I never bought into the cordless tool concept. I know some folks like it and in some instances, it may be easier than running an extension cord. BUT, I have never encountered such a situation in my shop or doing repairs around the property. When I built my corral, I bored holes with the old style brace and bit! 

hat

3 hours ago, hatuffej said:

I bored holes with the old style brace and bit! 

 

the original cordless..

7 hours ago, schnewj said:

they can't be rebuilt

Say what?   When did that start?   Most of the "battery packs" are nothing but a series of small batteries with soldered tabs holding them together and you can buy pre-soldered batteries from lots of places online.    In my case, my Ridgids are held together with some nice little security torx screws and I have the bits to remove most sizes of those.   Back when my old battery powered devices died it was actually less expensive to simply buy a new drill with two batteries and charger than to buy new battery packs and the pre-tabbed batteries weren't readily available back when.   A 9.6, two 12s, and a 14.4 all ended up going bye-bye when the battery packs died (and no, the ijits didn't make the two 12V ones compatible.)

23 minutes ago, p_toad said:

Say what?   When did that start?   Most of the "battery packs" are nothing but a series of small batteries with soldered tabs holding them together and you can buy pre-soldered batteries from lots of places online.    In my case, my Ridgids are held together with some nice little security torx screws and I have the bits to remove most sizes of those.   Back when my old battery powered devices died it was actually less expensive to simply buy a new drill with two batteries and charger than to buy new battery packs and the pre-tabbed batteries weren't readily available back when.   A 9.6, two 12s, and a 14.4 all ended up going bye-bye when the battery packs died (and no, the ijits didn't make the two 12V ones compatible.)

Re-read the post. I said, "The downside, they can't be rebuilt like the Ni Cad and NiMH batteries." None of the companies that rebuild batteries will rebuild Li Ion batteries. You can certainly do it yourself, if you can find a source for a quality Li Ion battery. However, nobody that does it commercially WILL rebuild them for liability reasons.

 

Remember the hover boards that were catching on fire, laptops exploding, on and on. I certainly don't want to risk a fire or explosion while I'm holding a tool, do you?

 

This may help.

 

http://toolboyworld.com/eBay/Ryobi_Batt_Rebuild.htm

 

Read this section" The heck with NiCad packs, I wanna rebuld my Lithium Ion pack!

Edited April 13, 20188 yr by schnewj

I started out with Craftsman 12v nicad 3 piece set with 2 batteries. I got a few years use out of them and they wouldn't take a charge. I found out how to bring them back to life with an auto battery and they lasted quite a while longer. I went to Sears and saw that their 12v batteries were on sale. Good price too. EXCEPT they would not fit my older model. It was about the time Craftsman started downhill. I have replaced them with Mikata which I got from HD, which is a quarter mile away. I recently saw that they have the large high amp batteries 2 for $50.

O ordered two replacement batteries for my Rigids through Ebay for about $65.00 and have a 3 yr warranty. After a yr. so far so good.

My experience is with Makita lithium-----all good---- started with this brand after sad experience with other brand. I have a full stable of cordless Makita and the batteries purchased in 2008 are still going strong. I find the circular saw and impact driver are my favorites---- these units have been used hard.   Works for me.

I've got DeWalt NiCads.  The cases can be opened and the batteries replaced.  There are places that will do this for you or you can buy individual batteries and weld them together yourself.  I found a place that sells the batteries already welded.  The batteries are half the price of a whole new battery.  Mine are 12 volt.  The last price I saw for a whole new 12 volt battery was about $72.  I bought just the welded batteries for half that.