Excellent impact driver let down by cable

Bought this 3ish years ago and still going strong. Going from a standard drill to this the difference was unreal. Only downside is the cable length. 1 metre is just too short and makes putting anything above head height on the walls a pain as end up having to hook a reel of cable on the step ladder which is awkward at the best of times. I knew from a previous review this could be an issue but it's only after getting a chance to play with my builders cordless tools which he kindly left while on holidays I've realised just how much of a hassle that short cord is. No matter what the job more often then not I find myself lugging a cable reel around the house as well as the driver and screws.
So decided once I've got a bit of spare cash that my next purchase will be a new cordless impact driver. The makita may still put in the odd appearance, but only when I'm out of charged batteries. Very much a beancounter move by Makita, quality of the tool itself is second to none but then someone who obviously never uses tools decided saving a few pennies per tool by shortening the cord would be a good idea. Very shortsighted

fantastic bit of kit

unbeleivable power only problem is i cannot use it at 4am its a wee bit noisy
used it as a drill with hex shafts went through 3 inch oak in record speed

Makita TD0101F

Just the best tool 6in screws no problems used now for 18 month,s never mist a beat.

The screwdriver equivalent of a hot knife through butter

My experience with electric screwdrivers until now has been a tiny Bosch Ixo, 3.6V rechargeable driver. It has been fine for many lighter tasks, but after several years, the battery is getting weaker, and though I actually know how to replace it (the Ixo uses an integrated type 18650 battery), when I was using 50mm screws to go through MDF and pine when laying an elevated loft floor, it simply wasn't up to the task.

It would screw – most of the way – a few, before giving up and showing me a low battery warning. And it didn't have the torque to get them all the way in, so I ended up doing most of them manually anyway.

After a bit of research, I realised that as tempting as a battery-driven combi driver would be, an impact driver was the way to go, and as anything battery-driven will fade after even moderate use before needing to be recharged, as well as needing expensive replacement batteries a few years down the line, I thought I'd go with a corded one, which was cheaper than the equivalent one with a battery and charger from Makita or DeWalt.

After a lot of hard work after my Ixo gave up, I had left several screws only barely in, and when I brought the Makita along, it was like using the screwdriver equivalent of a hot knife through butter. It was fast, it required practically none of my body weight behind it to get the screw down – unlike the Ixo – and in less than five minutes I had tightened the screws that the combined power of the Ixo and my own strength had given up on getting all the way down, as well as the ones I'd not done before at all. I estimated it was a job that would probably have taken me more than half an hour with a combination of any low-powered electric screwdriver and good old-fashioned elbow grease (combined with a blister in the palm of my hand afterwards).

It is not a very lightweight tool, but the grip is well-balanced and it sits perfectly in the hand, and because you don't need to apply any force yourself to the screw, whether by body weight or muscle power, it is actually lighter in use than any lesser screwdriver.

Speed can be varied with the trigger, and I found it quite easy to control from very slow just to get the bit into the screw and all the way up to full speed.

The carbon brushes will have to be replaced at some point, which is both cheap and easy, but apart from that, it will be great never needing to worry about batteries running down, not being charged right, or needing replacement again. I'm quite happy to leave those kinds of issues mostly just for my iPad and phone.

Batteries and power tools don't really mix in my opinion. With so few corded impact drivers out there, I am happy to say I seem to have found a great one in the Makita.

Great tool for the price

I bought this from Axminster and the service was very good. You can't buy this tool in NZ (or anything like it) so I was very pleased that Axminster ship to NZ for a a reasonable price - I think. I got it delivered in about 5 days which is great as far as I am concerned. Very good communications and prompt quotes for postage etc.. The tool itself is of good quality apart from the front silver plastic section which is not made of the same quality plastic as the main body. (I think this is to copy the heavier versions which use alloy in that area.) The cable and plug are of good quality. The tool is light and I decided to move away from battery powered impact drivers since the cost to replace the battery systems is high and the 9 year old Lithium Ion stuff I have needs to be replaced. Would be good if Makita (or anyone) did something like this with a brush-less motor and possibly variable toque / self tapping setting i.e. some of the features of the battery operated models.