Makita BDF452HW 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 1/2-Inch Driver-Drill Kit
Makita BDF452HW 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 1/2-Inch Driver-Drill Kit Immediately
I purchased this makita after reading all of the great reviews on amazon and other sites. I was deciding on the milwaukee 18v vs this one. Well, I really wanted to stay with the makita really, but due to the "wobble", it was useless to me. My 20 year old corded craftsman with bad bearings held the bits steadier than the makita! Anyway, I had read other reviews mentioning the "wobble", but chalked them up to lemons or just a "bad batch". All I had to do was put in a spade bit or a very small bit, and it was clear that mine had the wobble too
I can't speak for the long term of the milwaukee, but on the surface, it has a more solid feel (parts of the housing are actually metal), a gauge on each battery, and MUCH nicer case that is actually designed to hold the drill rather than just partition off the sections inside. I have been looking for an 18v drill for about 3-4 weeks now reading everything I can online, and it has been almost worse than used car shopping!
I see a lot of ppl saying that the milwaukee is "underpowered", but I don't believe that to be the issue. I believe that possibly makita is OVERpowering their drill thus causing heat and battery issues that I've seen people talking about. Also, just because the batteries charge in 15 minutes doesn't mean it's a good thing. I have years of experience charging nimh, nicd, and lithium batteries and I can tell you that quick charging leads to batteries overheating and hot batteries lead to damaged battery packs. If 30-60 minutes is too long for you to wait, then I would suggest purchasing extra batteries rather than quick charging batteries potentially damaging them. Charging technology has come a long way, but it's still not to the point to be able to consistently, SAFELY charge batteries whether they are nimh or lithium. Everyone is concerned about the drills being made in China, but you need to consider the quality and care of the battery packs too.