Customer Reviews

Makita LXT202 18-Volt Hammer Drill & Impact Driver Lithium-Ion Combo Kit

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am not a pro contractor, but only a weekend handyman warrior type who appreciates good tools. I opted to buy Makita instead of the Milwaukee V28 entirely because of Makita's lighter weight. To me ergonomics means almost as much as tool power. Also I've never had any complaints or durability issues with any of my Makita tools and so felt comfortable buying Makita again.

I bought this drill with Makita's free impact driver offer when the lithium line was first introduced. The case for the drill can accommodate Makita's lithium impact driver side by side with the drill. The same is not true with the smaller impact driver case. At the time I ordered mine, they cost roughtly same, $329 for the drill and $319 for the impact driver. I think the price differential has since increased with the impact driver now only at $279. With the free tool offer and the $75 off promo offer from Amazon at the time, I paid only around $254 for both tools.

Onward to the tool itself. I will structure this review by comparing the Makita drill with my Bosch 18V Brute Tough hammerdrill, model 13618, that I've been using the last couple of years. This Makita 18 lithium hammerdrill is definitely much lighter than the Bosch 18V hammerdrill. Whether the Makita can survive a 2-story drop on concrete as can the Bosch Brute Tough is another matter. The Makita has three speed ranges. The slowest speed range (0-300 rpm) is useful on large spade bits, metal drilling, or hole saws, etc where extra control and extra torque are needed. I tested my Bosch side by side against the Makita using a 3" hole saw on redwood. The Bosch's low range is 0-600 rpm. In the 0-600 rpm range both the Bosch and the Makita were about equal in performance. At 300 rpm, the Makita did not show any advantage compared to drilling at 600 rpm with this particular test. As for torque, the Makita has 560 in-lbs; the Bosch has 475 in-lbs. The supposed extra power of the Makita did not manifest itself during this 3" hole saw test. Perhaps other more demanding tests, such as drilling large holes in metal, might bring out the advantage.

One way I judge a drill driver is how gentle it is in driving delicate screws. Unfortunately, in screw driving mode, this drill has so much torque even at the lowest setting that it will easily strip delicate screws long before the clutch kicks in. I have a feeling this problem is common among the powerful 18v drills.

The auxilliary handle on the Makita works really well, but the metal band mars the finish on the drill body. It kind of hurts to see the drill scratched up the very first day by the aux. handle. It does grip tightly and stays put, unlike the lousy one on the Bosch.

I like the Bosch chuck better because the carbide teeth on the Bosch's jaws have a better bite and less chance of slipping than the steel teeth on Makita's Jacobs chuck. The Makita Jacobs chuck also has a tendency to self-loosen its grip on a bit during heavy drilling, something that doesn't happen on the Bosch.

A major shortcoming with the Makita's Jacobs chuck is the large amount of runout it has. Runout is a measure of eccentricity. When I have time I will measure the runout precisely using a dial indicator, but for now I will state that the Makita's Jacobs chuck on this model has roughly twice the runout as that found on my Bosch's chuck. The effect of this large runout is a very pronouced gyration of the drill body when drilling at low to medium speeds, such as when drilling metal or drilling with a hole saw or spade bit. The large gyration is a safety hazard as it can cause the operator to lose balance while standing high on a ladder, for example. It can sometimes be corrected by rechucking the bit after rotating the bit 90 to 180 degrees relative to the chuck. Sometimes this fix works, but sometimes not. I checked this runout on another brand-new Makita lithium hammerdrill and the result was identical. This is a troubling.

The slider switch that lets me instantly switch between drill or driver or hammerdrill mode on the Makita is a plus, but in my opinion is not a big deal. I guess I've gotten too used to turning the clutch/mode setting ring on these cordless drills by now.

