The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest semi-retirement for my 9.6 volt Makita drill

10 yrs ago I purchased a 9.6 volt Makita drill to be used for my job.Its been used pretty much everyday since.In addition to driving screws,drilling holes and powering sockets for bolts and nuts its been used for lots of remodeling jobs around my place of employment and home.....it was replaced with a Hittachi 12volt. Pretty compact in size...about half of what the Makita is.it uses Lithium Ion batteries which weigh nothin compared to the others...Hope I get half the service out of this one compared to my other....the Makita was retired to my shop at home it'll spend the rest of its life doing honey-dos and projects around the house.Dont know anything about their new stuff,but this has been one heck of a drill.....dave

I had an 18v Crapsman that was just that. I got tired of spending more on junk batteries than the drill cost so I'm now working on wearing out a Dewalt 18v. It's a year old and already outlasted two Crapsman batteries.

The Makita is what I have got, what I like is the chuck, it goes completely closed. you can put the smallest drill bit in there. But like you said the Litium Ion technology is the way to go.

There was a time when you could buy a decent Craftsman battery drill for a good price.I had one for many years,and when it quit I bought another Craftsman,which turned out not to be worth bringing home.I then bought a DeWalt 18 volt which has done a very good job for about 5 years now.I have quit buying power tools at Sears,but I buy an occasional wrench or set of screwdrivers from Sears,with good luck so far.

I bought an 18V REMAN DeWalt drill over 10 years ago. Wore out the old style batteries. I added a recip saw w LiIon battery and charger, then a Jig saw, and a circular saw, and impact wrench, a cut-off grinder, and a snake light, all 18V. The drill and saws have built fences, decks and what not. If I can keep a LiIon battery on a charger, I'd rather have these tools than any other battery brand or plug in made. I drilled over a hundred holes with the over 10 year old drill today.

best wishes,

Les

i have rigid 18 volt from homedepot.they were on sale and with a lifetime warrantee. I have used them as a contractor for about 5 years now and the only complant is they are heavy comp to dewalt and the battery charger sounds like a hair dryer cause it cools the batterys as it charges other wise no complaints

Thats odd Joebob. I have a Rigid 24V setup (drill, saw, recip, light) and it makes no noise whatsoever. Has a neat little battery condition light that I like. Very powerful outfit. My old standby is the Milwaukee 14.4 drill I bought about 15 years ago. None better, period.

my rigid is the 18volt when they first came out. it blows air to cool the batteries while they charge. must not work good enough to keep using that style charger,but mine still works well