Ingco vs Makita - Who Makes The Best Entry Level Cordless Impact Drill？

Good day and welcome everyone, it is Stuart here from Northern Bolts and Tool and today is Battle of the Babies. Yes, you heard me correct. We've got entry-level drills, one from Makita and one from Inco. Makita's unit coming in at 50Nm at a price of 2999, Inco 55Nm coming in at 599. So massive price difference there, but spec for spec they are as close as we could get. So I think let's compare them and let's see which one comes out on top. We're going to unbox them, show you guys what they come with, we're going to test them, see how they perform compared to each other and determine which unit you should buy. So with that, let's get into the unboxing and see what they come with. First up, we've got the Makita and right off the bat, what a beautiful case. This is a nice stackable sustainer type case, which allows you to stack the case on top if you've got multiple and obviously able to store various things in here. Now opening it up, you can see this is the drill, this is the unit itself. One thing I did notice about the sustainer, and I'll show it to you right now, if you close it with the drill in its place and you turn upside on, yeah, I don't know if you guys heard that, but the drill goes flying, although miraculously it landed straight back in its spot, which I guess is kind of cool. But yeah, it would be nice if Makita just had something just to hold the units in place a little bit better, you know, during transportation and stuff, things go flying around, it would just be nice. Even if it's just foam for the drill and just plain foam on the side here for you to cut out your own spaces for your battery charge or whatever you want, that would actually be quite a cool thing. So maybe if Makita, if you're watching, that could be something you could include, I don't know. Anyway, let's take a closer look at the tool itself. So that's it there. It does come with this double headed bits over here, one side's slotted, one side's posi, so that's that. And you also get your owner's manual, which I'm sure you guys saw. In terms of the drill itself though, this does have a brushless motor, which is very cool. It also is an impact drill, so you've got your impact, you've got your screwdriving over here, and you've got your normal drilling over here with, let's see, 21 clutch settings for your drill driving mode over there. In terms of the chuck, it is a plastic chuck, but it does look nice and sturdy, I must say. That looks all good and well over there. You've got your direction control over here, and obviously your trigger. Now the light does look nice and big. I think that's something we need to just check out. That looks like it could illuminate quite nicely, so we'll check that out. Other than that, not too much more to it. It is the entry level drill, and I guess that's pretty much what you get. It's a nice drilling machine, nothing too crazy in terms of features and functions, but yeah, that's it there. I forgot to mention, your speed control is on top here, and that switch does feel quite nice, I must say. So, with that, let's move on to the Inco and see how it compares. Alright, moving on to the Inco. As you can see, this is a cardboard box, not the standard the Makita comes in, but if you purchase this in the kit format, it does come in a carry case, but it's not a sustainer, so it's not stackable and lockable, but it is what it is. So, opening up the box, you've got your machine over here, you've got a pack of what appear to be some concrete drill bits, as well as a double-headed bit shell again. You've got your owner's manual over here, and that's pretty much it. Compared to the Makita, it does look similar in terms of the features. Up here, you've got your same features. You've got your drills, screwdriving, and impact functions up here. On this one, you have 22 different settings for your clutch, and you get a metal chuck. So, the metal chuck, that's quite nice. Obviously, both of them 13mm, that's all good and well. Speed control up top here feels pretty good. The Makita is a little bit easier, just I think the design and ergonomics of the switch up top, but that's that. In terms of this direction control over here, that's pretty much identical, no real difference over there. Trigger feels good, as always. Now, that's our little Inco over there. Alright, so looking at the two units here, you can see right off the bat how much shorter the Inco is than the Makita. So, if you're looking for something to get into tight spaces, round one definitely goes to Inco. It's a lot more compact. In terms of height, they're both pretty similar, and in terms of the actual width of the tools, also very, very similar there. One thing to note though, the Makita, this one comes with a bulb clip, whereas the Inco does not. It does have a space for a bulb clip, but for some reason Inco do not include bulb clips in some of their tools, and some of them they do, and some not. It's just a 50-50. I'm not really sure why it would be cool if they had bulb clips for