batteries vs. new drill: Makita?

[Michael MacDonald]

I have been saving my pennies (literally $20 at a pop), and I am now ready to either replace the batteries for my dewalt drill/driver, or get a new drill. I saw the typical retail price of $120 for the new dewalt nicad batteries, and think that a new li-ion drill is in my future. I did a search on this forum and looked at some reviews on amazon.

Not much recently on this forum as guidance... from 2007 to 2009, there are a lot of posts but the opinions vary across makita, bosh, milwaukee (not made in WI, I learned... gosh), and panasonic. Is this the best we can do? Waffle around when it comes to cordless drill/drivers/hammerdrill? I want clarity! (for example, for a biscuit joiner, get a PC unless you can afford that italian branch the name of which I can't remember just now... of course, I have a dewalt, but it works fine for my limited use... but at last we all know who kicks ass in this category.)

All kidding aside, I have zeroed in on Makita--$250 to $299 is the non-sale price for the LXPH01 or LXPH05--and I saw all the comments on chuck wobble and battery failures. But Makita stlll seems to be a top-notch tool if I don't get unlucky and get a lemon. Bosh has a great reputation. So does Milw (and I wasn't even aware of Panasonic until my search... ) I also saw comments on Dewalt and Hitachi being a good... but the majority of opinion for top-notch, price is no object, seems to settle on Bosh or Makita.

all the posts I researched were pretty old... anyone do research lately on this? Fine Woodworking had a review way back in issue 207. Anyone see any head to head tests recently? I probably can't go wrong in any of these directions, but it is a decision that only comes once in a while and I want to give it a chance to be based on something more then color preference (green or red or blue?)

Help?

[Walter Boatwright]

I was in the same boat as you I have all the 18 volt DeWalts their battiers just do not last me for some reason...I have had DeWalt for years...But got tired of replacing the batteriess...I went with Rigid with a life time on their batteries...I love the drills so far...

[Bill Huber]

I guess it is all in what you need and use the drill for, I don't do very much large drilling any more so I have gone to all 12v drills. The 12v. are small and don't weight a ton which makes them easy to handle for most of the work I use them for. The little 12v. have a lot of torque for there size and have done a very good job on anything I have ask them to do.

I picked the Milwaukee because they were Red and I really like red.........:D:D

I guess the main reason I got the Milwaukee is the 1/4" chuck on the drive, I just like the way it works one handed. From there I went with them because I then would only have one type of battery to worry about and that has worked out very well.

[Charlie Gummer]

Same situation here; I pulled the trigger last night on the Bosch 18v combo drill w/ 'Impactor' driver.

My 18v ni-cad dewalt has served me well but it's awfully heavy and I have been bemoaning the lack of an impact driver on remodel projects for too long now.

$230 for the set on Amazon and eligible for Prime shipping.

[Prashun Patel]

I have the Makita compact 18v Li Ion. I recommend it.

I also own a Ridgid 12v. I recommend it.

I have also read most reviews of drills out there, and honestly, I think it's safe to make the decision based on color; everyone loves their dewalts, makitas, hitachis, bosch's, panasonics, ridgids, etc.

I would definitely invest in an LiIon instead of replacing yr NiCads, though. The LiIon's last a lot longer and are a lot lighter.

My next drill will likely be a Ridgid 12v or 18v for the reason Bill mentions below.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I am now ready to either replace the batteries for my dewalt drill/driver, or get a new drill
You should be able to change over to Li-Ion batteries by just getting a new charger and new batteries for your DeWalt.

[Bill White]

Same DeWalt issues here. Good drills, but batts are expensive. I replaced with the Makita 18v L-ion LXFD01. Very well pleased with the choice.
Never had the light on adriver before. Dang! Sure comes in handy.
Bill

[Carl Beckett]

I have an older Dewalt 14.4v Have abused this and the batteries have lasted for years.

In recent times I have purchased a Makita black/white 18V drill/driver, a Makita blue hammer drill, a black/white impact driver, and the Makita circ saw. Obviously I liked them well enough I just kept adding.

The smaller black and white Makita is still my favorite. Smaller/lighter, and also variable speed (the larger one is three speeds - not the same thing).

