Makita about to drop gas products

[stefcl100]

I came across this press release on Makita BE website (in french) : (https://www.makita.be/actualite/communiqué-de-presse-notification-de-l’arrêt-de-la-production-de-produits-à-moteur-thermique-1.html)

 

It announces that the Makita group is officially stopping the production of gas-operated products in March 2022. This decision is based on the growing demand for eco-friendly OPE and should only have minimal impact on financial results. R&D resources will be concentrated on battery technology.

[Ned]

6 hours ago, stefcl100 said:

I came across this press release on Makita BE website (in french) : (https://www.makita.be/actualite/communiqué-de-presse-notification-de-l’arrêt-de-la-production-de-produits-à-moteur-thermique-1.html)

 

It announces that the Makita group is officially stopping the production of gas-operated products in March 2022. This decision is based on the growing demand for eco-friendly OPE and should only have minimal impact on financial results. R&D resources will be concentrated on battery technology.

Wonder What kind of gas products they still have and why not March 2021. Makita got lost especially changing again with the new 40v platform instead of upgrade their batteries and x2 existing platform. They lost 10.8v market to Bosch and Milwaukee due to change to battery and tools sliding form factor platform instead of building up upon old barrel form factor platform and did not learn the lesson.  

[ToolBane]

Seems warranted. When I see the way electric chainsaws are basically performing the same as gas without all the fumes, noise, and hassle...it’s a no-brainer to me. And companies like Makita and Milwaukee have even burlier battery platforms coming down the pipeline. A lot of people will likely continue to have their romantic affection for gas tools as well as simply remaining unaware of just how powerful these battery tools already are, but in terms of having both the sheer performance while doing away with all the headaches...I seriously don’t know why more trades people haven’t already switched.

[stefcl100]

I asked many people that question (neighbors, friends, professionals). 

 

The issues for pros are runtime and performance. Large brushcutters, blowers (eg: Stihl magnum backpack) still lack a battery equivalent. 

 

Homeowners are discouraged by the high upfront cost of batteries and the risk of them failing or losing capacity after a couple of years. When you highlight reduced service cost, there is always someone who answers that his mower/trimmer has been running fine for 10 years without any maintenance. 

[Eric - TIA]

That is an interesting find.  I wonder if it's only in France?  I know a lot of landscapers who say battery is not there yet and they need the gas for run time.  LIke you said above, the battery is great for the homeowner, except the up front cost.

[stefcl100]

  

3 hours ago, Eric - TIA said:

That is an interesting find.  I wonder if it's only in France? 

 

It's global...

I found an official document in English on the IR website:

 

https://www.makita.biz/ir/upload_file/tdnrelease/6586_20201029412045_P01_.pdf

[Eric - TIA]

Interesting.  I guess they are going hard after battery.  Will be interesting for the professionals.

[Der_Dachs]

Not surprising.  Electric is quickly making gas obsolete.  I used to have all gas powered outdoor equipment but now everything I own is electric and Id never switch back to gas.  The electric stuff is just so much nicer, without the hassle and stink of gas.

[Eric - TIA]

11 hours ago, Badgerstate said:

Not surprising.  Electric is quickly making gas obsolete.  I used to have all gas powered outdoor equipment but now everything I own is electric and Id never switch back to gas.  The electric stuff is just so much nicer, without the hassle and stink of gas.

Are you a homeowner or do you use this for landscaping?  Just wondering.  I am a homeowner and like you, have moved all to battery without any regrets.  So nice to just put a battery in and go.  I am curious what landscapers are thinking.  My friend is an arborist.  We took a battery saw to him.  While he loved it, it's just not practical for him since he doesn't have the set up on his trucks for charging batteries on the go.  It will be interesting how things change over the years.

[Ned]

On 11/9/2020 at 4:10 AM, ToolBane said:

Seems warranted. When I see the way electric chainsaws are basically performing the same as gas without all the fumes, noise, and hassle...it’s a no-brainer to me. And companies like Makita and Milwaukee have even burlier battery platforms coming down the pipeline. A lot of people will likely continue to have their romantic affection for gas tools as well as simply remaining unaware of just how powerful these battery tools already are, but in terms of having both the sheer performance while doing away with all the headaches...I seriously don’t know why more trades people haven’t already switched.

Because if you have already a tool that do the job there is no point to change for other which will do just the same. A tool is life time (of the tool) investment. There is just so much you could charge your clients that is not enough to cover changing your tools in decades instead of Yearly turn. The pay for services does not go up every Year or two as the new series of tools so we have to do as much as we could we what we got and change only if absolutely necessary. 

