Description
Makita has a legacy of innovation in the cordless impact driver category, and the 18V LXT® Brushless 4-speed impact driver (XDT16T) sets new standards. The XDT16T offers users four speeds, As well as Makita’s exclusive Quick-Shift mode™ for increased fastening control. Quick-shift mode™ uses the Brushless motor’s electronic controls to find the best balance of speed and torque for each application for more efficient fastening. Another precision setting is tightening mode (t-mode), which downshifts and reduces rotation and impact speed prior to driving the screw into place, and is engineered to minimize screw thread stripping, screw breakage and damage to work. The XDT16T delivers industry-leading performance in a compact and ergonomic design. Added features include the one-touch 4-speed power selector button under the chuck, which enables one-handed speed changes, and reverse rotation auto-stop mode which stops rotation and impact when the fastener is loosened adequately to help prevent over-loosening and dropped fasteners.
From the manufacturer
18V LXT Compact Brushless 4-Speed Impact Driver Kit
It’s part of Makita’s expanding 18V LXT system, the cordless tool system powered by 18V Lithium-Ion batteries. Makita 18V LXT batteries have the fastest charge times in their categories, so they spend more time working and less time sitting on the charger.
- Compatible with Makita 18V Lithium-Ion batteries with a Star symbol
- Only use genuine Makita batteries and chargers
Makita XDT16T 18V LXT Lithium-Ion Compact Brushless Cordless Quick-Shift Mode 4-Speed Impact Driver Kit (5.0Ah)
High Speed In A Compact Size
Makita has a legacy of innovation in the cordless impact driver category, and the 18V LXT Brushless 4-Speed Impact Driver (XDT16T) sets new standards. The XDT16T offers users four speeds, as well as Makita’s exclusive Quick-Shift Mode for increased fastening control. Quick-Shift Mode uses the brushless motor’s electronic controls to find the best balance of speed and torque for each application for more efficient fastening.
- Two Tightening Modes (T-mode) for faster tightening of self-drilling screws in thick or thin gauge metal; helps prevent damage to the screw or workpiece
- Reverse rotation auto-stop mode stops rotation and impact when fastener is loosened adequately
- Built-in L.E.D. lights on both sides helps eliminate shadows and illuminate a larger area
Key Features
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Important information
18 volts
Chris Donton –
Yeah it’s worth it SEE THE EDIT!So I’ve had an older XDT14 and I was waiting for the XDT16 to come out but I ended up getting the XDT12 right before the 16 came out. Then of course as soon as i saw the 16 I had to have it so now I have three which any contractor will tell you if you’re doing things like setting cabinets, you need at least two drivers handy so you’re not stopping to switch bits. In the pic the the older 14 is on the left, the 12 is in the middle and the 16 is on the right. As far as weight and size there is practically no difference. the older 14 is a three speed and I didn’t like the slower speeds because they were too slow to be useful so I got the 12 which is a four speed and the 16 is a four speed as well. I do like the next slowest speed as it is actually useful. Torque wise the 12 and the 16 stomp the old 14 as there is not much comparison, it’s just a better driver in that regard. Not that I wanna use my drivers from drilling holes through studs with spade bits but if i don’t feel like reaching for my ancient driver (yeah I got four now), or the half inch drill, it’s nice to have a driver that can rip it with a spade bit.So the biggest things I like with the 12 and the 16 is the push in bit feature like the Milwaukee drivers have, no more pulling the chuck to insert a bit. About friggin time Makita. Next the come-on when you pull the trigger is nice and smooth on the 12 and the 16, like you wife’s butt before kids smooth.Another thing about the 16 which is why you should buy it if it has two lights now and is actually friggin useful!!! It has a light on either side of the barrel rather than the old one underneath and it also has a button above the trigger (where the old light used to be) that steps down the speed so no more having to reach with your other hand to hit a button on the base if you don’t want to, pretty cool. I’m still getting used to a button being there at all.Now as for the rest of the cool little things that this is supposed to do I will say this: my use of this tool rarely means I am going to need the anti-twist out and most of the other things this little bastard can do. it’s pretty much, forwards, reverse