Buy Makita LXT202 18-Volt Hammer Drill & Impact Driver Lithium-Ion Combo KitMakita LXT202 18-Volt Hammer Drill & Impact Driver Lithium-Ion Combo Kit Product Description:
- LXT Lithium-Ion battery and optimum charging system produces 280 percent total lifetime work with 2 times more cycles
- Hammer drill (BHP451) weighs just 4.9 pounds and has 4-pole maximum torque motor delivers 560 in. lbs. of efficient torque in a compact size
- Compact impact driver (BTD140) is weighs just 3.3 pounds and delivers 1,280 in./lbs. of torque with 0 to 3,200 IPM
- Kit includes hammer drill; impact driver; LXT Lithium-Ion 3.0Ah batteries (2); 45-minute optimum charger; carrying case
- 3-year warranty on tools, 1-year warranty on battery
Product Description
Includes 1/2-in LXT Hammer Driver-Drill - BHP451, 1/4-in LXT Impact Driver - BTD140, (2) 18 Volt LXT 3.0 Ah Lithium-Ion Batteries - 194205-3, Optimum Charger - DC18SC, Plastic Tool Case - 824734-9, Operating Manual
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
57 of 61 people found the following review helpful.
By StevieQ
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. ;-)
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
By creede kids
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
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
By Thomas J. Wilson
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.
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Makita Die grinder
A glaring omission