Here’s a look at the latest Makita cordless power tools and accessories.
The new additions include an 18V X2 (36V) hot water kettle, 18V 1/3 sheet sander, “max efficiency” 7-1/2″ miter saw blades, and an 18V pivoting-head worklight.
Makita USA has not specified official launch estimates, but retailers have began accepting preorders.
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Makita 18V X2 Hot Water Kettle (XTK01Z)
Makita is bringing their 18V X2 hot water kettle to the USA.
Makita USA says that their new cordless hot water kettle is “is engineered to provide hot water at the push of a button” and can “boil 27 oz of water in 9 minutes from 50°[F] when powered by two 18V LXT 5.0Ah batteries.”
Features include boil-dry protection, automatic shut-off, and sensors on the base that prevent operation when the kettle is placed on an uneven surface. It weighs 7.5 lbs (with batteries).
Makita USA does not disclose runtime specs. The international model can boil up to 0.8L (27oz) of room temperature water with 2x 3.0Ah batteries and up to 1.7L of room temperature water with 2x 6.0Ah batteries.
But, since it takes more energy to heat colder water, it could be that a pair of 5Ah batteries can only heat one container’s worth (27oz) of cold tap water per full battery charge.
Price: $190 (tool-only)
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Read More: New Makita 18V X2 Cordless Kettle for Instant Noodles & More
Makita 18V 1/3 Sheet Finish Sander (XOB03)
Makita is introducing a cordless 3-speed 1/3 sheet finish sander.
Makita USA says that the sander “provides the power and performance of a corded version, but without the cord.” To be frank, this doesn’t mean much, as corded sanders are not particularly demanding tools.
The sander features a brushless motor, 3 speed settings (4,000, 8,000, 12,000 OPM), and through-the-pad dust collection.
- Pad size: 3-5/8″ x 7-1/4″
- Abrasive paper size: 3-5/8″ x 9″
- 1/16″ orbit
- Weighs 4.9 lbs with battery
- “AWS Capable”
Price: $160 (tool-only)
Makita USA press materials say:
For added convenience, it’s equipped with Auto-Start Wireless System (AWS™).
AWS is Makita’s wireless automatic vacuum activation system, where an AWS-equipped vacuum will turn on when it senses an AWS-equipped tool being used.
However, the price seems low for an AWS-equipped product, and so I looked closely at the retail listings.
According to retail listings:
AWS capable with Auto-start Wireless Transmitter (part no. 198901-5) sold separately
Makita’s one-page sell sheet says the same.
This means that you’ll need an AWS transmitter module ($75 at Tool Nut) to wirelessly activate AWS-equipped Makita vacuums or dust collectors.
Makita promotional materials say that the new sander has an “ergonomically designed body and grip for increased operator comfort.” Users of Makita’s 1.7A corded 1/3 sheet sander should take note of the cordless sander’s auxiliary handle placement. The cordless sander looks to have a very different size and shape overall.
Makita Max Efficiency 7-1/2″ Miter Saw Blades
Makita USA is also launching 3 new Max Efficiency miter saw blades in 7-1/2″ sizing.
These blades have a thinner plate thickness – 0.053″ and 0.073″ kerf, for “up to 50% more cuts per charge compared to standard blades.”
- 25T miter saw blade for cutting plywood (E-11112)
- 45T miter saw blade for cutting lumber (E-11128)
- 60T miter saw blade for cutting molding/trim (E-11134)
From retail images of the packaging, the blades are made in China.
Despite press materials mistakenly listing 7-1/4″ in several places, these are only sized for 7-1/2″ (190mm) saws.
Makita Cordless Worklight (DML816)
The new Makita cordless worklight features 3 brightness modes (100/250/500 lumens), measures 15-3/4″ when extended, and weighs 2.4 lbs with battery.
The flashlight head can fold up and down and rotate left and right. It also features a metal hook for hanging the light overhead.
Makita says it can operate for up to 75 hours when powered by a 6.0Ah battery.
Price: $80 (tool-only)
I checked every reference I can find, and Makita USA press materials, product listings, retail listings, and the sell sheet all list the overall length as being 15-3/4″ when extended.
The tool-only shipping weight is listed as 1.39 lbs, and the weight with a battery is said to be 2.4 lbs.
Maybe it’s just me, but a nearly 16-inch worklight seems like it could be unwieldy for handheld use.
The light’s long length is likely why it looks to have a limited vertical pivot range, which could limit its use as a hands-free worklight. Although the light can rotate left and right, I’d think it would be more convenient if the light could be aimed upwards, if even just a little bit.
Update: Makita USA does not depict this in product photos, and they don’t specify adjustment angles, but apparently the light can be aimed upwards. – Thank you Juergen!
