jerryc41 wrote:
Fortunately, I don't need the best tools that are available. I have mainly DeWalt and some Ryobi, and they're fine. I don't want to keep a supply of half a dozen brands of batteries. Manufacturers think they're being smart by having their own battery shapes, but I think standardizing would be smarter. Imagine if there were all different shapes of AA and AAA batteries. I have an adapter that lets me use one brand of battery on a different tool.
For the case of disposable batteries like AA and AAA the batteries are made and sold by batttery manufacturers and they have nothing to do with the the devices that use them and thus standardize is bether for them as they can sell more batteries.
For the tools especially these tools are relatively cheap compared to the price of the batteries. So they Milwaukee wouldn't want you to buy Dewalt batteries to run their tools. Just like Canon wouldn't want you to use Epson ink. It's the batteries that they make money. And as far as the tools I see mostly the damage was the rubber cover came off under heavy use with greasy/oily hands but otherwise the tool last a long time. Not so with the batteries.