Customer Reviews

Makita DA3010F 4 Amp 3/8-Inch Right Angle Drill with LED Light

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I considered all of the right-angle drills currently available in this class before making my purchase. Here is why I decided against each of the competitors and bought the Makita DA3010F:
THE COMPETITORS:
--Bosch 1132VSR 3/8" Right-Angle Drill
I have many fantastic Bosch tools, but this one does not impress me. It is less powerful than the others in its class, and the bevel gears generate a lot of heat when being worked long or worked hard. It has an awkward power switch, which for safety reasons requires a compound motion to actuate. This unit has no side handle option. It is also expensive.
--Milwaukee 0375-6 3/8" Close-Quarters Drill
This drill is also comparatively underpowered. It too has no side handle. Personally, I don't like the 55-degree angle, and physical shape of this drill. I have no first hand experience with this tool, but it seems as though the shape would preclude use in some tight quarter situations such as a hole close to (and parallel to) the floor in a half-width joist. I respect Milwaukee drills and doubtless this one shines in many respects, but I don't like it.
--DEWALT DW160 3/8" Heavy Duty Right Angle Drill
This is a poor excuse for a drill. It has no side handle, it is severely underpowered, and does not reverse! This is a real surprise from DeWalt. It might not be a bad tool if it were priced at $59 but with a street price of $135 (Amazon) it's abysmal.
--Hitachi D10YB 3/8" Right Angle Drill
This tool really caught my eye. It's powerful, slim, and has a side handle. Being fully $50 cheaper than the Makita, it seemed like a real winner. HOWEVER it has 2 glaring problems. PROBLEM 1: The on-off switch is separate from the speed control. I find it essential to be able to vary the torque of the tool on the fly with my trigger finger rather than having to stop, adjust the speed, then restart. Furthermore, the on-off switch slides, and requires deliberate disengagement to turn the tool off. You are unlikely to be able to deliberately disengage the switch if your drill bit binds up unexpectedly as they often do. What happens is that the drill body begins turning instead of the bit. When this happens, there is a real danger of fingers or other body parts being pinned (read crushed) between the drill and some stationary object nearby. This is especially risky in a close quarter situation where your getting-out-of-the-way options are limited. PROBLEM 2: To make matters worse, the drill has feedback circuitry to maintain a constant RPM no matter what the load is on the motor. Normally that's a good feature in a power tool, but NOT in a compact right-angle drill. This is very dangerous. If your bit binds up as described above, and a body part gets pinned it will be exposed to the MAXIMUM force the drill can produce even if the drill is on the lowest power setting! When the drill notices that it's slowing down (because it's crushing your hand) it cranks up the power as much as possible to keep the chuck from slowing down. (Did I forget to mention that the power switch is still locked on?)

SO I BOUGHT THE MAKITA DA3010F 3/8" Angle Drill with L.E.D. Light
The Makita does not have the dangerous feedback circuitry feature mentioned above. When my bit binds up, the tool either jerks to a stop because it's on a low power setting, or it gets yanked out of my control hand, causing my fingers to release the speed switch, and the drill just stops. No crushed fingers!
The Makita is powerful, it is compact, and it has a nice removable side handle which attaches to EITHER side of the drill. Fit and finish is as good as I have ever seen on a power tool. I was impressed. The variable speed paddle switch has a speed limit dial. It is a excellent design. It lets you take advantage of the precise, light action of the paddle-switch actuator yet it caps your maximum speed to a pre-set limit. It really works well.
If I had to make a wish list, it would include adding an electronic brake and a pushbutton safety switch to this tool. The safety is of secondary importance, because you will quickly learn to turn the speed-limit dial down to zero. This works as well as a having a dedicated safety switch, but it would be nice to leave the speed limit dial set where you want it, and toggle a safety on and off when changing bits etc. I should probably mention that NONE of the other tools reviewed here had these wishlist features either.
The LED work light is a very nice touch. When drilling with spade bits in dark quarters I can even watch the color of the wood change as each layer of the grain is removed. Furthermore, when you lightly touch the paddle switch, the light turns on without actually spinning the chuck so you can use the drill as an impromptu flashlight without brandishing a spinning drill bit! I expect that you'll see LED lights on nearly every tool in the future. I just makes too much sense.
I give this tool my highest recommendation. It smacks of quality, and feels good in your hand.

