Makita DA3010F 4 Amp 3/8-Inch Right Angle Drill with LED Light

This tool because of it's price and apparent utility seems perfect for the professional.

Everyone in the plumbing and electrical trades has long waited for a small, powerful right angle drill that does the job in tight places without breaking your wrist, arm or noggin.

What we are trying to do is bore holes in tight stud bays to accomodate, water piping or electrical conductors: usually using auger bits. Drainage/Waste/Venting often requires the use of a 2 7/8 hole saw.

There are several reasons why this tool may be far less than perfect to handle these jobs:

1. Right angle drills are most effective when using an auger style bit that pulls itself through the wood. Boring 3/4" holes with an auger tends to bog down this tool 2/3rds of the way through a pine stud. You have to reverse the drive direction to extricate the bit and then go at it again.

2. Once the screw on the auger has reached the other side - one must apply significant pressure to drill completely through. Often the effort to force the auger (the rest of the way) leads to the whole bit length travelling through the stud. If there was something that could be damaged in the next stud bay you would have to adequately protect it.

3. Hole saws and paddle/spade bits need to have force applied in line with the direction of boring. This is not the strong suite of the right angle drill when confined in tight places. Unless you can get your hand behind the head of the drill you will have a rough go.

4. The chuck and it's key are both problems. The key does not mesh in the chuck adequately or is it large enough to provide adequate tightening for large bits. Because of this - the chuck tends to lose it's grip on the bit and needs to be retightened often - too often.

5. The chuck key is attached to the cord in close proximity to the tool. It needs to be removed from it's holder to be used. If it were mounted in an appropriate manner - towards the end of the cord it could be used without separating it from the tool - saving it from being lost.

6. The chuck has a problem tightening on hex shank and large bits - the hexshanks are prone to wobbling. Even when you get it right - the chuck soon loosens up and you have to play around with it again.

7. That LED light that will last "forever" turns on when the you apply trigger pressure. Would it not make sense that the light should allow you to align the bit before you start drilling - not after?

8. No carrying case! I kid you not. Everyone who lugs their tools into the field knows the importance of the carrying case. It's all about work/time management. You want a "kit" that holds the tool and all of the accessories that tool needs. The best designed carrying case will allow you to effectively manage the kit.

8. When I first looked at this item 11/15/06 it was selling for $159.00. I purchased one on 2/1/07 for $178.00. Now 2 weeks later 2/17/07 it is listing for $202.10.

I can only hazard a guess as to why the price of this item has risen so sharply in just a few months:
Recently the dollar hit a 6 month low with respect to the yen.
Of course supply and demand. Based upon amazon reviews - I purchased one - as I am sure did many others,
Increased demand - increased price.

Unlike other reviewers - I found that this tool was not a good choice for driving screws in tight places. It just doesn't have the low speed torque to do the job.

I have had the opportunity to use a Milwaukee 0375-6 3.5 Amp 3/8-Inch Close Quarter Drill and have found it to be more versatile and a far better value $138.00. It assuredly does a better job with paddle/spade bits and holesaws.

Controlled driving of screws is best left to a cordless tool.

caslo

I had purchased the Dewalt equivalent but did not like the way the switch worked. I thought it would be awkward when in use. The Makita will fit into a narrower space than the Dewalt. The LED light is very useful and the switch lever works well. This drill has tons of power even at low rpm. One caution. These right angle drills are harder to use when installing screws. The small head means it is easier to get "off center" with the screw versus using a standard drill. The result is that you can strip the screw pretty easily. You must use more caution, proceed slowly and make sure you don't have a worn bit to get the best results. Once you master its use, it will go places no regular drill can touch!!

This drill worked well when the bit would stay tight which was about 50% of the time. I kept having to stop, tighten the bit (it seems like the chuck was the wrong size or the unit was defective). I was using it primarily to drill 3/4" - 1" holes in stud for wiring. I liked the size, LED light and variable speed features, but stoppping OFTEN was extremely frustrating and I ended up returning this drill. I may reorder a new one with the hope that this was an isolated incident and not indicative of an overall quality issue.

I needed to drill some holes to screw in a railing on some stairs. The only problem was that the stair riser next to the post only gave about 4 inches of clearence. No way my Milwaukee hole hawg would fit so I needed a more compact right angle drill. All the other drills I found from Dewalt, Hitachi, Milwaukee, etc had a 3.5 inch or larger chuck length. This would not be small enough once the drill bit was inserted. So for my application, the Makita was the only choice.

How does it work? So far, flawlessly. It has plenty of power, but you do have to be a bit careful when picking it up so that you don't squeeze the trigger paddle. But I honestly don't see how this could ever be improved. The variable speed trigger is nice and the LED worklight is great. Like the built in level on my Dewalt drill, I think all drills should have these features. The Makita also has a screw on side handle for high torque applications. A keyless chuck would be nice, but from what I've read, this would increase the chuck length. A drill like this needs to be as compact as possible because you never know when you'll need to get it in a very tight space.

One of its great uses is with a rotating sanding disc. The battery powered versions run out of steam too often

Great value, lots of torque, fits into amazingly small spaces, excellent speed control. Just be careful to unplug the cord before attempting to tighten or loosen the chuck. The paddle style trigger is easy to press accidentally if you're not paying attention.