Menu
What's new

Bought a new "toy" today.

John Pollman

John Pollman

Member
Messages
1,474
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
I don't know if I should post this or not but I'll try and if anyone thinks it's inappropriate it can be removed. I don't know if new power tool reviews are a good idea or not because sometimes they can get ugly because someone who may have had a less than happy experience with the particular tool in question makes a post about it and it goes downhill from there. But we'll try it and see how it goes.

I've had an 18V Dewalt 3/8" cordless for several years and it's given me great service. But lately it's starting to show battle scars and the chuck gave out on me so I decided it was time to retire it and get a new one. I really like the 18V drills and wanted a 1/2" drill but they just get so darn heavy it can get tough to work with them all day long. Well I headed over to the BORG and looked over the selection and was just going to look at the DeWalt offerings. But I decided to check out the Makita line also. Well to make a long story short I walked out with a new Makita 1/2" 18V Lithium Ion cordless and it's one sweet little drill! Now I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I'm going on a job tomorrow and I'll get a chance to try it out. This thing is beautiful because it's only 8" long front to back and weighs in at 3.5lbs The DeWalt 1/2" 18V drills were almost SIX pounds! It came with a charger and two batteries that fully recharge in fifteen minutes. This is the first Lithium Ion battey powered tool I've bought but it sounds good. The sales guy was talking about how a fully charged battery can sit on the shelf for twelve months and you can install it and it'll still have 80% of it's capacity. Well that's really not an issue with me because I use my cordless drill all the time so I know it's not going to sit around unused for any length of time at all. The instructions also state that it can be recharged any time without worrying aobut the "memory" issue that used to plague the NiCd batteries.

Well I just thought I'd let those of you out there looking for a new cordless drill out there know about it. I was surprised to find that it even has a light that comes on to illuminate the work area when you press the trigger. It's got 450 in/lbs. of torque which should be enough for most of my general uses and if I need a lot more torque, I'll get out the old DeWalt corded drill that I hardly ever use anymore. ;)

Take care all!

John
 
good gloat john! i can`t see anybody having a problem with you purchasing a new toy.......er tool. congratulations, tod
 
Congrats John, I also had one of those DeWalt cordless drills and it served me well for a long time. When it got battery failures I replaced it with a 18V Makita (not the same as yours)and I have used it a lot over the last 4 years. It has fell from a couple of polebarns I've built, cracked the housing, dented the chuck but it just keeps working.I've thought about replacing it but it just hasn't died yet.

And never mind Jim Young....he is just jealous.:D
 
Well I have a problem with it....I HATE Makita after the way they treated me with my SCMS and they are the most evi......JUST KIDDING. :D :D :D :D :D

WTG John, I'm glad to hear a good review. I'm looking at the LXT 18V impact. It comes bundled with the drill and I was wondering how it would fare. Thanks for the post.


And a big WELCOME since I don't remember welcoming you before.
 
Yeah as soon as I hit "Submit" and didn't attach a picture I knew I'd regret it. ;)

Well here's what it looks like. It's a Makita Model #BDF452HW

makitadrill.jpg
 
Last edited:
OK, you're off the hook, now that you posted a picture. :p

Nice gloat, John. That's a nice-looking setup, and I'm sure being almost half the weight of your old one will make it a pleasure to use.

(And add my voice to chorus of "Welcomes".)

- Vaughn
 
Vaughn McMillan said:
OK, you're off the hook, now that you posted a picture. :p

Nice gloat, John. That's a nice-looking setup, and I'm sure being almost half the weight of your old one will make it a pleasure to use.

(And add my voice to chorus of "Welcomes".)

- Vaughn
Click to expand...

Well I thought I just might get away with it seeing as Tyler's not currently on the member list. LOL!

Thanks for the welcomes.

John
 
Man that's a racy looking drill there.
Looks like thay are catching up with Hatchi's racy looking tools.;)
 
I sure hope somebody is gonna turn out a good drill now days. It seems like all the companies are jumping on the band wagon of cheaper is better. I've got a whole box of worn out batteries and their accompanying drills that work just fine except they aren't worth a darn without a good battery. The batteries have always been my issue as they need to be retired way before the drill and are too expensive to replace when the latest model of the drill comes equipped with two new batteries and charger for less than two new batteries for the old drill. :mad: Sorry I just had to get on my soapbox for a minute.

Congrats on the new item for your shop. Give us an update after you put it through it's paces.
 
I agree with you Bony, I have a 9.6v Makita, first cordless I bought, a LONG time ago and the drill is still fine, but the batteries are all since dead, and buying a new battery is more money than a new drill.....:mad:

Nice looking Makita drill there John, can you do me a favor and check on the drill and see where it is made?

I've noticed more and more of the "Japanese" tools we are getting, here in Japan, are not made here, in Japan, anymore, just curious is all. :D

Cheers!
 
Mike Wenzloff said:
Geez, Stu, they are farming them out to near by countries now, are they?

That's nice the bugger is only 3.5 lbs. That's light! So do let us know how it works for you.

Take care, Mike
Click to expand...

Well, they say the tools are still made in a "Japanese" factory, they just moved the factory to a country with a non-Japanese workforce.

Most would think this is because of the cost of labour, which is true, but the other reason is that they are finding it harder to get young workers here in Japan.

3.5 lbs, ya, that sounds nice and light.

Cheers!
 
Mark Rios said:
I'm looking at the LXT 18V impact. It comes bundled with the drill and I was wondering how it would fare.
Click to expand...

I have the 18V LiON impact driver and it is an awesome tool. Don't remember what my cordless drill looks like. My favorite part of the LiON tools is no matter when you pick it up, it works. The LiON batteries don't naturally discharge so unless you ran it dead, it's gonna work.
 
Stuart Ablett said:
I agree with you Bony, I have a 9.6v Makita, first cordless I bought, a LONG time ago and the drill is still fine, but the batteries are all since dead, and buying a new battery is more money than a new drill.....:mad:

Nice looking Makita drill there John, can you do me a favor and check on the drill and see where it is made?

I've noticed more and more of the "Japanese" tools we are getting, here in Japan, are not made here, in Japan, anymore, just curious is all. :D

Cheers!
Click to expand...

You're right Stu, the label on the battery says Japan. But I looked at the label on the drill and it says that the drill is made in China. Oh well, I think that later on today I'll get a chance to try it out and see how it works.

John
 
John, I am looking forward to hearing about how you feal about the drill once you have used it. By the way I am in the camp that says cordless drills are OK for occasional light work, but for real work, hand me my corded drill please.
 
I just got back from that job and unfortunately I didn't get to use my new drill yet. :( But I'm sure that will change soon. I've got to say that I do have a nice DeWalt corded drill that works very well. But I hardly ever plug the thing in anymore. I've used that 18V DeWalt cordless for years and it's never failed me until just recently when the chuck went. I've done a lot of hard work with that cordless and never had a problem. It was always up to the task.

Stay tuned......

John
 
Well it's been a few weeks since I started this thread. At this point I'm happy to report that I love this drill! I've been using it for a little while and this thing is a very nice tool. It's got plenty of power in a nice compact and light package! Already on a couple of occasions its small size has come in extremely handy in a cramped working condition.

TWO thumbs up on this purchase!!! :thumb: :thumb:

Take care,

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top