Makita launched a new 18V cordless impact wrench kit, XWT19T.
The new Makita cordless impact wrench featured a 1/2″ square drive, brushless motor, and 3 speed and power settings.
It delivers up to 780ft-lbs max fastening torque, and 960 ft-lbs max nut-busting torque.
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Makita USA describes the impact as being:
an ideal cordless solution for pro users in the automotive, installation, and fabrication trades.
- 1/2″ square drive with pin detent
- 780 ft-lb max fastening torque
- 960 ft-lb max nut-busting torque
- Speed Ranges
- 0-900 RPM, 0-1,800 IPM
- 0-1,000 RPM, 0- 2,000 IPM
- 0-2,000 RPM, 0 – 2,400 IPM
- Weighs 7.5 lbs with battery
- Dual LED worklight
The kit comes with 1x 5Ah battery, charger, tool bag.
Price: $329 for tool-only, $589 for the kit
Discussion
I’ve heard a lot of negative commentary about the torque output, and am not sure if it’s fair or not.
For comparison, the latest Milwaukee M18 Fuel 1/2″ impact wrench delivers 1200 ft-lbs max fastening torque, 1600 ft-lbs max nut-busting torque, 4 speed settings, and tri-LED lighting for fewer shadows. The Milwaukee also has auto shut-off and bolt removal modes.
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The new Makita impact looks like a high-torque, and it would be by power and performance standards a decade ago, but it’s not in the same class as modern high-torque impacts.
While they advertise it as being for “automotive, installation, and fabrication,” trades and applications, the marketing images show the impact being used mainly for heavy installation tasks.
The Torque Test Channel didn’t have kind words to say about it. They tested it, and found a “massive truckload of torque between” the Makita and competing models.
The viewer comments to that video are extremely unkind.
So here’s my question: if this is primarily aimed at heavy installation tasks, does it need more torque?
The price… $329 for the bare tool, but $589 for the 1-battery kit? That’s a $260 difference. If you’re shopping for the impact, I’d say get the tool-only and find a more cost-effective battery and charger solution – maybe a different promo of some kind.
Milwaukee also has an M18 non-Fuel impact wrench kit, model 2666-21B.
It delivers 800 ft-lbs max torque, 1200 ft-lbs max nut-busting torque, and is kitted with a 4Ah battery, charger, and tool bag for $249.
This kit is less than half the price of Makita’s.
Is there something special about the new Makita XWT19 that we’re not seeing?
Here’s Makita’s promo video:
Jerry
That torque is about right for constructing steel framed buildings and grain bins.
That said, unless it is significantly lighter than the Milwaukee, I see no reason not to get the Milwaukee for less $$$. If the Makita uses a person’s existing batteries, I can see them getting the new Makita gun. However, on paper at least, it seems to be a very ho-hum tool for the money.
Eric
I feel like the hate is completely deserved if the TTC testing is accurate. This thing is more comparable performance wise to a much smaller, lighter, and cheaper mid torque than the other large high torque models it seems to be trying to compete with based on its price an physical size. And even if your already locked into the Makita platform it doesn’t seem like it’s worth looking at since it got beat by the 10+ year old model it seems to be replacing.
MM
I feel the same way. The criticism is warranted, at least given what we currently know.
I understand that not every impact wrench needs to be some massive torque monster. There are plenty of applications that call for middle-of-the-road torque and a smaller, lighter tool makes a lot of sense, especially if you are working overhead. I own large impact wrenches but I use 3/8 drive the most often by far. But this tool is the size, weight, and price of a high-torque. That doesn’t make sense at all. Why would you use a tool this big if you didn’t need serious grunt?
Jared
I agree. While it doesn’t need to be the “world’s most powerful” to be useful – it must be either powerful, light, compact or cheap. Otherwise it’s simply not worth buying.
Why would anyone buy an expensive, bulky, heavy and weak impact wrench?
If you don’t need the power, buy a mid-torque instead.
blocky
Devil’s advocate here, since lots of comments are in the form of questions. For some repetitive assembly tasks, this looks like it might have an ideal balance of power, weight, speed, and smoothness.
I have the very old WRT04 mid-torque with very modest specs, and perhaps a silly amount of weight, but dang does it drive easy, and not too loudly, and without cracking sockets. Of course, everything wears out eventually, and everything has tradeoffs. I have used the WRT04 all day for work on the ground, but I wouldn’t choose it at height or for overhead work.