Then the smaller impact driver is my next favorite (havent had it as long)

I had issues with batteries. Have had....4 or 5 die on me! And at $75 or more each, thats a LOT!! I purchased some new ones, but eventually found a repair/warranty house that took them all and sent them into the factory for replacement. This took almost a year - but at the end of the process they replaced every dead battery. The replacements seem better - so maybe there were some problems for a while. (or maybe they will die next month). Some of these batteries died with VERY little use and were not abused at all.

For sure I was considering changing to a new brand. Now..... Im am sticking with what I have because of the rather large battery investment. If I were starting from scratch... I dont know... maybe the Bosch series (I am a fan of smaller tools - more ergo and still plenty of power - I dont always want to lug a 5# tool up a ladder and work overhead). I have seen some good feedback on the small Bosch drivers for cabinet and running screws (I reserve the hammer drill for concrete or large drill bits - everything else I reach for the smaller drills)

So I guess 'it depends' on what you think you will be doing with it.

[Mike Henderson]

I guess it is all in what you need and use the drill for, I don't do very much large drilling any more so I have gone to all 12v drills. The 12v. are small and don't weight a ton which makes them easy to handle for most of the work I use them for. The little 12v. have a lot of torque for there size and have done a very good job on anything I have ask them to do.
Same with me. I wanted something lighter than the 18V I was using. I went with the DeWalt 12V drill driver combo and have been very satisfied.

I haven't had problems with my 18V batteries. I've gotten good life out of them.

Mike

[Andrew Joiner]

I also own a Ridgid 12v. It's a great driver drill.As powerful as my old 18V and holds a charge longer.
What I love is the lifetime free battery replacement. Be sure you fill out the paperwork.

[Larry Browning]

Have you looked into getting your batteries rebuilt? I think there are several companies that do this. My understanding is that you end up with a better battery for less than new.

This guy is pretty highly regarded here:
http://www.mtobattery.com/store/

[Larry Browning]

I also own a Ridgid 12v. It's a great driver drill.As powerful as my old 18V and holds a charge longer.
What I love is the lifetime free battery replacement. Be sure you fill out the paperwork.

I had a horrible experience with trying to get them to honor my "lifetime" free battery replacement. Let's just say Ridgid's definition of lifetime is a bit different than mine. They seem to think a lifetime is less than 5 years.

[Kevin Bourque]

I'm a contractor and I use my cordless driver/drill every day, all day long.
Mostly for screwing in cabinets and drywall.
I've owned them all and nothing beats Milwaukee.
I just replaced a 9 year old Milwaukee because I wasn't able to find reliable replacement batteries.
I won't even consider anything else.

[Carl Beckett]

Have you looked into getting your batteries rebuilt? I think there are several companies that do this. My understanding is that you end up with a better battery for less than new.

This guy is pretty highly regarded here:
http://www.mtobattery.com/store/

Note that the LiIons are not rebuildable.

I even went to the extreme of taking a couple apart, finding the dead cells, over riding the circuitry, modifying a third party charger.... etc.

It 'worked'. But really wasnt worth the hassles and no longer had some of the thermal protection circuitry, which no doubt would just mean it burns up quicker (or creates a safety hazard). So I wrote that battery off.....

[Stephen Cherry]

I've got the 18 volt makita 18 volt non-compact drill and driver setup. Very impressed. I had been holding out for years with a small dewalt drill, which was OK, but not enough battery.

I like the driver drill pair because you can drill with one, and drive with the other. No need to switch bits. The driver does a nice job on bigger screws, and the drill has a good clutch, so sometimes you may want to drill with the driver, and drive with the drill.

In retrospect, I think that compact 18v would have been OK also. I'm glad I got the bigger battery version though. Also, the big batteries let you use the same batterys for different 18 volt tools.

[Kent A Bathurst]

$0.02: I have the little brother of that Makita: The BHP454. Works great, but it isn't in continual use. I like it. For any no-foolin'-around hammer drill work, I have the classic DW corded one.

Also - have the BTD144 impact driver, and the BTD452 drill. Like 'em all. The compact batteries that came with the BTD ain't doodly-squat, though, in terms of output per charge.

My set of 5 batteries for my Milwaukee pair went south 2 - 3 years ago [after 5 years of use - no complaints], and I got the Makita set. I am very happy with the $$$ I laid out.