The Makita has a built-in LED light. Makita placed the fixed-angle light just above the trigger switch as a one-size-fits-all approach to accommodate all lengths of bits. The drawback is the placement entirely favors long bits at the expense of short and medium length bits because short bits will be hit by a large dark shadow cast by the big chuck. For driving screws and drilling with a short bit, the exact point where you want light is the exact point where the large dark shadow falls! The ideal LED light should be placed lower near where the battery is and have an adjustable angle to accommodate different length bits.

One thing no lithium-ion power tool maker would like the potential customer to know is that rechargeable lithium-ion batteries permanently lose capacity over time as a function of storage temperature and the state-of-charge. For example at room temperature(25 degrees C), a fully charged (100%) Li-on battery permanantely loses 20% of its rechargeable capacity in just one year. At higher temperatures, the loss is even greater. Please don't misinterpret the above as to mean that you have to leave your tool and battery unused for a whole year for it to suffer from capacity loss. The capacity loss occurs at different rates at the different temperatures and states-of-charge but it's all cumulative, and the deteriotion occurs even when the tool is constantly being used, as well as during short-term storage, and not just during long-term storage. If you have a spare Li-on battery that you don't constantly use, the best way to store it is at a 40% charge. At 40% charge at 25 deg. Celsius, it loses only 4% capacity after one year. At 40% at 40 deg Celsius, it loses 15%. Heat is detrimental, even at a mere 40-degree Celsius. Yes, I said a "mere" 40-degrees, which is "merely" 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Most pros WILL have frequent, perhaps daily, occasions to leave their tools in the trunk or cabin of their truck, where it will easily exceed 104 deg. Fahrenheit in a hurry. Makita is giving these lithium batteries only a 1-year warranty for very good reasons. (Note: The above comments about capacity loss apply only to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with a manganese oxide cathode. This applies to Milwaukee's V28 line, and I have every reason to think it applies to Makita's current Li-on and Bosch's upcoming Li-on batteries as well. I am not sure whether it applies to DeWalt's new lithium batteries which use an aluminum anode coated with nano-particles). The above comments on rechargeable Li-on batteries I learned from reading technical postings and articles on the WEB.

Overall the biggest advantages of the Makita lithium over the Bosch NiCD are: 1. the lighter weight, 2. the 25% longer battery life (i.e. 3 Ah vs. 2.4 Ah), 3. a much flatter discharge curve than those of NiCD and NiMH., 4. much longer charge retention. Ironically charge retention matters infinitely more to a casual user (who may use the tool once a month) than the pros (the target market segment of these tools) who use their tools daily.

The Makita is lighter, noticeably lighter when you first pick up the tool, but in actual use when comparing it to the Bosch, the Bosch's greater weight seemed to disappear over time as my hand got used to the greater weight. The Makita feels perfectly balanced in the hand and is contoured just right that it's a pleasure to hold.

If you are already happy with your other 18V NiCD or NiMH drill, switching to lithium likely won't give you much better satisfaction.

As for the impact driver, it's very light and compact and is a total pleasure to use. I love the LED light. However, I take issue with Makita's big claim that it has 18V power at 12 volt weight. That maybe so comparing Makita's 18V lithium to Makita's 12V NiMH or NiCd, but definitely not true comparing to the other brands. Makita's impact drivers have never been known for high torque or long battery power with respect to their voltages. You can find that out by reading reviews on other websites. Ridgid has a 14.4V impact driver, model R82320 or Cat # 20588, that has a much larger 1400 in-lbs. of torque than the Makita lithium's. The Ridgid is 4.3 lbs. vs. Makita's 3.3 lbs.

Overall I give the Makita 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5 stars. ;-)

I'm building an owner built house. I have several new Makita tools and like them all, but the 18 volt lithium ion drill has problems. To begin with, the bits fall out of the chuck too frequently (To be up on a ladder and to hear the sound of that bit hitting the floor is infuriating. I know immediately what it is and it's infuriating) My helper also bought one of these drills after using mine because he liked it so much. The helper went went to another job, but I spoke to him a couple of days ago and he said, "hey, remember when you told me the bits fall out of the chuck a lot?, well, the same thing has been happening to me, Makita sent me a new chuck." A $300 tool just should not do this.