everything. Anyway, for some people that is a big deal, but yeah, that's the situation there. Moving on, I'd just like to look at the lights. So, the Makita's one is right underneath here, whereas the Inco is over here. I'm not sure which one I like better. I think I have to just turn the lights off here and just see, because with it being right underneath the chuck over here, it might illuminate the workpiece better, but coming in from an angle, that might illuminate the workpiece just as well. I'm not really sure. So, that's something that I will look at, and I'll just let you guys know. In terms of the units themselves, in terms of what's powering them, we've both got brushless motors here, so that's really nice to see from both brands. And of course, moving on to the battery for our test today, we're going to be using 5Ah batteries. This will give these machines the best opportunity to perform as well as they possibly can under our testing situation. So, with that, let's get into the testing and let's see how they compare. All right, time now for a quick RPM test. We're looking for 500 RPM in gear 1 and 1900 in gear 2. 3, 2, 1. See there, 480 RPM, gear number 2. 1863, so nearest makes no difference. This one's bang on spec. Let's move on to the Inco. All right, Inco, we're looking for 500 in gear number 1 and 2000 in gear number 2. 505 RPM in gear number 1, that's bang on spec. Gear number 2. 1950, that's also nearest makes no difference. Let's move on to the next test. All right, guys, now the moment you've all been waiting for. It's our torque test. We're in gear number 1 for maximum torque. This is, of course, soft torque. Just bear that in mind. If you're not sure what soft torque is, guys, just please look it up before you comment down below. So, testing the torque in 3, 2, 1. And we got 22.2 newton meters of soft torque with the Makita. Let's see what we can get out of the Inco. Now it's time for the Inco. 3, 2, 1. And on this one, we've got 26.6 newton meters of soft torque. I did hear some cracks in the wood. We might have to go up to our bigger piece to get a more accurate reading, but I think we're okay for now. 26.6 newton meters, that's pretty good going for such a small unit. All right, guys, let's stop messing around. We've got our big block out. Let's see how the Makita does. We want to redo the test to try and get more accurate, a little bit more fair results. So, we've recharged our battery. 3, 2, 1. And we've got 23.4 newton meters, so about one odd newton meter more. Let's move on to the Inco and see how it compares. Now it's time for the Inco. We're all good to go here. 3, 2, 1. And with the Inco, we've got 28.9, so 29 newton meters versus 23 and a half. That's quite a big difference there. You could really feel it on the machine itself when I was performing the test. But yeah, so a lot more torque out of the Inco. With that, let's move on to the next test. We've got our drill driving test. If you've watched our channel before, you'll see we just time how long it takes for us to sink these screws into the wood. So we're on number two. We've got our battery fully charged here. We are in drill mode. 3, 2, 1. Now it's time for the Inco. Now it's the Inco's turn. 3, 2, 1. That felt much quicker than the Makita. I even oversunk one by mistake because I just worked with the Makita. So it'll be interesting to see what the time's like. For this next one, we're going to be drilling into our piece of pine over here. I found the biggest spade bit we had available on the shelf. This is 40 mil. So now it's a big hole. It might be overloading these machines, but it is what it is. You might be in a situation one day when you have to drill a hole like this. So we're going to give it a bash. This test is more of a how it feels in the hands of a test. We don't really have any instruments to gauge how well it's performing, but I'll give the best feedback I can on how the machines feel in the hand. So with that, we are on level number two. 3, 2, 1. And you can see that kind of stopped a little way in, but it took out a lot of wood. Let's now move on to the Inco. Now it's time for the Inco. 3, 2, 1. And we are all the way through a nice clean 40 mil hole with the Inco. This thing has plenty of power. It is quite impressive. I think with the Makita I should maybe just try and go a little bit deeper with this hole and see if we're able to get through. I'm going to put this back onto the Makita and see if I'm able to drill that hole a little bit deeper. Okay, round two with the Makita. 3, 2, 1. So the Makita can get through. I was maybe a little bit over-adventurous in the beginning. I pushed maybe a little bit too hard. The Inco does feel like it went through a little bit quicker, but you're still able to get the job done with the Makita. All right, drilling an 8mm hole into steel. 