I cannot compare to other brands.........except a friend has a pair of DW drills - dunno the models - they are much heavier. That is nothing more than anecdotal - you can decide on that bit at any store.

Other brands mentioned above have very good reps as well as the Makita. At some point, I'd guess it is simply nibbling around the margins. If it feels good in your hand, then that may be the deciding factor.

[Carl Beckett]

Well... for me, the deciding factor is availability.

Because I will walk outside in the freezing rain and across my lot to the shop and back - before I will drive a screw by hand. :D

So when its time to use it - Im on a pretty quick timeline to make a decision and get the thing!

[scott vroom]

I have the Makita BDF452....bought it as part of a kit with the Makita impact driver. The impact driver is a workhorse, the drill is another story. The runout is ridiculously bad....It's hard to imagine they could engineer the chuck to such loose tolerances. I'm in the market for a new drill; the best I've owned is Milwaukee NiCad. Hard use for 10 or so years, gave it up because replacement batteries were toooooo expensive and I decided to go with a lithium ion.


If you plan to drill metal or do any type of precise wood drilling, I'd think twice about a Makita due to the runout.

[Greg R Bradley]

Interesting, I have about 10 Makita LXT Hammer Drills and Drill/Drivers of various models and the chucks are fine on all of them. I wonder if Makita had an alternative supplier for chucks on some of the models that were not up to their usual standards.

Some of mine are heavily used and I've only had one battery die early but it did die after just a few months of use. Quite a few batteries have seen far more than 500 charge cycles. I had one charger die also but it was one of the originals so probably was 4 years old and lived in the maintenance area of a heavy construction company.

If you like the Dewalt, why not just have the batteries rebuilt? What is best is determined by your intended use.

[Larry Frank]

I have the 18V Makita drill and driver and could not be happier. I bought it for the weight as it was the lightest of the 18V. As I am getting older and arthritis, I want a light tool. I use them a lot and have not had any problems with the batteries. I think that it is critical with the Lion to keep them charged. If you let them run all the way down and do not charge them right away they have a tendency to go bad.

As a note, I would have tried the DeWalt but at the time they did not have the Lion batteries and the weight difference was huge. Dewalt seemed to be pretty late at adapting the Lion battery technology.

I have also bought a couple of the small 3.6 volt drivers for use on smaller projects such as the screws for electrical outlets and such. They sure save on my wrists.

[Clint Baxter]

I bought the Li-Ion Makita tools when they first came out and like them the best of the lot. Have used the Dewalt and the Milwaukee and find that the handle on the Makita is a little bit smaller and that ends up being more comfortable when you use the tool as extensively as I do, (and I have large hands.) That, however is the prime reason I favor the Makita. I do like their lineup of other tools that use that battery platform though. But then again, I also like some of the new offerings from Red and Yellow as well. Did pick up a 12V drill/impact driver set from Red here recently. Like the compactness of the tool, but still find the handle on the Makita more comfortable. When they run that battery up through the handle, it just makes it large enough to be a bit less comfortable.

BTW, Panasonic typically has about the best batteries out there. Don't necessarily rule them out either.

Clint

[Michael MacDonald]

Scott Vroom -- if you happen to see this... when/where did you get that Makita with the chuck runout? Did it come from Amazon? That is one of the things I have seen in Amazon comments... one guy went so far as to suggest the 'CW' in the model number of his drill stood for chuck wobble. (He was pissed off but made me laugh.)

[Michael MacDonald]

all good feedback. I hadn't ever considered converting to Li-ion or having the nicads rebuilt... interesting. I might look into that. weight is one of the factors, so converting has more pull. I woud like a light though, and a hammer drill... and my DW does not have that.

I guess everyone does have his own experiene... probably can't go wrong with the main providers. This weekend I will head to the HD and hold a few to see if that helps inspire the decision. My intended use is not heavy--I work on house projects and honey-do lists periodically. I mostly stay away from any mech fasteners with woodworking--except for shop furniture and jigs and such... I am going to turn my bad-design of a router table into a good design next, so I was thinking I would make a drill purchase before that project... and give the drill a workout immediately.

