My 12v Hitachi NiCad and my 15v Panasonic NiMH drills have both died of old
battery age. The standard list of alternatives are:
(a) Rebuild the battery packs. Interesting thought but (i) work and (ii) not
necessarily cost effective.
(b) Buy a new drill.
Assuming I go for plan (b), what was the general consensus for the new purchase.
My experience with both of the existing drills was that I had adequate power
from both of them - enough that I would not consider
the extra weight, bulk and expense of an 18v NiCad or NiMH to be a worthwhile
tradeoff for the extra power it would offer. And as
only an occasional user - once or twice a week - they sat on the charger for
most of their lives.
But the weight and bulk of the 18v Li-ion does have me interested in them as a
possible option. What is holding me back from the
impulse purchase is my experience with Li-ion with my laptops. Great power and
light weight - WHILE THEY LASTED. The total lifetime
of the batteries did not seem to be very good. My Dell is on a desk top dock
most of the time. When new the batteries were great but
after only 24 months they are totally useless. My employer was able to get a
replacement set of batteries and they worked great for
about two weeks but after three weeks they were also totally useless. So I am
hesitant to invest in technology that does not appear
to fit my usage pattern.
Any thoughts anyone would like to share would be appreciated.
Arvid
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