Review: Makita FD09R1 12V Cordless Drill

The Makita FD09R1 cordless drill is a smaller, lighter drill that is designed for medium duty tasks around the home or shop. It packs some nice power and features for it’s size. Let’s take a closer look.

Drilling Power & Motor

This compact drill is powered by a brushed motor that generates 250 in lbs of max torque according to Makita’s rating. This drill is geared for 2 speeds which can be used to switch between high speed/low torque vs low speed/high torque settings. The high torque gearing has a max speed of 450 RPM and the high speed gearing has a max speed of 1700 RPM. The speeds are fully variable and speed is determined by how much you depress the trigger. This drill has forward/reverse/locked neutral direction settings and the switch is right above the power trigger.

This drill has a torque adjustment collar that is used to switch between the various torque settings. On this drill the range goes from 1-20 and higher torque settings will most likely be used for driving larger fasteners or working with hardwoods.

The brushed motor is less power efficient than the newer brushless motors that more tools are seeing. But by using a brushed motor on this drill Makita is able to keep the price down.

In terms of power – this drill is pretty useful for light to medium duty work around the home or shop. It does have it’s limits though and it might struggle if you try to drive larger fasteners into harder materials.

Keyless Chuck

This drill has a 3/8 inch keyless chuck. It has a slightly smaller bit capacity than other similar drills – other comparable drills we’ve looked at have 1/2 inch bit capacities. The keyless chuck works as expected and it can easily be loosened or tightened by hand. There is a ratcheting action when tightening. Overall, bit changes are quick and easy and there really aren’t any issues to worry about here.

LED Light

This drill features an LED light and it works well. It’s located right above the trigger and turns on/off automatically when the drill is in use. The LED positioning isn’t the greatest since it’s below the chuck but it still helps to create some light in darker conditions. It’s one of those features that would be missed if it wasn’t there, even though it’s fairly basic in implementation.

Battery Power

This drill uses Makita’s 12V max CXT Litium-Ion batteries. These batteries are specific to the CXT line of tools and if you already use Makita CXT batteries this tool will fit right into your lineup. These batteries are designed to be smaller, lighter batteries that some of the larger battery systems available out there.

The kit that we looked at included a 2 AH battery (BL1021B) and a single battery charger (DC10WD). This is enough to get you up and running but you may want to get more batteries if you will be using this drill more consistently.

The batteries that will work with this drill are as follows.

DC10WD Charger

Ergonomics & Handling

The overall ergonomics and handling with this drill are one of it’s stronger positives. It’s a very lightweight drill at 2.5 lbs with a 2.0 AH battery attached. That is very lightweight, actually, when compared to other drills. The drill has a total length of 7 inches as well, so it can fit into smaller areas when you are trying to drill or fasten something in a tight space.

The rubberized grip feels good in hand and all the controls are easy to operate with one or two hands. The drill also feels fairly well balanced with a 2.0 AH battery attached, but can feel a little bottom heavy with a 4.0 AH battery attached.

The belt clip on the lower part of the handle is a nice touch. It helps you keep this tool on-hand when you are working with multiple tools or in situations where you can’t easily put this drill down such as when you’re up on a ladder.

For working overhead, this drill is great. The light weight keeps it from fatiguing your arms quickly.

Safety Features

This drill is safe to use and with the nature of a drill there really aren’t any outstanding safety features to cover for this one. Most of the safety precautions with a drill like this involve safe practices such as safe handling of the battery packs and making sure the battery is removed during bit changes. Otherwise it’s good to practice typical safety precautions as with any other power tool in your lineup.

Build Quality

This drill feels like lightweight drill but it doesn’t feel cheap. There is a lot of plastic used in the construction. Regardless of the amount of plastic, there aren’t really any parts that have issues with breakage for most people, which is good. This should be considered a medium-duty drill in terms of how much abuse it can likely take.

Accessories

This drill kit comes with some accessories but nothing too far out of the ordinary. It includes everything you’ll need to start using it except for drill bits. The kit that we looked at included the drill, (2) 2.0 AH batteries, (1) charger and the case. There is no on-tool bit storage location. The hard case is pretty nice and is a slick addition to the kit.

Setup & Assembly

This drill is a quick one to get up and running. You’ll basically just need to wait for one of the batteries to charge and then you can get to work. There’s not really much setup involved other than getting to know the controls. We recommend looking through the manual to fully understand the features and the recommended torque/speed settings for various tasks. Other than that, this drill is quick to put to use out of the box.

Warranty

Makita offers a 3 year warranty on defective parts or workmanship for their Lithium-Ion tools. They also include a 30 day money back guarantee. This is good enough to help you out if you have quality control issues early in the life of the tool.