Makita 18 V cordless drill/driver

The story behind this order is pretty simple: I spotted an interesting, inexpensive drill driver and thought it might be worth a look. But, as sometimes happens, "something went wrong".
In reality, though, things turned out not so badly, but still...


I should probably start with why I ordered it. The price seemed good, especially since it was advertised as having a brushless motor, compatibility with Makita batteries, and a metal, single-sleeve 13 mm chuck, which indirectly suggested it had a spindle lock.


As it turned out, not everything that caught my interest was actually there. The product description has since been changed, and the version with a 13 mm chuck is no longer available.
But I won't get sidetracked. Let's move on to the review, where I'll try to cover everything in detail, including the difficulties users of this kind of tool may run into.

The packaging and contents are as basic as it gets: a cardboard box and a plastic bag.


Inside the bag is the drill driver and nothing else—not even a manual.


The housing design and overall appearance really do resemble a well-known brand's tool, both in color and shape.


The closest match, in my opinion, is the Makita DHP 482 Z. Look closely, though, and you'll find a few differences, even if they're hard to spot at a glance.


It weighs just over a kilogram without the battery, about 300 grams less than my Milwaukee 2607-22CT M18. The total weight will depend on the battery capacity, of course.
Since my Milwaukee is in roughly the same "weight class" and has the same features, I'll compare the tool under review with it from time to time.


There are no nameplates on the housing, or even basic technical specifications—it's OEM through and through.


1. The handle, like the other parts of the housing, has rubberized sections. The inserts are fairly firm, and the grip is excellent—but credit for that goes to Makita's engineers.
2. The power button is standard for this type of tool, with the usual direction-of-rotation switch above it. There's an LED work light, but unlike the Makita and Milwaukee, it's simply sticking out of a small hole, with no diffuser. As usual, the light shines "somewhere", just not where you need it.
3. The motor and gearbox section is also protected by rubber inserts.
4. Even during the initial inspection, I immediately noticed that the motor was clearly a conventional one. When I was preparing the photos, I also noticed that you can see its markings through the housing vents.


The speed selector is on top, protected by raised sections of the housing at the front and back.


The only available information about the specifications was a table that was clearly "made up on the spot".
For example, it lists a maximum torque of 350 Nm and a speed of up to 4000 rpm, while Milwaukee specifies just 50 Nm and up to 1800 rpm.
I didn't measure the rotational speed, but subjectively, the Milwaukee runs about 20–30% faster. I think I'd definitely notice the difference between 1800 and 4000 rpm.


1. This drill driver—or, more accurately, cordless drill—has three operating modes: driving, drilling, and hammer drilling. In drill mode, there is no torque limit.
Above that is the torque limiter adjustment. The scale is marked with 25 settings, but in reality there are 18, so the markings don't line up. The Milwaukee also has 18 settings, but it has 18 markings too, so there's no such problem.
2. The chuck is single-sleeve, with a metal body, and is marked simply 1/2" 13 mm.
3, 4. I have no complaints about the chuck. Its minimum capacity isn't specified, but it grips 1.5 mm bits just fine, and I doubt anyone would use anything smaller.

You could say everything is great—the chuck tightens with a characteristic click—but there's a "catch": the drill driver has no spindle lock. That makes this chuck awkward to use in torque-limiting mode, because you often have to switch to a higher torque setting to loosen it. For example, setting the dial to 5–7 is enough to tighten it, but loosening it takes around 21...


At the bottom is the battery mounting platform, with some strange marking—maybe 142, maybe 14L, or perhaps even 14V.
But the key point here is that there are only two battery contacts. Of course, you'll ask: how many should there be? And here’s the second "catch": it needs 3 contacts.


The thing is, compatible batteries don’t have cells inside that can switch the power circuit, so that’s handled by the tool’s controller, which receives a command from the battery controller through the third contact. This isn’t unique to Makita batteries; Milwaukee M18 batteries work the same way.
Chinese circuit boards also have a third contact. In the photo, you can see a power transistor in the charging circuit; it has nothing to do with the load.


The third wire is clearly visible in the photo of the disassembled branded tool. The cordless angle grinder also had a third contact; I reviewed it about a year ago: review.

The risk is that the battery could be damaged if it’s over-discharged or, worse, if its cells become unbalanced.



Disassembly.
You’ll need a Torx screwdriver to open the case. T-10 bits worked for me, but some of the screws are recessed deep inside, so I used a screwdriver from the Hikvision camera kit.


