We use the half inch drive Panasonic at work for nuts and bolts and not uncommon for us to be rattling up 16mm construction bolts and it works a treat. We also have the 1/4" hex rattlers which are for screws and smaller things. Think about it, If you'd use a socket set then use the 1/2" rattler. If it's small and more like a cordless drill appropriate job then the 1/4" he is right. Having said that I use the Ryobi 18 volt set at home and when mine was new I used it to rattle sme bat tern screws into the 60 year old hardwood frame of my house (I did pre drill) and it worked a treat. I have used my 1/4" hex to remove mower flywheel nuts. I was given an old Talon mower quite some time ago that the "repair bloke" gave a service to and then found he couldn't remove the plastic cowling to repair the broken pull cord. My rattler shook the stripped bolt just enough for the threads to bite and I had it off in two minutes! (Oh the punishment I gave that poor old mower after that).
So For mowers and small stuff a rattler such as shown above would be just fine. I still plan to get myself a 1/2" drive for the car and tractor etc.
