Makita LTX series Tools - Marketing ya got to love em.

[Keith Hankins]

I had an interesting exchange with Makita this week.

First a little background. A few years ago I bought the LTX 300 combo kit that had the drill, Impact driver, and flashlight. It came in a nice bag with charger and two batteries. Prior to that unit, I had a few crapsman, a real nice dewalt that was good but ergonomically it was a pig.

Well I knew over time the batteries would fail, and figured this set would be worth replacing the batteries. Now when I bought it a lot of reviews said stay away from the Makita white line and only buy the blue. But for the price I figured I'd try as when I was a contractor in college, you could not kill a Makita tool. All the pro's I saw either had those or Mill's.

Well, they performed ok, but batteries did not last as long as I liked. Not long after I bought it, I started acquiring Festool and gave that set to the wife to use in her glass shop.

Well they died, and I went to get replacement battery and was shocked at almost 200 bucks for the replacements. Only paid 225 for the set. Alternative is chinese replacements that are cheaper, but everybody has horrible reviews on them. Told the wife that I'm just going to get her a new drill and let it go.

On Tuesday I was on facebook and I get one of those adds pop up in my timeline for Makita. I figure it knew by my google search or some crap. Anyway I go to their page and leave a few comments of displeasure that remembered the old quality days. I figured they would just delete the post but it made me feel better anyway.

They let it stay and post a reply.... wait for it..... Telling me about their new and improved 4AH batteries. Those are 120 a piece. I just said no thanks. My old T15+3 is still humming along so I'll pass. I guess it's disposable drills because it ain't worth replacing them.

[Peter Quinn]

You buy the batteries, the drills are pretty much free. Thats the case with pretty much every major brand presently. The tool only kits are dirt cheap, its all the heavy metals mined in foreign countries made by only a handful of manufacturers that are costly. Do festool batteries last longer? I'd hope so, because I can buy a pile of makita drills for the cost of one festool. I've cooked a lot of the little black and white makita compact batteries at work, we went with the 3aH replacements, seems to go a lot further. I think realistically every battery has a certain number of charge cycles, apple computers, your cell phone, drills. The little compact makitas (black and white) come with 1.5 aH batteries, and they seem to die quick, but in reality they probably just got all their duty cycles used up quicker, and they charge so fast now they are in constant recirculation. Makita is still my favorite standard production drill, the milwakee M12 series is one of my main drills now due to good power and very light weight, haven't owned it long enough to compare battery life. Truth is once the batteries are dead it often makes more sense to get a new kit economically than new batteries, I wonder if the manufacturers don't structure their pricing that way on purpose?

[Leo Graywacz]

I have 2 of the 18v B&W Makita drills, 3 10.8v drills, 3 10.8v impactors, and 18v saw. I have lost one battery in 4 years, it was a 1.5AH battery. I also have a blue 18v impactor that I rarely use. I got it for $50 2nd hand and couldn't pass up the deal. When I need it, it comes in handy. But mostly for cabinet building and installing I use the 10.8v minis.

Keep the batteries charged. Keep them at a normal temperature as cold will hurt the battery. And only use the specified charger to charge them.

[Doug Ladendorf]

I had been holding out on a good drill/driver set until I could afford one I wanted. Been through some low end, a couple Ryobis - one in the '90's was quite respectable on site with a bunch of Makitas. When I finally pulled the trigger earlier this year it was on the Makita brushless set at HD. Wow! I'm no pro but I couldn't be happier. The batteries are lasting a loooonng time on drill, driver and the circular saw they threw in. It would be nice if additional batteries were cheaper for all manufacturers but on the plus side there is no shortage of bare tools on CL. Very happy with my Makitas.

[Keith Hankins]

Mine were ok in the beginning, the B life started failing early and both went about the same time. I found a battery rebuild place (batteries +) that has a facility in NJ that I could send them to to get repaired. I also found a kit if i wanted to do it myself I could get them for 50 bucks for two sets. Since it's for the wife's glass shop, I may just get her a black n decker. Cheers.