and at what speed. being able to turn off the light? Mmmkay, i guess but it can do a pulse thingy where no matter how hard you hit the trigger it gives you one pulse, THAT can be very useful with a teeny bit more countersink or trying to gently work out a stripped head.I plan of having the 16 for the lighter duty driver/finer work, the (still brand new) 12 for driving three inch stud screws and occasionally I’ll bring them all out at once when I want a Phillips on one, a star on another and a drill bit on a third. I plan to beat the hell out of the 12 doing three inch duty to see how long it lasts.My buddy has the Milwaukee version and we plan to do a head to head driving three inch screws into oak for your viewing pleasure to see who come out on top. I’m invested in Makita for good bad or worse with ten plus tools and 18 batteries so I’m not switching anytime soon but when you look at Makita be aware, there are good Makita tools and there are crappy Makita tools, do your research before you buy. Yeah this driver cost me a lot more than their junk stuff but I use my tools like a north Vegas whore with high miles and the good Makita stuff holds up pretty well.I think for the lights, the more useful speeds and that pulse thingy I’m happy I bought this. (Just not telling the misses how much I spent on it or the Stablia Jamber set I bought last week 🙂 )EDIT UPDATE 4/17/19:So far I’m happy like I expected it to be. Dropped it a few times and no issue. LOVE the lights but wish they stayed on a little longer but I just toggle the trigger to turn them back on (Are you listening MAKITA???). I’m finding the little button above the trigger that steps down the speed to be too small to be useful, it’s needs to be bigger so it’s easier to tell when your finger is on it. If I have to look at it to be sure then it’s not useful to me. Next up, I like the four speeds, I am finding myself using the second speed the most when I need to go slower.So far lovin it.New update EDIT: Man is this little thing a beast. I was doing a warranty job where I had topull out 700 plus two inch screws out of a fancy horizontal fence and replacing them with different ones and after two days of using the XDT 14 (the older one) for counter sinking, the XDT12 for pulling the older T 15s and the XDT16 for driving the larger new screws . They were not that much larger but I could really hit them with the 16 and try to move as fast as i could. The XDT16 broke every single bit I put in there except the Shockwaves which it only managed to twist the hell out of.NEW UPDATE EDIT JUNE 2020!I have been to the mountaintop, and it is good! Since the last review, I have used the 16 pretty regularly for about 6 months and recently if you notice the pictures you’ll see a red driver. Say hello to the TD171D. You have to poke around to find it but it’s the exact twin of the 16 save for one difference (besides the color). This one is the Japanese domestic model, only sold in Japan. Now, on paper, it’s exactly the same driver as the 16 but it’s better than the 16, better built, revs a little higher and hits harder. Now a case could be made that to say this I should compare a brand new 16 to the new 17 but even though I’ve used the 16, for most of the knarly work I did I used the older 14 or 12, not the 16. I was able to compare the 16 and the 17 on the freestanding enclosures I built in the last picture. In order to mount the 8ft+ front facia pieces I set up the 12 and 14 with countersinks and the 16 and 17 with T20 bits and left a sink and driver at each post so I didn’t have to carry any driver from side to side. So I would put up a piece, shim it at both ends and screw it in at each post. 12/16 14/17 etc back and forth. I had to switch to bigger countersinks because the 17 started snapping off the hedcote stainless screws where I wasn’t having the problem with the 16. I know the PT posts are not the difference because I dried everything out for a month before I built it.The takeaway here is that the 16 is still a great driver, top of the heap, I stand behind it everyday and twice on Sunday BUT, BUT, the Japanese made version is just that much better. Feels a little more solid, revs a little higher and I can absolutely say it hits harder and the red color is just plain cool. The ONLY drawback is that the manual and all the button labels are only in Japanese but since I already know it’s twin, I don’t need it. Download a 16 manual, it’s the same thing. If you want to have a bitchin-lookin driver that practically no one else in the US has, find this one. So the 14 will stay at home and now carry the 12, 16 and the rad 17 to the jobs and no one is allowed to touch the 17.
