There isn’t a “best” impact driver. At least, I don’t think so personally. At the end of the day, every user has their own “best” option. That option depends on their budget, needs, and all that stuff.
Different impact drivers are good at different things, after all. But, enough of that. I’m here to focus on a specific one today, and that’s the Ryobi PCL235 impact driver, which I’ll review below!
I personally own a Ryobi PCL235 impact driver and I find it very useful. I have made a short demo video which shows how I use it and you can watch it below.
On the video, I showed how I drive into wood using a hexagon head screw and a star head screw. Then, I used a big metal bolt to drive into wood. Lastly, I also showed how I use it to drill into concrete.
A Review For The Ryobi PCL235 Impact Driver
Specifications
Naturally, the first thing I’ll cover is the main specs of the tool. That’ll give anyone a pretty good idea of what kind of jobs this driver can handle, and how well it fits their purposes.
These are the given details about the Ryobi PCL235:
| Specification | Value |
| Battery Type | 18V Lithium |
| Drive Size | 1.4 Inches |
| Max RPM | 2700 |
| Max IPM | 3400 |
| Torque | 1800 Inch Pounds |
| Motor | Brushed |
Anyone that works with power tools a lot would prefer if they’re light. You can see me taking the weight down here, and will be glad to know it’s under 2 lbs!
Related: Ryobi PCL206 Drill Driver Review
That’s the weight of the bare tool, though. It’ll be just some more pounds with a battery attached to it, but it’s still pretty low for a power tool and makes it easy to carry around all day.
Now, for the rest of the review. Instead of giving my personal thoughts on the tool as a whole, I want to share with you guys just how well it did with certain everyday tasks.
So, go over the following things to get an idea of which tasks the Ryobi PCL235 excels at to find out if it suits your needs.
Driving Various Screws Into Wood with Ryobi PCL235
Woodwork is the most common type of work most impact drivers are put through. As such, the first thing I did was grab a bunch of different screws of varying shapes and sizes.
I’m sure you can guess what came after that; it’s time to see how well the Ryobi PCL235 drove the screws into thick wooden boards! I started with simple, normal sized screws.
I did a hexagon head screw, a star head screw, and some others. All of them were driven by the this tool flawlessly, without any force needed from me and without any stripping.
To switch things up and REALLY test the Ryobi PCL235 out, I tried a large metal bolt next. You can see me going at it below, trying to drive it into the wood.
Just like the other screws I checked out until this point, the impact driver had no trouble with a big metal bolt either! It was able to get it all the way into the wooden board without any trouble.
From what you can see in the image below, and my personal experience, this tool is excellent for driving things into wood. It doesn’t strip anything, doesn’t require much force, and works well.
Drilling Into Concrete with Ryobi PCL235
Most modern impact drivers are strong enough to use as drills too, as long as you have the right bits. However, that usually only applies for weaker surfaces like wood that are easy to drill through.
That’s why I wanted to test out how well this tool can drill on concrete instead. So, I put a drill bit on it and started to use it on the nearest wall, which you can see me doing right here:
Much to my surprise, it didn’t do a bad job at all. The 2700 max RPM brushed motor was able to help the Ryobi PCL235 drill through concrete without too much trouble.
Sure, it struggled with it a little. That’s a given, however, since this is an impact driver and not a drill. Still, this test proved that it can still act as a drill if absolutely necessary, and not take damage either!
