People who shouldn’t own gas powered equipment

[michael j]

FWIW, I bought one a couple months ago. I cut this load on one battery. I like it! No, it's not big and bad, but it'll cut quietly a mule load. Later in the day or when I'm cuttin' a lot of wood, I'll fire the gassers. At 7am it sure is peaceful cutting, though.

 

[jellyroll]

Beating a dead horse here .

 

[AxFan20]

Warning, Thread Drift, Warning

I don’t know if Makita are still as good or not, I have, I’m pretty sure every tool offered in the 9.6 volt stick battery line up, from about the same time. They just keep on going and going.

The batteries are the only issue, Makita quit producing the 9.6V stick batteries. Even the batteries would last longer than you would expect, I’m sure that I had many batteries last 10-15 years

The 9.6v equipment covers 90+% of my needs, if I need a heavier drill, I have a 1/2” skill corded, that will break my arm if it binds up.

I just ordered a pair of after market batteries, I will be curious to see how they hold up, and perform compared to the Makita original batteries


Doug

Look for a "Battery store" in your area. All battery packs are made up of standardized cells that a technician can replace. It will probably be expensive, but maybe worthwhile if you have a number of tools. SOME battery packs will take AA batteries. The battery pack will NOT have room for a standard AA. Pack manufacturers make sure there is no room. You will need AA cells with solder tabs and solder them together in a configuration to fit the pack. There are other standard sized cells beside AA - get dimensions for the cells in your packs.
NiCd and Nimh batteries operate at similar voltage and might be interchangeable. It will depend on amp hour ratings of the charger and the batteries. Take your charger and bad packs to a battery store and see

 

[dboyd351]

Look for a "Battery store" in your area. All battery packs are made up of standardized cells that a technician can replace. It will probably be expensive, but maybe worthwhile if you have a number of tools. SOME battery packs will take AA batteries. The battery pack will NOT have room for a standard AA. Pack manufacturers make sure there is no room. You will need AA cells with solder tabs and solder them together in a configuration to fit the pack. There are other standard sized cells beside AA - get dimensions for the cells in your packs.
NiCd and Nimh batteries operate at similar voltage and might be interchangeable. It will depend on amp hour ratings of the charger and the batteries. Take your charger and bad packs to a battery store and see

^^ Good advice there^^.
I have been able to substitute NiMH battery packs bought online for the NiCad battery packs in my Milwaukee drill and continue using the same Milwaukee charger. Later I bought an adapter and changed over to Lithium batteries, but had to buy a new charger for those.
I have had worklights and beard trimmers that used AA batteries soldered together to form a battery pack - bought my own rechargeable AA batteries and soldered them together - have continued to use those items for years after making my own battery packs (they both still work fine). You can often buy replacement battery packs online, but with the AA ones you need to watch polarity - I have had to cut the connectors off and re-solder them back on after reversing the polarity.

And, of course, it is often less expensive to but additional tools with battery and charger included as a package deal then buying the batteries separately.

 

[michael j]

Warning, Thread Drift, Warning

I don’t know if Makita are still as good or not, I have, I’m pretty sure every tool offered in the 9.6 volt stick battery line up, from about the same time. They just keep on going and going.

The batteries are the only issue, Makita quit producing the 9.6V stick batteries. Even the batteries would last longer than you would expect, I’m sure that I had many batteries last 10-15 years

The 9.6v equipment covers 90+% of my needs, if I need a heavier drill, I have a 1/2” skill corded, that will break my arm if it binds up.

I just ordered a pair of after market batteries, I will be curious to see how they hold up, and perform compared to the Makita original batteries


Doug

I've got one of those! I love it! Haven't used it much these days 'cause I've got 2 18v Dewalts, 2 18v Milwaukees, a 12v Milwaukee and a bunch of arm breakin' Black and Deckers with cords.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Love my battery saw. Won't ever get rid of my gas Stihls, but it's impossible to deny how convenient my 80v Kobalt is. I have four batteries, and it'll cut a surprising amount of wood when away from an outlet, too.

This pic was an experiment, brought the Stihl along, but never even fired it up. All this wood was cut with the battery saw.



For the OP's sister who needs a more user friendly saw, battery electric will be well up to the task.

 

[mudrat2]

Just a caution note about NiCd vs NiMh batteries and chargers. A charger for NiCd should NOT be used for NiMh unless it is certified for both, as they can dangerously overcharge the NiMh batteries. A NiMh charger can usually be used for NiCd but will slightly undercharge the pack due to the difference in inflection point. Using a NiCd trickle charger on NiMh will usually cause them to overheat and vent which can drastically shorten their useful life.

