My inlaws got me a Makita 18v 1/2" drive cordless drill for christmas thats white and black with the lithium ion batteries. I've been on their website trying to figure out the difference between this drill and their traditional turquoise colored stuff. All the specs between my model and a comparable turquoise colored one look the same, but my batteries look like they are half the size of the turquoise ones. Is that the only difference? I'm assuming the only disadvantage to mine would be a reduced battery life when in use. They got me this to replace my old 14.4v Milwakee that the clutch went out in. Was never real happy with that drill, the batteries were junk.
makita drill question
- Thread starter afoulk
- Start date
- Status
I got one of those black and white Makita sets for Christmas also. I had used a borrowed set of them before and loved them. I guess Santa noticed
Battery life seemed to be decent to me when I used them before, it was quite heavy usage driving screws into studs repeatedly.
Battery life seemed to be decent to me when I used them before, it was quite heavy usage driving screws into studs repeatedly.
Originally Posted By: afoulk
All the specs between my model and a comparable turquoise colored one look the same, but my batteries look like they are half the size of the turquoise ones. Is that the only difference?
If the turquoise one has ni-cd batteries, then that would explain the size difference. Li-ion batteries are more compact.
All the specs between my model and a comparable turquoise colored one look the same, but my batteries look like they are half the size of the turquoise ones. Is that the only difference?
If the turquoise one has ni-cd batteries, then that would explain the size difference. Li-ion batteries are more compact.
No, the comparable turquoise ones I looked at were lithium ion as well, the batteries just look twice as tall as mine
Originally Posted By: Brons2
I got one of those black and white Makita sets for Christmas also. I had used a borrowed set of them before and loved them. I guess Santa noticed
Battery life seemed to be decent to me when I used them before, it was quite heavy usage driving screws into studs repeatedly.
That's good to know as I have to rebuild my car port this summer and probably my back porch the following summer
I got one of those black and white Makita sets for Christmas also. I had used a borrowed set of them before and loved them. I guess Santa noticed
Battery life seemed to be decent to me when I used them before, it was quite heavy usage driving screws into studs repeatedly.
That's good to know as I have to rebuild my car port this summer and probably my back porch the following summer
Great drill - I've got the same drill along with a multi-tool. The black batteries are Li-ion...and run for a long time. Read the OM...you don't want to run them to zero charge...there can be problems recharging them from zero...
Last edited:
Mikita makes decent stuff. I'm very surprised you had a problem with Milwaukee. In my experience they are the best tools on the market. In fact my old 14.4 Milwaukee cordless would spank the 18v dewalt stuff we had day in and day out.
The lithium ion batteries don't have a memory,so you don't have to completely drain them for best performance. You can charge them from halfway and still get long battery life. The nickel cadmium batteries had to be completely drained,then recharged to get full power charged back into them.
Makita makes a good product. You can buy batteries with more cells to extend time between charges. I've bought bigger ones for my milwaukee's that lasted up to twice as long.
The lithium ion batteries don't have a memory,so you don't have to completely drain them for best performance. You can charge them from halfway and still get long battery life. The nickel cadmium batteries had to be completely drained,then recharged to get full power charged back into them.
Makita makes a good product. You can buy batteries with more cells to extend time between charges. I've bought bigger ones for my milwaukee's that lasted up to twice as long.
Originally Posted By: mcshooter
my dewalt gives no warning when battery is loosing power, it just shuts off . would not get another dewalt.
That companies stuff is hit and miss. As a contractor my crews demolish tools in short order. And since I also have to work with these same tools I buy good quality stuff. My days of buying anything dewalt are over. They sure look cool but performance is less than average. Heck ryobi is making better stuff than dewalt for less money.
Makita has always made a good product though. I don't ever remember a time that they made junk,but it also costs an extra few bucks.
I buy tools that work,and always work. And in my experience red tools(Milwaukee)tend to be tops in the fields.
Dewalt sure looks nice though
my dewalt gives no warning when battery is loosing power, it just shuts off . would not get another dewalt.
That companies stuff is hit and miss. As a contractor my crews demolish tools in short order. And since I also have to work with these same tools I buy good quality stuff. My days of buying anything dewalt are over. They sure look cool but performance is less than average. Heck ryobi is making better stuff than dewalt for less money.
Makita has always made a good product though. I don't ever remember a time that they made junk,but it also costs an extra few bucks.
I buy tools that work,and always work. And in my experience red tools(Milwaukee)tend to be tops in the fields.
Dewalt sure looks nice though
I believe, after reading the instructions that came with it, that the battery automatically "shuts off" when the charge gets low. Is it not good to do that?
