Thanks for taking your time to read our review of the Makita DMR115 DAB+ Radio. Below we have included a full and detailed review of this highly popular choice for UK buyers.
This radio can receive DAB and DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting). The good news is it has range of power options and include AC or 12V Max, 14.4V or 18V Li-ion CXT LXT slide type batteries.
It has 6 selectable sound modes, an equaliser, excellent sound quality, a woofer and is bluetooth compatible. All in all, a good high quality job site radio. It's a big feature that it has has the benefit of Bluetooth connectivity, so you can play music directly from your phone.
How Buyers Rate the Makita DMR115?
94% buyer satisfaction based on 1,700+ online buyer reviews
- 84% of all online buyers gave this a full 5 star review
- 2% of all buyers gave this a poor review
This unit gets brilliant ratings and reviews from the buyers. Its not cheap but users love it and they last for many years.
What Buyers Say about the Makita DMR115?
Pros
Cons
Buyers wouldnt spend this sort of money for a radio to use around the house or in a garage. The majority of buyers are builders who use it on one of their sites. For that type of use, everybody agrees that this is a great piece of kit and they highly recommend it.
Makita DMR115 Specification
- Weighs 4.8-5.5 Kg depending on what battery you use
- You can use 12-18V battery types LXT and CXT
- It has a MY EQ (My Equaliser) Mode - enables the user to adjust the treble, midrange and bass for the desired sound quality - 7 selectable sound modes with each mode having an LED colour to indicate the selected sound mode
- It has bumpers and an aluminium die cast guard to protect the radio from rough handling
- There is a woofer speaker on the bottom of the radio
- It also has a carry handle with a built in FM antenna
- The radio is capable of receiving DAB and DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting)
- It has a dual power source; AC or Makita compatible batteries
- Comes equipped with Bluetooth Class 2 - wirelessly connect your mobile device for playing music with a range of up to 10 metres
- The frequency range for FM is 87.5 to 108 Mhz
- The frequency range for DAB/DAB+ Band III is 5A to 15F
- It has a USB output port that allows for charging mobile devices.
- Please note it is not compatible with Ni-Cad, Ni-MH or G-Series batteries
- It doesn't have medium wave
Makita DMR115 - 3 Key Features
Tough and Durable
Like most Makita products this radio is very well made to a very high standard. Give the price, you would certainly expect that to be the case. It is also has an IP65 rated dust and shower-proof construction, so built to stand up to the rigours of a typical job site.
Great Sound
The vast majority of buyers were very impressed with the sound. They loved the clarity of the speaker. They also said the sub-woofer is a good addition as long as you don't over use it. Buyers also loved the equaliser as it allowed then to add additional volume without distortion.
Frequency Range
The only minor complaint we could find was that it doesn't do the medium wave. That said the vast majority of buyers said the FM and DAB ranges are very good and easy to pick up with this radio,
The aerial is built into the handle but works when the handle is down, so quite impressive.
The bluetooth allows you to connect your phone and play music too.
A very quick video review
We have looked over all the video reviews and found this great short presentation on this Makita power tool. It gives you an instant idea of what to expect as well as telling you all the features and spec in and easy to understand format.
I hope you enjoy watching it as I always think its much better to see a tool in action rather than just reading about it or seeing pictures. This guy is particularly good at explaining the features of the radio and he is well known for demonstrating Makita tools.
The Makita Brand
The Makita brand sell a wide range of cordless tools and tools for the construction and demolition industries. They also sell some garden machinery. They sell their tools through various stores in the UK including B&Q, Screwfix, Cromwell, Jewson, Buildbase, Bradfords, Wickes and more.
Their HQ is in Japan. Their Telford manufacturing plant is the only full-production facility for power tools in the UK and has been successfully running construction on many of our top line cordless power tools since 1991.
Makita believe that for a good tool you need a good motor, and Makita makes every effort to make sure their motors are of the best quality. They use premium grade steel to produce armature shafts and gears, and only steel of the highest grade is used.
They also complete quality control tests on each and every, machine that leaves their manufacturing plants.
Our Verdict on the Makita DMR115?
No question it is an expensive buy, but this model has been built to last, and most buyers just understand that Makita quality products are never going to be cheap.
They are built to last and dust and waterproof which is in our opinion and absolute necessity.
The sound quality is top notch, especially if you take your time and make full use of the equaliser system and the sub-woofer
Buyers say if you have this on all day, a fully charged Makita 3.0 Ah battery will be used up. We have also had some reports that this unit is much harder on the battery than the older DMR 112 and that it only lasts up to around a third of the time.
Upgraded to the dmr115 from the dmr112. The new model is brilliant although the battery life is rubbish compared to the previous. A fully charged 4ah battery would last about 15 hours on the 112 on the 115 it lasts for about 5 hours. Big disappointment for me.
Thats great to know, thanks. I’ll make a note of that on the review.
Cheaply made and breaks easily. The handle latch broke off mine and if you could see how thin the material is there is no wonder it broke. Makita won’t touch it and say it’s a complete body replacement at my cost? I’m sorry makita I’m not paying for a poorly designed unit that will break again. Signal isn’t really the greatest it will stop and play on the digital radio. Tbh it’s not really a site radio as it’s very delicate and isn’t upto site conditions. Mine actually broke in the back of my truck and didn’t even make it onto site. Very very poorly designed and constructed would absolutely not recommend