Which Is The Best Makita Drill To Buy For Heavy-Duty Jobs?

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There are a few characteristics that most would consider essential for a great heavy-duty drill. Portability and adaptability make work more efficient, as does a cordless option. A modern tool and a brand name ensure at least some level of support, should you need replacement parts or repairs. However, more important than all of these is power. What qualifies as heavy duty depends on the task at hand; How often do you find yourself drilling into concrete, after all? In this case, though, we’ll assume you need seriously heavy-duty gear, just to be sure.

The crown of most powerful Makita drill is shared by two very similar tools, the two-speed and three-speed versions of the Makita 40V Max XGT 1/2-inch Hammer Driver Drill. Both have a top speed of over 2,600 rpm and a drilling action that, for one of the two, approaches 40,000 bpm, leaving the other not far behind. Torque is similarly impressive, and the price is around $250 for both of them. Neither is especially heavy, at a little below six pounds, although that’s ignoring the battery, which isn’t usually included with the tool and will add another two or three pounds of weight and some $200 to the price tag.

So, which XGT 1/2-inch Hammer Driver Drill should you get? Either one will serve you well, so you should pick whichever one you can get a good deal on. However, if you want to ensure you make the best possible choice, these are the major differences between the two.

Since talking about two similar tools with nearly identical names can be confusing, we’ll refer to them as GPH01Z and GPH03Z. Makita’s GPH01Z is the older of the two models, and a popular pick as one of the best heavy-duty drills. It’s also the one you’ll find in most hardware stores, including Home Depot. The GPH01Z is slightly faster than the newer GPH03Z and has a higher max bpm, but less torque. Still, it’s important to note that both drills are very powerful. Generally, drilling into concrete requires a minimum torque of 450 in-lbs, ideally more, and even the weaker GPH01Z more than meets this goal, with 1,250 in-lbs of max torque.

Being a new Makita product, the GPH03Z doesn’t have many professional reviews, and might be hard to find at your favorite hardware store. At the time of writing, this tool isn’t available at Home Depot, although Makita lists the store as one of the authorized online dealers for this drill. As we said before, the GPH03Z doesn’t quite meet the beats per minute/impacts per minute rate of its predecessor, with a max rating of 36,000 bpm against the 39,000 of the 1Z. 

What it lacks in this category it makes up in torque (with a max 1,590 in-lbs torque) and in adaptability, with the addition of a third speed setting. Both drills are driven by an “electronic digital clutch” that allows the user to set up the torque range quite accurately, but the GPH03Z has an extra speed between low and high, potentially making it a little more precise.

We approached this article looking for a single Makita drill to recommend, but ended up highlighting two very similar tools. Both are excellent, however the reason we kept both in our article is that the newer GPH03Z is not currently widely available, but might eventually replace the older GPH01Z.

Our picks of the best heavy-duty drills was based predominantly on performance stats, including speed, impacts per minute, and torque, but we also took user and professional reviews in consideration.