18V Brushless Impact Driver - Dewalt or Makita?

[drillbit]

I'm in the market for an impact driver. Budget up to £200 including driver + battery + charger.

I like the sound of brushless, and I am now narrowed down to a DeWalt, or Makita.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dewalt-Lith...spell&keywords=dewalt+burhsless+impact+driver

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-Lith...spell&keywords=makita+burhsless+impact+driver

Whichever I choose will probably mean I will be stuck buying further cordless tools from the same manufaturer to be able to swap batteries etc... I'd like to get opinions on which to go with.

The Makita driver seems better to me on spec and weight, but I've heard bad things about Makita batteries, and the DeWalt ones also have a LED indicator, which I don't know if it would be useful.

Any opinions?

 

[MMUK]

Having used both I can safely say the Makita is far superior. Better build quality, lighter, longer run time, better torque, more comfortable in the hand. You can pick up that exact same model cheaper on eBay or from Folkestone Fixings.

I've got 14 3.0Ah Li-Ion batteries now and I'm still regularly using my originals from many years ago when the 18v li-Ion range first came out. I use them for what you would call heavy trade and I've not had a failure yet. I think a lot of the stories you hear about the Makita batteries are just that - stories - Jackanory.

 

[mailee]

Having used both I can safely say the Makita is far superior. Better build quality, lighter, longer run time, better torque, more comfortable in the hand. You can pick up that exact same model cheaper on eBay or from Folkestone Fixings.

I've got 14 3.0Ah Li-Ion batteries now and I'm still regularly using my originals from many years ago when the 18v li-Ion range first came out. I use them for what you would call heavy trade and I've not had a failure yet. I think a lot of the stories you hear about the Makita batteries are just that - stories - Jackanory.

I beg to differ there! I have had three Makita Li Ion batteries fail on me just over one year old! I refuse to buy any more of them and have changed to a De Walt driver now. I had been a Makita fan for years but these 'new' batteries have put me off. JMO

 

[drillbit]

Hmm...well that's me stumped. 50-50!

Don't the makita batteries have a guarantee?

 

[MMUK]

They have a 12 month warranty against defective parts/manufacturing which is more than DeWalt offer. If you read DeWalt's small print, batteries are not covered at all as they class them as consumable items.

 

[mailee]

Llooks like the Makita batteries are consumable items as well as they last just over one year! :evil: I am still using an old 9.6V makita driver on the same Ni Cad battery after 15 years! so there is something wrong with their 'new' Li Ions! As for the price of them including the De Walt ones you may as well just replace the driver after a year for a few pounds more. :roll: What a waste.

 

[rdesign]

got the Milwalkee drive drill combo 18v for 200 dollars the brushless is an extra hundred seems much more expensive back home for them living state side for a year. only had them a month happy with them a little heavier than the makitas but 2 years warranty on the batteries and 5 on the drill not too bad!
Regards Richard

 

[memzey]

No problem with the Maktita Li-Ions in my experience. In fact I'd say they are awesome in comparison to most others. I think the rule with all these new batts is to afford them the proper respect and observe what temperatures they reach but that will be the same for all makes. Having said that; if the OP only wants to use them for low load items like a combi and impact driver even that won't matter really as you will rarely stress them out with such tools. Circular saws and angle grinders require more caution on the othe hand.

 

[tomm41pvm]

+1 for makita. I still have my original two batteries which are nearly ten years old. Dewalt have released about 3 different generations of their batteries in that time. As have milwaukie, metabo etc. The only makita batteries I wouldn't recommend are the small 1.3ah ones, which are more suited for light use.

 

[morfa]

I've got a DeWalt and I'm very happy with it so far. But it does get pretty light usage. I can't imagine you'll go massively wrong with either, there's always a chance of a duff battery with either of them.

If you want something that you'll know will be 100% decent then Panasonic or Festool are well regarded. I don't have either tho, as I'm not made of money.

 

[andypa]

I've had the Makita for over 5 years. Love it. It's so light, but powerful. Original battery is still going fine.

 

[Jamesc]

+1 for Makita. The original battery is still going strong after 7 years. I have a second Axminster copy which has been doing well for 2 years. Heavy DIY use 4-5 days a week

James

 

[drillbit]

6-2 to Makita.

That's it. I've addressed my santa list and I'm licking the envelope...

Many thanks for all the replies.

 

[RossJarvis]

Can't say for sure, but I was getting the impression that it is new Makita 18v Li-ion batteries which people seem to have issues with, I've got one a few years old which has had no problems and I'm impressed, but it only gets light use. Can anyone with battery issues say if these are newer batteries or older ones?

 

[mailee]

Yes all of the batteries that have gone on me have been the 'new' ones which were around 1 year old. I can't fault the drill/drivers they are brilliant and I have had Makita drills and drivers for years now. I have heard on the grapevine that the new 'intelligent' chargers lock out the battery if it drops below a certain voltage after three attempts to charge it. I don't know if this is a fact as I am not educated enough in electronics but there are a lot of people who have had this problem with the Makita Li Ion batteries. I thought it was just me being unlucky but after reading up on them on the internet it looks like a lot of people have had the same issues with them.

 

[RossJarvis]

Double post

 

[MMUK]

It is true that the DC18RA (the blue charger) will lock out the battery after three attempts to charge if the voltage drops below a certain figure. However, the new DC18RC (the black charger) will not lock out unless there's a complete failure of the cells. It also has a deep discharge recovery function built in.

However, whilst the DC18RA will lock out a potentially faulty battery, it will still trickle while connected. In this case, try putting the battery into another charger and it should be fine.

 

[spr0cket]

I purchased this impact driver in a combo with the brushless combi drill a few months back.
My previous dewalt units all had failed batteries and I thought I'd use that as an excuse to try the Makita units (despite all specualtion that the batteries were problematic).

I have to say the tools rock ! The drill is not quite as powerful as my dewalt that it replaced, however in 99% of usage, it's not noticeable and if anything, just removes the risk of breaking my wrist that the yellow one nearly has a few times.

The impact driver works well - seems to spin a bit more than the dewalt before switiching to impact. However the two massive advatnges these units have in my view is weight and battery draw. Whilst my dewalts had failing batteries, I can assure you even at new, they never had the sort of stamina for extended use that these Makita items do. I'm a keen diyer / hobbyist though would believe even for a tradesman under heavy use daily, that a single battery might cut it and even if not, the spare recharges in less than 30 minutes anways. Coupled with the signifcantly reduced weight of both tool and battery (previous dewlats used ni-mh cells), it's amazing how much more comfortable it is to use these units.

I'm not sure on the etiquete or recommending suppliers etc - so i wont post link but to say I used Toolstop (my first purchase with them) and their price, advice and service was simply superb at less than 300 notes for the two tools, two batteries and charger.

Highly recommended and I'll likely be expanding the Makita collection as a result.

 

[mailee]

MMUK, I do have both the black and the blue charger and the batteries won't charge on any of them. I have been really disappointed as the Makitas I have had have been brilliant. I am also missing my Makita driver as the De Walt won't take a 1mm drill bit in it's chuck.

 

[tomm41pvm]

MMUK, I do have both the black and the blue charger and the batteries won't charge on any of them. I have been really disappointed as the Makitas I have had have been brilliant. I am also missing my Makita driver as the De Walt won't take a 1mm drill bit in it's chuck.

Did the batteries have a star printed on them anywhere?