Customer Reviews

Bare-Tool Makita BCL180ZW 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless Vacuum (Tool Only, No Battery)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

overall this does what it supposed to. if you already have a bunch of Makita Li-Ion tools then its a nice addition.
strong suction for a cordless and good 20min battery life with the 3AH batteries.
I dinged Makita a couple stars on this one for the following reasons...
1. For a piece of plastic with a little motor and fan inside, $99 is a bit pricey.
2. The on off switch is a momentary switch that has to remain held to operate. there is no continuous on switch position or lock
3. they reversed the nozzle connections to make it so standard vacuum accessories don't fit without making the 1 1/4 inch adapter that a previous reviewer mentioned...
4 the cloth filter gets dirty real quick causing loss of suction. a pleated paper filter would have probably worked better and easier to blow clean with a compressed air nozzle.... The black and decker cordless vac I have also has a twist feature to clean the dust off the filter without having to remove it

Like all the 18v XLT tools, this product is well thought out and of highest quality. The price would be very high if this were the only XLT one were to buy (shelling out $100+ just for a battery and charger), but as an addition to an existing XLT set, the price is well worth it. I found mine at Tylertool for $72 (after coupon) which actually puts it at the low end of any 18v LXT bare tool.

The light weight, high power and excellent balance just feels good. Very quiet! Crevice tool clips to long wand for onboard storage. Instantly changes from a short handheld to a long reach floor sweeper simply by adding the long floor wand. Attachments are well-fitting friction fit, so no fumbling with latches. Once I used it, I instantly appreciated how great it is to be able to vacuum floor areas while standing straight up without having to constantly bend down. The ball joint on the wide floor head is amazing. It keeps the head always in full contact with the floor, NOT tilting up as the wand is flexed (which happens with other rigid floor heads). Very slick. The debris capsule readily twists open to emty the vac, and the 2-stage filter design is simple to clean and looks rugged (heavy cloth filter bag has stitched seams... made to last).

My first "test" was a large area of shredded cardboard on carpet (cats can be high maintenance!). It vacuumed the entire area quickly and I was surprised when I emptied the chamber. There was also a large amount of cat hair (that I never realized was in the carpet) which it obviously extracted with ease. With XLT batteries available, this lightweight and powerful tool provides great freedom. Readily portable, it is NOT tethered to a dedicated charging station- along with the internal, non-removable batteries of limited life. Instead, it is free to fly to the house... the shop... and to the job site.

Accessories, like nozzles and brushes, are listed in the manual. But since this tool was just released, I doubt that they are available yet. I wanted to have a brush, as did an earlier reviewer, StevieQ. There is a quick fix... Cut a short piece (4" will do) of tubing from a 1-1/4" plastic sink tailpiece or extension tube such as this: 1 1/4" x 6" Pvc Extension Tube. Use it to couple any 1-1/4" vacuum brush to the end of the vacuum or the wand. It friction fits and is the same size as the wand. I wouldn't be surprised if Makita soon includes a brush with the basic vacuum.

Ok I have to ask why people are buying this for vacuuming couches and kitchen floors and crap like that... this is designed for portability and for people who already have the LXT system. I'm a contractor and do a lot of maintenance and repair work and painting and this is an essential tool to have in the arsenal. I have been thinking about having a dust buster for a long time but never wanted yet another charger to carry around. Enter the LXT cordless vacuum.... problem solved. This is NOT a shop vac!!! it's not designed to suck up screws and nails!!! it is however designed to be very portable and fit in a tool bag when you need to suck up a little mess in someones house without dragging out the shop vac. I was actually shocked at how well the floor nozzle and extension tube worked.... I wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised.

and come on people... complaining about the momentary switch??? it takes almost no effort to keep your finger on the trigger... its in such a position that you actually have to work harder NOT to press it.

The only reason its a 4 star review and not 5 is just due to the price.. it is a bit expensive, but still worth the price for the convenience you get. It could have used a brush attachment but it should be easy for me to rig one up.

Length:: 5:13 Mins

I have become quite a fan of the Makita LXT series of 18-Volt. I use my Makita BUB182Z 18-Volt LXT Lithium-Ion Cordless Blower - Bare-tool nearly everyday and I have found that my Makita LCT300W 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 3-Piece Combo Kit to be a perfect rechargeable drill set. Since I have been so satisfied (and because I have extra batteries and a charger) I thought I would give the Cordless Vacuum a try, and so far it has completely met my expectations.

A few Notes

- Will accept either the 3.o aH Makita BL1830 18-Volt LXT Lithium-Ion Battery or the 1.5aHMakita BL1815 18-Volt 1.5 Ah Compact Lithium-Ion Battery battery. The 1.5aH will save you a pound or two in weight but will cut your run time down 50%

-Very good (but not great) suction

- Only 1 filter included.... with no sign of how to get replacements. I am sure if the one that comes with it gets damaged you cold improvise.

- When using the floor cleaner with the extra length attachment the tool is *almost* long enough so that a 6' man will not have to bend down to clean the floor.

- Not any louder than any other cordless vacuum.

- Easy to clean

- Batteries charge quickly (although they are not included) 15minutes for the 1.5aH and 30 minutes for the 3.0aH.

