Cordless Impacts and Batteries

[Ben Abate]

Hello all,

I've been thinking about buying a cordless impact driver. I have to admit that I get confused with all the different models. I'm probably going to stay with either a Makita or a DeWalt 18 volt. I have a few DeWalt drills and I have had Makita's before and they always preformed pretty well. But the model nos. are confusing. There are drivers that are 18 Volts and Lithium Ion and there are Ni Cads and from what I think I know Lithium Ion is a bettter battery right? Well then why are there so many models of the 18volt Lithium Ions from the same manufacture? If they are Lithium and 18volts then why so many choices? If I'm buying a large driver like 18volts then you'd think I'd be looking for the most powerful one I could get. Right? I'm not buying a 14 or 12 volt. I'd like a very hard hitting driver. I'm just wondering why they make so many Lithium Ions in 18 volts from the same manufacture. can someone help out here to make me understand that?

I'd like to compare apples to apples and I'm having a hard time doing that if I don't understand my choices


thank you if you can shed some light here.

[William Burgess]

Makita has the 18v compact and regular, which you are probably seeing. I believe Dewalt has their XRP (professional grade) lith ion or nicad as well as their homeowner grade 18v's as well as compacts, but I could be wrong I am not that familiar with the dewalt 18v sets. I have the Makita LCT200 set which is their 18v compact set. It works great. It is confusing at first, I researched for months before I figured out exactly what I wanted. If you can wait till Christmas I am sure there will be a lot of sales on the cordless drill/driver and impact sets. I got the makita set for quite a bit less than what is selling for now last Christmas. If your just a homeowner/handyman/hobby woodworker the set I have is really nice and very well reviewed.

[Jim Matthews]

The Makita impact driver is compact, and weighs little.

The beefier batteries are a chore to handle for long, and have clearance limitations the Makita does not suffer.
If you can comfortably hold one (big hands may require a larger handle), the Makita is a winner.

By a cordless drill to go with it and you'll have four batteries to keep in rotation.
This is an unexpected bonus for me, as the battery seems to discharge just before I finishing a session.

jim
wpt, ma

[Steve Ryan]

Makita all the way. I have 2 that take the hex shank bits and framed my house and garage with one of them. I also have the small and large 1/2" drive units for lug bolts, etc. Get the ones with the bigger Li batteries.

[Ben Abate]

Makita all the way. I have 2 that take the hex shank bits and framed my house and garage with one of them. I also have the small and large 1/2" drive units for lug bolts, etc. Get the ones with the bigger Li batteries.

Steve,
If possible are the ones you bought current models? and if so could you give the model nos. I've also been wanting to buy an impact for lug nut removal when rotating tires or going from season to season. So it seems the majority of you guys like the Makitas. I'm a bit surprised but then again my old one lasted a long time.. It may be just me but I have 2 DeWalts and 2 Festool drills and the DeWalts seem to give out sooner (battery wise). It seems like they work great for a year or so and then they peter out pretty fast after that. Now, I'm not using them every day and maybe that's can account for it too. Leaving them on the chargers too long but I've always read that the chargers are programed to not damage the batteries if they sit after charging, correct????? Well i know i'd like to buy one that is an 18 volt that has the ability to do a garage or something like that as you said Steve so I guess I'll look harder into the Makitas.

[Timothy Wolf]

I have the 18 volt Dewalt and like it, I would buy a new one if anything ever broke on this one, I use it a lot and all of my cordless tools are Dewalt. Are there better ones out there? probably, but I always like to have everything on the same type of battery.

[Jim Finn]

When deciding on what brand to use I look to the pro's. What are they using. The trade that uses cordless drills and impact drivers the most is the Sheet metal workers and they almost all use 18 volt Makitas these days. I retired from shee tmetal work 11 years ago and still have the nicad 9.4 volt Makitas that I used back then.

[Tim Morton]

i have an 18v Milwaukee and it is a monster....and i also have a 12v makita that is my favortire drill of all time....so make sure you really need 18v before you buy one...

[Greg R Bradley]

There are several companies that make good impact drivers. You might be happy with most of them. If you want the current state-of-the-art in 18v impacts it is the Makita BTD144. You see all the people raving about the Makita LXT series tools above including Steve Ryan talking about the power of the impacts. The BTD144 goes past those units and now the hex drive on high has MORE power than the small 1/2" drive impact from last year. It is a brushless motor, which is unique in impacts. On medium power it is about equal to the BTD140, 141, and small battery BTD142. On low power it is about equal to the 12v max impacts.

Makita LXT is the first choice if you are looking for a wide variety of tools running off the same 18v battery. I also own cordless tools from Bosch, Milwaukee, DeWalt, Festool.

Lithium does hold a charge better than NiCad & NiMh for tools that may sit for awhile before being used. They also run close to full power longer but quit more suddenly giving less warning when they need charging.

[Ben Abate]

Greg,
I appreciate the informed answers. I think I'm sold now for sure. The others guys were had me there but you now have gotten to buy the Makita. As mentioned I have other drills and that's all good. But I need an impact and I believe you and the other guys told what I need to know. I appreciate the detail you went into. That is what I was looking for.

thank you and thank you all for your time.

[Dave Gaul]

I have the bigger Makita LI. Never used anything else, but mine is great. Make sure you use impact grade drivers & bits!

[Gary Kman]

I've used a Makita 18V for years, rebuilt the batteries with marginal sucess and decided to try something new. Got a pair of tiny Hitachi 12v Lithium ions. Drill with 3/8 chuck and driver with hex chuck. In some test I read the driver did over 300 3" deck screws on a charge. If I was building decks or skinning pole barns for a living I'd get something bigger but for general maintenance they are fantastic. Hanging some guttering today and had the driver holstered in my PANTS POCKET.

[Ed Griner]

You can't go wrong with Panasonic. Ed

[Carl Beckett]

I would consider smaller tools (just give them a good look!), per Gary's suggestion.

I have the smaller 'white' Makita drill/driver (continuously variable speed), and also the larger 'blue' Hammer drill driver (three speeds - not continously variable), and also the Makita circ saw, and a Dewalt 14.4 Drill and saw combo.

My favorite of all of these is the smaller Makita with the larger battery pack - or if just hanging something around the house the smaller battery pack. I like true variable speed. I also think the larger drivers are way to heavy and large, making it tiring or hard to fit into a tight space.

the Makita circ saw I love.

BUT - I have also had issues with battery life. I own 6 of the 3.0 batteries now (used to be 7 but I 'rebuilt' one in attempt at saving it). 4 of these 6 are dead leaving me with only two working batteries. These died with relatively little use and I cant figure out why (even bought a new charger). I did recently get two of these replaced on warranty so got lucky there - but I certainly cant afford a couple batteries every year. Having said that, a lot of people use these tools and havent had issues with the batteries (but some have... google it).

Some very powerful smaller tools out now, and Im a believer that sometimes smaller is better.....

[Ron Kellison]

With regard to Li-Ion battery life, there is a lot to be said for the Ridgid guarantee. If you find a tool that fits your needs and feels good in your hands it's nice to know that you will never have to buy another battery. I originally went cordless with a cheap Ryobi 14.4V drill, then changed to a 14.4 Dewalt XRP NiCad. After buying an additional 4 batteries over 5 years I bought an 18V Ridgid Li-Ion with 2 batteries and a decent charger for $100 last year. I've swapped out 1 battery with no hassle and I'm a convert! Their battery guarantee applies to all of their Li-Ion tools, PROVIDED you register it at the time of purchase. Some folks forget to do this on-line and then proceed to gripe about it on forums.

Best regards,

Ron