whats your opinion on Makita or Hitachi drills

hello all,

basiclly i will be buying a set of new drills,
it will be makita or hitachi that i will be getting, just debating which to go with.
Im just after two nice 18v combi drills, i use one for driving and one for drilling (saves me time) but if i need to do light hammer drilling then i want the option to do so.

could anyone give me there opinion on both the hitachi and makita drills?
heres what im looking at:

Makita 8391DZ 18v Combi Hammer Drill

Weight 2.3kgs
2 speed ratio gearbox
Rotation Max Speed 1300 RPM
Number of Speed Settings 2 Speeds
Torque settings 16
18v

Hitachi DV18DVC 18v Combi Hammer Drill

Weight 2.3kgs
2 speed ratio gearbox
Rotation Max Speed 1500 RPM
Number of Speed Settings 2 Speeds
Torque settings 22
18v

thanks.
Phil

[edit]
removed links etc and reworded

Budget? why have you limited yourself to these two brands? Obviously the Hitachi wins on spec but TBH you can't go wrong with either.

Consider getting a drill/impact driver twinpack.

Proper bit of kit:
http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/section/4539/sn/METSB18LTXTWIN

thanks deluks,

yea my budget is pretty low, around 170 ish for the next week, one of my current drills died and the other has a goosed chuck so i need them in the next week really

Only time i really use an inpact driver is for putting finishing screws in for gate posts etc, already got one that does the job so dont really need to be buying another.

reason i ended up with them two brands is because i know both are good, not saying that others arnt, its just what i knew so was safer doing so

cheers,
Phil

Hi Phil,

I can't comment on the Makita's because I haven't used them, but I do have two Hitachi DV18DVC's for the same purpose as you intend (one as a drill and one as a driver to save time). I've had them for about 24 months now and they have had almost daily use during that time. Sometimes they get physically abused (one was dropped 15ft from a roof onto a timber floor, and they all get used as a construction hammer regularly) and so far they've not missed a beat with the batteries still holding good charge.

The torque is great. If you don't have an impact driver to hand you can probably get away with using one of these although as with real life lots of heavy screwing will wear your batteries down quickly. Putting 50mm screws into a dense hardwood like Ipe (a drain on any cordless tool) will get you about 20 minutes of power for drilling and 30 minutes for driving. For kitchen fitting you could get a day out of each charge. The torque is there right up until the very end though. With the batteries on a 30 minutes full charge you should never be stuck without one.

When I finally replace them it will be for the similar spec Li-Ion ones as my other recent replacements have been Hitachi Li-Ion and it is handy to have multiple tool using the same batteries and chargers. I've coveted the replacements numerous times but while the DV18DVC's are still performing I can't justify replacing them.

They are the lower budget models from both makers, much of a muchness really. Neither a bad drill though.

Id check the battery specs, make the choice based upon that.

@dave yea i tend to use them as impact drivers as well when i manage to forget the impact driver (just about every other day), but it does kill the batterys but we expect that

@hitachimad, your right, i was looking more at the hitachi for the extra torgue settings and little extra speed however the hitachi batterys have 1.4ah for the same price of 1.3ah for the makita but saying that it looks a lot easyer for me to get say the 2.6ah for the makita then it is to get a sim one for the hitachi and to be fair i will probally want 2.6 just so it last longer.

im swinging to the makita for that reason, but only that reason...

going to make my mind up later on today and get them ordered...

thanks again,
Phil

i've owned a pair of each and the makita is a better drill all round.

the chuck on the hitachi is not a good one and that alone is a reason to go for the makita.

the makita charger takes nimh & nicd batteries as well, the hitachi i can't recall if it did, or just nicd.

only irritant with makita is there is no clip for storing bits when not in use,

out of the 2 its makita every time
I've been selling tools for 30 years and in that time i have sold just one hitachi tool - and i will NEVER sell another as long i still have a hole in my arris

@studips thats pretty much made my mind up, thanks

@seaangler do u still sell makita tools?

if you do and will deliver to manchester, can you send me a message with the prices of the 8391dz body only - 2.6ah batterys and the charger.

many thanks,
Phil

i do - but not that one
think the mods may get a gob in if they think i'm touting for business ( which i'm not)

yea i never read it as you were trying to advertise just thought id ask, thanks anyways, just priced them on B&Q, without going into detail they were £70 more expensive than what iv seen for the 1.3ah batterys, think i would rather just get it delivered lol

anyway, iv gone with the makita just for the comments above regarding the chuck and the batterys.

cheers,
Phil