[Greg R Bradley]

Between personal and business use I have enough Makita LXT tools to have around 25 batteries and 6 chargers in use. I've had one battery fail really early, within 30 days as I recall. It was replaced without question. I had one fail that was several years old. Several of the tools and batteries are 9 years old and still work fine. One of the original batteries is getting weak and I assume it will die soon. I had one of the original chargers die. The later chargers work better, anyway.

During this summer, I'm charging 4 batteries at least once each day for Makita portable fans used where there is no power easily available.

I have several LXT impacts used in equipment repair where they generally charge several batteries each day for each tool. They hold up very well under use that can only be called abusive.

I've never paid $100 for a battery. Makita is currently running a promotion for a third battery free with various kits. My local tool store runs at least two sales each year for big discounts. I think I bought a few batteries at those events at around $70. Most of the extras came with promotions that offered a free extra battery.

As you can tell, I'm pretty pleased with Makita although my personal drill is a T15+3 kit. My latest LXT purchase is the 36v chainsaw that uses dual LXT batteries.

[Mark Bolton]

I'd be interested in buying the bare tools off ya if your not going t replace with lxt.

[Tom M King]

I've had the lightweight pair of white and black 18v's since they first came out, and the turquoise ones (not brushless) with the larger 18v batteries. I've replaced one battery in all that time, and ours get used most days. Both impact drivers have run in thousands of screws. The one battery I had to replace was my fault, because I modified one of the smaller batteries that came with the white kit to work in a 4/1/2" grinder which was designed for the larger batteries, and it was before I bought the LXT kit. I'm sure it was too much drain on the battery, too fast, but it was on a chimney job 43 feet in the air, and I needed to get it done.

[Keith Hankins]

Do those "stores" you use have an online presence. I'g go 70

[Rick Thompson34]

My experience with the Makita Li-Ion tools has been that the small batteries are sketchy (have had three die in the five years I've owned mine), but the larger batteries are fantastic in both longevity between charges and durability. One key is to make sure you run them dead each time (to the point where the LED light is dead, too) before charging -- haven't lost a battery since I've been extra careful about that.

When my first pair of batteries died (within a couple weeks of each other), I called Makita and complained since the drill and impact had only been used at the homeowner level at that point. I explained that I have always held a pretty high opinion of Makita tools and their customer service since I had owned a few of their other tools in the past and had always been able to rectify any issues in short order with a phone call. The rep told me he'd see what he could do and within a week or two I had two new batteries. Granted, they were the small batteries, but service like that got them a customer for life. I purchased two of the larger batteries a few months later and haven't looked back. The tools themselves are really well built -- my impact driver took a slide off a barn roof with 18 foot sidewalls and didn't miss a beat and later slipped off my belt from about 20 feet up on the gable end of a barn and bounced off the concrete without much damage beyond a scuff.

I'm sure Festool is great for shop work, but I do wonder how they would hold up in a construction environment -- not that I'd even want to try at those prices.

Rick

[Peter Quinn]

I'm sure Festool is great for shop work, but I do wonder how they would hold up in a construction environment -- not that I'd even want to try at those prices.

Rick

I know a few contractors using them in the field, mostly installers of high end millwork and cabinetry. I've borrowed one on occasion, they are excellent tools but not life altering. Problem is when a guy has one on a job you have to beg and pry it out of his hands to use it. Normally if I'm expecting to need a drill I come equipped with my own, don't remember why I was asking to borrow it in the first place, probably doing minor punch list touch ups, anyway......you get the "look" that says "Please don't ask to borrow my $500 drill.....and if you do I'll be watching you the whole time!" You never get that look from Milwaukee owners....or Makita. Maybe they have less fear you will fall in love and try to run away with their drill? Other contractors do make comments too when the festool drill comes out.....like. " Ohhhhhh, and will you be getting a Mercedes pick up soon too?"

[Leo Graywacz]

Solution to that is don't forget to bring the correct tools. I don't like to let anyone borrow my tools, even my cheap stuff.`

[Curt Harms]

For those with dying/dead LiIon batteries, MTO battery is offering rebuilds on some battery packs. Milwaukee & Ryobi are advertized. I don't know how economical they are.