[Prashun Patel]

Given your type of use, I would drop hammer drill from our requirement. You will just end up with a heavier than necessary drill for the 99.9 pct of the time you don't require hammer. Also, hammer IMHO is best done corded. Shoot, buy a cheap corded generic rotary hammer on the bay if you just want something for the odd times you drill concrete.

[phil harold]

I am a stout fan of my Makitas and 18v MINH side by side with a Li-on it out performs
Batteries need to be charged,
Batteries will eventually die
For the money you spend on a cordless you are better off to buy a battery for you old drill and then buy a corded hole shooter I have a couple of these 20 plus years of abuse
Get the 0-600 rpm

http://www.mytoolstore.com/milwauke/0244-1.html

Then you will have a real drill.

[Jim Andrew]

I've had about 5 sets of Makita drills, the only thing that goes bad are the batteries. My only Lithium ion is a Bosch I recently picked up on a Menards sale. The drill was 99$ and came with 2 batteries, with a form for 2 more batteries from Bosch. Got a letter from Bosch, they need another 120 to 160 days on the extra batteries. Using the 18v Bosch drill, it is a lighter weight drill than the Makitas, good for carrying, but doesn't seem as durable. Also, not as powerful as a 18v Makita. Although, I am comparing NiCad batteries and NIMH to the Bosch with the Lithium Ion. Is the lith ion a less powerful battery or drill? Anyway, my gripe is the NIMH batteries were advertised as longer lasting than the NICad, but they gave up first. I have 3 sets of the Makita batteries, and all 3 NIMH gave up. They came in sets with 1 NIMH and one NiCad per set.

[John Coloccia]

Scott Vroom -- if you happen to see this... when/where did you get that Makita with the chuck runout? Did it come from Amazon? That is one of the things I have seen in Amazon comments... one guy went so far as to suggest the 'CW' in the model number of his drill stood for chuck wobble. (He was pissed off but made me laugh.)

I have this combo, and my chuck is dead nuts:
http://www.buy.com/prod/makita-18v-cordless-lxt-lithium-ion-3-piece-combo-kit/208113582.html?listingId=-1

Makes me think it's a problem with that one model.

[Carl Beckett]

Given your type of use, I would drop hammer drill from our requirement. You will just end up with a heavier than necessary drill for the 99.9 pct of the time you don't require hammer. Also, hammer IMHO is best done corded. Shoot, buy a cheap corded generic rotary hammer on the bay if you just want something for the odd times you drill concrete.

+1 on all this.

I ended up buying a cheap corded hammer drill for the three times a year I want it.

[lowell holmes]

I have the same drill. I had to drive 60 miles round trip twice to get new free bateries. That milage cost was greater than buying new batteries at the store.

It's a con game. I do like the drill, but in my estimation, the batteries are junk.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I have this combo, and my chuck is dead nuts:
http://www.buy.com/prod/makita-18v-cordless-lxt-lithium-ion-3-piece-combo-kit/208113582.html?listingId=-1

Makes me think it's a problem with that one model.

Nah, John....the tools Gods simply do not like Scott - it's a personal thing. Drill runout. Compressor failure. Just a daily routine for him, I'd guess. There's others he hasn't shared with us.

Maybe it is simply the California hook - the Gods don't like California. Mudslides. Forest Fires. The Imminent Big One. USC. Drill runout is just a marginal issue.

:D :D :D

[Larry Browning]

I have the same drill. I had to drive 60 miles round trip twice to get new free bateries. That milage cost was greater than buying new batteries at the store.

It's a con game. I do like the drill, but in my estimation, the batteries are junk.

Hmmm. Either you know where to get batteries REAL cheap or you get a really bad gas mileage!:eek:

If you are talking about the Ridgid "lifetime" battery deal, I have to agree 100% on the con game comment. HD makes it next to impossible to get them to honor that deal. If you read the fine print on that, there are all sorts of hoops to jump through. The biggest deal is that to them, "lifetime" means the the drill's lifetime, not mine. Lifetime warranty used to be the lifetime of the original owner. Remember the old Midas Muffler commercials where the old man drives up to the Midas shop in a Model-T and they honor his lifetime warranty?

They refused to replace my batteries, because the "lifetime" of the drill had passed.

