Makita future

[bsr]

Hi, with the release of the Makita 40V XGT range I'm reluctant to further invest in my LXT kit.

Any thoughts on whether LXT will continue in the longer term? Makita are producing lots of tools including drills and impacts in 40V which makes me think LXT is to be phased out.

 

[Swwils]

It does seem like another misstep for Makita.

Other brands have dual voltage systems and a wider offering of specialist tools.

XGT just seems to have another 12 impact drivers and the Makita reps are very silent on users concerns.

 

[Notch7]

I see a lot of dewalt kit on site these days.

Dewalt have the flexvolt 18v 54v
Also I notice their T stak toolbox systems are very popular.

Makita seem to have fallen behind

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Having bought into the LXT system quite a while back I am less than impressed with Makita's recent moves. They seem to have left the goal wide open for deWalt, Milwaukee and even Hikoki, with pretty much every other mainstream manufacturer bringing in either backward compatible higher voltage tools (e.g. deWalt, Hikoki, etc) or high output 18 volt battery packs (e.g. Milwaukee, Bosch, etc).

So when the "battery wars" kicked off what did Makita do? For years they told us that 3Ah was enough, just carry more of them (has anyone in development at Makita ever been near a builfing site?) and when they belatedly introduced higher amperage batteries they gave us the 4Ah, 5Ah and the 6Ah, but nothing more - with their pricing on 6Ah being completly ridiculous (why is it I can buy 5 x 5Ah batteries (25Ah) for quite a bit less than 3 x 6Ah (18Ah)?)

So when it comes to replacing future LXT tools, after about 15 years with Makita, I for one will be taking a long, hard look at my options. The company seems to think that weck are all just going to replace our tools with their 40 volt offerings (despite it having a physically larger battery pack size). I will probably not be buying Makita, especially as I already have Hikoki nailers in 4 different sizes - a product area that Makita still hasn't got right. Talking to other Makita users I sense that I am not alone

 

[Keithmac]

I'm in the Milwaulkee camp personally now, M12 for workshop kit.

What are the reported advantage of 40v?.

Impact gun wise 18v seems to be the standard at the moment for Snap-on and Milwaulkee.

 

[Swwils]

I'm in the Milwaulkee camp personally now, M12 for workshop kit.

What are the reported advantage of 40v?.

Impact gun wise 18v seems to be the standard at the moment for Snap-on and Milwaulkee.

TORQUE!

The higher the voltage, the less current you need to deliver the same power to the load. The lower the current, the lower the power loss due to I-squared-R heating loss.

Same reason why EV are 400V / 800V, a 12v battery would be huge.

 

[bsr]

Yeah, Makita claim they are going to continue both 18V and 40V but why would they? If 40V was limited to e.g. garden tools then I would understand it. But since they are releasing 40V drills etc it makes me very reluctant to spend any more money on LXT.

 

[sxturbo]

That's the good thing about hikoki/Hitachi, they have created a multi volt system precisely to get round this problem, as have DeWalt.

 

[sxturbo]

I'm in the Milwaulkee camp personally now, M12 for workshop kit.

What are the reported advantage of 40v?.

Impact gun wise 18v seems to be the standard at the moment for Snap-on and Milwaulkee.

The 40v tools are beasts on the big gun equipment.

Hitachi 36v 1/2" impact gun is a powerful bit of kit for the size of it with 775 ft lb of torque

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Makita has already had a stab at 36 volts, and last time they came unstuck - the battery packs were massive and expensive and the range if tools was tiny: SDS drill and recip saw, but I can't recall seeing anything else. In fact they were so large that early on they introduced an adaptor which allowed the use of two 18 volt LXT batteries side by side in place of the 36 volt battery. Now we have a 40 volt battery which when combined with pretty much the same body as the 18 volt LXT impact driver can't be got into the same small spaces, because the bloody battery is too big!

 

[blup]

Hi, with the release of the Makita 40V XGT range I'm reluctant to further invest in my LXT kit.

Any thoughts on whether LXT will continue in the longer term? Makita are producing lots of tools including drills and impacts in 40V which makes me think LXT is to be phased out.

Yes they will continue as different users have different demands, hence the 12 volt range which is also expanding. Bear in mind battery technology is moving very quickly and and reduction in battery size and increase in power (amp hours) is set to take off in the next few years.

Blup

 

[big-all]

Makita has already had a stab at 36 volts, and last time they came unstuck - the battery packs were massive and expensive and the range if tools was tiny: SDS drill and recip saw, but I can't recall seeing anything else. In fact they were so large that early on they introduced an adaptor which allowed the use of two 18 volt LXT batteries side by side in place of the 36 volt battery. Now we have a 40 volt battery which when combined with pretty much the same body as the 18 volt LXT impact driver can't be got into the same small spaces, because the bloody battery is too big!

as an aside

its still 10.8 18 and 36v not 12/ 20/40 that some tools quote
you have standard 3.6v cells that for a fast charge will temporarily say 20% overvoltage so up to 3 cells 12.96v 5 cells21.6v 10 cells 43.2 v
so instead off quoting the average over the cycle that is more recognised they are quoting the higher end

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Presumably having had a dismal failure with the original 36 volt system they are seeking to differentiate. Either way, it doesn't alter the fact that due to their physical size they are not going to be the handiest of tools to use. Nor does it change the fact that the chargers are completely incompatible with their 18 volt system - something other manufacturers have been able to overcome (and who wants to carry multiple battery chargers around with them?)

 

[Keithmac]

Just bought the Milwaulkee M12 LED tripod light to do some loft work. Again excellent quality kit and maybe their M12 multitool is next on the list..

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I have to admit that M12 brushless multitool looks good. They even had the b...s to put it forward against other manufacturers 18 volt kit in a recent review/test I saw.TBH it fared really well