I’m trying to be open-minded, but a 15-3/4″ worklight doesn’t seem very compact and ergonomic to me.
If you’re looking for a Makita 18V cordless worklight, maybe check this one out in person before you buy it.
Rog
More like MaZZZita, amirite?!
svt
I don’t know what you’re talking about. You seem like a bozo. I’ve been waiting for a cordless finish sander for a while and that one looks great.
MIKE GUENTHER
The only Makita tools I have are two corded routers. A 1 1/4 hp plunge router given to me by a friend about 25 years ago that I still use occasionally, and a 2 1/4 hp router with plunge and fixed base I won at a contractor’s appreciation day about 15 years ago.
As far as the work light goes, that one is almost a copy of the Ryobi light except that the Ryobi light when closed, has a light on both sides, one of which can be flipped up and over so you have light shining across and down on your work. With the battery in the base, it’s very stable, but the fold out plastic “hook” is too wide and cumbersome to be useful.
Munklepunk
Or like Makitas old light that was the same but a different design. Makita DML801 – 2015, Ryobi P727 – 2016
Juergen
I have two of the predecessor of the new Makita worklight.
This new one is more or less exactly the same, with just two exceptions:
– it has a metalhook so that you can hang it overhead, but still lights downward
– it has 500 lumen instead of 240
Honestly, this light is absolutely great. I use it nearly daily. And definitely not too big.
BTW Stuart, you can light upwards easily. Tilt the light head to 90 degrees, and rotate the light 180 degrees up. Done.
Stuart
Thank you! Makita USA press and retail images for this new model didn’t show that.
Even the older model (via Home Depot) inly shows the light aimed to the right, straight, or downwards.
WastedP
I bought the old model last fall to keep in the closet for power outages (there’s a charger/battery in there for the hand-held vac). I had to change out a water pump on my rig this last week, and that light is my new best friend. If the new one can go twice as bright, it’s a solid value.
Stephen Sustad
Agreed. It’s my go-to light for almost everything that needs a spot. Lives in my car.
Matthew N
New one is 3/4″ longer, has more leds, and had optional clip on diffuser.
Robert
The run time on the kettle simply doesn’t seem long enough for it to be useful. Presumably the attraction of cordless is it can be used out in the field away from household power. But needing to swap out batteries or recharge after 1 or 2 containers worth of boiled water is underwhelming for almost $200. I just don’t see a scenario that it is advantageous.
Stuart
Makita Japan highlighted how the kettle could be used to prep water for instant noodles. 27 ounces is enough for a hot meal.
The current coffee maker – https://toolguyd.com/new-makita-cordless-coffee-maker-dcm501z/ – can brew up to (2) 5oz cups of coffee with a 3Ah battery, and up to 2-1/2 cups with a 4Ah battery.
So that would be what, a little more than (3) 5oz cups with a 5Ah battery?
The kettle boils nearly double that (if not more) – 27 oz with 2x 5Ah batteries.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree that this is utterly underwhelming, but a) it’s the best Makita can do, and b) it’ll be sufficient for a lot of needs.
Is a cordless kettle that can heat 1-2 containers of water on a full charge better than not having the option at all?
Robert
Naw, that’s thin gruel, not enough kcalories. If I am camping or at a work site I would want many cups of hot coffee and tea through the day, and a couple of meals of 5 for a $ ramen I’m having to live on to afford it and 5AH batteries. And when I’m itching to have hot drink and food instead of cooling drinks and light food, ambient temp is probably in the 50s or 60s, so the BTU calculation s would yield a lower run time.
Stuart
You could always set up something like the Milwaukee MX Fuel power station to power an AC kettle.
fred
I’m not sure why you say “corded sanders are not very demanding tools”
While I agree that a sander might not be as big a power hog as many other tools – the demand may come in the form of continuous use over many hours. We found that the best corded belt, 1/2 sheet inline and random orbit sanders in a production environment were OK. But they might be asked to run pretty steadily (with the exception of abrasive changes) during an entire shift. Their issue was that they got hot. In general, we preferred their pneumatic cousins – and never found ay use on the shop floor for cordless. But times have changed.
Stuart
When I said they are not demanding, I meant this strictly in the context of Makita USA’s “power and performance of a corded tool” claims.
Makita’s corded model (link via Amazon) is rated at 1.7A.
Cordless power tool brands have been launching tools that rival or exceed 15A corded performance. In that context, matching the performance of a 1.7A corded sander isn’t demanding in my book.
The bigger issue with cordless sanders and other lower-power-demand tools, such as oscillating multi-tools, is the runtime.
Cordless sanders are great for smaller tasks. 5Ah is about the largest-sized battery I’d pair with a sander, which can be limiting.
