White VS Green Makita Drill????

[Jeff Norri]

I decided to give the Makita line of Lithium Ion Drills a try. Currently I have a 12V and 19.2V PC drivers (not a huge fan of them) and just added a green 18V LXT Makita Impact driver to the mix. I love this tool and now I am thinking about adding a matching Makita Lion drill driver. So, my question is should I consider the white version driver? I know the white one has less torque, but I will be just using it for drilling and I very rarely drill big holes. I also know the batteries are half the size with half the run time, but as the green batteries are interchangeable with the white batteries, I can always mix and match, and use the light batteries in shop and the other batteries when I will not be close to my charger.

Of course I could just buy a Green LXT drill/driver with no battery for cheap, but I like having two chargers and two sets of batteries as I tend to use a one tool for drilling pilot holes and the other for driving, so batteries on each tools tend to die about the same time.

The other option is I could just buy new batteries for my PC drills, but I find it hard to spend that money as I never really liked them (or the in particular the batteries for them, and sadly the NICAD batteries on the 19.2v drill cost way more then the LION batteries for the Makita.

[Thomas Smith]

I have the white's and they are worthy beasts. I used to use DWXRP's exclusively, but these drills are very light and the batter power is better than acceptable. I can't exhaust one in the charge time of the other. I think they are perfect for woodworking applications and have used them for some carpentry with excellent results.

[Jeff Norri]

Thanks, sounds promising

[John Viola]

Hi Jeff-

I have both drills. The "green" (blue??) came as part of a combo kit. It's a hammerdrill, and it's huge. So I picked up the white one as a shop drill. I think it's probably the best shop drill you can get-light, powerful, good run time with the Li-Ion batteries. Plus you already have the charger. I recommend it.

One word or warning, though-the batteries on the white drill will not fit the blue tools. The batteries on the blue tools will fit the white drill, though.

[Gail O'Rourke]

I just bought the brand new Makita - lithium - 18 volt drill. It is the black and white one - ($199 at home depot) - 2 batteries and charger with case, 15 minute charge time - very light weight. I am pretty tough on drills and this seems like a great one.

[Michael N Taylor]

Dewalt is coming out with their Lithum Ion tools and acording to my supplier you will be able to use your regular 18v batteries in them and the new chargers will also charge the regular 18v batteries. Supposedly they will run a great introductory special very soon.

[Jeff Norri]

Hi Jeff-

I have both drills. The "green" (blue??) came as part of a combo kit. It's a hammerdrill, and it's huge. So I picked up the white one as a shop drill. I think it's probably the best shop drill you can get-light, powerful, good run time with the Li-Ion batteries. Plus you already have the charger. I recommend it.

One word or warning, though-the batteries on the white drill will not fit the blue tools. The batteries on the blue tools will fit the white drill, though.


You caught me I am grey/blue/green colour blind. My wife confirmed the Makita drill is blue, but I see sort of lime green.

I don't know that the little batteries wont fit on the "blue" tools. Good to know. Also I agree the "blue" hammer drill is huge!