Why are people buying clamshells of impact drivers?

[Commander Kinsey]

Why are people buying clamshells of impact drivers? Isn't it always the mechanism that breaks?

[alan_m]

These have a heavy battery one end and a heavy motor the other end with little in between apart from the case. When dropped from the top of a ladder they tend to bend, crack or break at the bottom of the hand handle (close to the battery). I've seen a youtube video where this has been tested and some of the more expensive brands (makita, dewalt etc.) seem to fair much better than no-name brands but it does appear that it is a weak point on all makes. It does depend on what hits first when dropped from height.

[Commander Kinsey]

I've dropped my cheap one quite a few times, once from about 12 feet onto a paved driveway. All that happened is the battery fell off.