My Milwaukee got used hard at work, drilling holes in Mack truck frame rails when prepping new ones, and other odd jobs. The clutch actually gave out on me at home when making up a mount for our living room sealing fan. I hadn't really used it much the past few years, and I don't see my new Makita getting used much at work anymore, but I'd still like to be able to count on it when I need it. We have an old 12v Dewalt at work that guys in the shop use that don't have a drill and that thing has taken a beating over the past 10years and still works, but I agree, their new stuff seems to be hit or miss these days. Heck, we have an ancient Black and Decker drill mounted to a jig on wheels that we use to drill bigger frame holes in trucks and that thing is a beast, doesn't give us any trouble, and I bet you its atleast 30 years old, or close to it. Their new stuff wouldn't hold a candle to it these days.
My Milwaukee got used hard at work, drilling holes in Mack truck frame rails when prepping new ones, and other odd jobs. The clutch actually gave out on me at home when making up a mount for our living room sealing fan. I hadn't really used it much the past few years, and I don't see my new Makita getting used much at work anymore, but I'd still like to be able to count on it when I need it. We have an old 12v Dewalt at work that guys in the shop use that don't have a drill and that thing has taken a beating over the past 10years and still works, but I agree, their new stuff seems to be hit or miss these days. Heck, we have an ancient Black and Decker drill mounted to a jig on wheels that we use to drill bigger frame holes in trucks and that thing is a beast, doesn't give us any trouble, and I bet you its atleast 30 years old, or close to it. Their new stuff wouldn't hold a candle to it these days.
I believe the only difference is the white ones come with the smaller batteries. They can use the larger ones but the turquise ones come with the larger batteries. Many of the turquise tools will use the smaller batteries and some require the larger batteries.
White is the "compact" model that is lighter and includes smaller batteries. They get good reviews.
Had one of the early White/Black Lithium drills you are referring to and it didn't last long. Dk if it was the charger or what but both batteries ended up getting ruined within a short amount of time and we just threw it in the corner. Always had Makita up to that point and liked their cordless tools. That was the first lithium one we had and was in the early years of lithium ion.
Our facilities maintenance guy at the farm had milwaukee 28volt and while he liked them, he griped about the batteries and charger a lot. He switched to their 18v lithium but wasnt very satisfied with them either. His most recent drill is a Lithium Bosch.
Were still using all DeWalt Ni-cad at the farm. Switched to them after the Makita pooped. They had been doing good, but have fallen off somewhat. We've stuck with them due to the magnitude of cordless tools we have and the desire to have uniform chargers/batteries. Our 4.5" Makita grinder ran more hours than anything on our farm I think. but it gave up a few years ago. Replaced it with a 4.5" DeWalt which worked okay, but didn't wow us. The DeWalt walked away a few months ago so I went and got a 4.5" quick change Metabo and a 9" Metabo. Their cordless tools look nice too but are pricey.
The issue we have is the variety of workers that need access to the tools but treat them like [censored] and leave them lay everywhere. We'd lock everything up, but then every little issue would result in a phone call at 2am to fix something simple.
We are adding a tool room in the shop and we may upgrade our cordless to something newer and nicer and just demote the DeWalt to the "general" tools. We are also working on our penalty/reward budget program for all employees to reduce lost/mistreated things hopefully.
Also have a Maktec chop saw. Been working good but doesn't get used as much now that we have an Ellis bandsaw.
Our facilities maintenance guy at the farm had milwaukee 28volt and while he liked them, he griped about the batteries and charger a lot. He switched to their 18v lithium but wasnt very satisfied with them either. His most recent drill is a Lithium Bosch.
Were still using all DeWalt Ni-cad at the farm. Switched to them after the Makita pooped. They had been doing good, but have fallen off somewhat. We've stuck with them due to the magnitude of cordless tools we have and the desire to have uniform chargers/batteries. Our 4.5" Makita grinder ran more hours than anything on our farm I think. but it gave up a few years ago. Replaced it with a 4.5" DeWalt which worked okay, but didn't wow us. The DeWalt walked away a few months ago so I went and got a 4.5" quick change Metabo and a 9" Metabo. Their cordless tools look nice too but are pricey.
The issue we have is the variety of workers that need access to the tools but treat them like [censored] and leave them lay everywhere. We'd lock everything up, but then every little issue would result in a phone call at 2am to fix something simple.
We are adding a tool room in the shop and we may upgrade our cordless to something newer and nicer and just demote the DeWalt to the "general" tools. We are also working on our penalty/reward budget program for all employees to reduce lost/mistreated things hopefully.
Also have a Maktec chop saw. Been working good but doesn't get used as much now that we have an Ellis bandsaw.
- Status