[ToolBane]

15 hours ago, Ned said:

Because if you have already a tool that do the job there is no point to change for other which will do just the same. A tool is life time (of the tool) investment. There is just so much you could charge your clients that is not enough to cover changing your tools in decades instead of Yearly turn. The pay for services does not go up every Year or two as the new series of tools so we have to do as much as we could we what we got and change only if absolutely necessary. 

I entirely respect the pragmaticism...but if it were me and I could say buhbye to all the noise, vibrations, fuss, and fumes of gas tools I would in a heartbeat. Heck, I’ve avoided a lot of gas powered OPE specifically because of that. I feel really lucky to be a home owner in this emerging age of relatively quiet, fuss-free tools. I feel this should be an even bigger deal among the tradesmen who have to use these things all day every day.

 

In my little cluster of homes, we have a LOT of very big trees needing major maintenance all the time. It seems more often than not I spend several hours of any given day off putting up with the incessant buzzing of gas-powered chainsaws. For the percentage of days I wake up to this level of noise going on around my neighborhood, I seriously have a mind to purchase a Makita chainsaw for no more reason than to lend it to these guys for a couple days and see if they are sufficiently enticed to switch. I think the entire neighborhood would LOVE to see the change.

[Ned]

4 hours ago, ToolBane said:

I entirely respect the pragmaticism...but if it were me and I could say buhbye to all the noise, vibrations, fuss, and fumes of gas tools I would in a heartbeat. Heck, I’ve avoided a lot of gas powered OPE specifically because of that. I feel really lucky to be a home owner in this emerging age of relatively quiet, fuss-free tools. I feel this should be an even bigger deal among the tradesmen who have to use these things all day every day.

 

In my little cluster of homes, we have a LOT of very big trees needing major maintenance all the time. It seems more often than not I spend several hours of any given day off putting up with the incessant buzzing of gas-powered chainsaws. For the percentage of days I wake up to this level of noise going on around my neighborhood, I seriously have a mind to purchase a Makita chainsaw for no more reason than to lend it to these guys for a couple days and see if they are sufficiently enticed to switch. I think the entire neighborhood would LOVE to see the change.

I agree with you. I would prefers the new tools tech every Year and I change them like the iPhones every Year BUT in reality with the all tools maker releasing new tools twice a Year the second hand marked is dead now. Ones you get whatever you get is forever your in its lifetime and many brands (mine Makaita, Bosch) are building their tools to withstand a lot of wear and tear so me and many like me are stuck and will be using their sets no matter what the new offer although the new tech is always offer better outcome and feel. Ones my entire set been stolen from the van so I had chance (not by choice) to get on the Brushless wagon but that is it. No more.

[Der_Dachs]

On 11/11/2020 at 8:28 AM, Eric - TIA said:

Are you a homeowner or do you use this for landscaping?  Just wondering.  I am a homeowner and like you, have moved all to battery without any regrets.  So nice to just put a battery in and go.  I am curious what landscapers are thinking.  My friend is an arborist.  We took a battery saw to him.  While he loved it, it's just not practical for him since he doesn't have the set up on his trucks for charging batteries on the go.  It will be interesting how things change over the years.

Just a homeowner.  I probably would go with gas if I were a landscaper because youd need an armada of batteries to do what youd need to do.

Some of the new, high capacity batteries might change that though.  I feel like even if you were a pro, a Milwaukee M18 Fuel trimmer and leaf blower with a couple 9ah batteries would do everything you would need and you could charge one while you used the other.  Even then, you might still need a gas mower but electric mowers get better and better every year and I feel like its only a matter of time before gas is obsolete even for the pros.

[wilhary]

They have officially stopped the production of gas-operated products in March 2022. This decision was based on the growing demand for eco-friendly OPE and should only have minimal impact on financial results. However its feels very low for the gas-operated products such as for chainsaw lover's.

[Jronman]

As someone who does lawn mowing as their main source of income, The biggest issue I see with the electric equipment is not power. It is runtime and rpm. If you want runtime you have to either buy a bunch of batteries or buy a backpack battery. Either option will be a good amount of money. Most battery equipment has loads of torque but lack in rpm. The Ego string trimmers I use are in the 5000-6000 rpm range while a gas unit would be 7000-10000+ rpm. Also you don't have many options for 17in+ battery powered string trimmers. Also .095 is likely your max size of line. My commercial grade Ego is only 15in with a max of .095. My Ego made my 21cc Echo look weak but if I had the 25cc would I be saying the same? I'm not sure. Electric is hard to compare to gas because with electric you basically have max torque all the time. With the gas unit the torque varies quite a bit depending on the rpm. I can get the head on my electric to spin up from a stop with tall growth tangled around it. A gas unit would likely seize up if it tried to do the same from a stop. At least my 21cc wouldn't have enough torque at 0 rpm to get the head spinning if tangled in tall growth. Many of the handheld lawn tools are still supplementary to gas for most lawn professionals. Unless you're someone like me who has enough batteries to get through a day you still will have gas as backup. The first and probably only lawn tool in 2021 that I can't justify having the gas counterpart (even for the pros) is hedge trimmers. Runtime on hedge trimmers even in the least efficient configuration (tiny battery and brushed motor) give great runtimes. For most jobs you don't need a ton of power and if you need a bit more power you can always upgrade to the brushless model and likely get more power. Every other tool will have some kind of compromise

