Makita 6337DWDLEX1 14.4 Volt 1/2-Inch MForce Driver-Drill Kit with Flashlight, Heavy Duty Tool Belt, and Bags

List Price: $380.00

Features:

• Two piece D-31 motor for easy serviceability
• All metal gear transmission for smooth, efficient power
• Shift lock drive instantly changes from drill to driver
• 2.6 Ah Ni-MH batteries for greater capacity and longer run time
• Includes Flashlight, (2) Ni-MH batteries, multi-voltage charger and case

Accessories:
Makita 784827-A Quad-Driver 4 Piece Reversible and Self-Centering Pre-Drill, Drive and Countersink Set	Makita 784832-A Quad-Driver 13 Piece Pre-Drill, Drive and Countersink Set	Makita 192077-2 3/8-Inch Keyless Chuck for 3/8-Inch 24 Thread Spindle for 6701D, 6720D, 6176D, 6791D and 6891D Drills	Makita 784000-A-A UltraLok 5 Piece 1/16-Inch to 3/16-Inch Hex Shank Drill Bit Assortment	Makita 784810-A-A 4-5/8-Inch Bit Tip Holder and 3-1/8-Inch Bit Tip Holder with #2 Phillips Bit Tip and Slotted Bit Tip

Customer Reviews:

Missouri dude not affiliated with company [Posted on 2004-06-12]
Considered Milwaukee and Panasonic. But I thought this was a better value and I bought it a couple weeks ago.

Like other reviewers of similar Mikita packages have stated - the flashlight (uses the same rechargeable battery as drill) is unexpectedly great - love it. The gloves are great - but they are one size only - but still fit well. One reviewer said he did high sparking metal type stuff and the glove sort of melted. The directions with the glove, give the limitations for their use. So the reviewer might want to read the directions. The tool belt, which I didn't have, is just fine. Others have complained about the large carrying case, but not me. Just some more room to put stuff in.

(...) So the drill, in effect, cost about $58 bucks.

The other reason I chose the 14.4V is that it is a good weight to torque tradeoff. But the biggy is that I can use the 14.4V Makita batteries with the Makita 14.4V super-torque impact driver and it takes almost no pressure to use. Then I won't have to wrestle with screws and marring them with drill drivers such as this one - it would handle almost anything. Why get a super high torque drill driver when you can effortlessly use an impact driver with not strain. So, for me, 14.4V is high enough.

I used the drill continuosly for about 15 minutes at the highest RPM with a a circular wire brush attachment to remove rust - each battery lasted about 15 minutes. It takes about an hour for each battery to recharge. Two are included. The other thing is the battery will heat up and it will not charge until the recharger automatically senses it is cool enough. At about the third recharge of doing the battery swape, it had to cool for about ten minutes before being able to charge up. So, if you use the drill continuously you might have to wait 30-45 minutes before the other battery is ready to again be swaped.

Oh yeah, I like the drill and all the Makita stuff looks good too.

Overall: Very pleased, great value.

Very nice upgrade from my old PC 12colt [Posted on 2004-07-12]
My beloved, 9 year old 12volt Porter Cable finally died in the midst of hanging drywall. My choices at the big box store were the house brand, Makita or the DeWalt XRP. I bought the DeWalt, and returned it that day. The Makita, on the other hand has been great. Great speed range, awesome torque, very reliable controls, quick charge. And the kicker is the greate runtime!

Buy it, you'll like it.

Replacing my DeWalt [Posted on 2004-07-17]
My 4 year old DeWalt 12 volt is dying a slow death, and it has only had homeowner use. One battery now holds a charge for 15 minutes of work time and the other is a little better. The clutch slips without much torque on it, even at the highest setting. The chuck won't hold smaller bits. And with hurricane season coming, I needed a drill that I could rely on. So Brown delivered this Makita yesterday. I haven't had much time to work with it yet but so far I'm impressed.

There are only two drills, that I am aware of, that have NiMH batteries (Panasonic and Makita). From my experience with notebook computers, the NiMH batteries cured many of the problems with NiCad batteries. There is no set, so you don't get only 20 percent of the battery's runtime after they have been charged a few times. And a charge lasts much longer. So why not go with the Panasonic with its incredible amp hours. Well I was put off by several reviews that talked about their motors burning up. OK, I know that this could have been planted to sway people like me, or it could have been a rare exception. But you pays your money and you takes your chances. I was looking for a reliable drill with a long service life.

So how does the Makita compare to my old DeWalt.

Both have dual speeds. But the Makita has another sliding switch that kicks the clutch in and out. When set to screw position the clutch is engaged and when set to drill position the clutch is locked out. This would have been a nice feature on the DeWalt, after its clutch started slipping.

The chuck on the DeWalt has one ring that you hold while tightening the bit. The Makita has the normal outer ring and a smaller inner ring. It doesn't seem to make much difference when chucking up a bit; you grab the big ring and run the motor. But when releasing a bit you must use both hands to turn the rings in opposite directions to break the bit loose then run the motor if you need to open up the chuck. This will take me some getting used to.

The DeWalt has a 2 position foward/reverse switch above the trigger. The Makita has a similar switch in the same place but it also has a middle trigger lock position. This will also take some getting used to.

Both drills weigh, balance and feel about the same in my hand.

The Makita has external replaceable brushes. It would have been nice if their documentation gave a generic part number for them that could be found at any electrical supply house. My Hitachi router does this. Hopefully, there will be a number on the brushes themselves.

The Makita comes with a smart charger with several LEDs giving charging information. The charger goes into trickel mode after achieving a full charge. The standard DeWalt charger is very basic. And I am not sure if the DeWalt smart charger, that I bought later, is any better.

The Makita has a metal gear transmission. Thats got to be a good feature. I don't know about the DeWalt.

The Makita came with a flashlight that should be useful. The documentation promises 220 minutes (over 3-1/2 hours) on one charge.

The toolbelt is nice but heavy (2 or 3 pounds). But the belt does not fit around my fat girth. Would have been nice if the belt was about two inches longer or I was about ten years younger.

I am looking forward to seeing how the 14.4 v does when driving 3" deck screws. The DeWalt 12 v just barely didn't have enough torque to run them all the way in.

Makita is the only way to go [Posted on 2004-07-27]
I like to read reviews that get to the point but I have to explain the story to emphasize Makita screw guns. I purchased the 14.4 Makita to add to my arsenal of Makita screw guns. After many brands and much abuse, I found Makita to be one of the best! I've owned and used about every brand on the market. Some good some bad. On the bottom of the list Dewalt. I have purchased different Dewalt guns and have had to return them same day because gears have striped out or on one occasion, the entire housing shifted open right in my hand while driving screws (also a 1-week-old gun). My 9.6 Makita is 7 years old and I just keep feeding it fresh batteries. I use screw guns for everything from driving, drilling, to mixing drywall compound in 5 gallon buckets (18v) and they keep coming back for more. The best improvement on the 14.4 is the metal cover on the chuck. It does not rotate if it comes into contact with material. If you ever marred a finished surface with the chuck you know what I mean. As far as the new gear shift, I haven't had any problems so far. You can't go wrong with this screw gun.

Great Tool [Posted on 2004-12-30]
I purchased this kit recently and have been very pleased with its performance. The driver/drill is a joy to operate with very smooth variable speed, lots of torque and simple driver to drill mode changes. The metal hydride batteries are definitely superior over Ni-Cad ones. The included flash light is also very handy and easy to operate. The swivel head is very useful. I have not seriously used the tool belt as yet, but it seems to be very sturdily constructed and should do a good job. All in all I am very pleased with this purchase.

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