Makita2012NB 12" Portable Planer

I am a professional remodeler and in the past five years I have burnt out three Delta planers. Twice, the feed rollers gave up and the last one apparently suffered a major internal failure. I have had the Makita now for two months and it has been flawless as I would expect. We plane some tough stuff like Ipe so we definitely give these things a workout. If it is still flawless in a year, I will give it a fifth star. I appreciate the ergonomics of this well, thought out machine. I am glad that Makita has eliminated a cutterhead lock. I personally couldn't care less about snipe, of which this machine creates very little. We plane long and then cut to size on the miter saw. Don't you?Okay, so I'm a year late, this is one VERY good planer! It continues to perform like new, with only blade changes. I have it hooked up in my shop and have run hundreds of feet of maple, pine, poplar, Ipe, oak, even plywood and MDF. It just does its thing. Very uneventful, I like that. That's what I pay for. The only downside is that it makes justifying a 15" Powermatic planer difficult!So here were are now, its 2004 and the little bugger just keeps going! I may never get that new planer. What can I say, after..... I don't know, five or six thousand feet of various hardwoods, no changes to date! See you next year!What can I say? Late again! So here we are almost eight years later and the little SOB just keeps running! New blades, vacuum occasionally, lube the posts if I think of it and it just keeps going. If it ever dies, I'll let you know!NEW FOR 2017! I bought this planer on August 14, 2001. That was almost 16 years ago. I'm starting to think this thing may outlive me! It just keeps working. I may store it in an unheated shop for a couple of months, then take it out and run it non stop for a week straight. Last summer we upped the ante and ran a few thousand feet o Azek through it. Now first of all..... what a miserable material to work with. Floppy, every cut is a new experience in static electricity, it seems very abrasive and seems to take the edge off of any saw blade, router bit or whatnot. Oh, did I mention the material is razor sharp? 35 years of construction, my hands are plenty tough, take it from me, masks and gloves are a must. That being said Azek and similar products seem to be a good material for exterior trim. Time will tell. So the procedure with Azek on a job site is to use the dust hood attached to a shop vac and that makes it tolerable. No complaints, just change the blades, blow it out once in a while and it keeps going. Definitely five stars! See you in a few years!So here we are in 2021. I bought this in August of 2001 so we are not quite at the 20 year mark yet. That being said, no issues. I continue to use this planer commercially and in all types of conditions. Hot, cold, inside & out. From Azek (ugh!) to Ipe and everything in-between, It just keeps running. Throw on new blades and away it goes. I'm starting to think it might outlive me! Helpful hint: I apply black ink via sharpie to the underside of a new set of blades before I install it. That way, when I go to change over the double sided blade, it will be clear to me whether I had swapped the blade over before as a fresh edge will still have ink on it. I'll try to post a picture if I can figure out how to.Rain today so I thought I would update my review for 2023. What can I say? It just keeps going. I've been running a lot of Ipe through it lately and it still comes out beautiful. I can't tell you how many blade changes I have done over the years, other than that, almost no maintenance. Lube the posts , if I think of it. I should really clean the rollers at some point. Someday it will die and I will complain about how it's "brand new". (Just for reference... "Brand new" has become a definition for " If I can remember when I bought it, that makes it "brand new"). If you are considering a planer, don't even think about it. This is the best one.

After using this planer for a couple of weeks on various sizes of wood of several species (oak, cypress, poplar, fir, cherry), I am more than satisfied that it lives up to my high expectations.I am a fan of the Makita brand, ever since I bought their 12" sliding compound miter saw a few years ago (another awesome tool). Now, with 4 or 5 Makita tools in my shop, I am confident that the brand stands for quality and performance.As far as the 2012NB planer goes, I find nothing to complain about. It's much quieter than I expected it to be, a pleasant surprise. And the surface finish is just excellent. On most woods you need to really look hard, with the light at just the right angle, to see the machine marks. Therefore, the planer marks can be removed easily with a minimum amount of scraping or sanding. I used to own an Inca-Swiss planer/jointer, the one that Garrett Wade sells. Mine was the older model, not the current one, and I bought it used. But the knives were brand new. The Makita surface finish is much cleaner than I used to get from the Inca.Also, I have had almost no problem with snipe except when I was deliberately trying worst-case scenarios (long boards without in-feed and out-feed support). When planing long boards it's definitely a good idea to provide supplemental supports at both ends.I haven't had to change blades yet, but the tools are included (in a nice little plastic case that stores safely inside the machine)and I'm hoping it will live up to what other reviewers have said, namely that it isn't too hard (some planers can be a real bear to change blades, like my old Inca).About the only thing I can say on the minus side is that it's a little bit dumb that you need to buy the dust collector port separately for an extra twenty bucks. You definitely need it if you want to run this thing indoors (this baby could make a pile of shavings the size of a Volkswagen in a couple of hours).The bottom line:A beautiful tool that produces beautiful work, and is well worth it's slightly higher price tag compared to the competition (Delta, Dewalt, Ridgid, etc.).