[lowell holmes]

The batteries are $40 each. I used the government allowance to calculate the milage cost on my old F150.

[scott vroom]

Michael, I bought the Makita drill/impact driver kit at Home Depot about 3 years ago. It does get heavy use but I ain't buying any suggestion that at $200 for the kit I should consider it a throw away tool. The chuck is crap, the runout is ridiculous and getting worse. I'm looking for a new drill. Your money, your choice.



Scott Vroom -- if you happen to see this... when/where did you get that Makita with the chuck runout? Did it come from Amazon? That is one of the things I have seen in Amazon comments... one guy went so far as to suggest the 'CW' in the model number of his drill stood for chuck wobble. (He was pissed off but made me laugh.)

[Greg R Bradley]

Scott,
These comments had me wondering about the chucks so I checked them all. Out of the 9 Makita drills I could lay my hands on, one DID have chuck runout. It is a BDF451, the very heavy duty hammer drill. It has noticeable run out with a 12" drill bit chucked up. All the others look good.

[Larry Browning]

The batteries are $40 each. I used the government allowance to calculate the milage cost on my old F150.
Ok, I had a 18V and they were about $90 each if I remember correctly.(highly unlikely)

[Carl Babel]

Michael, if you do decide on getting a new drill, you might want to consider getting a drill with brush-less motor. Makita, Dewalt, Milwaukee, and more all have 18/20 volt brushless drills available.
You will get longer run time, longer tool life, and longer battery life (fewer recharges).

[Michael MacDonald]

I think it is the lxph05 that is brushless... and the 01 model is 4-pole... if I know what I am saying. what is the drawback of brushless? must be something.

the three posts in a row--coloccia, vroom and holms... is what is causing my head to spin. You would think that a manuf company would have controls in place that such a small % of product would suck, that it would be rare to see the SMC or amazon comments pounding on one problem or another... among the options--great product, chuck wobble and lemon batteries... it seems like I perhaps have a 60%, 20%, 20% chance, respectively. These are unscientific numbers, but just a guess given the volume of the complaints I have seen wherever I look.

Makita--if you are reading this: "GET IT TOGETHER! Don't blow this sale!"

At any rate, weekend is here. Going to HD to explore and maybe take my chances.

[Dan Rude]

There really isn't any drawback to brushless, think no brushes to wear out or replace. With no brushes no friction. I'm looking at the new Fuel M18 volt Milwaukee impact because it has 3 settings. I currently own both the M18 Impact and Drill set with Compact batteries and a M18 Hammer Drill with the Heavy Duty Batteries. Like them all and also the M12 versions. I just used the whole group at our local Habitate Build Eco Village today. We are were a little limited on electric power. Everyone who used them commented on how they did. Milwaukee is suppose to be coming out with a new Fuel line in the M12, they are also boosting their batteries to 2 Amp Hour and 4 Amp Hour in both M12 and M18.
As for Ridgid, my HD told me to take them to a authorized repair center. They replaced both batteries on my 12 volt, even had an issue with uninstalling them, they took it back and fixed that and have been using it ever since.
Dan

[Ben Martin]

Be warned that the Makita Li-ion batteries aren't rebuildable. They have a micro-chip inside, you must buy a whole new battery.

I like my Makita, but probably won't buy another for this reason...

[michael osadchuk]

Michael,

Getting rebuilt nicad batteries for your existing DeWalt set would be the most value effective option, assuming that the only real "want" you are missing with the DW is a light. (I see $3-5 flat LED "keyring" lights that you could tape to the drills - smiley).

I have the Makita compact black and white 18 v./1.5amp lithium drill/driver set and am quite happy with it (replaces a 20 year old heavy/large 9.6 v. nicad Makita with weak/dead batteries).

If you go lithium inform yourself on lithium battery advantages/disadvantages/maintenance thru a website "batteryuniversity" (eg. lithium at this point appears to have a shelf life so it's not worth stocking up on batteries that won't be in use).

good luck

michael

[Carl Beckett]

Another consideration, if it is true, is the 'green' factor for lithium

I heard that lithium is a finite world resource. A concern if automobiles switch to it, that there will just not be enough to meet demand. So recycling is critical to preserving this fixed resource.

