Originally Posted by
Welder
Yeah, and that's kind of my point in looking at things the way I do. Those larger cordless impacts are pretty $$$, so if I'm going to buy something that puts out 1,000 plus ft-lbs, why would I buy it in 1/2" drive? Thus I own the 3/4" drive M18 for anything that the 1/2" compact won't handle. I adapt down if I don't have a 3/4" socket that small, but my 3/4" sockets start at 11/16" which covers anything I want to do with 1,000 ft-lbs on tap.
You lose torque with the drive adapters and/or extensions and universals, but like I said, if I need the adapter, it's for a relatively small bolt which doesn't need all of the torque output of the big gun anyway. If I need long-term high torque, I pull out the giant I-R 1" air gun because things have gotten serious. There are times an M18 1" gun would be nice, but for my uses, it doesn't pencil out.
YMMV, just the way I think about it and spend my business' money.
PS - I don't think I've started the compressor on my service truck for about a year now. I still use shop air for things, but mainly just use the mobile unit for needle-scaling nowadays which I haven't needed to do for awhile.