The Medway Handyman wrote:

I've often said that Makita stuff seems to punch above its weight. I've got
a 860w Makita router that performs better than a 1200w 'shed' own brand, a
950w circular saw that eats 38mm worktop & a 14.4v combi that I reckon would
see off a lot of 18v tools.

I wonder if this is down to the way they quote the figures.

Partly, but I expect that losses in the mechanics of the low end tools
end up eating more of the available motor output power in heat and
vibration. You can easily feel the difference in use in many cases.

When I were in the pressure washer game there were a trade body what laid
down standards for measurement of pressure, flow rate & temperature.

So, I wonder if a Makita 860w is another's 1200w depending on how you
measure it? Perhaps Makita quote the correct figures & others quote
'maximum' figures?

Hard to know... you could for example quote input power (or more
correctly input current) with the chuck stalled. It will give a hogh
sounding figure but no indication of the actual mechanical work the tool
will achieve.

Is there a standard measure?

Not that I am aware of. The only tool maker that routinely seems to
publish input and output figures right across the range is DeWalt. Vis:

http://www.dewalt.co.uk/powertools/p...catno/D21721K/

(On the battery stuff they publish only output power)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/