[MasterMech]

Battery is a long way off from replacing the higher-powered gas tools, especially professional and land-owner class chainsaws.  We are seeing viable replacements for 30cc entry level saws.  But 50cc+ pro-saws are a very different beast when talking capability.

 

Also, once clean-up season is underway, which is both before and after the main mowing season for most lawn contractors, the backpack blowers are running overtime.  Still no battery replacement that can match the output of a typical mid to high-end backpack blower for more than 10-15 mins.  And the best battery blower setups are 60% of the power for 2-3x the price.

[MasterMech]

Also, sad to see them exit gas power completely.  They are taking Dolmar, the originators of the gas chainsaw, with them.  

[Mehmetk]

Rpm is also a very important criterion for me. I'll say I paid attention to it. Its price doesn't matter much. "Because I'm not rich enough to buy cheap products." I love this word.😂

[Jronman]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:16 PM, MasterMech said:

Still no battery replacement that can match the output of a typical mid to high-end backpack blower for more than 10-15 mins.

The residential battery stuff can't compete. If you look into commercial battery equipment you might be surprised. You can get one that has 600 cfm and runs 90 minutes straight with max output enabled. Not going to out perform your more powerful backpack blowers but it should compete with the mid power blowers.

[Old chainsaw operator]

Makita made a major marketing bluunder when they became locked in with Home Depot.  The second mistake was combining Dolmar and Makita to one chainsaw brand.  Small dealers became second fiddle for the supposed large sales that would come out of Home Depot.  What happened is that Home Depot did not sell the larger gas powered outdoor products to commercial buyers.  Commercial buyers want strong maintenance service for their purchases.  For them down time is lost revenue.  Home Depot does not offer this.  Also the home buyers did not want to spend the money so the upper level equipment did not sell.  What Makita should have done was keep the Dolmar brand separate.  This chainsaw is extremely well made and will last a long time.  It is a shame that Makita upper management did not listen to its' dealer network on how to market Dolmar.  I know this because I am part of that small dealer network.   Their real experience has been with electrical tools.  To me it will be a shame to see one of the world best chainsaw makers run into the ground by an owning company that did not understand the gas chainsaw market.  I sell Makita chainsaws and no professional user has ever asked me about battery chainsaws.  Maybe in ten years but not now.

[Altan]

2 hours ago, Old chainsaw operator said:

Makita made a major marketing bluunder when they became locked in with Home Depot.  The second mistake was combining Dolmar and Makita to one chainsaw brand.  Small dealers became second fiddle for the supposed large sales that would come out of Home Depot.  What happened is that Home Depot did not sell the larger gas powered outdoor products to commercial buyers.  Commercial buyers want strong maintenance service for their purchases.  For them down time is lost revenue.  Home Depot does not offer this.  Also the home buyers did not want to spend the money so the upper level equipment did not sell.  What Makita should have done was keep the Dolmar brand separate.  This chainsaw is extremely well made and will last a long time.  It is a shame that Makita upper management did not listen to its' dealer network on how to market Dolmar.  I know this because I am part of that small dealer network.   Their real experience has been with electrical tools.  To me it will be a shame to see one of the world best chainsaw makers run into the ground by an owning company that did not understand the gas chainsaw market.  I sell Makita chainsaws and no professional user has ever asked me about battery chainsaws.  Maybe in ten years but not now.

There is a policy to move towards battery operated tools, we can not avoid it. I believe brands will keep making some changes in their tools and platforms, as it is the best way for them to make more money on us. 

[Old chainsaw operator]

That would be fine if there were battery chainsaws in place that would allow a transition to the new technology.  Stihl is doing this now with their lower models.  Makita has no battery chainsaw powerful enough to do this.  This leaves Makita dealers and customers in the lurch.  

[Altan]

3 hours ago, Old chainsaw operator said:

That would be fine if there were battery chainsaws in place that would allow a transition to the new technology.  Stihl is doing this now with their lower models.  Makita has no battery chainsaw powerful enough to do this.  This leaves Makita dealers and customers in the lurch.  

I do understand what you mean, but in tools world things do not work always with logic, unfortunately!