Anthony –
100x upgrade from my RyobiThis thing drove 4 inch deep cement pilot holes and then drove in the cement screws without an issue. It easily drives normal 3-4” deck screws and it’s relatively quite compared to some other drivers I’ve used. The ability to toggle the light is also nice.
Scott A. –
Makita XDT16ZAll my cordless tools are Makita so it only made sense to add this to my lineup. After having a buddy help me with a medium sized sheet rock job and letting me use his Milwaukee impact driver i was amazed at how well it worked over a standard cordless drill. But my overall reason was to use my drill to pre-drill wood to stop it from splitting and then use the impact driver to drive the screw. That way I didn’t have to go from drill bit to driver bit all the time. I can’t believe I didn’t make this move sooner, who knew. It may be a little too fancy for me, a ton of settings so you have to try them all to get used to which ones would work for you on different applications. Plenty of power, love the dual LED lights to light things up. Just bump the trigger if the light starts to go out and your back to an incredibly lit up work area. I do agree with the other reviewer that Makita could have added a few extra seconds on the light shutting off after you are done drilling so you can set up the next screw. The only reason I can think of is to save power for more driving of fasteners! So far I have just used it for basic driving or screws from 4″ to 1-1/2″ torx head variety. Oh and I did use it with a speed bore wood bit to drill a hole for a wiring project, worked flawlessly. It may sound like it’s struggling but it is just torquing down to a better setting and sending wood chips a flying and the hole was done in a flash. Good trigger control and a little practice and it just screams those screws in like butter. It does have slower speeds for starting out slow to get the screw to bite, then once it feels the back pressure it hammers downs and zips them in lickity split. Overall I am totally impressed and would recommend to a friend or anyone who already owns the 18 volt lineup that can make use of their already supplied Makita battery packs. I’m using several of the BL1820B battery, it is light weight and not too bulky. I would maybe use an 1830 but the 1850 would make the drill feel like a lead balloon. I understand if you are on a big job site and don’t want to walk to a charger, but with how fast they charge if you had one spare you would be more than set. Even the 1820 batteries last a long time in this thing, very impressed! For the hobbyist and task master of his house the 1820 battery would be just fine for average to small jobs no problem. Contractors may opt for the 1830 or bigger for productivity advantage. Great driver and I enjoy the extra settings over the other models lower in line to this lineup, worth the extra dough in my opinion and trust me I researched for a month and weighed the options, ultimately it was a the price that was a little steeper than I was used to for a cordless tool, but now that i have used it, i can’t wait to tackle more projects and I know the variety of driver settings will make any variety of a project a breeze.
Ryan H. –
The most comfortable & compact 18v/20v Impact Driver!The media could not be loaded.
TL;DR: The Makita XDT16 is the absolute king of impact drivers at the moment. Has competitive power/speed when compared to the most powerful units out there, but far exceeds any of the competition when it comes to weight, compactness, build quality and comfort. If you can’t afford the XDT16, check out the XDT14 – It’s very similar.I have mostly DeWALT 20V, 60V and Kobalt 24v tools. But I big on comfort and I use an impact driver and drill a lot… So, I sprung for the Makita 18v offerings for my everyday drivers. The Makita XDT16 is the most compact, lighest weight, best built, most comfortable impact driver on the market, with more power than you’ll ever need out of a 1/4″ impact driver. The trigger and ramp up speed is so much more responsive and usable that it absolutely shamed my DeWALT DCF887. Not to mention the comfort… In the attached video, you can see me driving 10″ Timberlok fasteners into true 6″x6″ Pressure Treated Fir posts for a timber retaining wall I was building for a customer.Compared to the competition:The closest competitor to the Makita XDT16 is Milwaukee’s 2854-20 (their newest 1/4″ hex impact driver). It is slightly larger than the Makita, but drives larger fasteners slightly faster. Not enough to make a difference to the end user. Between these two, if a person isn’t interested in picking up a second battery line, there would be no reason to choose one over the other. If you already have Makita tools/batteries, get the Makita. If you already have Milwaukee, then get the Milwaukee. They’re comparable in every respect. If you have both Makita and Milwaukee batteries and you want the more comfortable of the two tools, get the MAKITA!DeWALT’s DCF887 & 888 have similar power and speed, but are significantly less compact and less comfortable. I preferred my old brushed impact driver from DeWALT over their newer XR model, when it came to comfort. In my mind, no comparison.Kobalt 24v & Ridgid 18v & Ryobi 18v – These all fall within the same category in my mind. They’re the more affordable options. But don’t be fooled, they’ll still do professional quality work. But the reality is that they’re build quality is generally lower and they’re much more bulky and clunky to use. I presently own the Kobalt 24v XTR impact driver and drill combo as my backups for at the house. They meet or exceed the power of the big name brand offerings, but again, they’re much larger and heavier than Makita and Milwaukee for sure, and probably even than the DeWALT.
