Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Also remember constantly buying new gear solely because of batteries IS NOT a good use of the planets resources. Making every effort to carry on using your old power tools and batteries is a good practise.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

You are missing the title of this section. Check it out. Low oxygen at your altitude.

James Van Ells

I dumped all my Dewalt large drills and bought another brand with lifetime warranty on the drills and the batteries.

Caranx Loc: Atlanta

This is so true! In my case, I had Skil & Rigid & BD tools where batteries died, no replacements, chargers burned out. So, like my Nikons, I purged the toolbox and invested in a quality system. I'm sure other hoggers have done the same. Efficiency, reliability, versatility, longevity and safety in the workshop! As you said, better use of resources, less waste.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

If you can open the battery so that you can see the individual cells, and then determine which cell is failing it can be unsoldered and taken to a battery store and match it to a new cell it can be soldered back into the battery and it should work just fine. I used to do that all the time with radio controlled aircraft battery packs. Saved a lot of money.

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

If you saw this post in "Upcoming Topics" your question is premature. Posts to that section could end up anywhere.

dc3legs Loc: Tucson

For what it's worth, my first rechargeable battery tool was a Makita drill purchased in 1985. They were a superb tool at the time. Further subsequent Makita products required newer batteries and all were also excellent tools. However, in all cases, the tool itself easily outlived the availability of the battery it required. As time went by I used DeWalt and Milwaukee products and they were (and are) also great tools but the batteries always still fail before the tool itself.
Many of us expect a good tool to last a lifetime. With modern battery operated products, that's not the case. When the battery deteriorates you'll need to buy a complete new tool and trash the old one.

trainguy Loc: Suttons Bay, MI

I use Rigid . "life time" guarantee on the drill AND the batteries; check them out never buy batteries again

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Going back years when I had an 18v NiCd B&D Firestorm it was great. Then the batteries failed so I went with non OEM NiMh versions (twice the capacity and grunt). One of my chargers failed (burnt out by having the charge the higher power NiMh batteries) but I had a spare so that was okay. Eventually the drill itself failed (over 10 years of heavy use) so I bought a Makita. Sold off all my B&D plus remaining batteries except for the pole trimmer but had no battery for it. I bought a Makita to USB charger fitting and adapted it to an empty B&D battery case so that problem solved.
Later I got a deal on a Milwaukee 18v wrench, found a Makita to Milwaukee adapter and that problem solved. So I have power tools from 3 different manfs but only need one brand of battery.
Battery systems do come and go and I am hoping that the 18v Makita system will be around for a while.
Incidentally for all those who think they have a really good supplier with DeWalt note they are owned by Stanley B&D. Not a 100% certain of this but I think B&D bought DeWalt and then merged with Stanley.
If you have a good ol American Milwaukee note the following "Founded in 1985[3] in Hong Kong, TTI's brand portfolio includes Milwaukee, AEG, Ryobi, Homelite, Empire, Stiletto, Hoover US, Hart, Oreck, Vax, and Dirt Devil.[4] It has a worldwide customer reach and over 22,000 staff. TTI also manufactures power tools under the Ridgid name through a licensing agreement." TTI stands for Techtronic Industries based in HK. You are at the mercy of the Chinese.
Stanley B&D and Makita are the major independent manufacturers left. Probably Bosch as well.
There are a ton of house brands and I don't know who makes those.

canarywood1 Loc: Sarasota,Florida

Just a heads up here, Stanley Black and Decker owns DeWalt and Porter Cable, and have for some time.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

And B&D is owned by Stanley Tools.

tvhasben Loc: Chattanooga, Tennessee

Stanley Black and Decker is the largest tool company in the world. They own B&D, Stanley, Dewalt, Porter Cable, Craftsman, Bostich, Mac, Lenox, Irwin and a hand full of lesser known brands. Most of their hand tools are now 20 volt, but the Craftsman line of outdoor power equipment now uses 20 and 60 volt batteries. And Lowe's Kobalt brand uses 24, 40, and 80 volt batteries.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

You can see the merry go round of changing battery voltages thus making you upgrade yet again. I am sure there are good engineering reasons why to change the voltage but to me just another way to extract more money from you.

johnnievegas

Chit chat is not photography.