of it is far quieter than the string cutting through whatever the string is cutting through. I don't know how to make that part any stealthier. Even with the small amount of noise the motor and drive make, once the string gets up to speed, you hear it, not the motor.
 
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