DeWalt vs Makita - Which impact driver should I get for weekend projects?

Hey all, looking to upgrade my old impact driver and stuck between DeWalt and Makita. Mostly doing weekend stuff - building a deck, some furniture, general home repairs. DeWalt XR looks solid but my buddy swears by his Makita. Anyone have real-world experience with both? Budget around $200 for a kit with batteries.

Tim, if you care about precision and balance, Makita wins hands down. The 18V LXT sub-compact impact driver has better ergonomics and less vibration than DeWalt's equivalent. I've measured runout on both - Makita consistently under 0.003", DeWalt varies more. Plus their battery system is more consistent across tools. The extra $20 is worth it for the engineering.

lol Mike measuring runout on impact drivers... Tim, I've beat the crap out of my DeWalt DCF887 for 3 years now. Dropped it off a ladder twice, left it in the rain overnight, still works perfect. Makitas are nice but feel more fragile to me. For weekend warrior stuff, get whatever's on sale at Home Depot and spend the savings on beer. Both will drive screws just fine.

Thanks guys! Hank - good point about durability, my tools do take some abuse. Mike - do you find the Makita has enough power for deck screws? I'm using 3" structural screws. Also, battery life important since I'm always forgetting to charge stuff...

The XDT16 handles 3" screws easily - 1,800 in-lbs torque. Battery life depends on your 18V Ah rating. With 5.0Ah batteries, I've driven 400+ deck screws on a charge. DeWalt's specs look similar on paper, but their trigger control isn't as smooth for delicate work. If you're only doing brute force, either works. If you want finesse too, Makita.