I feel like most of my LXT tools, without any special treatment, will never die, except for serviceable causes, and that they have durability in the switches and toggles.
Maybe the philosophy of incremental refinement isn’t well-geared to the present market.
Stuart
Makita says it’s ideal “for pro users in the automotive, installation, and fabrication trades.”
Are there notable benefits for such users compared to using other brands’ higher torque impacts?
MM
@Blocky
I can’t comment on its smoothness of course, but this *is* a physically large, heavy, tool so I’m having a hard time imagining a “balance” going on that benefits repetitive assembly. For highly repetitive tasks I’d like the lightest tool which can do the job.
I too have an old, weak, impact gun lying around. In my case it’s a Dewalt DCF880. Its advertised max torque spec is only 145 ft-lb and I think there was some exaggeration there; it struggled with compact car lug nuts even when it was brand new. This one was used for years in my machining business for changing vise & chuck jaws so it’s well worn. Compared to modern impact wrenches its power specs are downright terrible, but I do grab it for light duty tasks from time to time because it is small and light–at least it has that benefit going for it.
But this Makita is a new tool with a high asking price, not finding new uses for a tool we bought years ago. There is no benefit that I can see which justifies the price or the bulk/weight. If it were big-and-heavy but powerful or extremely fast? That’s one thing. Or if it had only modest performance but it was small or super light? That might also justify the spend. But not as it stands.
I agree with Jared’s comment about the tool needing to be either powerful, lightweight, compact, or cheap. If it’s none of those things then people will look elsewhere. There are multiple companies which have impact wrenches which perform similar to this model while being smaller, lighter, and less expensive. And likewise if you are willing to put up with the bulk of a full-size tool there are others on the market which vastly outperform it. Makita can obviously build high performing impact wrenches–they have made many good ones in the past–but this one seems like it’s a real turd.
blocky
@MM I totally get your position here. Most of my tools are chosen with a lot of consideration given to strength vs. weight.
For many repetitive tasks, I choose a drill or hammer with more weight when a lighter one might do – because for some actions, performed hundreds or thousands of times a day, it puts less strain on my body – twists my wrists less, or allows me to apply force more consistently at the edge of my reach. I can manage a 5-8 lb tool in my hands all day, just not hanging off my belt if it’s for intermittent use.
Fairly certain this is one of those tools that fills a role and just works. You buy it, you use it, and never need to think about it. If people in an established production flow suddenly start sheering off bolts or ruining threads on rated large fasteners, now you’ve got other problems.
Other companies ARE hitting more impressive marks on power/ weight/ price point. I’m just saying that looking at this tool as a tool I would use on the job makes sense to me.
Similarly, there were also recent grumbles about the 18v Flexiclick update, but in my opinion, the previous version was just about dialed and would have suffered from a major revision.
Tom
Rant starting (not addressed solely to Jerry):
Does anyone on this site ever RTFM? Look this tool up on Makita’s website. Open the pdf linked, read the effing manual.
Page 12, right hand side, actually engage your brain.
This tool is about control, not power. Assembling critical structures requires bolts to be tightened appropriately, not over-torqued.
Rant over.
JP
You have a valid point, and I’m glad you looked it up. I have been an avid Makita buyer since 2002, I moved to Aspen and Alpine Lumber only sold Makita, I broke my 18volt DeWalt so there it began. Now have 4 drills 2 impacts, leaf blower vacuum, plane, recip saw, circular saw and 12 batteries!
That being said…
I now own a mechanic shop where we work on industrial equipment. I have been slowly switching over to Milwaukee simply because nobody comes close to their quality.
I was very excited about Makita making a re-entry into the game, but could not be more disappointed by this offering.
So my decision is; Makita for my wood shop and Milwaukee for the mechanic shop. Which is more disappointing because I’m tooling up a new service van and was hoping to utilize some of my Makita chargers and batteries. But it now makes more sense to just keep building My Milwaukee collection.
Stuart
They then have different charts for a bunch of different impact tools and a couple of scenarios.
Milwaukee’s user manual:
Makita’s manual gives you approximate torque vs impact time in seconds, Milwaukee’s manual tells you how to determine impacting time for different fasteners or applications.
Neither offer much in the form of torque control. A torque vs impact time chart doesn’t seem like a highly repeatable method for tightening to specific torque values.
Point being, the manual doesn’t tell us anything useful.