More importantly, 3rd gear has gone out on my drill THREE TIMES!!. (third time was just today after getting it back from serice department just last week, which prompted me to write this review.) The guy at my local hardware store, has told me that Makita has a known problem with this issue. He told me if it happens again, Makita will stand behind it, don't send it into the factory, just bring it back and we'll give you a new one.\ He told me they've redesigned the gear, but as I stated, I just got mine back and it broke again less than a week later.

That's it. I love how the tool feels, I love the design, I love the power, I even like the fact they stand behind the product. but the tool has problems and I would not buy another one unless I was assured the issues have been resolved.

Good luck

I've been lusting after a new Dewalt XRP 14 volt cordless drill for at least two years. Having no extra money and plenty of exposure to various trades on job sites I had the time to save my pennies, ponder my decision and ask a lot of questions. After speaking to many people on job sites and in shops I discovered that the drill I had been drooling over was NOT worth owning. Nobody but nobody is going to give you a more honest answer than someone who uses a tool day in and day out to earn a living; and when they say the batteries are no good, the clutch is a constant problem, the overall durability of a tool is poor and the manufacturer seems to not care about your problems... you listen. In recent months I started to see many of these Lithium Ion Makita's showing up in job boxes and without a single exception the response to my "What do you think of this drill" question was always, "awesome" or "fantastic" or at the very least "great". I asked one installer about the Makita driver he was using and he actually got down off a scaffold and set-up a demo for me to try it myself. I was impressed with the tools and the way the trades held them in high esteem. You can't get a better endorsement than someone using a tool 8-12 hours a day and loving it.

So when I discovered that the batteries for my last cordless drill were no longer made and the ones I had were dead, I used this excuse with the better half (no really honey, they don't make the batteries anymore) to rush right out and buy this combination set (of course I need both the drill and the driver sweetheart... all the guys have them). Having now used both drill and driver for several months I will state without any hesitation that Makita have hit an out of the park home run with these tools. The balance and overall ergonomics are right on, the battery life is out of this world, the weight is more akin to a 12 volt tool than an 18 volt, the chuck on the drill is the best I've ever seen on a cordless tool, the variable speed trigger sensitivity on both drill and driver is excellent, the driver is small and wicked powerful and finally the LED light on both tools is bright and highly functional. These little lights on the business end of both the drill and driver initially struck me as only semi useful... until I installed a countertop. I'm amazed nobody thought of this absolutely brilliant idea before!

I'm also very pleased that Makita put a great deal of thought into the battery & charger combination. There is a chip in the battery that the charger reads to properly condition the battery during charging; so you are not killing your batteries every time you charge them AND you don't have to wait until the battery is fully discharged to charge it. Double bonus. The only minor criticism I have is the lack of a clutch on the driver. It takes a bit of getting used to if your accustomed to letting the clutch stop driving the screw. This little bugger is so powerful it will strip the screw hole or snap the screw head off on you, and you'll likely do both a few times prior to developing a feel for easing off on the trigger when the screw is as tight as it needs to be.

A highly recommended combination.

I work in a hardware store in one of the New England States. We sold about 20 of these 18v. Li-Ion Hammer Drills between 1/1/07 and 3/30/07. Since then, 5 of them have been sent back to Makita with bad clutches. That is a 25% failure rate. The gears seem to slip or get locked into place. Maybe Makita spent too much time on their battery technology and not enough time on the gears.

If you need a Li-Ion drill now, buy the Hitachi. I suggest you wait and see what Makita will do to fix this gear/clutch problem.

i use this kit for steel stud framing and a lot of commercial construction. it's a very good combo that covers pretty much everything. i use the hammer drill to drill 1/4" holes into concrete and then i hammer concrete anchors to hold down metal track. the impact driver is incredible for fastening track to studs. i even use the impact to drive tek-5's into structural steel and red iron columns. this impact will sink tek-5s into steel 1/2" thick. VERY impressive! i recently built a 7000sq/ft medical clinic and i used nothing but cordless tools. these tools are great.

