Makita drill and impact driver

[PeterC]

Having bought a Makita 18V combi in March, I've been twitching towards a drill/driver and also tempted by an impact driver. My current Powercraft 14.4V combi is OK as a drill/driver but has about

14Nm torque(!) - a 12V Makita has 30Nm.

I'd prefer something relatively small and light, so is the 12V version reasonable, in anyone's experience?

There's a place in Northampton - Martin and Partners, next-but-one to Screwfix - that has the kit for £106.75 and that's the cheapest I've seen it.

that place has a 'Trade Show and Family Day' on Friday 13th(!), 11.30

- 17.30, sponsored by Makita. I might just pop in and see if there's any free food and 'special' offers.

[ransley]

12 or 18v I thought all the new LiIon stuff was all 18, 18v should make you happy and its not heavy.

[Jim K]

tempting tho i note the driver does not have hammer action for masonry.... so be careful in comparisons etc

Cheers Jim K

[John Rumm]

In which case you need:

My current Powercraft 14.4V combi is OK as a drill/driver but has about

Even the 18V version is fairly small - the battery is bigger - but not by that much.

> BTW, that place has a 'Trade Show and Family Day' on Friday 13th(!), 11.30

Worth a try ;-)

[PeterC]

At that price it's not LiIon! - I wish that it were.

[PeterC]

It is a drill/driver, not a combi; I want something quite small but not gutless, otherwise I'd look more at the 10.8V LiIon kits.

[PeterC]

John, but almost as much as the 12V set and a bit OTT for my needs - the 18V combi sheared a 5mm Goldscrew into a 3.5mm pilot hole in a joist! Also, I've been needing both batteries on the combi at times just using it as a driver, so there wouldn't be one spare.

[Jim]

I've got this Makita 10.8V kit:

are certainly very light and punch above their weight. Everyone who has used them has fallen in love with them.

The impact driver is fantastic, the drill a little bit gutless but useful. You need a separate hammer action 18V drill for some things really.

[PeterC]

Yes, I thought that the driver would be OK as it has more torque than most combis. The drill looks OK on spec. - 24Nm cf 30 for the 12V job - but the drill, in spite of being >50% 'better' than the Powercraft 14.4V, did make me wonder.

[John Rumm]

> Interesting, John, but almost as much as the 12V set and a bit OTT for my

Well, once you have the ID you probably won't need to use the combi as a driver anyway ;-)

I have the above ID and use one of the three batts from my combi. I don't find not having a dedicated battery for it that much of a limitation. However having the third batt does mean you can have one charging and both tools in use. The advantage of sharing batts between the tools is that when you buy another etc - its of immediate benefit to both. (some of the 3Ah "compatible" NiMh batts on eBay actually seem pretty decent - I bought one a while back to replace one of my original ones that was no longer able to hold a decent charge, and its been doing better than expected (i.e. as well as the OEM ones).

Having said all that - some of the package deals (like the one you linked) can be very good value for what you get. The only usual gotcha is they normally come with the low end 1.3Ah NiCd batts. (handy way of getting folks to buy up remaining stock of them before they get banned!)

[PeterC]

>>> Interesting, John, but almost as much as the 12V set and a bit OTT for my

There's the rub - I've only 2 batteries, so cou;ld be pushing it at times. In the hot weather I gave the depleted battery about an hour to cool before charging it, then 30 min. to charge, so the second one had had significant use.

Yes, the 12V set is NiCd. I have found that the Makita batteries last very well though, unlike the Powercraft. I'd like Li-Ion but they're too expensive for me unfortunately.

[Andy Dingley]

My recent Bosch Li-ion drill has a built-in fan on its charger, with vents into the cell packs. If they're too hot, it sits there for a while cooling them down, before applying the charge current.

[PeterC]

Yebbut, they're the posh ones.

[The Medway Handyman]

Peter - I have a Makita 12v driver & a Makita 12v impact driver surplus to requirements. The NiCds are on their last legs - any good to you cheap?

Contact me off list if they are.

[PeterC]

Thanks Dave, have done.