 "Love it" | |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User from Sparks, NV United States |
| If they still make this little impact drill and the price is right, buy it. Mine has lasted a long time. The new Li-Ion is better though. |
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| "Drills are for drilling, this is for driving fasteners!" | |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User from NJ United States |
Like most people, I had been using a cordless drill to drive screws. This is no longer the case thanks to my Makita Impact Driver.
An impact driver drives a bit in rotation, much like a drill does. But the difference occurs when the driver bit meets resistance-Then it "hammers" the bit in a rotational direction. No, this is not like a hammer drill that hammers the bit back and forth while rotating.
As you may have noticed, the torque on this is significantly higher than any cordless drill.Weighing just 3.7 pounds, this tool is much lighter than a cordless drill, alot more compact.And, cranking out 0 - 3,200 impacts per minute, this tool gets the job done fast, too.
This tool is not without limitations- For example, it really is only meant to drive fasteners, not drill holes. It will do so in a pinch, but the bits have to have a 1/4 inch shank with a quick connect type end.(there are aftermarket conversion chucks for these, but I have no experience with them as of yet...)I would not recommend bits over 3/4 of an inch.
When the ratcheting action kicks in, some find it to be loud. I don't, but I may just be used to it.The results are even the longer fasteners are driven home painlessly, effortlessly, and without stripping the head of the screw!
Better quality driver bits are highly recommended for use with this tool as the higher torque will quickly wear out and even snap the heads off of cheaper driver bits!
There is no clutch on this tool, so you have to be careful and develop a feel for seating screws without having them blow right through the material. Used correctly, this tool could be right at home hanging drywall.
With your purchase of this tool,you get: 2 2.6Ah (Ni-MH) Batteries that offer significant improvement in longeviety and run time over their NICAD counterparts.
1434 Universal Charger That charges Makita batteries from 9.6-14 volts, bot NICAD and NIMH
2 Battery Cover To protect the terminals when you throw the battery into your tool bucket at the end of the day with a bunch of other tools...
Tool Case with ample room for a drill, flashlight and accessories.
The tool feels great in the hand, with plenty of rubber overmold grip. The batteries slide in and out easily, locking in very securely. The trigger feel is excellent, with no flat spots, very responsive!
The light weight of this tool makes it a pleasure to use doing overhead work. It drives a wole lot more screws per charge than any cordless drill I ever used.The LED light comes in handy when working in dark spaces. My brother in law has the Dewalt 18 volt model, and he wishes that it had a light.
My impact driver came with a rebate for a free drill, so that made it even sweeter! This offer still looks to be available.
There are so many uses for this tool that I only wish I'd gotten one sooner. This tool would have made quick work of driving the 3/8 lag screws(without pre drilling!) on the arbor that my brother in law and I built in my backyard.
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| "Lot's of power" | |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User from NY |
| Very powerful drill. Has a LED light that shines on the item your drilling that's very handy. Husband uses this drill the most out of the 5 he has. Great that you can share the battery with your other cordless Makita tools too. |
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| "Doesn't even scrape the paint off the screw heads!" | |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User from S. Portland, Maine, US |
I just got this impact driver yesterday, so I had to test it out. Both batteries came fully discharged, so I had to wait an hour before I could try it. But it was worth the wait! It was the first time I had actually used an impact driver, but I'm very impressed with it so far. Thanks to a great Amazon sale, I paid less than what a Ryobi would cost at the big orange box, and got a much better tool. It actually has metal parts in it!
To test my new toy, I found some scrap 2x4's and started putting screws into them. I drove some 3" exterior deck screws in and out of the wood a few times. I was amazed that compared to when I've used a drill on the same screws, the impact driver didn't cause any damage to the screwhead. Usually if I overdrive a screw with a regular drill, it will scrape off the exterior coating/paint from the head. Not the case with this Makita impact driver. Plus, when I pulled the screws out of the wood, the screw itself was cool enough to touch, which isn't what I've experienced with a regular drill. This thing is also extremely light, especially compared to my 14V cordless drill. Speaking of light, the LED is really useful. I can see it coming in handy in dark spots. You can't disable the LED like the Hitachi models I looked at, but the LED is also in a much better location compared to the Hitachi's, so I don't see why you would need to disable it. This thing is a little noisy when in use, but not horrible. I would recommend ear protection though.
I'm looking forward to using this for my projects this year. I have a garage to fix, a bathroom that needs to be built, and another bathroom that needs to be renovated. I'm pretty sure this Makita can handle it! |
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| "Great quality" | |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User from Center of the world baby! |
| I have used Makita tools for years and was first introduced to them by my father who thinks they are the best out there. I agree with the old man. Damn good drill. |
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| "Tool review. Not a UPS or decal review." | |
| - Reviewed By An Amazon User |
Why are people rating this tool badly for the shipping problems of UPS? Everyone knows UPS has the worst reputation for breaking things in shipment, dropping plasma TVs off the truck, giving you packages with tire tread marks on it etc. As for crooked decals on the case... really, who cares? Also, this is not the impact driver that is part of a kit. The reason it is priced lower than the drill/driver kit is because it is NOT that product. This is just the impact driver.
This impact driver rocks! Very fast. So far I have only driven a lot of 3 1/2" screws and it was never so easy even with damaged heads. Battery lasts a lot longer than my 12v panasonic. I have used a 12v. makita impact driver with 3/8" lags and that worked well so I imagine this will be fantastic. (update later, I just wanted to review the tool and not the shipping and decals.). I also bought a palm nailer so now attaching things is practically effortless. |
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