What is the differences between a normal screwdriver and impact driver?

[macgee7]

What is the differences between a normal power tool screwdriver and impact driver?

[JDE]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JVMwp4Hm7OQ hope this helps JDE

[sydneysider]

I did a fair bit of carpentry around the garden and found that the impact driver is awesome for timber works. A normal crew driver works well for metal screws whereas you will have better efficiency in timber with impact driver. Careful using impact driver with flimsy Ikea flatpack furniture though....they need TLC while assembly

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @macgee7.

I see you have already received some helpful replies from @JDE and @sydneysider which accurately sum up the differences. I thought I might add that I have both drill drivers and an impact driver. I will very rarely reach for an impact driver over a drill driver unless I am driving multiple 100mm screws. The only times I can think of that I've used the impact driver in the last 6 months was driver around 150 100mm screws into solid timber without pre-drilling and yesterday I had to drill multiple one-inch holes in redgum. In saying that, I always have 4.0AH or 5.0AH batteries charged, so perhaps I am not running into the driving issues the 1.5AH batteries have according to the video.

Although the impact driver can apply more torque I find the higher RPM and versatility of the drill-driver more appealing. If it was a choice of which one to buy first, I would advise the drill-driver as it is more versatile all-round and is far superior at drilling than the impact driver.

Mitchell