Only a week after the Bosch event where Makita and three other competitors stacked up against Bosch to drive screws, the folks at Makita have released a new challenger to their 18v lineup. The LXFD01 is the name, and the game appears to be pushing the rest of the field for small form factors and big power.
It seems clear that all these tool companies have been talking to users and finding that bigger size doesn’t necessarily mean better. So Makita took its predecessor, the BDF452, and decided to shave over a half inch in length and drop about a quarter of a pound off the weight (now at 3.8 pounds) while bumping the max torque to 480 inch/pounds (or 290 on the Power Tool Institute’s scale).
We’re curious to see how it stacks up to other manufacturers’ latest offerings and what this means for actual hands-on testing. We’ll list pricing as it becomes available in real numbers, but expect it to play in about the same range as other 18v Li-ion drill kits.
LXFD01 1/2″ 18v Li-Ion Drill [Makita Press Release]