3, 2, 1. All right guys, so that's the testing done. And you know, I did get a little bit carried away drilling holes into stuff. Not really scientific, but you know, it's nice to just drill into something and just feel how the machines are in the hand and how they perform in the real world, not necessarily testing it and measuring stuff. So what can I say about them? I can tell you right now that both of them have plenty of power. And honestly, from what I felt during that drilling, they felt very, very similar to me. I couldn't really distinguish a massive difference between the two. They both felt like they performed well, had plenty of torque. So from a feeling point of view, just general feel, both really nice and ergonomic. Both performed really well, plenty of power. Didn't feel like I was lacking for anything. So both machines pass my book. I really enjoyed using both of them. Now looking at the testing, and this is where it gets a little bit interesting. So I know Makita, we've had meetings with them, we've chatted about stuff like this, and they, I know, aren't particularly pleased about comparison videos with brands such as Inco that come in at such a lower price point compared to their units. And that's fair. So let's take the pricing away. Let's just look at what we've got in our testing and ignore the price for now. We'll come back to that a little bit later. So in terms of the drill driving test, the Inco was quite a bit quicker. It felt quicker when I was using it. Overall on the three, it was one second quicker, so 0.3 of a second per screw quicker. I could feel that difference. That extra 100 RPM, it was really kicking in there. In terms of torque, it is also more torquey than the Makita. So in terms of just the performance alone, I think the Inco does take it. Over and above that, it is shorter and more compact than the Makita, and it has a metal chuck. So in ergonomics, I think it goes to the Inco. Now, in terms of durability, that's one thing we can't test, and we are working on it. But I think that would be the test that would really separate the men from the boys and see if Inco really can take the crown from Makita. Makita is a very well established brand in the country that's been here for many, many years, and it has proven itself. Inco is making a massive name for itself. The tools are reliable, and at the price point, it makes them very compelling. That is why so many people are buying Inco at the moment. At the end of the day, you do have to look at the price, but if you just look at the general performance, obviously without the durability, I do think the Inco has definitively beaten this particular Makita model on this occasion. Now, when you take the price into consideration, that's a whole other ballgame. You can get four or five Incos for one Makita. It really is a no-brainer. Depending on how you're going to be using it, this Inco will be plenty powerful for most applications. Again, durability, I don't know if the Makita would last five times as long as the Inco. Inco comes with a one-year warranty, so your Makita would need to last five years for it to sort of equal out, if that makes sense. And some people do get many, many years out of their Makitas. I've seen in the comments 10 years plus, so I know that the durability on these machines is very, very good. Now, in terms of what to buy, I think it's also dependent on what your application is for or what your budget is. If you're buying for a massive team and you don't have a massive budget, get the team Incos. You won't go wrong. If you're buying something for yourself, maybe it's your personal tools and you really want to treat yourself to something nice and premium, get the badge going there and get the name, then obviously not a problem at all. Hit up this Makita at 2999. It is a good price compared to the other Makitas in the range and compared to some of the other drills that we have seen on our channel. But I think overall, for me, I would go with the Inco. Better performance, more compact design, and of course, the price is a lot easier on the wallet. Talking about easier on the wallet, we're going to run a promo on these two machines from right now to Sunday night. Get 10% off. Use promo code BABY10 for the Battle of the Babies drill comparison video. Let me know what you guys think down below. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see tested. Let me know how you would go about testing these in terms of durability. If you've got any ideas, we're open to suggestions. We are looking into them. It is nice to really test the drills or whatever machine it is to the absolute limit, and that is something that we want to see, and I'm sure you guys are dying to see as well. So that is coming up. If you've got any suggestions, hit us up in the comments down below. Let me know what you think of these two tools. Would you buy the Makita over the Inco? Would you buy the Inco over the Makita? Let us know why and hit us up in the comments down below. With that, guys, both of these machines are available both online and in-store. If you'd like to come and check them out in person, we'll have our address down below, as well as links to our online store. With that, guys, I hope you've enjoyed today's review. Let me know what you think, and I'll catch you again next week.