( I'm not suggesting this will impact the short term available of hand tool batteries )

All batteries should be recycled, so perhaps not a consideration.

[Pat Barry]

Jeez Larry, please explain how your drills 'lifetime' was up. Is that because the battery died? If in fact the drill was done / kaput / finit then you did not need a new battery, did you?

[Larry Browning]

Jeez Larry, please explain how your drills 'lifetime' was up. Is that because the battery died? If in fact the drill was done / kaput / finit then you did not need a new battery, did you?
Pretty simple, really. Apparently Ridgid's definition of lifetime is the drill's lifetime, not mine. They do not feel that a drill's lifetime is no more than about 5 years or so.(I don't remember the exact number of years) So, they will not replace a battery for a drill whose lifetime has expired. There was nothing wrong with the drill, except that the battery would not hold a charge. I took it back to HD with my receipt and was told that the lifetime of the drill had expired and they would not replace the battery. Also, even though these were nicad batteries, rebuilding them was not an option either.

[Michael MacDonald]

Larry's experience with the Rigid lifetime seems just plain wrong... How could a retailer do that? A 5-year warrantee is one thing, a lifetime warrantee is another thing. Different. Not the same.

Larry - did they show you any "fine print" to establish this? That kind of bunk really would tick me off.

[Michael MacDonald]

well, here is the decision. I went to HD on Saturday. With too many manufacturers, models and decision factors to weigh and not enough brainpower to sift it all, I decided rely on my animal senses. I picked up a few models, stared at the display for a while and started to walk away with not a little annoyance, when a friendly HD associate asked me if I needed help. I mentioned the Makita model ($299) I was looking to check out and of course they didn't have it in the store. However, they did have a Makita LXT239 combo--impact driver and drill/driver in a case. I couldn't find it anywhere less than $329 on the Internet (did you know they have free wi-fi in HD?), but the associate gave me a $299 price. So that turned out OK.

So I took it home to check out wobble. Both tools seem pretty sweet... much lighter than my old DW929. Not sure the best way to check for runout in the chuck, but I don't think there is any... the chuck exterior has a little--the plastic casing doesn't seem perfectly cylindrical, but the center of a bradpoint bit is dead solid. any other way to check other than staring at it? Can't tell about the battery yet.

No bit holder--that is probably the most inconvenient lack of feature. So I am pretty pleased with it...

[Larry Browning]

Larry's experience with the Rigid lifetime seems just plain wrong... How could a retailer do that? A 5-year warrantee is one thing, a lifetime warrantee is another thing. Different. Not the same.

Larry - did they show you any "fine print" to establish this? That kind of bunk really would tick me off.

This was several years ago, and I do not remember exactly how many years it was, probably more that 5, but I really do not remember. The whole thing ticked me off though, saying it was the lifetime of the tool not my lifetime. I had assumed it meant for as long as I owned the tool. Apparently "lifetime" means the reasonable lifetime of the tool these days. Reasonable lifetime can mean anything the vendor want it to mean I guess.
BTW: I just went to their website and it looks like they may have changed their definition as of 2004 to be more in line with what I was thinking. I am sure I had purchased mine before then though.
Lifetime Service Agreement The original purchaser of an eligible product may elect to register for a free Lifetime Service Agreement. To accept this Lifetime Service Agreement, you must register your product and submit proof of purchase for processing approval as described below. The Lifetime Service Agreement provides the original owner of qualifying RIDGID® Brand tools a lifetime of free replacement batteries, free service and free replacement parts subject to the limitations set forth below.
The Lifetime Service Agreement is available free of charge, on all eligible RIDGID® Brand hand held power tools, stationary power tools and pneumatic tools, subject to the terms and conditions stated below. Customers have 90 days from date of purchase to register tools for the Lifetime Service Agreement. Once all conditions of the registration process are fulfilled, the tool’s service coverage lasts the lifetime of the original purchaser. The Lifetime Service Agreement status on a tool is not transferable to persons other than the original purchaser. Note: The RIDGID Lifetime Service Agreement is only available for eligible RIDGID tools purchased at THE HOME DEPOT.