I looked at a lot of right angle drills before choosing this one. My needs are to be able to drill holes for wiring etc, in floor joists, and also being able to access cramped quarters in building cabinetry. Additionally, I needed to have a drill that would not be too powerful for mounting screws. Well this drill uniquely fills that bill exactly. Not only does it have a larger amperage motor than the competition, in medium duty, moderately priced drills, but also it has an adjustable setting for the level of power, so it achieves a certain level of resistance. No stripping or overinserting screw heads. So combining the variable speed feature, with an adjustable default setting, makes it unique in the industry for a medium duty right angle drill. All this while maintaining enough torque according to the owner's manual, to drill a one inch hole in wood. I don't need to drill holes larger than that, if I did, and on a regular basis, I would look into the Hole Hawg.
Personally, I am relieved to not be using an overtorqued drill for working in cramped quarters, using spade bits. I have the Milwaukee 110 volt hammer drill, and am always concerned about breaking a wrist when it catches a bit. The Hole Hawg is even more of a concern in that regard. Of course the ultimate is to have both. Back to the Makita: This drill reverses, unlike the Dewalt for a little less money, which also has a lower amperage motor, and other anomalies as reported in the reviews. The Makita having a work light built into it, that they claim will never burn out for the life of the drill, is a nice feature, for those cramped, less than well lit locations. I feel confident with the Makita name.
I also looked at the Porter Cable air driven right angle drill, for less than half the price, but I know that air tools do not have the torque of a 110-volt ac model, unless you are buying a monster impact wrench, but it does reverse.
I also opted for a corded 110-volt angle drill, since I would be using that for drilling holes in floor joists, and I know that can drain a cordless drill battery fast.
One more item is that I like the keyed chuck. My cordless drills have the keyless chuck, and that is convenient for the cordless type applications. Keyed chucks are shorter in distance, than the keyless, which gives you even less head length for extra clearance, and they give you a one-time insertion step. Many times my keyless, needs to be retorqued, because it can come loose. If I need to have the quick speed change of the keyless, I can use one of the popular quick-change bit sets.
Their are some very nice heavy-duty right angle drills. Porter Cable makes a heavy duty one, that is larger, and they make the air driven model I mentioned eariler. Milwaukee makes right angle drills with lots of torque, large motors and weight. In a day-to-day heavy-duty construction situation, I would be opting for one of them. But for my needs this Makita can't be beat. It costs a little more but I don't want to have to live without all of the different features it has.
So there you have it, this drill is the ultimate niche for my needs. Hope this information is pertinent to yours as well.

I looked hard at these drills before I picked this one. The head height and variable speed is what sold me on this one. None of the others had this minimum clearance.

One cautionary note, the paddle switch is large, which makes it easy to run the drill, but also easy to accidentially switch it on. So when changing out drill bits UNPLUG IT! Also you need to be a little careful when you put it down, as you could put it down so that the switch kicks on. It's not easy to do, but more possible than with your more regular style drill.

That said, I love it. It does the job I bought it for. Tight space holes. And I use it as a second drill so I don't have to switch bits as often when I need to drill a pilot hole and then the full sized one.

I just reported on this drill based on specifications, compared to some of the forerunners in the competition. In addition to that review, I have to say, I just received the drill, and it is truly a well built machine.
It addresses all of the other concerns reviewers were stating with the competition. The paddle on-off switch is conveniently located. The variable speed is so exact, that you can set it for off, and up a little from that, it takes 32 seconds for the chuck to turn one revolution. Not that you need that kind of crawl, but it let's you know that you can go from anywhere from a dead stop to full speed, and anywhere in between. Important when driving screw heads in delicate furniture, or cabinet making situations.
The forward-reverse switch is conveniently buried in the handle, at the tip of your fingers, but recessed enough that you will not accidentally trip it.
The 2 1/2" (approx) drill head height, is the same for the entire body of the drill. We are talking maximum clearance for those cramped quarter jobs.
The sound of the drill while it is running, smacks quality. It has that fine bearing sound.
The included removable side handle is large enough, that you might want to consider buying a buffing attachment, and using it for fine polising panels.
I'm crazy about tools that make you feel good when you use them. Nothing is worse than fighting an ill engineered tool. Quality tools equal quality work, and this tool will make you shine. Highly recommended.

