Oh, that’s me! My Mac AW4400 1/2 was used for hard to break loose stuff only. That impact has tons of power but it weighs too much and sounds like a tractor trailer Jake brake. So the 3/8 was what I grabbed for any lug nuts on 1/2 ton truck or smaller vehicles.
It will also give more sustained power, a higher Ah should also have a higher C rating. (longer and stronger discharge rate)
www.dewalt.com
I owned a 2861 for over a year and had zero issues removing lug nuts with it. It was definitely on the weaker side, but any fastener originally tightened to 125 ft/lbs or less was fine.
www.protoolreviews.com
Cordless is great for light-duty production work. If you’re a DIYer, then you really only need one 1/2” impact. I would stick to a high-power pneumatic one then.
This cordless will do just about anything you need and it is not huge. Get charger and original Makita batteries on ebay much cheaper.
You're not doing it right if your extensions neuter the hammering. When using extensions, especially old worn extensions or multiple extensions stacked, it is imperative that you hold a twisting pressure with your hand on the extension closest to the gun in the direction you are going, while hammering. This allows the gun to actually hammer the bolt or nut rather than hammering on the slack created by the extension(s) relaxing, in between blows. If you are hammering something with an extension and its not budging, grab the extension and twist it, you will be amazed how things come right off. Now, if you have a weak gun, that is a different story.
I returned the Dewalt high torque(still new in box, never used) after acquiring a Hart at $60 pawn shop find. I followed the logic of 'still have air impact too', and like you I am happy enough with the performance and for the price difference, that was probably the best choice for my real world uses, here's my brief review I just posted;
The Hart is nothing like the high torque impact wrench although slightly better than a Ryobi P261 which is only 300 foot pounds, the Hart is 350 foot pounds. I think the last time I had someone rotate my tires, they must have used their impact at the high setting of their gun. Had a flat tire and my Milwaukee 2767 had a hard time on a couple bolts. Usually they come right off after a couple seconds, but on two of them, I had to hammer away for 15-20 seconds or so before it came loose and that one supposedly has 1400 foot pounds in reverse.