[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

Makita.

Why:
- once you buy into a battery system you may want to add more tools. Makita has more cordless tools than any other brand

- Makita has three trimmer models and four blowers. You want choices, you got choices

-makita uses a fan in the charger to cool the batteries while charging.

-makita did not fall in the ridiculous marketing claims (I am looking at you dewalt!) of '20 volt' batteries. All, repeat all, 18 volt lithium batteries are 20 volts at full charge

And finally makita is owned by makita not stanley who owns dewalt and black and decker and craftsman and porter cable. Your tool and your battery will not be an unsupported orphan in a few years because a corporate bean counter decided to push one product line over another. This is what has happened to porter cable.

Well, my craftmans C3s are 19.2 volts!

[TCNY61]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

Agree, I have 2.o batteries, mine don’t seem to last as long when new, but pushing air takes a lot of juice especially in turbo mode. I have several bushes still after I took out several, the trimmer has never ran out. I would like to have the chainsaw, but I got two 14” electrics with cords off eBay for 30 bucks which were returns looked like only used once. I think you get can up to 7.0 battery which the lawnmowers take?

I watched guy on Utube repair ego batteries he gets of eBay for 10 bucks or so. He replaced the overheated and swollen cells with ones from parts. Also used the computer module which sometimes goes bad.

I still have the old bad battery and have opened it up but it just too much trouble trying to find a matched cell to replace a bad cell with. Also you can't just solder in a new cell because the heat damages the batteries. I have a Lowes Cobalt brand 40Volt chainsaw and love it. It can't cut many branches on a charge (probably 15-20 min) but when I am up a tree I don't want to be trying to pull start a saw and it light enough to hold overhead with one hand and not too strong to be very dangerous. I also have an old Black and Decker 18V pole saw that I still use. Got rid of the lame 18V nicad pack that charged overnight and made an adapter to use my dewalt 20V lithium packs. It was indispensable this summer trimming one of my oak trees, I was on a 32 foot ladder and reached out with the six foot pole saw to get to the branches.

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

Well, my craftmans C3s are 19.2 volts!

All, yes ALL, lithium battery cells charge up to 4.2 volts per cell and cut off power at three volts.

You can call a six cell battery pack 18, or 19.3 or 20 or 20.3 volts. It is all the same.

What matters is the milliamps of the cell and the quality of the cell. Craftsman, a.k.a. black and decker uses a lower quality of cell than Makita. Simple, that is why makita costs more.

Makita does not offer the equivalent of Sears line of Craftsman lithium and the Lowe's line of Craftsman lithium. Neither are compatible. It doesn't interest Stanley aka black and decker, aka craftsman, aka dewalt, aka porter cable to support the craftsman sold at sears (they are still in business).

These sort of decisions by bean counters is what ruined General Motors, and Sears for that matter. What you don't want is a dead battery and no way to buy a replacement. Stanley does not have a good track record.

[Art cov]

I used many brands but for power and longevity, Old Milwaukee!