I've been using this kit heavily to finish a basement room. I did some shopping around originally to upgrade my old 9.6 V cordless. I had narrowed it down the Dewalt DC720KA, the Milwaukee 18v compact, or the BDF142 when I came upon this kit. I never used an impact driver before this, but I discovered all the pros now do their screw driving with these. I'm glad I decided to give it a try!
Impact Driver: I will never drive wood screws with a drill again! Significantly less pressure is required to keep the phillips bit in contact with the screw head. I've driven 3" wood screws all week and not a single stripped head. It can install a fastener in tight places where a drill or hammer/nail just can't go. Superior torque will bury the screw (head and all) as deep in the wood as you want to go. I will use this more than any other tool in the kit. It is a little beast!
Drill: Good combination of power and speed. Enough to push a 1 1/4" self feeding bit through 3 1/2" of pressure treated lumber the high torgue setting. 5/8" self feeding bits eat through studs in a flash on the high speed setting. It is light like a cordless tool should be, and has the best power/weight ratio of any cordless by far. It comes with a quality chuck and plenty of torque. I think the drill is slightly better than the compact 18v Milwaukee and just a shade behind the Dewalt DC720KA which are both fine products.
Light: Has four convenient head angle adjustments from 0 degrees to about 110 degrees and a strap for hanging. Not a primary reason to buy this kit, but it's come in really handy for me.
Kit positives: Nice compact case has room for drill bits and accessories. Batteries do charge in 15 minutes. These tools have serious power. The combo of the drill and impact driver is unbeatable at this price. You would spend twice this to get the equivalent from another manufacturer. All three of the tools are a pleasure to use. The led light on the drill and impact driver does come in handy when you are working in dark corners.
Kit negatives: Run time might not be enough for heavy duty users. Not a problem for me; quick charge time makes up for it. I can use the impact drive all day on two full battery charges. Most of the black on these tools is rubber except for the raised Makita logo, which is paint. I've jammed the impact driver into some tight places which has caused some of that paint to scratch off. You can buy belt clips for these tools off e-bay which is only a minor inconvenience.
Overall: Considering what you get for the price, this is a five star kit.
Makita LCT300W 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 3-Piece Combo KitFirst off, I'm a professional fabricator, and i've been typically really hard on my tools, especially cordless tools, but these have far exceeded my expectations. I bought this setup when i was in a jam, my heavy duty 18v Milwuakee crapped out after only 2mos of service, and only a week back from its first warranty repair (I'm no longer a milwuakee fan, sadly). Well, needing to finish a project for monday, and stuck looking for a new driver/drill on a saturday night, I picked up the combo kit at a Home Depot minutes before closing, figuring it would get me through the project, and the impact driver might come in handy for some light duty projects later on.
Well I was amazed after working with these for 4 mos solid. So small yet so powerful, and far more rugged than i would have expected for their light weight and plastic-y feel. And wow, did i say they are small? I mean i can put the impact driver in the side pocket on my cargo shorts, or back pocket of my carhartts and comfortably climb a ladder like that. They seriously lighten my load when I'm lugging a bag of tools to a gig outside the shop, too.
The only drawback I've found is an entirely acceptable compromise for the light weight and easy handling, which is short battery life between charges. But Makita makes up for this by including a sophisticated and fast charger.
In short, this works really great for the sort of work that cordless tools do well for; tough intermittent tasks where access is tight. Sure it doesn't have all of the brawn of some of the full-size makita 18v line, but really when i need that sort of power, I'll want to be using something Pneumatic or AC-driven.
Buy it if you need a lightweight tool for intermittent use. If you need something to replace a corded/pneumatic tool out in the field, you might want to bump up to the full size (lxt) line.
Have had this kit for just under a year. The weight of the tools is phenomenal. Very light and excellent balance. The impact gun is pretty impressive. The drill, however, doesn't really have the ooomph I was hoping for. And if you are doing a lot of drilling, expect your batteries to get very hot, and also to take a very long time to cool down before the charger will start charging them. I've had these guns heat up quite a bit while under heavy use, so much so that I've had to put gloves on. This is drilling into steel, by the way. These are great guns for the price and the weight, but under heavy usage (I'm a scenic carpenter in the entertainment industry), the drill is less than impressive. And the clutch just died on it. I'm going to stick with Makita, but I'm going for the more powerful guns.
The new LiOn driver usually runs near two hundred by itself. Add the impact driver that goes for close to this price AND include the spotlight and you definitely have a winner.
I've used the driver myself and it is a joy to use. It is very lightweight and the batteries charge in 15 minutes. So even if I'm using the drill full time, I can't run out of juice.
Anyone as confused by the compact vs regular lithium technology in these Makita Drills as I was?
I have used both the compact and the LXT version of the Makita Lithium cordless tool sets. Mostly the impact driver and drill/driver. I am a electrical contractor and am pretty hard on my tools.
First both sets worked great. However, I did find that I spent considerable amount of time fetching new batteries with the compact version of the drills. I found this to be irritating, and prefered to use the LXT lithium drill as it lasted twice as long and had maybe just a little more UMMMPHHH to it.
One of my employees who has long struggled with tendonitis in his arm will use nothing else besides the compact version. It is about a pound lighter and it makes enough difference, of course he gets paid the same whether he changes the battery pack ten times a day or five.
Bottom line, both drills work very well. The compact is so light it makes it worth it for people doing lighter use, difficult position, or constant ladder work. But overall I would say it is better suited for the serious homeowner/weekend-warrior rather than the full time contractor. The regular LXT(non-compact) tools, although just a little heavier, are still much lighter than previous technologies and feel like a bag of feathers in comparison to a Dewault. They also lasted longer on a single charge(twice the storage capacity in the battery cells), which was the key selling point for me and the little extra power (insert Tim the toolman grunt here) was well worth it. Then again, if I am light duty user/homeowner and not using these tools daily, the compact version would certainly fit better into my budget and would still do everything I needed it too.'
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