"My Old Tools" wrote in message ...
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

Don't think you can go wrong with either. I read someplace (believe
half of what you read....) that Panasonic makes almost all the motors
and batteries for drills to begin with. And as you can see from their
tools, they keep the newest and best batteries for themselves.

I'm a long standing Makita fan and have used their tools for years w/o
any complaints/problems. I don't own any Panasonic but would be happy
to try next time I kill one of my Dewalts!