Cordless drills - Makita vs. Milwaukee vs. Dewalt

Well, I went with this one. I debated long and hard over the Milwaukee options but, ultimately, seems the general consensus is with Makita...LOL, someone is actually borrowing it already so I'll get a report from him to see how they worked.

Thanks again everyone! I appreciate all of your input.

 

Solid choice

 

X2.
If you are a dyi'er you are gonna get thr best results from the Makita line. Get the set with the larger lithium ion batteries. I hqve them and they are great. The next step up to a more pro line would be the Milwaukee with the better red batteries. Do a little google searching to find out exactly about those. Basicaly the kits they sell in Homey Depot does not have the best drill they carry. You need to get those sets online. Amazon is a great place for that. As far as the Dewalts go they are not made as good as they use to be. Too many of my friends that are contractors will not buy them. Even the XRP line. Thry are advertised as a 20V line but it foes not hold a charge for very long.

 

Be prepared to have those written into your will for whomever gets them after you die.

 

great choice, you wont regret it.

 

I have this same set, bought for $200 from homo depot. Yery happy with these drills, charges the packs super fast.

 

its all irrelevant now,its all made in china. but the mikitta brushless are very nice

 

Me too!

 

Hilti, but ya Makita is great for the diy'er

 

I've always owned Dewalt drills

 

I'm sorry

 

Makita FTW
Make sure and get the 3Amp Hour batteries. I have the impactor, drill/driver, sawzall, angle grinder, hammer drill and circ saw. Hasn't let me down yet. Had the Milwaukee combo kit. Burned out the motor on the drill the first day I had it. Don't recommend it at all. The white and black Makita set are the 1.5A/hr batteries. They don't last as long and the batteries wont work in the blue/black cordless tools.

 

I've never had a problem with them.

 

Didn't know that. Cheers.

 

I have the high end Makita hammer drill, I fried the clutch in the two higher gears so I'm gonna see if I can order the whole clutch thingy and swap it out, I want the lighter white ones. My old DeWalt was badass, I used the butt end of the drill/battery as a hammer on occasion, wouldn't try that with the Makita. X2 on the Dewalt batteries dying, part of the reason I switched. Also the Makitas charge fast.

 

Without going into too much detail, my job allows me to take apart, use, and test every single tool there is. You would be surprised how similar some are and how few manufacturers there compared to "trade tames".

With that said, tools usually fall into 3 categories .. Homeowner, commercial, and somewhere in the middle (advanced user). I would guess you would fall somewhere in the middle. For this category, I would reccommend the Porter Cable 18V line using the Li-Ion batteries. You can get a whole set of tools (drill, recip saw, circ saw etc) using the same 18V packs, which is always helpful.

When it comes to batteries, the Li-ion will give you a much better duration (depending on the Amp Hour rating), consistent charge, and life span and are well worth the extra money.

When you want real heavy duty use, that is when you need to start looking at Hilti, certain Dewalt, and other manufacturers.

 

I have two makitas at home that are awesome but my dad's factory got a makita and a dewalt at the same time and the makita just shit the bed and the dewalt is still going strong but that is when both brands are being used for 8 hours everyday

 

I've never had a problem with Ryobi or Bosch tools, but their drill bits are horrible.
DeWalt hold up quite well... keep in mind that I'm drilling galvanized traffic signal poles and nothing lasts very long, but the Bosch and Ryobi won't even make one hole.