I bought this set about 4 months ago. I use it in my home shop almost daily. I love the drill. It's balance and feel are just right and there is plenty of power. It feels even stronger than the Bosch that I had before. I've not had any problems with bits falling out or with the drill wobbling when drilling.

I also love the driver for basically the same reasons, although it's almost too strong for a lot of the carpentry work I do and can quickly twist the head off a #8 square drive screw if I'm not careful. Both drill and driver are of the quality I expect from Makita tools and I'm not disappointed.

My complaint (and the main reason for this review) is about the charger that came with it (model DC18RA). It is, apparently, fan cooled and the fan runs almost continually when there's a battery in it, literally days if I leave it there and even if I only used the battery for 10 minutes machine time before plugging it back in. Only once in a while, to no pattern I can discern, it stops. It makes a droning whine that can be heard all over my shop when it's quiet. I really doubt that any top-up charging taking place once the battery is initially charged needs to have a fan running, and it's a waste of energy, aside from the noise.

The physical design is also a mess, in my opinion. The battery mounts from the back, sliding forward to lock, but still protruding out the back of the charger. To remove it you reach behind the battery, press the button toward you, then slide it rearward. That means it must be out from the wall another 2-3 inches and it already has twice the footprint of any charger I've ever had. There is no provision to mount it on a wall. Lately, I've taken to turning it around backward and it seems to be easier to use, but of course the lights are harder to see. That probably doesn't matter as it announces it's actions audibly and, I may already have mentioned, continually. I recently purchased another Makita charger (different model: DC18SC) and backup battery with the hope that I might be able to just dump the original charger, but it does the same thing. All three batteries do this in both chargers.

Aside from the irritation of hearing it all the time, I'm totally puzzled that Makita, a company who practically pioneered the move to more ergonomic and efficient portable power tools, has produced these chargers. My next drill and driver won't do this.

I've recently needed to replace my old Makita 14v cordless 3/8"drill which gave me good service for 10 years. It was truly quality built. I've been a hardware manager and was fortunately given the opportunity to test several of the drills on the market and hear feedback from customers from returns or if they were happy with what items they had purchased. This is what pushed me to buy a Makita drill. Yes, everybody has a different purpose of use for there drill. Some people require heavy duty and are willing to spend a couple extra bucks while others just want a $20 drill to do the job and then their drill will sit on the garage shelf for years without ever seeing heavy use. My old Makita had to be replaced because I broke the clutch. (They have really nice people in their service department.) I ordered replacement parts but then realized that the batteries would need to be replaced which I would then have to buy a new charger because of a new battery type. Now $34 in parts escalated to $290 needed to fix my old Makita. It's a shame because all of this very well built drill will end up in a landfill because of the cost of the batteries and a new charger. At this price you probably realized that it would be cheaper to buy a new drill; so I did. The Makita LXT202BHP451/BTD140 combo kit is well worth the money. I've used both the impact driver and the drill. I am really impressed with them; especially the impact driver. I seem to use that more than my drill anymore. The impact driver with its tremendous torque takes old decking screws out with out breaking a sweat. While with proper inserts you can even do some light drilling. For the heavier jobs that's where the BHP451 comes in to play. With 3 modes: hammer drill, drill, and screw driver and 18 volts it sure is ready for action with LED lights to light the way! The 18 volt is slightly heavier than my old 14v model and the switch for the different modes is tricky to operate. I've found that I had to turn the drill on shortly to switch between modes just like driving a manual shift vehicle. The casing of the drill does not seem built as well as my older model but only time will tell. I'm truly not impressed with the quality of construction of the case that they come in. It was broken when I received it. I like the compartment for spare tools but the case is not built anywhere like my old Makita's case that was double wall construction. You could have dropped that from a 3 story building and nothing would happen to it other than a scratch. My new impact driver fits in my old case minus the battery charger. But that is defeating the purpose of paying all this money for a new drill kit. I still would like to see a good quality universal case built that you could use for several tools should one break. All I can say now is that I hope this new drill kit gives me the 10 years of heavy service that my old Makita drill kit did.

