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written by Guest , October 10, 2007

that's too high. I can almost have 3 regular dewalt batteries for that price.

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written by Guest , October 11, 2007

I have had the Makita LXT for almost 2 years now. I am glad I went with the Makita now.

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written by Guest , October 12, 2007

i cant imagine paying that much for a yellow Black and Decker drill.

Too pricey...I\'ll say!
written by Guest , October 15, 2007

As an owner of both DeWalt 18V tools and Milwaukee 28V tools, I can tell you that $150 for an 18V liIon battery seems silly when a 28V Milwaukee LiIon battery runs about $120!

Excellent so you can use tools
written by Guest , October 15, 2007

The lithium will last 3 times as long as the NiCd battery in terms of cycles so if you use your tool frequently it's the same cost over the life of the lithium battery. You just have to pay more upfront.

For that, you get a tool that is always ready to use. If you leave your NiCd tool unused for a few months you have to charge it before using it. The lithium tool retains it's charge and is ready to go! The lithium is also a bit lighter.

NiCd also has the heavy metal Cadmium in it which can be an environmental issue if you don't recycle it properly. Recycling the batteries is now easy since most stores that sell the tools accept the batteries for free recycling (Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.)

I'll be buying the 18volt lithium batteries as soon as they're available. They are far superior for my needs. Your needs may differ, so learn about them and make the choice that's right for you!

DeWalt Lithium based on superi
written by Guest , October 15, 2007

Ps. Dewalt has an exclusive license to Lithium battery technology from A123 systems that should prove superior to the lithium technology used by other tool companies. We shall see! I have some more research to do on the A123 systems technology!

Excellent so you can use tools
written by Guest , October 15, 2007

The lithium will last 3 times as long as the NiCd battery in terms of cycles so if you use your tool frequently it's the same cost over the life of the lithium battery. You just have to pay more upfront.

For that, you get a tool that is always ready to use. If you leave your NiCd tool unused for a few months you have to charge it before using it. The lithium tool retains it's charge and is ready to go! The lithium is also a bit lighter.

NiCd also has the heavy metal Cadmium in it which can be an environmental issue if you don't recycle it properly. Recycling the batteries is now easy since most stores that sell the tools accept the batteries for free recycling (Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.)

I'll be buying the 18volt lithium batteries as soon as they're available. They are far superior for my needs. Your needs may differ, so learn about them and make the choice that's right for you!

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written by Guest , October 16, 2007

Here's the real shocker. Toolking is selling the DeWalt 36v Nano for $110. This battery has twice as many cells as the DeWalt 18v Nano. If DeWalt sold TWO 18V Nanos for $110, everyone would buy them. Also, DeWalt is not publishing the amp-hour rating of the 18v Nano, but IF they're using the same cells as the 36v model (but only 5 cells instead of 10), then the battery should have the same amp-hour rating (but half the voltage) so it will be 2.4amp-hours. I'm guessing the DeWalt did not publish this because they know we're smart enough to notice that the DeWalt DC9180 XRP NiCad also has a 2.4 amp-hour rating. So the DeWalt Li-Ion will only not provide longer runtimes, but will reduce weight, not suffer from self-discharge as much, and supposedly have a longer life-cycle. Hopefully once DeWalt sells off all their NiCads, they'll bring the price down on the Li-Ion batteries.

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written by Peter Durand , October 20, 2007

Way too pricey. I will put up with the current batteries for a bit longer and then switch brands.

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written by Joe Comerford , June 17, 2008

Okay, now that these have been out for a bit, you can buy them on ebay for around $75 plus shipping. Much more reasonable. I got a two-battery & charger set for under two bills delivered. As to performance: I own a lot of DeWalt 18V tools, but when I started my current house-gutting rehab, I bought a Milwaukee 28V LiIon kit. A MW 28V LiIon battery weighs about the same as an 18V DeWalt NiMH...but with higher voltage and higher amp-hours, packs in twice the work. So, conversely, if the DeWalt Nano (LiIon) battery has the same voltage and amp-hour rating, you get the same work....but the battery loses about a full pound! So whereas before, I would always pick up the Milwaukee drill (figuring if I'm going to heft that much weight, I might as well go for the power and run time), now I'll often go for the DeWalt drill, because it is now so much lighter. In a way, switching to LiIon batteries is like trading in all the DeWalt tools for new, improved (lighter) tools. Bottom line: for what these batteries now cost 'on the street', it's well worth the switch.

It's easy to imagine how lithium ion batteries are going to be a real game-changer when they are scaled up for hybrid and electric cars. The performance/weight comparo, the flat power discharge curve, and the ability to cycle thousands of times will, for the first time, make electric or electric-assisted autos revolutionary.The Prius has successfully made people aware of the possibilities, even if the cost/benefit equation never made much sense. Take out 500 pounds of nickel batteries, put in 500 pounds of lithiums, and a place to plug in...now you're talking. In five years, they'll be commonplace...in ten years, nearly universal.

Swing and a miss
written by Dave , June 17, 2008

Black and Decker is missing and will continue to miss with their Li-Ion batteries due to the availability of their dinosaur tools designed for Ni-Cad batteries. Not only do they have to service their established customer base that is used to having to buy 2-4 Ni-Cad batteries a year, they need to compete with all the rest of the tool companies that have re-designed or launched new tools to use Li-Ion batteries only. So what did B&D do? They made a battery that will fit their existing tools, weighs more than it should (to balance the tools) and produces less power than it should. That's right, LESS.
Don't believe me? Check for yourselves.
The XRP compact Driver/Drill has a higher UFO rating than the comparable Li-Ion compact Driver/Drill.

OR, if it is not a less powerful battery, why would you make a (supposedly) superior battery and put it on an underpowered, brand new tool???

Where is the advantage to switching to Lithium if you get a longer battery life but less work? Why not drop back to say, 14.4v tools?
I have jumped ship to anything but Black and Decker.

Dave