Makita BHP452SHE / BHP452Z

Cordless drill – Gearbox broke after 16 months. Makita refused to replace saying it is a consumable part. Even though it takes up 50% of the space inside the drill. The idea is you buy a replacement skin only because you have the batteries..... I found the part on amazon for $60 delivered from the US and installed it myself. Works fine..... It was then stolen and I have replaced with a milwaukee because of makita's poor response. 10x better drill, no comparison. Light

An essential tool – If I was to pick a power tool that I use most, I think it would be my cordless drill. As such, I did a lot of research before buying one of these. Having had relatives with earlier versions of Makita drills, they seem to rise to the top in terms of quality and reliability. The new LXT batteries charge very fast, and I find I get a lot done on each charge. The drill comes with two batteries which is good and enables one to charge while work continues on. I also like that once a battery is charged, the charger is smart enough to prevent over charging. The batteries that come witht eh drill though are the 1.5 Mah, which are light but don't hold nearly as much charge as other Makita LXT batteries that are out there.

That said, I have since had one battery die and won't charge. There are places that can 'repack' the battery at a much cheaper price than buying a new genuine battery, but I have since opted to buy new paralell imported bigger batteries.

The drill has a very controllable speed and enables an easy switch between 1 (for screwing something in) and 2 (for drilling). The trigger control is solid, but I do find that when drilling and release the trigger it feels like the chuck is not as smoothly controlled when coming back to a stop.

It has a torque control settings which are very adjustable and the drill has plenty of grunt. Having re-roofed a garage, I worked my drill very hard driving in over 500 self-tapping tech screws and it coped well.

This drill has the larger chuck which is really useful for fitting the commonly used 13 mm drill bits to fit 12 mm coach bolts. The chuck is easy to tighten and loosen, and I have had no problems with this holding drill bits in place.

It comes with the regular Makita blue cordless drill hard case, which ends up getting filled with lots of odds and ends like screws and the like.

The main competition that I considered out there was Hitachi, Ryobi, DeWalt, and Black&Decker but in the end I am very happy to have gone with Makita. I would suggest that the codless drill is perhaps the most used tool, so this is a good option. To get the benefits of interchanging batteries, this though means following a Makita LXT route which can be expensive if buying several other tools. Reliable, grunty, fast charge Expensive

Light Weight – Great drill, light weight easy to use. Work Light for working in tight spots. Plenty of toque for tougher jobs. Highly recommend it. Batteries can be used on some other Makita cordless tools for easy use. The batteries can be expensive, so this makes it all a lot cheaper. Holds drill bits up 13mm. Variable speed control and with a high or low speed range selection Light, work light, plenty of Toque.

Top quality tool – This is my first 'real' tool, I've had a cheaper drill for awhile. But water got into it and started rusting real quickly. So I bit the bullet and upgraded. The price might be abit dear, but its well worth it. I think everyone else on here agrees makita makes one hell of a tool. It will punch through bricks like butter and it will happily do it again and again, no problem! just love it!! build quality, power! abit pricey