I replaced my Ryobi 18v drill with this combo kit. The ratcheting chuck on the drill is something I didn't know I was missing until I used it - very cool. Driving difficult screws, like cement board backer screws, is made much easier with the impact driver's automatically adjusting torque, I got far fewer cam-outs, stripped screws, broken screws, and broken bits. Yesterday a friend and I ran both the drill and the driver for 8 hours installing decking with the Deckmaster fastening system (twice the number of screws as a traditional surface screw installation) and the batteries held up fine (they weren't even starting to slow down at the end of the day). Lastly, the LED turned out to be more useful than I thought - while working under a deck, in a demolished bathroom without power, etc. I was very impressed with the quality of these tools. I am relunctant to admit that the 14.4 NiMh makita combo set may have served me just as well for a bit less money, the battery life on these is very nice tough.

This drill (I cannot speak to the impact driver since I have not used one) is not a heavy duty jobsite ready drill. It has plenty of torque for sure, but the chuck is a piece of junk (home depot sells the replacement for $25) and the brake is flimsy too. The chuck loosens instantly if you bump it while drilling. I have already broken one while simply hand tightening, returned the drill for another one, and then promptly knocked the chuck out of round so it vibrates in high speeds (like your car wheel when it's out of balance). I can't believe Makita put such a flimsy chuck on a 560 inlb hammer drill. It clearly can't handle those kind of forces. I loved the light weight, torque, battery life, and even the LED, but with such an awful chuck, it's like driving a truck on bicycle wheels. I would only recommend this drill to a novice DIY'er who wants a ton of torque and speed, but won't actually ever need either. I had a Dewalt XRP hammer drill for 5 years before it was stolen and never had a single problem. The new Dewalt is even better with the patented self tightening chuck. It is made by ROHM, a company that makes industrial grade machine chucks, unlike Jacobs, who only does hand drills. The difference is night and day. Don't fall for the torque gimmick, buy the Dewalt, or wait until Makita fixes the chuck problem.

Before I start on the review, a little disclaimer... I'm not a pro, just an avid tool collector/home user. I've owned a few impact drivers from DeWalt, Craftsman, and Ridgid. They all pale in comparison to the power/weight ratio of the Makita in this kit. I recently built a protective "cage" around my generator for hurricane season and had to drive lots of 3" lag bolts through pressure treated 2x and 4x lumber. I did some quick non-scientific testing using my trusty old Dewald driver.

Using the DeWalt, the hammering mechanism would engage almost immediately when the bolt starts encountering a little resistance. It was painfully slow to drive them in and I was never sure if they were really "all the way in". I then switched to the Makita and it was like driving bolts through styrofoam! The hammering mechanism engages much later, almost 3/4 of the way in, giving you much better control. The weight of this little marvel is what makes it a pleasure to pick up time and time again to do all of the driving needed for a project.

I haven't had the pleasure of using the hammer drill yet. Its a beast and also my heaviest drill in the arsenal, so I'm waiting for a project that truly calls for this kind of power.

I got this kit because I was mostly interested in the impact driver. I had originally purchased the impact driver alone at Home Depot and then realized that for the same price I paid at HD, I could have both of these marvels from Amazon! So I basically got the drill for free.

I can't comment on the battery other than to say I could not run it all the way down. I used it heavily for two days on this cage project and was not able to run it down to where it needed to be recharged. At the end of the project, I recharged the battery and it was done in under 45min.

Great products from Makita! Also good experience purchasing from Amazon... go for it!