My old cordless 12V Makita is dying. It's served me well. I have been
shopping for a replacement and was fairly set on Hitachi's DMR line of
14.4V tools. I was going to get the hammer/drill and impact driver but
I came across Makita's new LXT line on the web last night. Wow, they
look great. For those of you who haven't seen these yet, besides
having all the neat features you want on these tools, they have a very
innovative battery. It's lithium ion and its an 18V that weighs the
same as a 12V. I was sketical so I looked up the Hitachi (14.4V) units
to compare weights. Yup, the Makita's are about a pound less each with
more power, and apparently longer battery life. They just came out
about a month ago and they are more money than the Hitachi's. Go
figure.

So, have any of you bought these or tried them out yet? I'd like to
hear some comments or reviews.

TIA

Neil

On 2005-11-08, toolguy wrote:

So, have any of you bought these or tried them out yet? I'd like to
hear some comments or reviews.

I've bought them but not really had a chance to test them. I talked
the local Borg into letting me use a HF 20% off coupon on them.

My initial impressions: the fit and finish is excellent. The charger
has a little fan in it, which makes a mildly annoying sound, but it
only takes 45 minutes or so to charge. The manuals all have a comment
in them about how if you've drained one battery using a tool
continuously, let the motor rest 15 minutes before continuing with a
new battery. All the motors have an electric brake, so the tool stop
almost instantly when you release the trigger. All the motors also
have externally replaceable brushes, which is nice. Those are the
only things that jumped out at me.

Best wishes, Wayne

toolguy wrote:
For those of you who haven't seen these yet, besides
having all the neat features you want on these tools, they have a very
innovative battery. It's lithium ion and its an 18V that weighs the
same as a 12V.

I was just talking with someone the other day about when they were going
to use lithium batteries in cordless tools. Guess they already do....

Chris

I haven't used the drill you mentioned, but I did get the newest
edition of Popular Woodworking in the mail today, and they did a fairly
extensive review of 14.4V drills. Their conclusion was that Makita
(non-LXT?) and Dewalt are the best of the 14.4s, but that the 15.6V
Panasonic is the "no-brainer" best choice - smaller and lighter and
cheaper than many 14.4s, with longer battery life.
Hope this helps,
Andy

"toolguy" wrote in message
oups.com...
My old cordless 12V Makita is dying. It's served me well. I have been
shopping for a replacement and was fairly set on Hitachi's DMR line of
14.4V tools. I was going to get the hammer/drill and impact driver but
I came across Makita's new LXT line on the web last night. Wow, they
look great. For those of you who haven't seen these yet, besides
having all the neat features you want on these tools, they have a very
innovative battery. It's lithium ion and its an 18V that weighs the
same as a 12V. I was sketical so I looked up the Hitachi (14.4V) units
to compare weights. Yup, the Makita's are about a pound less each with
more power, and apparently longer battery life. They just came out
about a month ago and they are more money than the Hitachi's. Go
figure.

So, have any of you bought these or tried them out yet? I'd like to
hear some comments or reviews.

TIA

Neil

I can't speak to the LXT line. For that matter, I can't really speak to
cordless at all. I've stuck with the corded versions of everything up
until now. My Makita set arrives tomorrow! I went with:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...28013&v=glance
Seems a pretty good deal with the two batteries, charger, a drill and an
impact driver, and a light all in one. I'm hoping it'll be a good system
for me.
Cheers,
cc

"toolguy" writes:

My old cordless 12V Makita is dying. It's served me well. I have been
shopping for a replacement and was fairly set on Hitachi's DMR line of
14.4V tools. I was going to get the hammer/drill and impact driver but
I came across Makita's new LXT line on the web last night. Wow, they
look great. For those of you who haven't seen these yet, besides
having all the neat features you want on these tools, they have a very
innovative battery. It's lithium ion and its an 18V that weighs the

I need a new cordless drill as mine died. I saw the LXT, but gave up on
it as soon as I saw the drill costs over $300! I think I'll get a Ridgid
18 volt instead.

Brian Elfert

Wayne Whitney writes:

On 2005-11-08, toolguy wrote:

So, have any of you bought these or tried them out yet? I'd like to
hear some comments or reviews.

I've bought them but not really had a chance to test them. I talked
the local Borg into letting me use a HF 20% off coupon on them.

I'm really suprised Home Depot let you use a percent off coupon as their
price matching policy excludes percent off matching.

Home Depot has matched Menards % off coupons, but those are store wide
valid on anything.

Brian Elfert