One look at the chuck of this drill telegraphs immediately what it can do. Most (if not all) other right angle drills have their chucks added on to the hypoid or right angle geared mechanism. This Makita DA3010F distinguishes itself from the rest, because the chuck itself occupies the same space that the gear mechanisms occupy in other drills. Did that make sense?

If not, look back at the picture of the drill again. See how the right angle portion is only as deep as the chuck itself, as oppossed to other designs where the chuck is tacked on to the gear mechanism?

It is this feature alone, that being the enveloping of the body of the chuck with the turning gear of the drill, that makes this Makita model worth the price. When you really need a close quarters drill, so close that you've already cut your drill bit in half and have the chuck gripping it by the flutes the space is so tight, then this is the drill to get.

Makita has had several cordless right angle drills, but not only do those have limited power due to battery ampacity and life, they are traditionally designed just like all the other right angle drills... the chuck is tacked on to the right angle gear head. Which means that they need more space between the tip of the drill and the back of the right angle head in order to fit.

But not this new corded Makita. Not only is the motor as precise and as powerful as the other reviewers reported, but the chuck is incorporated into the right angle drive for the absolute shortest tip to back length on the market.

I know, I managed to say that at least three times already, but it bore repeating. That's how awesome the geometry of this drill is. I used my new Makita, on a project where no other tool could have done the job, within 24 hours of receiving it from Amazon.com (at the lowest price on the net, btw, due to Amazon's coupon at the time).

If you need a very close quarters drill, I believe that no other drill that can operate in as cramped of space.

I am a home builder. Anticipating some close quarter work, I picked up the Makita DA3010F. It sat in my tool box for a few months while I was putting up walls, beams and joists. As I progress into more detailed internal framing, I've been going to the Makita for what I will call light Hawg work. Like the other reviewer says, its lighter and won't break your wrist like the real thing. The Makita will turn a 3 or 4 inch hole saw but it is not happy, becoming too hot to handle. Within its design limit, it will easily turn 1" flat bits and long augers to around 3/4" dia. I can corroborate that 1) the feel and sound of a precision tool, and 2) you can dial the no-load speed down to like one minute per revolution. Yes, the LED light is useful for working where the sun don't shine. One problem, not specific to Makita, is that when a angle drill with paddle switch is used close-quarters and breaks through the work, the tool can get jambed up against the work with no way to turn it off. Occupational hazard I quess. This tool is recommended to those who have everything else.

This drill was used while finishing a basement, especially boring through floor joists and 2x4's to install wiring.

It was more than powerful enough and the LED proved to be more than a novelty - it ws very handy when sticking the drill into tight spots!

The only knock I have against it is the same for all Makita drills: the chuck will not stay tightened for more than a few minutes and continually has to be retightened. My Milwaukee, Sears and DeWalt drills all stay tight without applying gorilla-torque.

Other than that, this is a very good and easy to control tool.

This tool has so much torque at low speeds and control of rpm using the rotating locking switch that it is absolutely in a class by itself. Worked with some brass screws in tight corners in hard maple, and found out that no other power tool could do what this did, and so delicatly, no stripped screw heads.

Control was so consistent and torque so reliable.

This is the #1 right angle drill you could ever buy for small to medium drilling job. The variable speed control is absolutely great...you can actually set the max desired speed so you can not over speed on some material. The LED light is fantastic for undersink work where thing might be dark and hard to see. The drill can rip up to max RPM very fast...and still feel very solid in your hand. No doubt...! First rate top notch equipment. PERIOD!!!

PS: Would be a lot better if it comes with a impact resistance case...but that is not as important as the tool itself.

I needed a nice right angle drill for tight quarters. This fills the bill quite nicely.

The drill is beafy yet is compact. It has great torque and is comfortable to operate. I can vary the speed to my taste and the light is indespensible in those dark corners where the drill is used most.

The quality is high. This machine is built with years of service in mind.

After spending lots of money on cheap drills, I found this purchase most satisfying.

I highly recommend this tool