The two halves of the case fit together very tightly. If I hadn’t known I was taking apart a no-name Chinese tool, I’d have thought it was a genuine brand-name product.


1. You can also see inside that it uses a two-wire connection.
2. The controller is rated for 7.2–24 V and 16 A. Speed is smoothly adjustable up to about 70%; beyond that, separate contacts simply close the power circuit, giving you 100% speed.
3, 4. The inside is fairly simple, but one of the wires was pinched against the edge of the case. I put it back in place when I reassembled the tool.


The motor, gearbox, and speed selector mechanism.


The motor comes off very easily: just rotate it relative to the gearbox and pull it out of the retaining clips.


1. The motor is pretty standard for this type of tool: an RS550 rated for 21 V.
2. I found some leftover rubber from the potting compound inside, blocking a few ventilation holes. It came out easily enough, but then I wondered if I should have left it in: it also helped hold the motor in place and didn’t spoil the appearance.


The gearbox housing is plastic, with metal internals. I didn’t take it apart any further, but it looks perfectly fine to me. The only thing is, I wouldn’t put it under heavy load in hammer mode.


Unfortunately, health problems kept me from doing a proper test. In fact, that’s partly why the drill driver sat around at my place from mid-February until I was finally able to review it.

Still, I did give it a try, and I can draw a few conclusions.

All the tests used a 50 mm-thick board. Here’s an example of drilling with a 25 mm spade bit.


With a 35 mm Forstner bit, I couldn’t tell any difference from the Milwaukee, either here or in the previous example.


Driving a 6×70 screw went in "like a breeze", even without pre-drilling—but it turned out the clutch was disengaged.
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After that, I tried driving an 8×70 screw, also without pre-drilling, but couldn’t drive it all the way in.
After taking the photo, I realized I was expecting a bit much: I’d been driving the screws in second gear, and naturally the drill driver wasn’t happy about that.


After driving the 8×70 screw, there was an unpleasant smell and even a little smoke. The drill driver’s housing also got hot. I took the thermal image about 4–5 minutes later; I didn’t think of it right away, and then I didn’t want to put the tool through that again.


All right, I switched to first gear and tried again.
The 6×70 screw went in a little more slowly, but the head ended up flush with the surface. You can tell the motor is under much less strain.


The 8×70 screw went in fine too.


So, overall, it’s fine. It turns out it only drives the screws all the way in with the clutch disengaged—that’s the last two clutch settings (though usually it’s either just the last one or drill mode). With the limiter enabled and set to maximum, a 6×70 screw goes in almost all the way, up to the thicker section after the threads, while an 8×70 goes in about 1/2–2/3 of the way.


And a quick visual comparison with Milwaukee.
They’re roughly the same size, but the handle shape is slightly different, and the battery on the one under review sits a little farther forward.


The length and height are also practically identical.


Conclusions.
As always, I’ll start with the good points. It drills, drives screws, and has decent power. I had no complaints about runout or play either; it’s about on par with the Milwaukee. It feels great in the hand and has the same weight distribution as the Milwaukee, though it’s a little heavier. I won’t be too hard on the build quality, either. The only real thing to pick on is a pinched wire; otherwise, it’s fine.

But, of course, there are some drawbacks.
In my opinion, there are three major ones, and one is a consequence of another:
1. The chuck is good and holds bits securely, but having to apply one amount of force to tighten it and another to release it is genuinely annoying. If you’re using just one bit, it works great. But if you need to change bits often and also use the torque limiter, the job becomes a nightmare... You’ll constantly have to turn the torque adjustment from low for tightening and working to high to release the chuck.
2. There’s no spindle lock. If there were, the first drawback wouldn’t be an issue.
3. There’s no third battery contact, and therefore no protection against over-discharging the battery. Unfortunately, this is common with clones.

Also, it turns out the motor isn’t brushless at all, just a regular one, unfortunately...
Compared with the Milwaukee in terms of torque, the one under review is a little weaker, but I wouldn’t say the difference is huge.

The store offered a discount on the version with a 10 mm two-sleeve chuck, which works properly without a spindle lock. With code BGdd017c, it costs $27.19 through June 30.

They also offered a discount on another model, which is advertised as having a brushless motor and looks better, too. With code BGb8fa5b, it costs $39.19 through June 30.