I've noticed the price differential between Makita and the one-above- base-level stuff like Ryobi has narrowed considerably. Indeed places like Screwfix sometimes have Makita on special offer at the same sort of price as those. Does this mean they've reduced their margins - or hopefully not their quality and service?
Can be a marketing strategy.
The products have a market lifetime before the next one comes out and those towards end of life might as well be sold on offer. This also reduces the unit cost when tooling is considered.
Finally, it is a way to sell customers who would have bought Ryobi et al. up to Makita. They may then buy the early on market and more expensive products next time.
Market share is a powerful driver. If you look in the annual reports of the major power tool manufacturers, you will find a lot about that.
They seem to have increased the rate of new model releases, perhaps that means there is more old stock to shift at discount (perhaps the whole new range of Li Ion cordless stuff is partly the cause). They also seem to have created some lower end products (typically the lower end of the model range with expensive batteries on the cordless stuff). Having said that, if you pick and chose carefully and shop around a bit, Makita are usually good value IMHO.
Pretty much my observations. Makita on discount tends to be the rather small capacity batteries - and on drills, the rather basic two-sleeve chucks. Still - screwfix has been offering some remarkably good deals
- maybe it's an effort to win a larger proportion of people over to buying pro-quality tools.
A cunning plan. Inscrutable these Oriantals.
They just started to make the 'Site' brand for Screwfix in red, it features the older model 4341 jigsaw for example.
Certainly happened to me. I wanted an impact driver & bought the Makita deal from Screwfix. Impact driver, drill driver, charger & 3 batts - £130. Sold me on the sheer quality of the stuff.
One way they (& others) do this is to include 1.3 a/hr batteries. Good quality as you say, but smaller than those included with tools not on offer. I guess that saves them money?
Not been a problem, my 12v & 14.4v stuff all has 1.3 a/hr batts - they use the same charger, which is handy. 1.3 will charge in under 30 mins, 14.4v just over 30 mins. Chargers are excellent.
Only problem I can see with lower capacity batteries is that they are charged more often & might have a shorter life. I know traction batteries used in floor cleaning machines are classified as say '300 cycle' - which is their useful life. Does that apply to power tool batteries as well? I guess it does.
Agreed on the chuck. I replaced the one on my 14.v combi with a metal one - much better.
Come with boi ri.....
Same tooling, different dye in plastic.
It's not the volts that count though.....
I must admit that after the cordless combi I bout for £80 after it was mentioned here, Makita has been the first brand I look at since.
Same here! I'd be interested to know how many of those they shifted, judging by the length of time the promotion ran (and finished with an ad campaign in the Sunday papers).
Though as noted - the combi is an old model; eg it comes with NiCad batteries and doesn't have cute little LED lights shining on the workpiece (which I would have dearly loved the other day while drilling inside a dark cupboard!
David
oops make that "less expensive batteries"
Could be...
They have changed the design used on the single handed ratchet action chucks they use on the top models as well - I don't think the current one is quite as good as the previous. (or it might just be in an effort to make the case more streamlined they have flowed the moulding into the back of the chuck which makes getting a good grip on it slightly less easy.
Traction batts are usually SLAs rather than NiCd or NiMh. You ought to get 500 cycles on a quality set of the latter. It depends a bit on the point you decide that they are not holding enough charge anymore I guess.
They did Maktec for a bit as well - not sure I have seen those about lately.
Get one of those LED head torches - much better!
Yes. I use a fair number of rechargeables for broadcast gear and get somewhere between 500-1000 cycles using decent quality Ni-Cads and a kind charger. They're also not used in high current devices. I'd expect a power tool battery not to make as many.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:
Indeed. In an effort to more-or-less communalise batteries and chargers I bought a later Makita charger which automatically recognises 7.2, 12 and 14.4V batteries and treats NiCads and NiMHs as appropriate. No more faffing around, just stick any old battery in and come back any time and it's done.
All your batteries have the same connectors?
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Plowman (News)" saying something like:
The charger accepts all Makita ones up to 14.4V. If I'd gone the extra twenty quid it would have been up to 18V and the latest ones do up to
24V, I believe. I'm not sure if the later (24V) have the same connectors.Here's a reference...
Most of their chargers will charge anything from 7.2V up to the chargers maximum.
Makita have used the same battery end for years (at least 15). Also handy is some other tool makers use to copy it. I have an old 7.2V drill driver that I had given uip using because of its single battery and slow poor charger. Found out it fits in the charger for my 18V combi and that has given it a new lease of life
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