Thread: Makita Vs Milwaukee cordless kit

Milwaukee were better than Makita, not too sure about now though. Not many tradies know Milwaukee here and just go by what they have used. In the USA Milwaukee were an industrial tool, very solid.

Been biased toward Makita since I can remember but just before xmas I had cause to look for cordless tools for someone else and if I have to be honest the Milwaukee stuff was not to be ignored. For me, it also comes down to comfort and day to day practicality. I remember a couple of years ago Milwaukee had a belt hanging clip on their cordless drills that it must have been designed by parliament it was so ridiculously complicated and useless; the Makita ones were simply a wire loop. Simple no bullchit practicality, that's what matters to me.

how can i find out if they are still very solid here? Cause i dotn want to spend the cash and find out down the track things need replacing etc etc. or they havent totatlly got their tools down pat

Best solution is to ask someone who has had them for a while. I think they have a 3 year warranty and from what I have seen recently they still look pretty ruggedly built. Maybe buy just one and give it a test run, or ask the store to let you try one before you buy a complete kit.

I have a Milwaukee cordless drill for, what 3-4 years now and between hubby on the cars and myself on the timber, we cannot kill it. I've dropped it a couple of times but it just does not stop. Sure, it maybe is a bit big for me, but I love that it will handle any and everything we both throw at it.

On the other side of the coin, just about every other power tool I have is Makita - 3 routers, 1 planer.

Makita is good and so is Milwaukee. Which one do you like better? Weight, price, battery charge time etc....

Hi
I had a renovations company which I closed last year. I had 2 sets of cordless tools for the tradies use and general use if you had a tradie who's gear broke down. They were a mixture of Makita, Bosch, Ryobi, Hitashi and 1 Milwaukee. The boys all grabbed the Makita gear before touching any other brand. Hope this helps. You should also check after sales service. Makita is pretty good. Good turnaround for repairs.

Another thing to consider is the tool's use; if you are going to be continuously driving screws or similar then it's best to opt for a specific tool. If you were to look up the specifications of both the drill/driver and driver only you will find that the latter has approximately 3 times the claimed torque of the former. Another bonus is that they are smaller and lighter.

We have several sets of each brand, Millwaukee and Makita as well as a few Dewalt and Hitachi at work. They are used and abused in an industrial environment every day.
We are using the 28V Millwaukees and they take a fair bit of abuse before they fail but they will fail. We have destroyed about 4 in the last 12 months. I think they were older ones that were getting towards the end of their servicable life anyway. The Dewalt and the Hitachi are great DIY, occasional use at home drills but they just don't last for us.
I personally have a preference for the Makita and i find them very tough and reliable. Having said that i have burnt out a couple of Makitas over the years as well. My current personal drills are Makita but I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a Millwauke should the need arise. We have a few other Millwaukee tools as well, mainly for the battery sharing, but they all perform well.

The new Milwaukee cordless tools now have a 5 year warranty & 2 years/2000 charges on the battery.
So if treated as per manufacture's use.....5 years worry free.....& 2 years/2000 charges is great for the battery....Tradies will love that

M18 2.4 Ah have 2 years..............the smaller 1.4 Ah M18......12 months............M28's ??????

Hi there 1080, i just recently purchased the makita kit 4pc and was not all that impressed with some of the plastic castings/mouldings and the circular saw adjusters/lock nuts were rattly and poorly adjusted. I bought makita before (Japanese tho) and still use them now. But for 1 year warranty? I took the kit back and got the Milwaukee 6pc set instead. Ive been impressed so far but im not in building trade so they wont get that much abuse......but with a five year warranty cant really ask for more! Wish id got the 7pc with the grinder now tho........

As the tools themselves may differ less and less in features and quality perhaps it is prudent to focus on the battery specs and buy on the merits of it rather than the tool. After all, how many of us have serviceable tools but exhausted batteries?

Interesting name 1080. Once apon a time I dispersed some of your product in your area.

Makita arent as good as they used to be back before the year 2000 in my opinion when they used to be the leader and lots of tradies used them.
Makita today dont seem to have kept up with other brands, my choice of the two brands you mention would be Milwauke.

Originally Posted by batcat

Makita arent as good as they used to be back before the year 2000 in my opinion when they used to be the leader and lots of tradies used them.
Makita today dont seem to have kept up with other brands, my choice of the two brands you mention would be Milwauke.

I agree that some of their stuff isn't as good as it used to be, but some of it is alot better these days. SCMS's and cordless stuff is far superior to the pre 2000 stuff, the orange battery cordless stuff was awful compared to the other brands.

Makita is still one of the most common brands on commercial building sites and the Li-ion Makita cordless stuff would out number any other brand by 80%, easy.

Which would I choose? I had the same dilemma, a mate works at a tool shop and he had huge raps on both brands. I choose the Makita because of the huge range of skins available and most of my mates have Makita, so we share alot of the stuff.
I'm yet to be disappointed with it and don't think I ever will be. If it wasn't for those two things, it would have come down to a coin toss.

If you get the Makita, make sure you get the radio too. Awesome sound and has an MP3 jack, mine goes everywhere with me, including camping.

Here's my two bobs worth.
I have a M18 Milwaukee set;
Circular Saw, Drill/Driver, H/D Impact Drill & Impact Driver with 6 batteries & 2 chargers.
Top set of tools which I'm very happy with;
great battery life with the 3 Ahr batteries and seem to be well balanced.
The motors are brushless so no issues with replacing brushes.
Yes they are a little more expensive
but they seem to be marketed towards to the serious tradesmen as a "top shelf tool"
and 5 year warranty; the next best warranty is Metabo who are priced similarly.
Cheers, Crowie