REASONS TO BUY
Good drilling power for light to moderate tasks
Solidly convenient
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Weird battery issues with difficult tasks
Makita XFD10R Review
While the Makita is a decent drill, its habit of randomly dying while completing difficult tasks held it back
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
By David Wise ⋅ Senior Review Editor ⋅ May 23, 2019
Contributions From: Austin Palmer
RELATED: The Best Drills of 2025
Our Verdict
While we originally thought the Makita XFD10R had a reasonable shot at claiming an award, we were overall disappointed at its overall performance. This drill did alright in our drilling tests but slightly below average when it came to driving in fasteners. Its battery performance ended up being below average as well, but we did find the Makita to be decently convenient, with a handful of handy features. Unfortunately, this drill also has one of the higher list prices, making it solidly hard to recommend.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The XFD10R finished just behind the 12-volt Bosch PS31-2A and ahead of the 12-volt DeWalt DCD710S2. The XFD10R is the most expensive of these drills but matched the Bosch when it came to drilling performance, battery life, and convenience features. However, the Bosch did outperform the Makita when it came to driving. The DeWalt falls short of the Makita when it came to drilling power, battery life, and features but did match it when it came to driving in fasteners.
The 5" hole saw gave this Makita drill a solidly hard time. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Drilling
The XFD10R was able to drill several holes in a 2x12 piece of dimensional lumber with a 1" spade bit with ease. It never stalled out or showed any sign of a struggle at all.
The XFD10R had more than enough power for the 1" spade bit. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
It struggled a little more at drilling through the steel sheet but still made it through without too much of an issue. It took a little longer than the top drills to make it through the 16 gauge sheet with the ¼" drill but still only took about 2.4 seconds. It did about average with the ½" drill, taking 5-7 seconds to drill through but never stalled out.
The Makita also made it through the steel fairly easily without stalling. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Unfortunately, the XFD10R didn't do all that well with the 5" hole saw test. It made it through once, but the battery randomly died on us in all the other trials. We started with a fully charged battery and started drilling. After 20-30 seconds, the drill would stop and the battery indicator would show that it was completely dead, with it failing to work again until we put it on the charger long enough to fully recharge. We aren't sure if this is triggering some safety mechanism or if it is actually depleting the battery that fast, but we did contact Makita customer support and they didn't really provide any more clarity besides telling us to take it to a service center. This also happened with both of the included batteries in our tests.
The XFD10R is able to set the heads on countersunk screws in a controlled manner. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Driving
The Makita did an excellent job at driving in the 3" long, #9 wood screws, setting the countersunk heads in a controlled manner extremely quickly.
The XFD10R struggled to drive in the lag screw in our test. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
However, the XFD10R did very poorly in our second test: driving in a 5" long, ½" diameter lag screw. It seemed like it was doing very well at the start of the test but then we encountered the same battery issue from before.
We were a little disappointed by the performance of the Makita's batteries in our tests. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Included Battery
Unsurprisingly, the XFD10R didn't do all that well in this metric. Starting with a completely charged battery, the XFD10R only made it through three sets alternating between driving 16 of the #9 wood screws and drilling three holes with the spade bit. The best tools made it double or even triple that before dying.
However, the Makita did earn some bonus points by including a spare battery and by recharging extremely quickly, taking less than half an hour to totally refill a dead battery.
The XFD10R is about average in weight and the chuck can hold bits up to 1/2" in diameter. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Convenience
The Makita cordless drill is about average in weight (3 lbs., 6 ozs.) and includes a belt clip near the battery for hands-free transport. It has two gear ratios so you can maximize speed or torque, depending on whatever your project requires, and the chuck can expand to a maximum size of ½".
It has an integrated work light that is really bright, but we found the light on the XFD10R created a shadow across where you were working most of the time in our tests.
The integrated light on the Makita provides a decent amount of illumination when working in a dark area. Credit: Jenna Ammerman
We did like that this Makita drill does have a battery charge indicator right on the battery and that it is fairly easy to insert or remove a battery, though the locking release button can be a bit weird.
Value
We didn't think that the Makita is a great value, as it performed relatively poorly in our tests but it is priced like a top-tier tool.
Conclusion
Overall, we weren't really enthused with the performance of the XFD10R in our tests. It scored comparably to drills that cost significantly less and couldn't really compare to the performance of the best drills.
—David Wise and Austin Palmer
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