 

[Joseph W Santora]

Another battery killer is to not stop using it AS SOON AS it looses any bit of it's power. Packs are made of many individual cells and one of those cells will have a lower capacity than the others. It'll go dead first and if you continue to use the pack the rest of the cells will "charge" the dead cell backwards. That damages the cell so next time it has even less capacity and the cycle will repeat.

 

[Joseph W Santora]

And remember. NiMh's run best hot right off the charger. While NiCad's should be allowed to cool.

 

[newforest]

Didn’t see this mentioned - maybe 450s don’t have the handy de-compression button, and that made the decisive difference in the starting difficulty.

 

[Hermio]

Another battery killer is to not stop using it AS SOON AS it looses any bit of it's power. Packs are made of many individual cells and one of those cells will have a lower capacity than the others. It'll go dead first and if you continue to use the pack the rest of the cells will "charge" the dead cell backwards. That damages the cell so next time it has even less capacity and the cycle will repeat.

Loses

 

[Hermio]

Love my battery saw. Won't ever get rid of my gas Stihls, but it's impossible to deny how convenient my 80v Kobalt is. I have four batteries, and it'll cut a surprising amount of wood when away from an outlet, too.

This pic was an experiment, brought the Stihl along, but never even fired it up. All this wood was cut with the battery saw.

View attachment 947220

For the OP's sister who needs a more user friendly saw, battery electric will be well up to the task.

That is the saw I would probably buy if I had the money. It would be handy when I bushhog my woodland trails, just for cutting through trees that have fallen on the trail. For serious cutting, I would continue to use my Stihl MS500i.

 

[Cascadium]

Just a caution note about NiCd vs NiMh batteries and chargers. A charger for NiCd should NOT be used for …..

Joseph and Mudrat……. All good advice for tools from back in 2010….

But FYI……. neither NiMH nor NiCad are used in any (valid) chainsaws. All battery powered chainsaws use Lithium batteries, which don’t have the limitations of those old battery types.

But they say….. don’t run it down until it stops or your batteries won’t last long. Most tools have a gauge and when it gets to “one bar” change the battery.

 

[Joseph W Santora]

All battery powered chainsaws use Lithium batteries, which don’t have the limitations of those old battery types.

ALL battery packs, NiCad, NiMh, and any lithium will all suffer if you use them after the initial power drop. No cells like to be reverse charged.

 

[TGM40ford]

So when I worked for McCulloch we found that saws sold at Home Depot had about a 20% return rate. We could refurbish them on the recon line, sell them to the distributor network and actually eek out a small profit on them. However gas trimmers and blowers had a higher return rate probably closer to 40%, it was almost impossible to refurbish and break even due to the low initial manufacturing costs.
I personally put it down to a person buying a gas saw was a little more tool savvy after all the saw could kill them, but any idiot can buy a gas trimmer or gas blower because the chance of killing themselves with the tool are greatly reduced. But because they are idiots you get a higher return rate. JMHO
You would believe stuff some the retailers returned in the McCulloch trimmer boxes for credit, golf clubs, fluorescent fixtures, rifles etc.

 

[dboyd351]

Wonder what percentage of those returns were people who bought the equipment took it home to do one job and brought it back for the money back

 

[Stihl a grasshopper]

Indeed, not everybody is like "big bruce" who is overcompensating for his small appendage.

I just like everything to match…

 

[TGM40ford]

Wonder what percentage of those returns were people who bought the equipment took it home to do one job and brought it back for the money back

Lots did
We had a poorly thought out promotion at one time of cut the UPC out of the box and send it in for a rebate which I think was $50. People did that and then returned the saw for full refund. That was a bonehead promo which ended quickly.

 

[ken morgan]

My sil isn’t that old. 43 maybe? She has some condition that took a lot of her strength a few years ago. She has recovered, but I think that upward motion may be the issue.

Not sure but am I the first to ask? Man Law Pics of Said SIL! just kidding

 

[ken morgan]

You don't have a problem that a forum should be expected to solve. You are trying to make a decision? Thats what we do on our own......keep your sister in laws 2 perfectly good saws, sell them and pocket the dough, and tell her she needs to go spend more money........

Than there's is the honesty that no forum can ever provide. You are either a thief in the night, or her knight in shining armour. Nobody cares what your decision is......and forums aren't places to wander and type dumb-ass musings........

I have been told by another forum that I am banned from outdoor XXXXX XXXXXXXXX because I am not a nice person... this takes the cake though. a forum is there to solve problems. Pros, giving advice to experienced users... giving said advice to Newbs...

PS I can be an A$$hole trust me...