Panasonic DeWalt Bosch Makita Millwalkee Hitachi. Info July 1012

[Tom Bainbridge]

I spent 2 hours in my local tool supplier (in Leyton, UK) this morning discussing a replacement for my Festool Impact. The shop is the biggest in the area with high sales volume

My requirements were a solid relaible impact. A drilldriver with hammer action for mid weight bricks and blocks was the secondary requirement. I was expecting to buy Makita (despite their woeful battery deaths) to be my choice before I walked in.

Here is the most up to date info avaliable. These guys look after me 'cos I spend

Panasonic. 18 volt impacts solid performers.

Bosch. Reliable and almost no returns, mid market, nothing special.

Panasonic 14.4 volt impacts have had woeful returns ever since they switched to Chinese prodution. The Chinese production line has a fault inside the tool. There is a physically weak electrical connection that breaks in use.... not good in an impact. Apparantly there are photos on the internet. Panasonic have stopped Chinese production and moved them back to Japan. The problem for retailers is that it isn't possible to identify the Chinese production from the Japanese production.

Panasonic 18V impacts, no problems, they never shifted production out of Japan

Millwalkee. The four brushes in their pole motors on their impact are averaging only 2 months trade use. They are more noisy than their competitors and drive screws slower.

Hitachi. They have a new range out but they are phyisically larger than most other impacts they look like Chinese design. "Plastic looking" and they have no track record yet. My first impact "x" years ago was a Hitachi and yet the new designs maintain some of the original features, they haven't moved on

Makita. The tools have always been good but have at long last begun to address their real weakness..... battery life. They have changed the batteries and the tools and the new tools and batteries can be phyisically identified because they have a "star moulding"

My supplier says that battery returns on Makita have dropped like a stone but they still haven't solved the problem completly, the returns are still higher than they should be for trade tools.

Now to DeWalt.

I have an often stated, long standing problem with DeWalt, they talk a good job and have a massive "placement/advertising budget" but their tools for the most part have poor longevity in trade hands.

Today I was told that their newest range of impacts have had no returns so far except for "I don't like"

The result is that I have "gone with the devil" despite their smaller than normal belt clip, which I believe to be important

[LittleItaly]

TB,

I am rounding out a 6 year affair with the Makita LXT set and it has been a great asset to me. The batteries have fallen off in performance noticeably in the last year.

I have rolled the dice and decided to go with the new Milwaukee Fuel line. I purchased the Hammer drill/Driver on its own with free third battery. Local supplier was doing a factory rep spring show. I am now biding my time and going to purchase the new Fuel impact tool body only, as it was not available until late June.

Again, this is untested waters with the new brushless Fuel line from Milwaukee, but I said the same thing 6 years ago when I bought the Makita kit.

[joseph]

so limey -which devil did you go with and why

[dgbldr]

Millwalkee. The four brushes in their pole motors on their impact are averaging only 2 months trade use. They are more noisy than their competitors and drive screws slower.

All 3 of those statements are utterly false. From personal experience long term. Get yourself a tool supplier who knows what he's talking about.

[GregBradley]

A 4 pole motor normally still has 2 brushes. Those Milwaukee units feel very much the same as the Makita LXT 4 pole units to me, perhaps a bit more powerful than the Makita BTD 140 & 141.

The Makita Brushless BTD144 & LXT101 is my favorite although the Bosch 18v units seem excellent on large stuff.

[Phil Pritchard]

Makita. The tools have always been good but have at long last begun to address their real weakness..... battery life. They have changed the batteries and the tools and the new tools and batteries can be phyisically identified because they have a "star moulding"

My supplier says that battery returns on Makita have dropped like a stone but they still haven't solved the problem completly, the returns are still higher than they should be for trade tools.

Interesting comments, Tom. Myself I sprang for the Makita BTD145 3-speed impact a couple of months back. Brilliant tool! The variable speed feature is very much like that of the Panasonics, it's actually a bit lighter than the earlier models and it uses the same batteries as the rest of my system so I could buy it bare. It has a battery low warning light, too. I'm told that there is a bettery sensing circuit in the tool which will stop the tool from killing the battery by overdrawing, but maybe that's just so much bull. Anyone know? One thing which is apparent - the new brushless motor uses a lot less power. I'm getting about 30 to 40% more battery life with this tool

[Tom Bainbridge]

dgb, I won't question you on the number of brushes on a 4 pole motor, it was my assumption.

The two month life on set of brushes (trade use) is what I was told by the guy selling them. I've been buying tools from him for 10 years now and have no reason to question his statement on the tool returns he gets

Ive used a millwalkee impact 2 years ago for two days it was noiser than the makita i had at the time and to my mind it was slower than my makita.

A word in favour, as Greg B says above it appeared to be more powerful than the Makita

[Tom Bainbridge]

joseph, I went with DeWalt, despite my long term, often stated, avoidance of anything black and yellow, I have never rated them, reguardless I have a small handful of them and use them occasionally. The information I got yesterday made me change my mind. The compact size, very similar to the dimensions of the Makita

millwalkee, out because of the returns that my tool dealer tells me he has had, and what I percieved to be a noiser machine from personal experience

makita, poor battery life, I know this from personal experience

hitachi, large phyisical size / clunky design, the first impact I had was hitachi and it was smaller than this latest offering

bosch out because of the indifference I felt towards two 24v bosch tools I had a few years ago

panasonic, no real reason...... just because. I do have a Panasonic 12v SDS so am not totally "agin" Panasonic

[Phil Pritchard]

makita, poor battery life, I know this from personal experience

I have to take issue with you on that, tom. the new Makita impacts (BTD145/BTD146) are brushless and give you a lot more battery life than the older brush motor models. Add to that the ability to turn the light off and the lower power usage of the "slow" and "medium" speeds and they are much, much better than they were

[Tom Bainbridge]

Phil, I agree with you, but my supplier tells me that even the new "starred batteries" keep comming back

Yes in far fewer numbers than they used to. But at around 100 pounds sterling each, we both know it is an ask when they tend to be killed in "pairs"

I "did" 8 batteries in 5 years

[Deansocial]

I see there is no mention of hilti's offerings on here, i have heard they are very good but not used one myself

[Deansocial]

Also does this mean you have 1 of them new dewalt chargers with a red light so big it could be used on the shard

[Tom Bainbridge]

Dean S, no wonder nobody hears about Hilti (in England) you know why already.............. their prices are "beyond stupid" UNLESS you are a BIG company

If you arn't a BIG company they will not even talk to you

[john27]

Why are there prices beyond stupid? 22v impact driver inc 2X 3.3ah batteries and charger are £300 + vat..

[Deansocial]

Prices are not that bad tom for quality kit. As for big companies im not sure where you got that from as i deal wit them just fine.