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At just more than 3.5 pounds the Makita 18-volt 1/2″ Compact Cordless Drill-driver (BDF452) is 25 percent lighter than its predecessor, the BDF451. The loss of weight is because Makita has made changes in the drill that made it a full inch shorter in length without sacrificing much in the way of torque (only 20 percent) and let’s face it, you don’t generally have to worry much about torque in the woodshop, but the savings in length can come in handy when you’re trying to get into those small areas. Makita also dropped back to the standard two-speed design that still delivers plenty of rpm.
The good news for Makita owners is that the new drill-driver will accept the lithium batteries from your older Makita units. The bad news is, the new batteries will not fit with the older drills.
The drill-driver kit includes the drill, two 1.5-amp hour (Ah) batteries and the charger. The recharge time for the battery is a mere 15 minutes.
How does the power of the drill stand up? I used this tool for the entire day in the shop as I made shop cabinets using pocket screws and not one time did I have to recharge the battery. The next day, as I continued the job, I finally had to recharge , and the battery recharged so fast that it was at full power before I was ready to use the drill again.
There is one concern with this drill. If you are a power-tool aficionado, you’ll find that the keyless chuck does not close 100 percent, so using the smallest of bits (under 1/16″), will be an issue. But you still have the built-in LED light, which I found to be a nice benefit when working deep in the corner of cabinets. The new “gym shoe”-styled white and black exterior design distinguishes it from the standard Makita blue.
More information on the 18v Driver-Drill from Makita
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I went through 2 of these before swapping out for the Milwaukee compact lithium drill.
Both of the ones I got had chuck wobble, up to 1/8". When I went back to Home Depot the third time, I showed the hardware associate and it was quite evident with a spade bit we put in it. He opened up a new one off the shelf and again, the same chuck wobble. I had him open the Milwaukee just to see if this was common with the new compacts. When we tried the spade bit on the Milwaukee it was fine, no chuck wobble. He said maybe they got a bad batch of Makitas and could check if they had a new shipment, but I wasn’t willing to take any more chances. My reasoning being, this was a Makita, not a Skil, it’s supposed to be a quality product from a quality manufacturer. I loved the size, weight and features, but if it doesn’t function correctly then what’s the point.
Mine may have been an isolated incident, but I can only comment on my experience. I still keep hearing there are problems with battery life on the Makita. I didn’t have the drill long enough to comment on that, but the batteries seemed ok to me.