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Makita is relauching their 12V tools as slide pack style tools now


DR99

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Looks a bit cheap too. I think they wanted to make very affordable lineup this time, and aim at the budget line (i.e something between blue makita and white). Instead of making a compact high-end 12V lineup. 

 

A bit sad really, becouse makita has (in my eyes) been falling behind on their 12V/10,8V lineup, and could need something of the same quality as their better 18V drills/impacts. 

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Very unexciting... I know this makes the grip more comfortable but I almost always use my m12 tools with a compact battery because when I reach for my compact stuff I want it to be as small as possible. Having an xc battery or slide pack on them makes them too bulky in my opinion..

Im liking the battery charge indicator though!!

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Yup same here. Love my M12 Fuels. And the compact battery is a bonus. Although according to the article they'll keep the grip battery lineup too?! How the heck will they keep that up? Kind of like Dewalts pod battery lineup? Of course Dewalt has been slack in getting new tools out this year promises to be a big one for them! Nice to see Makita trying something though with the 12v line but I think what they should've done is done what Milwaukee did and into the XC pack and then advance the lineup. Not intro a different line of 12v. Look at Bosch, they too have kept their grip batteries and have been introducing more new tools. That's how to do it!

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I think the battery redesign serves two purposes: a) one better grip and balance, and B) shed the association with white 12v lineup (which doesn't have a lot of real estate on the battery for a meter) which didn't perform well head to head with a lot of the 12v tools out there. I would rather have seen a battery compatible with the other line, but whatever.  It seems like it would have been easier to put an xc type battery with a meter on the back of it.

 

 The decision to go brushed as they introduce the line makes sense to me since the brushless tech does cost more and compact tools are geared first toward the cost saving crowd.  Once their 18v brushless gain marketshare, the 12v brushless won't be far behind and all those that adopted the new battery system will replace their 2 year old tools with brand new brushless models.

 

  I am not in the market for 12v tools any time soon so I'm good.  

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I think someone posted elsewhere that the white line was marketed to the homeowner, DIY weekender and the teal green line was directed at professionals.  For example, the white 18v line had smaller batteries (1.5 ah vs 2 or 3ah found in teal kits) and maybe fewer features than their teal counterpart.  The differences weren't much.  I owned the 18v white drill and I driver and they were more powerful than anything I had owned at that time.  They were very comfortable and durable. 

 

When I started shopping for 12v tools, I was going to get the makita white as they were the least expensive between bosch, makita, dewalt, and milwaukee.  The marketing and price point almost worked.  

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I much prefer the smaller form factor of the compact battery in the m12, and i can personally feel the weight difference with the xc. i do like that the xc and other 12 volt slide packs can actually stand on their own, though. i work in some messy situations and it's not always ideal to lay the entire tool down just to make a mess of it when i could just get the bottom of a battery dirty.

 

it is nice to see another manufacturer stepping it up in this segment though. certainly means milwaukee will keep pushing forward with new tools and innovation to stay ahead of the pack.

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Because the current 12V batteries/tools do not feature the electronics that provide protection from over heating, over discharging the batteries and overload protection for the battery / tool.

 

The 'old' 12V batteries  / tools did not have enough terminals on them to add the electronics so.....

 

For the sake of newer tools, higher amperage tools, better protected toold & batteries etc... the electronic package was a needed thing  (  Just like dewalt had to change from stem to slide packs to get the electronics in their tools.  Or the Milwaukee change from V18 to the M18 lithium packs to get the electronics in.   Or the reason why some older Makita tools can't fit the newer 4.0 and 5.0 amp batteries. ( Old tools do not have the neccesary electronics in them to let the 4.0 and 5.0 protection circuits do their job ))

 

Electronic package adds more terminals so the tool and battery can talk with each other.  

 

Changing the connection so older tools/batteries won't fit anymore is a bitch.    Being unable to produce newer, safer, stronger and better protected tools is even more of a bitch.

 

Thus a change is necessary

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I like the new line-up, I was looking into a lot of the 12v recently and Makita and Milwaukee have been my top 2 Milwaukee for the fuel and Makita because I like their 18v and they have a large selection, I cannot comment 100% on the old/new style handles because I have never used the 12v slide packs, I have the ridged 12v which is the grip style and it works great, its nice and compact however sometimes I just need enough battery power for a dozen or 2 screws, and not need the compact size so a 12v seems logical but I feel as though I would only go for a brushless 12v system now because of the longer run times and higher specs all around.

 

I said before that I would like to see the 12v market sitting at about 550-650 torque on the drill/driver and about 1400-1500 on an impact. I think I would kill to have the Makita brand do that with the next release on their 12v slides. and obviously make them brushless. I know Milwaukee will never go to a slide pack because of how advanced they are with their 12v line already. Makita is changing it up and I think they are making a step in the right direction. ill give it a few years and they will have a 12v im looking for im sure of that.

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While I like that Makita is coming out with new stuff, if I'm going to go away from my M12 stuff, it's going to be for something smaller like Bosch's lineup, not for something with a bigger battery hanging off it's bottom...

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