MM
I’m a huge proponent of RTFM, but it’s asinine for a potential customer to have to dive into the manual in order to identify what is supposedly the main feature of a new tool. Instead, if the main feature of this tool is “torque control” that should be plastered all over the box and emphasized in the description of the tool. Anything else is a complete and utter marketing failure. But nowhere in Makita’s description of the tool is precision torque control stressed or even mentioned.
The PDF file you instructed us to look at applies to eight different models of wrench, not this model specifically. Page 12 in the manual is simply a chart of recommended torques to use for different size bolts. The manual doesn’t mention anything about how this tool is supposedly more precise or controllable than others. It’s just generic boilerplate that applies to any impact wrench. It’s instructions, not specifications of the tool.
Reading this manual was a waste of my time; it didn’t say anything like what you implied.
Now there is at least one new impact wrench which does seem to be focusing on torque control, but it’s not from Makita, It’s the Milwaukee M18 3062 “Controlled Torque”.
ITCD
The torque can be controlled better with the medium and low impact modes, but the XWT08 (and others) also have that, and the medium and low go the exact same RPM and IPM as the 19, so there’s no practical difference there.
They also use the exact same switch, part number 143416-7 so there would be no improvement on trigger control.
w00dy
Stuart: ‘but-busting torque’ 🙂 might be a typo? Should probably be Nut-busting?
Stuart
Ha! Thanks, fixed.
Michael F
What’s weird about this is it feels more like a kit refresh than a new tool. I really have no idea what Makita USA is doing at this point.
ITCD
It pretty much is. They even come with the exact same user manual. The main takeaways, what the “refresh” includes:
– High speed goes 200 RPM faster.
– Weight is 0.5 pounds lighter.
– Overall length is 6mm, or about 1/4″, shorter.
The two lower modes have the same RPM ratings, just the high mode is faster. Strangely, they consider them roughly equivalent to each other in terms of bolt sizes it can handle; on high impact mode the 08 and 19 are given the same fastener range. The two lower modes where they’re both the same RPM the bolt chart gives a slight preference to the 08.
The 19 is also offered with a detent pin, something that the 08 does not have (uses friction ring). I’m curious if the derating is partly to make up for an anvil that’s been weakened by having holes drilled in it?
Tim
Even Makita internally has an 18v high torque impact that outperforms this.
But honestly not everyone needs the highest torque settings all the time, which is usually where mid torque impacts come along, but a “low high torque” impact is fine as well since the tool bodies on these tend to be bigger.
So something comparable to the M18 brushed impact, without the brushes, that still keeps you in the battery lineup is probably the thinking.
If you even bother to release an impact these days the Red and Yellow people will jump all over you either way.
See Metabo HPT mid and high torque impacts that perform exceptionally well on TTC and then get dumped on in the comments.
Michael F
Metabo HPT impacts seem to be severely underrated at this point. On the other hand, I have a Makita mid-torque which is compact (the size of an impact driver more or less) and busts lugs off my full size truck and SUV just fine. So I’m not sure why you’d settle for mid-torque performance at high-torque size.
Chris S
I’m an electrician and Milwaukee is everywhere on our jobsites. I’ve used the Hitachi/Metabo HPT and thought it was very nice…but the eco system of having an excellent impact and miter saw with the other tools being average at best means for electricians and plumbers it’s a “no-go”. Dewalt users also get a vast eco system worth of tools that leans more into framers, masonry, etc. Metabo HPT just doesn’t have enough tools to be worth dedicating the money into another battery system for one or two tools. Batteries are simply too expensive to make it a viable option.
The feel the market segment that Metabo is fighting in is very crowded with other systems that don’t necessarily excel in any particular direction. Bosch, Flex, Ridgid, Hilti, Metabo, and a bunch of others make certain tools that are great, but the reality is I need more than just the same 10 tools that all those brands share. Look at one of those pictures with an entire brands lineup and that is enough to show why Red and yellow have so many customers. They just serve so many more trades, industries, DIYers, etc.
eddie sky
Tool late for my needs 🙁 as I got the $250 bare mid-torque Milwaukee M18, and later a pair of batteries (charger for free). Had I opted for a cordless Makita tracksaw replacement to my corded, I could see add this as a bare tool and use the saw batteries.
Again, why not an XGT version since that battery set is … more power?
Still, keeping one of these in a truck, with a 1/2″ impact set and one of those gearwrench or Craftsman 1/4-3/8-1/2 tool sets would be nice emergency tire change/tool kits.
