Welcome to cordless drill reviews online – your ultimate guide to finding the best cordless drill for your projects, home repairs and improvements.

Drills certainly have come a long way since the first models with really long cords attached to facilitate ease of use. You can now easily buy cordless drills at any hardware store and there are models to suit almost every possible budget. But without research and reviews, considering the huge array of cordless drills and drivers that are available on the market today, it can be quite difficult to decide in terms of prices and performance.  There are so many features to take account of.

However, a little research has shown that one cordless drill that seems to be favored a lot over others is the Makita BDF452HW 18v cordless drill. It has been one of the top-rated cordless drills in power tools for years. Our cordless drill reviews will certainly help you make better buying decisions.

Cordless Drill Reviews – Makita BDF452HW

Getting The Best Cordless Drill – What to Look for?

There are some characteristics of a drill that every good quality cordless drill should have incorporated in it. Some of the most important of these features to take into consideration for people reading cordless drill reviews include the following:

• Adjustable clutch
• Voltage vs Weight
• Type of battery
• Electronic brake
• Variable speed

Keeping all these in mind, we will see how the Makita 18V cordless drill fares in connection to all these points.

Adjustable Clutch

An adjustable clutch is needed to increase the effectiveness of whatever the highest power of the drill is. In other words, what you achieve is the maximization of the spinning strength of the drill, called torque. It is the torque setting use to preset the depth of the screw without over-driving it too far below the surface or causing damage to the screw head. The more settings you have, the more the control over the depth the screws are driven.

The Makita BDF452HW 18v cordless drill/driver comes with 16 clutch settings which is sufficient for both homeowners (DIY) and professional work.

It also has an adjustable half-inch (1/2”) keyless chuck that will fit in all sizes of drill and screwdriver bits for heavy duty work. You will have no worries of drilling bigger holes as compared to lower capacity drills with only 3/8” chuck. Not all models have this feature in cordless drill. Reviews have been very positive with half-inch keyless chuck.

What You Should Know About Voltage vs Weight?

The more the voltage of your cordless drill, the more powerful it will be in terms of drilling speed and torque. For example – an 18v cordless drill is able to drill bigger holes faster and the ability to drive a two and a half (2.5 ) inch screw through thicker wood better than a 12v cordless drill can deliver.

Where the Makita BDF452HW 18v cordless driver drill is concerned, it has a power of 18 volts and has the amazing ability to give a resultant 450 in.lbs. of maximum torque. In relation to this is the undeniably important question of the weight of the drill. In general, the greater the voltage of any cordless drill, the heavier it tends to be.

The fascinating thing about the Makita 18v cordless drill is that in spite of its power, the drill has a weight of only 3.5 pounds. It has the power of 18-volt and yet only weighs like most 12-volt cordless drills.

This is the benefit of reading cordless drill reviews online. Now you know this model is super light-weight, you should really consider a plus point for getting one for your everyday needs; be it for home repairs, improvements or construction work.

Weight is an important factor to consider as most people will prefer lighter drill without putting too much stress on the wrist.

Why the Battery Matters?

There are two main types of batteries that are available for cordless drills. These are the nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries and the nickel-metal hydride (Ni-Mh) batteries. Ni-Mh batteries are usually preferred by people using cordless drills because of the fact that despite any number of times that you recharge this battery it won’t lose any power and will always work as if new. On the other hand, this obvious benefit means that it is more expensive than the Ni-Cd battery pack.

Talking about the Makita 18V cordless driver drill, it has gone a technologically advanced step further. This is because it has neither the Ni-Cd battery nor the Ni-Mh battery but instead has a lithium-ion battery. This basically means that the Makita drill can run much longer than cordless drills with the Ni-Cd or Ni-Mh battery packs.

In addition to this there is a substantially reduced self-discharge. This way you can use your Makita drill anytime the need for it arises. Even better, it can fully charge in 15 minutes with the 15-Minute Rapid Optimum Charger. Another plus point in terms of battery power, weight and performance. If you conduct some extensive cordless drill reviews online particular on Lithium-Ion batteries, you’ll notice the following.

Advantages of Lithium-Ion:

• 40 percent lighter
• 5 times lower self discharge
• Offers the longest run times
• Recharge up to 2000 cycles. Delivers 2.5 times more than Ni-Cd

Putting the Brakes On

Cordless drills are used for a number of purposes but for some certain functions, they need to have some essential features. Take the example of woodworking or particularly hard dry-walling jobs. One thing that you would definitely need from your cordless drill is an electric brake. The electric brake enables the user of the drill to stop the drill bit in an instant just by flicking a button. This is an important thing if you want added control over the way your drill works.

The Makita 18V cordless driver drill comes with the electric brake for easier handling and care, and even better, to keep the drill running smoothly it has a motor that is cooled by a fan so that the braking doesn’t lead to any over-heating.

Watching the Speed

Obviously having various speed levels in your cordless drill is an advantage. It allows you to have greater control over your drill. From a safety point of view, this isn’t a feature that should be in the more expensive brands only but should be a standard feature in all cordless drills.

The Makita cordless  drill has a variable 2-speed all metal transmission (0-400 / 0-1, 500 RPM) which means not only that it has the safety factor incorporated in it, but also that it can be used easily for several different applications. For example – use high speed for drilling wood and slow speed for drilling metal.

The Extras

The Makita BDF452HW 18v cordless drill has a number of other added features that really makes it worth every penny that you spend on it. These extra features are inclusive of:

• Compact – only 8-Inch long
• Design is ergonomic – reduce operator fatigue
• Built-in LED light to facilitate any work in the dark area
• 15-Minute Rapid Optimum Charger
• Super light weight – only 3.5 pounds including battery

What about the Warranty?

• 3-Year Warranty on drill
• 1-Year on Lithium-Ion batteries and chargers

What’s in the Box?

• Makita BDF452HW 18V Compact Lithium-Ion Cordless 1/2-Inch Driver-Drill
• Two 18V compact lithium-ion batteries
• 15-Minute Rapid Optimum Charger
• Tool case

Getting the Drill

You can save a ton of money on this drill by looking it up on the Amazon website, plus you will benefit from free delivery as well. As far as the recommendation goes, the word is go from the start. The Makita BDF452HW 18v cordless driver drill is a must-have for anyone who regularly uses a drill.

We hope our cordless drill reviews will help you find the best 18v cordless drill for your everyday needs.