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Very very rarely will a product rate and rank 4.95/5 over thousands and tens of thousands of reviews from fellow carpenters and enthusiasts alike, and actually be legitimate. Welcome to the MAKITA DKP180Z 18V LXT CORDLESS PLANER which genuinely is a piece of engineering excellence and performs superbly.

You’re going to love this review. Not only am I going to show you how good the cut is out of the box, but I’m also going to show you one of these after a year of daily use. I can tell you I have hit nails, screws, odd bits of hidden metal in doors and windows – I even bent the planer blade plates that hold them in place but it is still going strong. Obviously I have replaced tens of blades, but I am talking about actually smashing up the plates too 😀

This is a very precise cordless planer. You can cut 9mm shiplapping and 2mm in depth with ease. I highlight that point because it is seriously refreshing to be told a stat, and it just be exactly the case. Well done to Makita on that, no thrills, as it says on the box, it’s all we ask for as a buyer, trust in the spec.

Granted the cut is a little off and it is the reason I bought a new one but still working well all the same. It’s still under warranty but the hammering I have given that thing and how well it’s stood up, I don’t even want to get my money back – I’d feel terrible taking it back after it’s given me resilient service for so long, and to be honest it only needs a new set of plates….but I bought a new one as they are just so cheap and handy to have a spare. Also once you’ve invested in the batteries the more bare tools you have the better, I love my Makita cordless nail guns, my good old Makita cordless chainsaw, and the best Makita cordless jigsaw literally ever. 🙂 Once you’ve got those toys, I mean tools 😉 the next thing to look at is their Makita cordless lawn mower – unbelievable bit of kit.

The first thing to talk about is the rubber belt drive on the motor to the blade. I’ve never sheared or damaged one in all the time I’ve owned and used this model for over a year but they always come with a spare or two which makes me think they do fail sometimes but like I say, not for me it hasn’t. Here’s a look at the rubber belt drive, blades, and plates:

The blades supplied with new are superb, they would cost you 15 quid alone and miles better than the tungsten carbide (TCT) you get from Toolstation for a fiver. So off the bat you’ll test this with a bit of 4 by 2 and be over the moon with the cut, and just how sharp it is.

I love the safety switch start too. I didn’t think I can recollect in tens of hours of use ever turning this planer on by accident. You have to push and hold the switch down until you press in the trigger.

The chamfer groove works just fine and you’ll be able to remove sharp edges consistently and identically.

The first thing to take note of is just how accurate the cut depths are, in the video I show you how 1mm really does mean 1mm. It sounds trivial but so many planers do not cut just hoe they are supposed to.

As you can see from the new planer and old. The power delivery from 4 and 5 amp batteries is superb. Not that the amps makes any difference to total power, that’s just how long a battery will last. I will say this though, as a battery goes down to about two bars you do notice some loss in performance so best to be using a full battery where possible. I do know you’re supposed to run a battery right out but when I weigh up the cost of machining and my time versus getting a couple of years from a battery rather than three or four, I am happy with how I am doing things. If budgets an issue run your batteries down then keep them at full charge thereafter for the best lifespan.

The battery itself gives me about 10 minutes or so of cutting. That doesn’t sound like much but you get a lot of work done in that time with a planer. If you are cutting more than an hour at a time you’ll want to go with a corded version really. I’m not sure what you would be doing with a hand planer at that point though as a planer thicknesser makes much more sense anyway!

The dust extractor is great most of the time, I find it tries to fall off sometimes if I get into a funny angle with it, but overall pretty decent fit and really helps if your making a deep cut as it really does stop a clog up. On that note if you do get a clog up from cutting so deep it fills the chamber too fast, for the love of god remove the battery before you put anything down that hole to clear it.

I use this planer all the time for trimming down doors, cleaning up wood, and windows. It’s the perfect bit of kit and absolutely super value for money. For just about every great reason listed above and from a year of testing this daily I vote it the best cordless planer in the UK.