Flex FX1 1472 Review: A Gen 2 Half-Inch High Torque Impact Wrench That Punches Way Above Its Price

Introduction

The Flex FX1 1472 is the brand’s second-generation half-inch high torque impact wrench, and it arrives as one of the most aggressive spec sheets in the category. Retailers have advertised up to 1,200 ft-lbs of max torque and 1,700 ft-lbs of nut-busting torque with the 6 Ah stacked lithium kit, though Flex’s own site now lists 1,100 ft-lbs max torque and 1,500 ft-lbs nut busting, matching competing flagship specs closely. Either way, the headline story is the price: $249 bare, roughly $50 less than the Milwaukee M18 Gen 3 high torque it is clearly aiming at.

The surprise is the size. Compared to Flex’s first-generation 1,150 ft-lb high torque, this one is noticeably shorter and weighs about half a pound less, with or without a battery. At 7.8 inches long, it is also a full inch shorter than the DeWalt DCF900. In person it simply feels smaller than you expect a high torque to feel.

Who This Product Is For

This tool makes sense for anyone doing serious fastening work who wants flagship-level torque without paying flagship-kit money. Automotive technicians, heavy equipment maintenance crews, and serious home-shop users all fit the profile. Flex owners in particular have reason to look: the jump from the Gen 1 to this Gen 2 is the largest single-generation improvement we have seen measured in this class, moving the older, larger, kit-only $299 tool down the rankings dramatically.

If you already own Flex stacked lithium batteries, the value gets even better. Flex offers a 3.5 Ah stacked lithium pack for a lighter overall tool, and the 6 Ah stacked lithium packs have been available at decent prices lately.

Main Strengths

The teardown tells the story of where the extra weight over Milwaukee goes: everything is metal. The entire head, including the motor housing and gear case housing, is aluminum, which is not typical in this category. Even the rear cooling fan is aluminum, and steel plate triangles clamp the hammer and motor housings together. Every fastener was tight, with heavy Loctite on the hammer housing screws, and everything required actual impact force to disassemble. It feels overbuilt in the best way.

Performance backs it up. In testing with a 6 Ah stacked lithium pack, it delivered 563 ft-lbs on a short working torque test, 775 ft-lbs in reverse, and a full 926 ft-lbs in a 15-second best-case test against the very top half-inch impacts available. With the 10 Ah stacked lithium pack, the largest in the line, it reached 939 ft-lbs. It made as much as 85 percent of its advertised 1,100 ft-lbs rating, which is strong.

It also likes reverse noticeably more than forward, and it carries over a vibration-isolation design in the body and battery tray, previously branded as Shock Shield, to isolate your grip from the impacting.

Things to Consider Before Buying

Vibration is the big caveat. Under about 600 ft-lbs the tool feels noticeably smooth, but above that the ramp-up behavior produces a heavy, wrist-breaking shake that scored around 8.25 out of 10 in vibration testing. Like the DeWalt DCF961, it seems to run less punchy down low and jumps into a sort of turbo mode a few seconds into impacting. That ramp-up is not always consistent, and the shaking costs it some peak scores when the socket starts jittering and skipping.

One more practical note: some early 5 Ah standard batteries in this line have had charging issues, refusing to charge past a certain level, so if you buy a kit, paying attention to battery condition is worthwhile.

Buying Advice

On the dyno it scored well enough to place fourth overall in the high torque rankings and third in cordless, a big leap for a brand that was near the bottom of the top tier as recently as last week. Against the Milwaukee M18 Gen 3, it is about 0.2 inches longer and half a pound heavier, but the specs are either plus 100 everywhere or matching it exactly, depending on which listing you read.

At $249 bare, it also pushes back against the trend of $300-plus half-inch high torque tools. If these specs hold, it is hard to beat right now.

Conclusion

The Flex FX1 1472 is a genuinely modern high torque impact wrench: all-metal construction, competitive torque numbers, compact dimensions, and a price that undercuts the category leaders. The vibration above 600 ft-lbs is the trade-off you accept. For the money, it is one of the strongest values in the half-inch high torque class today.