With Makita, that’s a hard limit, as they don’t have higher capacity 18V batteries at all. I suppose you could count the 6Ah battery, but I wouldn’t use 6Ah batteries built with 18650-sized cells due to performance concerns.
Looking back and forth between the 1.7A corded sander (BO3710) and the new cordless model, the cordless model looks incredibly cramped, with its auxiliary handle being positioned below the battery bump.
Because of where they had to place the auxiliary handle, and the overall design of the tool, the ROS-like lower hand position has been completely eliminated here. You lose that with other bands’ cordless sanders, but this 1/3 sheet sander is a lot larger.
Sanding can be demanding, but power and performance (in a typical application speed context) is not going to be a major hurdle towards delivering a satisfying user experience, at least not compared to many other other considerations.
Koko The Talking Ape
We talked about that a bit in a different post. I guess that’s why pneumatic cousins will still have a place in production situations. No DIYer will operate a sander for 8 hours continuously, but factory workers might easily. And air tools can handle that. (In fact I wonder if they might get too COLD and collect condensation or frost even.) And given their lighter weight, lower cost and incredible longevity, I bet factories will keep using them for a long time.
Daniel L.
This is actually pretty easy to figure out, if one knows the correct equations.
36v X 5AH, = 180 watts. 1 watt = 3.41 BTU, so 180 x 3.41= 631.8 BTUs.
The specific heat of water is 1, meaning one BTU will heat 16oz of water 1 degree Fahrenheit. So let’s take a look at the volume…
27 oz, divided by 16 = 1.6875. 631.8 (our total # of BTUs on tap in two 5 AH batteries) divided by 1.6875 (our volume in terms of pounds of water) equals 363.75, or the total # of degrees fahrenheit we’ll be able to heat the total volume of water.
So, knowing this, two 5AH batteries should be enough to bring the entire volume of water from 32 degrees (as long as the entire volume of is in it’s liquid state) to 212 degrees. Anything outside of 32 degree liquid water to 212 degree liquid water gets into the latent heat of fusion/the latent heat of vaporization, and the math gets a little bit more complex.
6ah batteries could do the same thing twice. 3AH batteries could do it once.
That’s assuming a fully charged pair of batteries. Any additional electronics in the thing is likely to have minimal impact. Electric heat is, from an energy in to energy out perspective, 100% efficient. Energy in=energy delivered. The only losses to consider have to do with ambient temperature and the R value of the kettle itself.
Makita is likely being a little conservative with their numbers, as there’s no telling exactly what condition a prospective customer’s batteries are in.
Stuart
Let me check your math. (But, keeping in mind that it’s after midnight, I wouldn’t mine if anyone felt compelled to check my own math.)
36V x 5Ah = 180 watt-hours, a measure of energy.
A watt is a measure of power. A BTU is a unit of heat – 1 BTU is the amount needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound by 1 degree F.
Okay. 1 watt = 3.41 BTU/hr
1 watt-hour = 3.41 BTU.
128 oz = 1 gallon. ~8.33 lbs, give or take depending on who you ask.
So, 8.33 BTUs to heat 1 gallon of water by 1 degree. Should be 1.76 BTUs for 27 oz. From 50 to 212, that’s 162 degrees, so 285.12.
~614 BTU in 180 Watt-hours of 2x 18V 5Ah battery packs.
According to this, you should bring 27oz of water from 50°F water to 212°F ~2.15 times *without* boiling it, b/c conversion requires additional heat.
According to Makita’s international specs, you can boil 27 oz of room-temperature water per 2x 3Ah battery charge.
So let’s assume room temp is 70°F. So that’s 108 watt-hours, or ~368 BTU.
368 BTU to heat water that would require ~250 BTU on paper to heat to just at boiling temperature. So that would be 68% efficiency?
Room temperature and 50°F are different. Ignoring that for a moment, we’d be looking at 2x 5Ah batteries capable of heating 27oz of water 1.44 times. Or, ~38oz of heating capacity.
As you mention, batteries can be of varying ages and in different conditions, and there are going to be thermal losses to the kettle, inefficiencies in the heat generation, and some energy will go towards boiling the hottest water sooner than the entire volume of water reaches just-at boiling temperatures.
27oz with 2x 3Ah batteries extrapolates to 45oz with 2x 5Ah batteries.
Makita has used partial volume specs for their cordless coffee maker, and so I would take their “up to 27oz using 2x 3Ah batteries” claims at face value. I wouldn’t say they embellished, but I doubt they’re underselling by much.
The problem with guessing based on standard equations is that we don’t know the efficiencies and real-world performance of the system. It’s far safer to extrapolate from any measured and known claims, rather than hypothesize based on BTU calculations.
Koko The Talking Ape
Yep. And time to actual boiling will vary with latitude, as any hiker in Colorado knows.
