Makita Jigsaw quality.

[daleyd]

Been following your posts kim, typical big company, i bought a lidls one ,not in the same league i know ,but the finish is 100 times better than that, german made with a 3 year no quibble guarantee, if they can get it rite why cant makita probably double the price too.

I could be wrong but I doubt that Lidl tools are actually made in Germany - nothing wrong with them as I have a few myself, but they are all generic Chinese, albeit backed up by a decent warranty.

 

[J1nx]

I’d be posting a public Facebook and twitter post, asking Makita if the quality is acceptable in their opinion.

I’ve had complete success doing this before with other companies who otherwise ignore a lone customer.

I’m still amazed it’s genuine, I have a fair bit of Makita kit, 18v, 36v, brushed and brushless, none of it has mouldings like that. The worst item is a 18v torch but it’s a budget item made of abs rather than nylon, even then the mould is good.

 

[skotl]

Christ thats bad! No wonder company's send manufacturing overseas! The plant manager where that jigsaw is made needs a kick up the ****!

In a previous job, we had a major American manufacturer of pressure washers as a customer. One of our guys went to the US to their main office and got shown round the factory floor and was amazed to find that all the kit was being assembled by hand.
He's not a particularly handy kind of guy but even he could see what they were making was rough - he asked one of the assemblers whether anything got outsourced and the guy said "oh yeah - we've got a plant in Mexico where they have robots and all sorts, but all that crap just gets sold in Canada and Europe - no way would Americans buy something made in Mexico".

Uh-huh... sure...

 

[tlovatt]

It is a shame, I have been on a bit of a Makita cordless rampage recently, a new drill, hedge trimmer, reciprocating saw and vacuum cleaner, all look well made and no complaints. In truth I do not know how they can knock out 18V LXT Li drills for £37 delivered!

It is only domestic use, but all my Makita stuff has stood up well to quite a lot of abuse and I find their products good to use

 

[Farside]

If you are buying new register it all online straight away it extends the warranty makes warranty claims easier and also acts as a serial number store to give to the police should they be stolen it will also flag up if the product is not recognised when you type the serial number in flagging it up as fake

I entered 1 digit wrong before and the online system flagged it up as wrong so obviously knows all the tools already

Exactly that. Each new Makita tool I've bought in the past few years has been registered with them - in view of the extended warranty, too. A phone convo with Makita UK ascertained that tools sold in Ireland had the same warranty terms as the UK, which my local stockist hadn't mentioned.

 

[WorkshopChris]

I think they are missing a big opportunity to up sell a UK produced item.
I am sure i am not the only one who would be prepared to pay a little more for a UK made tool with a reasonably priced and guaranteed spare parts availability.
If anyone would offer this it would set them up above a reasonably equal power tool manufacturing playing field.

 

[chris pruteanu]

I have looked at my battery circular saw that i bought a few years ago, its made in Japan, none of that mismatched ill fitting plastic carcasses... Its nothing like the tools made in uk! 3Ah battery has long failed, ended buying 4Ah replacements that work better than original makita jobbies! I will probably buy a used 5Ah from market and try it, however i went with milwaukee gear and never looked back!

 

[AndersK]

Just give it a little thought. They have the new BL model 182 so they will most likely discontinue the 180 model shortly.
Looking at the pics its obviously they have overshot the life expectancy of the tooling a bit or they are just trying to wrinkle the last bits of cash out of it while it last. I bet they are aware of the tooling condition but would be shear stupidity to spend cash on repair or replacement tooling at this stage.
I've been in the same situation many times when the choice is to keep tooling alive a little longer while redesigning the product to something better or buy replacement tooling and let it live another 10 years. Sometimes the decision isn't easy but if I were with Makita I would certainly protect the brand better. Better to shoot them in red and add the MT stamp to wrinkle out the last...

Did some miter work tonight with the LS1018, thinking , with a big grin in my face, thats "why I Makita" (sorry ESAB for stealing that )

 

[snoozer]

I have looked at my battery circular saw that i bought a few years ago, its made in Japan, none of that mismatched ill fitting plastic carcasses... Its nothing like the tools made in uk! 3Ah battery has long failed, ended buying 4Ah replacements that work better than original makita jobbies! I will probably buy a used 5Ah from market and try it, however i went with milwaukee gear and never looked back!

Got a customer who's a plumber and once he discovered Milwaukee won't buy anything else.
Brought his new Battery operated copper pipe cutter in to show me.......Very nice

 

[brightspark]

Got a customer who's a plumber and once he discovered Milwaukee won't buy anything else.
Brought his new Battery operated copper pipe cutter in to show me.......Very nice

ok if you have the room to get it in . most places you haven't

 

[snoozer]

ok if you have the room to get it in . most places you haven't

He's good at getting into tight spaces..........Nuff said

 

[postie jon]

I could be wrong but I doubt that Lidl tools are actually made in Germany - nothing wrong with them as I have a few myself, but they are all generic Chinese, albeit backed up by a decent warranty.

only going by whats at the back of the manual.there warranties are out standing no quibble.

 

[Revs1972]

They probably rely on the end user wanting form over function and not having time to worry about it looking pretty. I like my tools to look good as well as do their job, hence why they are cleaned regularly. I wouldn't want a tool that looked like that. If it was say £30 then I'd overlook it, but as mentioned above , the Lidl tools are better quality visually ( can't speak for the internals )

 

[tlovatt]

Have you asked the supplier if they have one from a different batch they could have a look at before sending out to see if the problem is limited to just one batch, depending upon how busy the retailer is the 2 different ones you have been sent could have come down the production line at the same time.

 

[Screwdriver]

I’d be posting a public Facebook and twitter post, asking Makita if the quality is acceptable in their opinion.

I’ve had complete success doing this before with other companies who otherwise ignore a lone customer.

I’m still amazed it’s genuine, I have a fair bit of Makita kit, 18v, 36v, brushed and brushless, none of it has mouldings like that. The worst item is a 18v torch but it’s a budget item made of abs rather than nylon, even then the mould is good.

That's why I suggested FaceBook. I recently had a moan about a new Dremel I had bought years before which blew up almost as soon as I got it (shortly after I had lost the receipt).

Dremel saw the post and ended up sending me a brand new complete system!

 

[Tangledfeet]

Sometimes the decision isn't easy but if I were with Makita I would certainly protect the brand better. Better to shoot them in red and add the MT stamp to wrinkle out the last...

I've got two of the wee 4.5" Makita MT grinders and they're faultlessly manufactured, especially the injection moulded parts, so don't know where you get that from!!

 

[AndersK]

@Tangledfeet Didn't mean to step on tender toes...

My point is that the only way they could get away selling stuff of lower standard is to rebrand and dump price targeting another segment. When they do that, as with the MT series, stating it is for DIY segment people would assume its of lower standard but good enough for that purpose.

 

[Tangledfeet]

@AndersK It's cool - no offence taken! I knew when I bought the Makita MT grinders that they're at the basic end of the tool spectrum but at least don't have the shocking quality of the Makita tools here.

 

[AndersK]

Well, as I said before not all UK made Makitas suffer poor quality.

I guess they want to step up a few steps with the MT series replacing the Maktec brand. When they released Maktec it wasn't met with great enthusiasm from the market here...

 

[KimB]

Forgot to say. I received my new jigsaw. The brushless one is really nicely made. Used it a few times at the weekend. They also dropped the price so it felt a bit better.