[Andrew Joiner]

The Lifetime Service Agreement provides the original owner of qualifying RIDGID® Brand tools a lifetime of free replacement batteries, free service and free replacement parts

Thanks for clarifying this Larry. I bought a Ridgid and was counting on free batteries for life. Your experience worried me enough to look up the exact terms of the warranty and I was about to post it as well.

[Larry Browning]

Thanks for clarifying this Larry. I bought a Ridgid and was counting on free batteries for life. Your experience worried me enough to look up the exact terms of the warranty and I was about to post it as well.
Well, good luck with that! I am pretty down on Ridgid and their lifetime service agreement. I'm still not convinced that they will replace the batteries on a 20 year old drill. You will have to jump through all of their hoops. Here is a tip, be sure to make a copy of the receipt AND keep the original receipt in a cool dark place. I kept my receipt in the drill case where it was exposed to occasional light. The printing on it had faded to where it was almost unreadable by the time I needed it. Those receipts are printed on thermal paper and are not intended to last for years.

[Andrew Joiner]

Well, good luck with that! I am pretty down on Ridgid and their lifetime service agreement. I'm still not convinced that they will replace the batteries on a 20 year old drill. You will have to jump through all of their hoops. Here is a tip, be sure to make a copy of the receipt AND keep the original receipt in a cool dark place.

Thanks for sharing you experience Larry.
I think the terms have changed since you were refused new batteries. Now you must mail in your original receipt to get a Lifetime Service Agreement (LSA). Then register on-line to get an LSA number for each product. The LSA clearly says it"provides the original owner of qualifying RIDGID® Brand tools a lifetime of free replacement batteries"

Any company can get out of a lifetime warranty by simply not making the product anymore. I've had this problem with many of my old Craftsman hand tools. My battery costs were getting frustrating so I figured the Ridgid LSA was better than the warranties of it's competition. Plus the 12V driver/drill is a great tool.

[Larry Browning]

Andrew,
I would get them to explicitly state that they are talking about the owner's lifetime and not the tool's lifetime. The more I read that statement, the more I can in vision some lawyer saying that "lifetime" is in reference to the tool and not the original owner. Even though to you and me it reads clearly that lifetime is referring to the owner, but those guys are sneaky! Plus, as you already stated, what are the chances that they will still be manufacturing a battery that will fit your drill in 20 years.

[Michael MacDonald]

I kept my receipt in the drill case where it was exposed to occasional light. The printing on it had faded to where it was almost unreadable by the time I needed it.

ha ha... "disappearing ink" as well. HD pulled out all the stops with your situation.

[Michael MacDonald]

well... both batteries on the new Makitas died tonight... surprised me--I didn't think I had used them too much. Perhaps they were not fully charged to start. I will give them a full charge and try again.

[Mike Cruz]

Michael, here's my experience...

I bought a Makita 18v NiCD drill a bunch of years back. Found that I could really use a second one. Both came with two batteries. Bought the circular saw, too...it came with two batteries. Before too long, four batteries were completely shot, and the other two were okay at best. I was in the same position... buy new batteries, get these batteries repacked, or get new tools. One more tidbit of info... One of the drills had issues with the clutch. So, that cost me $75 to fix. The other started to have issues with not "staying on" when the trigger was depressed. So, the second drill was in need of service. This lead me to do some number crunching. IF I had the drill fixed, that would be at least $75. Repacking 4 batteries/buying 4 new batteries would run me, what $250+? So, I'd be about $325 in...and still have old tools with old technology (NiCD).

I went to the BORGs and did some research. What I ended up with was the Ridgid set. It came with the drill/driver, impact gun, circular saw, recipricating saw (something I was in need of buying anyway...), a "light", and two full size LiION batteries. The set was $500. They were running a special that if you bought the set, you got a free full size battery ($100 value). Also, the tool guy there knows that I am a good customer of the Orange BORG, and when I asked if they could do 10% off, he headed off to his manager to ask. He got the nod, and I ended up paying $450.

The best part? ALL the tools, and ALL the BATTERIES have a lifetime warranty...even from dropping them!

How do I like them. I do. Are they the best thing since slice bread? No. But I don't think ANY cordless tool is. Are they comfortable, reliable, ergonomic, sturdy, and easy to handle? Absolutely. Would I reccomend them? No doubt.

There. That's my two cents...;)