The Skil PWRCore 20V Impact Driver is a pro tool hidden in DIY marketing. If you want a powerful versatile impact driver, the Skil 20V impact driver is a smart choice. We’ve taken it out on a wide-range of projects from building decks to installing hardware, and the Skil 20V impact driver has performed well. Check out the full review of this Skil PWRCore 20V Impact Driver.
About Our Honest Tool Reviews
I’ve been a pro tool reviewer for TV, websites, and magazines for more than 25 years, including regular contributions to Fine Homebuilding magazine.
So why am I telling you this? Well, Fine Homebuilding magazine editors told me they’d be “lambasted” for publishing anything other than the same 5 brands that they always write about—without asking a single question about the tool. Lambast me if you want. This impact driver revs.
“Skil pitches the Skil PWRCore 20V, 2 amp-hour impact driver kit
as a DIY, weekend-grade tool.
It isn’t. It fights way above its weight.”
The Skil 20V Impact Driver
Skil PWRCore 20-volt, 2-amp-hour impact driver, Model #ID6793-10, kit. Kit ships with (1) battery, single charger. Battery tech includes Skil’s PWRJump: Battery charges to 25% in 5 minutes. “One-handed” collet. 3 speeds.
Top Line Observations
- Skil pitches the Skil PWRCore 20V, 2 amp-hour impact driver kit as a DIY, weekend-grade tool. It isn’t. It fights way above its weight.
- Small, light
- No noticeable reaction torque
- Outstanding fit and finish
- The “halo” light around the bit holder (collet) is outstanding
- The collet is also outstanding
- Great belt hook
The Out-Of-The-Box Tool Review
The out-of-the-box first impressions aren’t everything, but they usually indicate whether or not it’s going to be a pro tool or a DIY tool. I look for fit and finish, balance, price, and feel. Then I put it through a few quick torture tests to see how I can best test it and use the tool in our projects.
- Torture Test: ½ x 6-inch lags into concrete/shields, drilling ¾-inch holes for lags in pressure treated (PT)
- Day-to-day use: The rest of the review writes itself. In reality, I have numerous impacts I can pick up and use. I’ve picked this one up for months on end for everything from basic repairs to blasting a thousand deck screws.
About the Tool Reviewer
MyFixitUpLife is more than just a service journalism brand that creates content for our social media, MyFixitUpLife.com, and other media outlets. We are a general services remodeler. On the higher end we do 6-figure projects. Then on the other end, we do design consults, property management, and other repairs. So a dependable, ready-to-go impact driver is central to everything from installing cabinets to remodeling a deck. From setting door hardware to blasting 6-inch lags.
The Skil Impact Driver Tool Review
Broadly speaking, we do what we do with all the tools we review. From lawn mowers to miter saws, we weave the tools into our work flow. So we test them in real life, in ways that DIYers and pros actually use them.
So we’re not a lab and neither are the other reviewers who have eLABorate “tests.” Sure, they might show some things. But, they miss others. It’s mostly theater. I don’t care how the tool works with a weight hanging off it. I care about real work: whether or not I’m constantly changing batteries or I can’t see the cut line or if it feels like it’ll fall apart next week.
Out Of The Box.
We used the Skil PWRCore 20-volt impact driver building decks, doing demo, and setting hardware. Here’s a brief look at how we used the Skil:
- Building a deck we drove #10 x 1 5/8-inch screws in hanger hardware which also means cramped spaces.
- Drove #10 x 2 1/2-inch screws in hardware and decking, and #10 x 3-inch screws for general construction and repairs.
- Blew in numerous 5/16 x 6-inch structural screws.
- Did a bunch of demo, removing screws from projects that needed updating.
- Used the Skil impact driver to set door hardware.
Typical Use.
This tool passes the first and primary rule I learned for tool reviews: The tool that gets picked up is the tool that wins. I have plenty of tools I can pick up. But I choose to pick this one up.
Battery Life.
Again, I’m no more of a lab than anybody else who is counting numbers of cuts, etc. I have lots of Skil batteries. This unit ships with a 2-amp-hour unit and I have barely noticed that I have other batteries with higher amp-hours. In fact, I had to check before I wrote this. And I’d know if I were constantly changing batteries. I’m not. I can also go at least a day on one charge. Maybe more. All of Skil’s batteries I have perform the same.
Durability.
The guy at Fine Homebuilding tried to man-splain that pro-level tools (Skil is owned by Chervon. Chervon’s pro line is Flex). Table saws notwithstanding, Flex Tools are heavy hitters and are tested differently for the different markets.
I’ve known that this division between pro and DIY exists for decades. I also know that most of us aren’t building a hospital or a stadium. But manufacturing efficiencies have changed.
I also worked with a friend who is years into blue tools. My Skil-driven fasteners were somewhere on the order of 50 percent faster and sunk harder. He doesn’t know he’s leaving hours-per-week on the track because battery and tool diminution happens imperceptibly. But it happens. Just one externality beyond him is wear on the body.
I might wear out before this Skil 20V Impact Driver does. And IF it does, I can also get another one for a fraction of the big guys and nobody would be the wiser.
Torture Test.
I used the Skil Impact Driver countersinking 1¼-inch holes in 6x. Easy. We also blasted hundreds of deck screws on a single deck. I’ve torpedoed untold numbers of screws since.
The only place I’d suggest a lack of anything other than pro plushness was in setting screws in locksets–arguably the domain of a screwdriver. It was a little rough to feather screws a ¼-turn.
Cost vs Value.
Cost vs Value is off the charts for the Skil PWRCore 20V Impact Driver.
Test Results: Bona Fides
- The Skil 20V Impact Driver is a pro-level tool with a DIY budget number. Even though I know the guys at Fine Homebuilding dosn’t believe this is a tool category…but I’ve been reviewing tools for a long time. This is a tool category.
- Like any battery platform–and I also refuse to get sucked into one–there are variables. The batteries on the Skil impact driver worked wonderfully
- I choose to pick the tool up because I pick the thing up and it does all the production (a zillion deck screws) and oddball stuff (remodeling framing, property management repairs)
- It’s light, SUPREMELY comfortable to use
- I like the belt hook, but–and this might be a Clarion Call–the Speed Change Button should be elsewhere. I hit that button I don’t need–and it changes the setting.
- Still, it’s easy to hook the Skil Impact Driver–and this is across brands–on my belt.
- Pro grade all day for the work I do. The Skil is a pleasure to use.
Get your Skil PWRCore 20V Impact Driver at Amazon.