M. Joy –
The best choice, if you can spend the bucks for it.I needed a “heavy hitter” impact driver – to fasten treated lumber to angled steel. I was re-decking my utility trailer. As an added touch, I used Herculiner as a wood sealer.Wanting the perfect job – (this trailer was in excellent nick – except they made it without using treated wood on its deck). Who does that?Anyway – Using some special SS Torx head “self cutting” winged screws…..fastening down the planking was EASILY done with this Makita driver.It has all of the latest bells and whistles, brightly focussed LED lighting, torque assist, variable speed settings, and 2 batteries @5 AHrs each.But what consistently amazed me was the perfection and unison in overall design, that allows such a small-sized lightweight tool to deliver such a massive amount of torque, over and over again – You will marvel at the ballance, grip, feel, and instant performance in sinking each fastener. The action is stunning.During the entire project, it didnt let me down once. No fasteners were cammed or stripped out. Every single one drove home with no pushing or “hoping” – just slam dunked and sunk!I really didn’t muck with the settings either, just working out-of-the-box. The battery power indicator is great – but I didn’t watch it.When I took a break I swapped out batteries to assure a fresh start, but the charger is so smart (and fast) – I didn’t fear running the batteries down – and never did.I first researched and compared the specs between the Milwaukee, Bosch, the B&D….and even Dewalt’s flagship 20v model – (All of which were cheaper to buy, offer brushless motors and most of the other features also employed in the Makita).I own other exceptional power tools, some made by these other brands that are still top performers at what they do. So neither choice seemed bad. But I recalled once before when stressing over a similar decision, I finally paid the extra cash and bought the Makita – (I still have it – and it operates as good as it did back in the 1980’s when I purchased it). I had to upgrade after a cheaper brand-model circular saw failed on its first day, while working on the job.So after I “pulled the trigger” – and ordered this Makita driver, I read another reviewer here on Amazon saying he had actually compared it by trials with some of the same models I intensely considered – and he was totally satisfied that the Makita outperformed them all. I felt validated!So my opinion is that if you can invest this amount ($345 at the time of this writing) in an impact driver, you will be glad to have bought this Makita.
Daren –
great tool!Very impressive tool for the money.
KEITH R BLAND –
A TOOL THAT WONT LET YOU DOWN.IF YOU ARE IN THE MARKET FOR A TOOL THAT CAN DO A LOT AND IS BUILT TO LAST THIS IS IT.
Bellio –
Where have you been all my life?If only I had this sooner. It has made my work so much easier. Such a quality tool and a good price. Its worth it.
Matthew –
Makita qualityGood drill, not much different than my old one but works fine.
Robert Fisher –
Great for any screwsWith the speed selector I can now put in even small wood screws < 1". My previous impact driver was one speed and that speed was FAST. It drove screws half way through the wood in a snap making it useless for woodworking.The XDT16 is not like this at all. Great speed control and nice settings you can customize for the type of work you do most often.I Would recommend