James
Someone else commented on another channel that this has a higher impact rate, which is desirable for many installation tasks where the highest torque isn’t necessary. I haven’t checked that. Hopefully, this isn’t intended to be their new primary high-torque offering.
ITCD
2400 IPM vs 2200 on high mode only. Other modes have the same RPM and IPM.
Eliot Truelove
Torque Test Channel and it’s viewers are disappointed because many companies always go up and up with their torque and power on newer models, whereas Makita has been known to release simpler detuned models, even subcompact versions, of their more recent models and have the same first few letters with the next number in the series.
The XDT14 Combi Drill is higher torque than the subcompact XDT15 and mid Torque XDT16 for instance.
As TTC noted the XWT19 housing does have a lot more room for a bigger motor and hammer mechanism, and as has been said on comments on that video and here the pin detent has to be detuned otherwise the torque will crack the anvil because of the hole through it.
If Makita releases a true newer high torque, it will likely have mechanical torque settings rather than guessing numbers of seconds, but instead with timeouts and torque specs similar to their torque sense 14.4v Assembly line models. Otherwise, the 08/09 models and the slightly less 19 model will be fine for now.
For vehicle comparisons: It’s only in comparison to a Monster Truck that a Toyota Tundra looks wimpy.
Stuart
It’s not comparatively wimpy, it’s “detuned.”
CMF
Michael F probably has it right, it is more a refresh than a new model.
Also, Milwaukee is the biggest on needing to be or wanting the top numbers/specs, followed by Dewalt. But even these brands will hit a ceiling at some point; I don’t foresee 10,000 ft lbs in the future of 18v tools.
So they will also come out with new models that are more of a refresh when they reasonably can’t go higher.
Makita has never been about the “best” specs.
OldDominionDIYer
Whoa how the mighty have fallen. I mean are they serious! 7.5lbs, paltry torque spec’s, looks like a tool from 10-15 years ago and for $589??? This must be an April fool’s day joke a month early right?, C’mon Makita you cannot be serious? Milwaukee’s mid torque (2967) offers 1100/1400lb/ft is over 2lbs lighter and is $350.00 when kitted with one 8ah battery, charger and bag. it is a way, way better deal! It’s sad really, Makita was a fine top notch company once, but that was a long time ago.
ITCD
$589, you in Canada or something? Bare tool is $329 USD. Still more than their competitors.
Stuart
As mentioned in the post, the 1-battery kit with a charger is $589 USD.
MacLean Flood
Yet another move by Makita to cement their irrelevance.
-Mac
Jim
My intuition is Makita’s aging battery architecture is probably what limits this thing to its stated torque output. I wonder how it compares to Milwaukee, etc with last-gen 5Ah XC (i.e. not HO) batteries.
Here’s one thing about which we are certain: ~$250 for a single 5Ah, (10) 18650-cell battery and charger in 2024 is absurd.
Jim
Furthermore, I’m not sure which is worse: that this 5Ah battery is still the most “modern” LXT battery they make, or that they propose to wring $250 for it from a withering user base.
Stuart
I believe the standalone batteries are priced to either subsidize aggressively-priced kits, or to convince you to buy such a kit.
At this time, there’s a Makita 18V X2 mower with 4x 5Ah batteries for $449.
If you need just the batteries, and can’t wait for a good promo, get the kit for just the dual port charger and batteries,
4 Makita 5Ah batteries at $449 isn’t great, but it’s better than buying them separately.
I’m not sure where you’re seeing the 5Ah priced at $250 each. Home Depot and another authorized dealer I checked have the 5Ah battery for $157, or 2 for $279. 4 for $449 is better, and I’ve seen even lower pricing with tools like the 18V X2 circular saw when it goes on sale for months at a time.
Big Richard
“I’m not sure where you’re seeing the 5Ah priced at $250 each”
I believe they are talking about the price discrepancy between the bare tool and the kit that includes a 5Ah battery and charger – Price: $329 for tool-only, $589 for the kit. That’s actually $260 by my math, but I could be wrong.
Stuart
Ah.
I’ve seen one other claim this week about Makita 18V batteries
costing $250 apiece, and it didn’t track.
Sorry @Jim, I thought you were referencing the same.
The difference between kit and tool-only – from what I’ve seen and reported on – is $260.
In this case, it definitely seems like the tool-only is priced low or the kit is inflated.
Makita has an 18V starter kit with charger and 5Ah battery (BL1850BDC1) for $209 at full price at authorized dealers.