The problem, as I’m sure Stuart and others know, is that heating to boiling temperature WITHOUT actually boiling it is impossible without a sealed and pressurized chamber. As you approach boiling temperature, a greater and greater percentage of the applied heat goes into evaporating and eventually boiling the water, and not into raising the water temperature (heat and temperature aren’t the same thing.)
So it’s a little hard to figure out the actual energy required to actually boil water. Even the shape of the container matters (just a little, it’s true, but that just goes to show the complexity of the situation.)
Regardless, I’m always impressed with the incredible amount of energy it takes to heat and boil water.
It’s nice to have options, but I’d guess a work crew would be better served with several thermoses of hot coffee or cocoa. I never worked on one though, so I don’t know.
James
I think you mean altitude, not latitude.
Koko The Talking Ape
Oops! I do mean altitude, thanks!
James
For the 3ah calculation where you estimated 68% efficiency, I don’t think we can assume the batteries are completely drained by the heating cycle; they likely still have some charge, just not enough for another complete cycle. A larger battery might be able to utilize that residual charge for another cycle.
Stuart
“Up to 0.8L with 2x 3Ah batteries,” “up to 1.7L with 2x 6Ah batteries.”
This could be a matter of 0.83L being rounded down and 2 x 0.83 = 1.66L being rounded up.
Maybe there’s a little more energy left in the tank, but it’s an unknown.
With limited information, you have to make some assumptions and simplifications and constrain certain variables. For these hypotheticals, it’s safer to assume that Makita’s claims are exact for fresh and fully charged batteries.
None of this produces reliable data; what we’re doing is finding boundary conditions with as high a confidence level as possible given limited data points. We’re just extrapolating to fill in the blanks.
All of this math and reasoning is definitely flawed.
Matthew Mckillop
I’m an off grid individual (I use solar to charge my makita batteries) and I actually purchased the Makita Kettle from Japan about two months ago. While the kettle doesn’t blow my socks off it does do the job it is intended for(build quality is good, feels nice and sturdy if made of plastic). The kettle itself is reasonably well sealed and it looks like it has a pressure relief valve inside to allow steam out once steam starts forming. It takes aprox 7 minutes to boil 27oz’s of water and with the 6ah batteries I usually get 1 full boil and I sometimes get a 2nd full boil but on other occasions it also runs out of juice before it finishes the 2nd boil (it could be I didn’t have the batteries fully charged). I don’t have any 3ah batteries but with two 4ah batteries I do get a single full boil. While I do think it is a niche product there are a lot of scenarios I could see for it’s use (camping, power outages, RV’ing etc) and if you already have a bunch of makita batteries and are away from mains power a lot it could be quite useful.
John
Ordered the sander. I like the form factor since using a Bosch half sheet sander for past decade on large panels.
DB11
Tools and Stuff has a good review of the sander:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM5KKBG5w2k
He loved it.
Stuart
I’m not familiar with them, will take a look later.
Not to sound too cynical, but I don’t easily trust unfamiliar content creators. Too many people are being paid under the table to hype up every tool they’re handed.
John
That youtuber has been around for 6 years at least. He doesn’t hype stuff unwarranted as far as I’ve seen. When the Makita 40V tools have come out, he has shown some to be inferior to the 18V/36V versions.
He’s pretty honest on the Makita 18V 5″ ROS being inferior to the new 1/3 sheet 18V sander. I would have assumed differently that a finishing sheet sander would have been less aggressive than a typical ROS.
“down under” they get new Makita tools earlier than the U.S. so it’s well worth getting some heads up on new tools in someone’s hands and not just discussions about specs.
Stuart
I could only watch a few minutes, but I definitely like the tone. Will watch more when I have a chance.
Makita’s 18V 5″ ROS came out 10 years ago. Or was there ever a newer one since then? I’d hope that Makita could develop a better sander since then. Maybe now they’ll eventually upgrade their 5″ sander as well.
John
The Makita XOB01Z came out 6 years ago as far as I can find. But I don’t understand why there is also the Makita DBO180Z which looks identical. Not sure if the different model names are due to regionality or what.
Stuart
No, it came out 10 years ago. https://toolguyd.com/makita-cordless-sander-xob01/ I posted about it in October 2012. It was officially announced on September 20, 2012.
Makita uses different model numbers for US and international models. They also changed model numbers a few years back.
https://amzn.to/3LZWbX5 LXOB01Z and XOB01Z are the same tool.
Matthew
Just received my DML816 from ACME this past week.
Very nice! Significantly better than the old version.
Only slight gripe would be some of the dimensions on the handle could have been smaller. (overall height and thickness around the hook)
Going to try getting the diffuser accessory part # GM00001326
Make sure you get an online coupon code for $10 off.