Hitachi or Makita 18v li-ion kits

[sig]

Have decided it is time to replace my old battery drill for work .In the past have always used panasonic drills (I,m a sparkie and need a good battery drill for drilling holes not screwing screws).Am looking at either the makita or hatachi 18v lithium combo kits ie drill,sabre,skillsaw,grinder etc.Price wise they are both about the same 1300 odd bucks .what do other tradesman run and what do people reccommend .Not a cheap kit so i thought i would ask the masses .am swaying towards makita at the moment only because my bro in law the plumber has one and swears by it but i do like the hatachi as well . cheers guys

[skid]

Dwayne uses battery drills all the time at work, but for screwing and drilling and probably a lot of customwood

but he seems to prefer the panasonic ones as his good ones and other brands for cheap shit at home

[gimmemud]

I like the hitachi kits, but the drills crap out real quick. I'm a sparkie also and have had a hitachi snap right in half when i was drilling with a 25mm auger and it caught. Took it in for replacement cover and the guy at the tool repair place said he got quite a few that had done the same. The company i worked for had about 3 guys with hitachi drills and all the clutches slip on them. turn it right up to drill and half way through a hole they slip, especially with holesaws in metal. Hitachi have fixed two of them for free but within a couple of weeks they were doing it again.
I would go for makita out of the two, just make sure you keep the warranty because apparently they didn't quite get their lithium ion batteries right and crap out quickly.

And personally i would go for dewalt, strongest by far drill i have ever owned. had one that lasted about 3 and a half years drilling augers, decent sized concrete drills and big holesaws without any drama until i dropped it off a scaffold.

Just my 2c

[tallsam66]

Ive got a makita..18v Li-ion .Its the model with hammer also.
I abuse it heaps...often use a 32 mm nail biter auger in it no problem....but i do keep my bits real sharp.....never let me down .
I very rarely use the hammer function as i have a Bosch 36V cordless hammer for this & a big ramset 240v for the big concrete stuff

[rokhound]

I have always been a makita man, (for the 20 years I have needed to buy power tools anyway).
Had a run in with the local rep a while back and started switching alot of my gear over to Hitachi. One of my foreman runs this gear and I use to give him shit about it. Turns out the new generation Hitachi gear is quite good. I got a 6 pack 18v set in Feb this year and it seems to be all good. My last 6 pack was Makita (not li-ion batteries though) and although the tools were good, the Makita batteries were total crap(went through 3 in the first 12 mths) and at over $200 ech, that pissed me off somewhat.

[Brown Smurf]

I had a 4 peice Hitachi kit as a builder had to get the trigger replaced in the drill which is apparently common for hitachi then 2 months later the motor popped anyway also broke the saber saw and the skilly was just crap.
If you're after a good light tho I'd buy a Hitachi pack.

[sig]

sounds like i,m buying a makita kit .cheers guys

[chevrolux]

check out http://www.i-tools.co.nz/index.php. I buy all more tools for work off them. They have full kits and just bare tools. Good prices too!

[UBZ]

we use both hitachi and makita 18v drills at work and they are very similar.

However for drilling holes you cant go past a proper power drill ,with a real chuck.

We have found that as soon as a cordless drill is used alot with Auger bits ,spade bits , hole saws or large drill bits that the self locking chucks let go. The bearings the support the chuck shit them selves and the clutches start slipping.

We have a rule that only power drills are used for heavy drilling, and since its implementation we have stopped going through a cordless drill every 6 months or so.

golden rule with power tools , you get what you pay for!

[chevrolux]

we use both hitachi and makita 18v drills at work and they are very similar.

However for drilling holes you cant go past a proper power drill ,with a real chuck.

amen to that! Would never using my bat drill when im pre-wiring. iv got an 18v dewalt and had the chuck replaced twice. no problems with the 240v hitachi drill

[sig]

.got an awesome hitachi 800w plus a cheap chinese 720 w 500rpm drill for the lacky for prewires etc .pain in the arse when your in the roof trying to drill the top plate and dwangs with a power drill.mainly use it for bathroom and kitchen prewires when i,ve only got five or ten holes to drill.knew a guy at itools but he has left now .there prices are shit hot and thats who i,m gunna go thru

[callum007]

I have the 36v Bosch one, have all the 36v tools actually and bloody brilliant.. batteries go for ever. if you had to go hitachi or makita. go hitachi.. or buy bosch.. i get really good pricing if you need. cost plus 5%

[haynzy]

we use both hitachi and makita 18v drills at work and they are very similar.

However for drilling holes you cant go past a proper power drill ,with a real chuck.

We have found that as soon as a cordless drill is used alot with Auger bits ,spade bits , hole saws or large drill bits that the self locking chucks let go. The bearings the support the chuck shit them selves and the clutches start slipping.

We have a rule that only power drills are used for heavy drilling, and since its implementation we have stopped going through a cordless drill every 6 months or so.

golden rule with power tools , you get what you pay for!

not always i bought a $19 ryobi drill years ago and its still goin and I thrash it, use it for mixing grout and stuff like that and has out lasted 2 dewalt drills

[jackjack]

I mean what I say, you can pick any of the two whether Hitachi or Makita. They both have pros and cons. 18v tools Hitachi and Makita both are very ok. You can refine your decision further by reading these more cool articles on makita tools & hitachi power tools. Cheers.

[mumbls]

Hitachi/Makita - same quality, makita slightly cheaper [eBay]

Don't buy the whole kit [either] Its a gimmick / marketing strategy / trap.
I did with some Hitachi gear 5 years ago and even with constant breakages [trigger / chuck/batteries] I was loath to swap because I "had all the other hitachi tools"

Just get the drill/driver/charger/batteries kit
Get skins off eBay for what you actually use, Cheap way to do it, an your ute doesnt get filled up with a million not needed tools.

If you work locally and can stomach it, go Ryobi, they are the new Hyundai, used to make crap tools but have come good and stuff looks cheap, bunnings replace rather than repair if stuff ever breaks.

I work in tough environment and few guys are a bit brutal on the gear [me if I am working] so drills get replaced 6-12 months but at a $100-150 for drill skin, its cheap, don't even bother getting them fixed if they break just biff them an use a new one.

[Petemcc]

We just got a come of sets of millwalky drills grinders and saber saws at work. So far very impressed with them. Drills are really solid a lot less plastic than some of the other brands. Could be worth a look for you?

[skid]

lol, thread is over 3 years old fullas

although he could be looking for another set by now

the ones he bought 3 years a go could be stuffed

[Petemcc]

haha so it is!

[mumbls]

lol, thread is over 3 years old fullas:

woops, guess sig can tell us all how is hitachi/makita went.........

[skid]

as a side note, I got a Hitachi 18v impact wrench for xmas, awesome, so impressed with it so far, changing wheels gets done much quicker now

[callum007]

I only buy Hilti gear now. 22v rattle gun is the shits. Drills good 4x now. Nail gun is good, but bit heavy..

[mazdamike]

ill 2nd that. hilt 22volt inpact its fast and man dose it have some grunt but i do like the long life of my hitachi kit

[sig]

had my 18v makita kit for a while now .still very impressed .have bought more batts for it but the originals are still going fine .also added to the kit. have 2 drills ,grinder,sabre saw,jigsaw,torch,circ saw.

[Fakey]

You'd be glad you didn't go hitachi then, I've had my drill an 1/2" rattle gun over a year now, rattle guns great but the drill has been a bit rubbish from the start. Chuck slips all the time an it kills the batteries real quick not very impressed with it