Thread: Makita vs Hitachi

hi, and welcome to the forum, i am fairly new here myself but i can tell you i have had the LXT makita drills for 3 years.

they work very well, cant tell you anything about the hitachi, but i ask guys at work on a regular basis about their tools, they seem pretty happy with the hitachi lithium ion range.

i think it comes down to 1 very important thing.....do you like green tools or blue tools!

Have been an owner of a 55 year old home here in ipswich for 6 years. I bought a makita 12 volt 1.3 amp just before we moved in. Its copped a fair amount of work and still goes on and on. Just my thoughts

I have used both Makita and Hitachi for many years. I used to run an air conditioning company and would buy about 5 or so Makitas at a time and they would be used and abussed by some rather rough tradesmen. My last one I had was not so good (just a one off lemon) so this time I bought a Hitachi and I use it all the time. It has done and is still doing a lot of work almost everyday and I can't fault it. I also have other Hitachi tools as I do Makita and they all take a beeting. My Hitachi electric drill is 20ish years old and I can't kill it. My Makita belt sander is 20ish years old and it has only had one set of brushes. As Justinmcf said, what colour do you like?

I have many Makita in my tool shelf, but only got one Hitachi M12V router. so I might balance the colour with more green this round
Thanks for the info anyway.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/DeWalt-18V-DC...3A1|240%3A1318


you could also go with this.. i have both these drills and i find the dc925 probably the best 18v on the market.. very fast and super powerful

Was looking at AEG Li cordless in Bunnies;
!8V, 3Amphrs, 64Nm torque $279. 22 clutch settings, 2 speed.
Obviously lots of grunt. My only issue is the lack of range in the speed department.

Also saw a great demo of a Metabo at last years TWWWS. Very impressed but can't remember the model.

I used Makita for many years but switched to Panasonic a few years ago.

Panasonic are brilliant cordless drills and most Electricians I know use them.

This should be a pretty good endorsement as Electricians are generally pretty hard on cordless drills.

I'm now very tempted by this http://www.vektools.com.au/metabo-im...um-p-1711.html
Metabo is always my wish-list, but due to its high price I only collected one Metabo tool so far. Compare this to a Makita and Hitachi 18V 3.0Ah drill it appears a great value, and it has 3 years warranty, German made.

I have a Hitachi 12V drill with 2 Nicads. I will happily replace it with another Hitachi when the need arises - although to be honest I'm expecting that is a long way off yet.

Peter

I'm not a big cordless user so bear that in mind.

Metabo have always made complex tools. They had electronic control in them when no one much else did. Maybe they are ok now but back when they would break down more often than hitachi/makita/bosch and cost a lot to repair. They are light small and work beautifully but I'd be really reluctant to own a complex power tool.

Remember to check ebay.com (not ebay.com.au) for US deals. With cordless you only have to buy a local charger and you can buy a swag of cordless thingys from the US for not much money. Hitachi and makita are both commmon.

I have a makita planer, no hitachi. Everything else is bosch. I'm a metalworker by trade and makita and bosch share that market. Simple and tough.

2c

Originally Posted by damian

Remember to check ebay.com (not ebay.com.au) for US deals. With cordless you only have to buy a local charger and you can buy a swag of cordless thingys from the US for not much money. Hitachi and makita are both commmon.

Are you sure with current exchange rate ? I have stopped buying stuff from USA since Nov last year after AU$ diving.

You can get 3.0MaH lithium ion batteries for that 18v Hitachi. I got myself an 18V Hitachi before they bought out the Lithium Ion models. Then I replaced the Ni-cad batteries with Li-ion ones (backwards compatible). Its great cos I can use the drill weeks later and the batteries still have their charge.

Originally Posted by ecsk

Are you sure with current exchange rate ? I have stopped buying stuff from USA since Nov last year after AU$ diving.

there a few if any good deals now. When the $A was over 80c and into the 90c there were some bargains - at under or around 60c - no more.

Originally Posted by damian

I......
I have a makita planer, no hitachi. Everything else is bosch. I'm a metalworker by trade and makita and bosch share that market. Simple and tough.

2c

And I'll bet that none of it is green Bosch - green Bosch is the pits.

I have a mixture of AEG, Hitachi and Makita tools, all elderly and there is little between them. Perhaps a little more smoothness in the Aeg than the Hitachi, with Makita a close third. All have been very robust and reliable. Will not mention GMC 7 other cheapies here.

Recently I had a repairer advise against replacing with AEG. He suggested that their quality has declined substantially, recently. Is his view justified?

Cheers

Graeme