- The whole unit is light - less than 5lbs

Final Verdict - While I am not completely sold that the filter will hold up I do believe that this is a very useful tool. It is perfect for cleaning our car and any light jobs around the home or garage.

4 1/2 Stars

but not as good as most of the Makita cordless tools -- mainly because I would like it to have more suction. It's light, and very quiet relative to the rechargeable vacuums I've used. I also don't know why they used the white color since none of their other tools do. I frequently use it, and I already had the makita batteries so I'd buy it again.

I bought a sink extension tube at HD so I could rig an attachment for a bristle head that came from another vacuum.

Update: My main complaint about this vacuum is that it is not powerful - which makes me wonder how some people can rave about it. Do the units vary? Inside is a fine mesh filter and then a VERY thick paper like filter. If I remove the thick filter draw is much improved. I think I'm going to experiment with using a coffee filter inside the mesh filter.

Use the right tool for the job on hand...
I'm a General Contractor in CA. I purchased this vac for my crew specifically for punch list duties. Small jobs that need completed prior to the final walk-thru with clients. My guys love it and so do I because it will pay for itself in the time saved not having to break out the big shop vacs! Agreed...if you do not have a Makita set up it would be too pricey...or..buy the complete setup as a gift for your wife and then you will have an excuse to start building up your inventory of the other great Makita LX cordless tools! A while back in 2009 I decided to dump all my different cordless tools(Dewalt,Bosch,to name a few) and commit to only Makita...and handful on the bigger 3.0Ah li-ion batteries. Makes life a whole lot simpler

As for the complaints about the lack of dedicated "on" switch.....good grief!
NOTE: if you like the vacuum....check out the blower that Makita makes for the 18-volt system...but beware, it does not have a dedicated ON switch either!(I need a sarcasm font)

This is one of the best tools you can have around the house. It is very expensive when you add charger and battery but the batter does last a long time. I have never seen any rechargable vac that runs this long and actually still sucks. The new filter design is easy to clean. I use a brush and it cleans quick and easy. I think this vacuum is a very good design overall. We had one of the earlier models from makita and it was good but this new model is even better.

This vacuum is pricey. It's not a good deal, considering that it comes with no batteries or charger. In comparison a Black & Decker 18V cordless vacuum sells for $67, which is about as expensive as one Makita 18V LXT battery! So why did I buy this Makita anyway? It's because when the rechargeable battery on the B&D wears out, I'll have to throw away the whole vacuum and buy a complete new vacuum. What a total waste that would be. If the Makita's battery wears out, I'll only have to buy a new battery. This argument in favor of the Makita wears a little thin here because one Makita 18V LXT battery costs as much as the whole B&D vacuum itself. Lastly, I already have the 18V LXT lithium tool set.

The B&D runs only around 10 minutes per charge(when the battery is new), whereas the Makita runs for 20 mins per charge (also only when the battery is new) and in fact I can keep on swapping freshly charged batteries in the Makita to keep it running beyond the 20-minute run time. You can't do that with the B&D.

The back-saving long wand and the articulating joint on the wide head accessory are a big plus. It comes with a crevice tool, but the major bummer is it doesn't come with a brush head.

What I don't like about the Makita is that it uses non-standard accessories. It doesn't accept standard 1-1/4" diameter female-end shopvac accessories because the Makita requires an accessory with a male end. Of course, the solution to this is to fashion a female-to-male adapter with the right diameter out of some piece of wood or plastic on a small lathe. Or as someone pointed out, you can buy a short 1-1/4" plumbing tubing from a hardware store for a few bucks and cut to size. It's not too hard to do either way, but I shouldn't have to do that. It's just a poor design on Makita's part.

Overall it works fine, has virtually unlimited battery life by swapping in fresh batteries, and it has great suction. But it's expensive for what it offers.

Keep in mind when you are considering buyng this vac, you will also need to get a battery and a charger unless you already have a Makita tool that uses the 18v Lithium batteries.
You are looking at doubling the price if you need a battery and charger.
Good thing is you really only need 1 battery since it lasts a long time and the charger can recharge it in less than 30 minutes.

I used to own the Makita 9.6v Vac years ago and the batteries finally gave out.
The 9.6 version worked pretty good, so when I saw they came out with the 18v version I jumped on it.

This thing has tons of power and and I can vac 200-300 sq ft of tile 2-3 times per week and only need to charge the battery one a month. You will fight with your spouse on who gets to clean the floors because it works so well and you get to play with a power tool.

I don't think you can find a better cordless vac.

I have been reading the reviews and expected quite a bit out of this piece of equipment. I opened it up and did the task I originally got it for (vacuuming some partially over-sprayed basement steps). It took only 2 minutes to get all of the pet hair and dust completely off of the stairs, something my 4.5hp shop vac had trouble doing (on the first 2-3 stairs, I was not going to lug it up the flight of stairs, hence my reason for getting this).

The receptacle is fairly small, and with the amazing suction power it filled the canister 3 times within a matter of 5 minutes of vacuuming crack and creases in my house, mostly dog hair. Thankfully emptying the contents is a 2 second job and really easy. You do have to hold the power button down but I honestly did not think it was a hindrance at all, nor difficult.

This is easily one of the best purchases I have made in a while. It is a no brainer if you own Makita batteries already (especially with the 20 bucks off through December 31st promotion through Amazon. Makes it under 43 shipped. What a steal!)