I chose to give the V18 3.0ah Milwaukee battery a 2 star review because... When you're in the middle of drilling a 4-1/8" hole in a piece of 3/4 plywood you don't want you battery to shut down. When I say shut-down I mean completely quit working.
Here's my story - I am in the construction industry; framing, trim, cabinetry, remodel, whatever... I've have a set of Milwaukee V18 cordless tools for at least 2 and 1/2 years - that includes: the hammer drill with 550 in/lbs of torque, impact driver with 1,440 in/lbs of torque, recrocating saw (sawzall), 6-1/2" circluar saw, flashlight, and impact wrench with 240 ft/lbs of torque, and I have 7 BATTERIES - (4) V18 3.0ha and (3) NiCd 2.4ah batteries.
All of these Milwaukee tools have a tremendous amount of power for 18V - The drill is unbeatable (although a little heavy), as is the impact driver (that is a little louder and heavier than other brands - however more powerful, the circular saw and sawzall don't see much use (but have preformed when needed), the impact driver is the BOMB (seriously, it has a lot of power - and, by the way, how do you use a hand ratchet anymore - really?, really?), the flashlight is better than the rest (but it's just a fashlight).
And the batteries. They last, and last, and last - the V18 Lithium-ion batteries have a charge indicator, and they are gauranteed for 2000 charges (before 1000 charges you get a new battery, and btw 1000 and 2000 charges you get a replaced battery at a pro-rated cost). The 2.4ah NiCd batteries have almost nearly the same power as the V18 batteries, but they don't last as long. An upside of the V18 batteries is they last longer, the downside is that once they die, they die, no warning, nothing - the bit stops turning, the blade stops mid-spin, and the screw stops moving. The V18 batteries also SHUT DOWN.
Getting back to the TWO STAR REVIEW
- The V18 Lithium-ion batteries shut down. What I mean by "shut down" is a fresh, newly charged will shut down under these circumstances - you're using a sawzall and the blade gets stuck, you let off of the trigger, when you try to get the blade out of the work and pull the trigger again, the battery shuts down because it is operating under a load and "too much" torque is put on the tool. Another example, you are drilling a big hole into a thick piece of metal - the drill is plenty powerful enough, and the bit is razor sharp, but when you get to the end of the cut and the metal lets the bit punch through and then catches on the backside, the V18 battery shuts down because the drill undergoes too much torque. A similar sinario incurrs when using the circular saw and the grain of the wood pinches the blade - the battery shuts the saw down becuase it is operating under too much load.
The point is that I would trade my (4) V18 batteries for (2) NiCd batteries because at least with a NiCd battery you can remove your bit or blade from the workpiece if the battery dies or is under too much stress. Oh and by the way, in order to revive a fresh yet shut down V18 battery you just have to put it back on the charger. My question is - what if I don't have 120v power to plug my charger into?
Don't take this review as a knock on Milwaukee tools - I love my milwaukee tools, they are the most reliable and powerful tools made. The V18 Lithium-ion batteries are powerful, but not reliable because they SHUT DOWN. I recommend the NiCd batteries to work with this set of 18v tools - - - I haven't tried the new M18 tools from Milwaukee - they look a little non-heavy-duty to me, and I'm a little disappointed that they changed the battery platform; because what if the new M18 batteries shut down in the middle of doing something? - then you don't have a NiCd cousin for backup. Think about that!!
I Hope this review helped in your researching efforts. Milwaukee 48-11-1830 V18 18-Volt 3.0 Amp Hour Lithium-Ion Slide Style Battery
Over the last ten years I have purchased around 12 of Milwaukee's 18v tools. I probably have 8-10 of their corded tools. Milwaukee's Lithium-ion batteries fit and perform as advertised(I have four now). Milwaukee is the only up scale tool manufacture to reto-fit the new battery technology to it's older products.
John Le Fever 12-31-07
I bought these to provide an upgrade over my old 18v nicads. Number one, 3.0ah vs 2.4 on the old. Really, the old ones run longer than these. Secondly, I have gone thru 4 of these lithiums in under 3 months! Milwaukee has a great waranty that they honor but come on! My last one died because the trigger on the drill was pressed while the drill was in my tool bag. I heard some clicking noise and traced it down to the drill. Guess what? now the charger won't even recognize there is a battery loaded on to it. Charger works with all my other batteries. Over draining a battery will kill it? Sounds like junk. Lastly, these are BULKY. Why? They are very light but awkward, like they are filled with air. They don't seem like they need to be this big.
I too am angry about the new M series lithium tools that won't work with older batteries and visa versa. I read on Milwaukee's tool site that they have "perfected" the lithium ion battery. Do they know these are really bad batteries, the 1st gen lith's have only been on the market about 3 years! They know they have a junk battery here, that is why they changed the mounts on the tools too.
I cannot tell you how disappointed I am with these. Do they own the patent on the little LED charge indicator lights? I would have bought Makita in a second but I like the idea of grabbing a battery out of the bag and being able to check it. I am done with Milwaukee. These dumb things fit all my old tools except the Rockford boombox. WHY?
Don't even get me started on how terrible these things perform in the cold. Leave a fully charged one in the truck over a cold night and you might get 5sec of use before it says it is dead on the LEDs. Don't put them on the charger, just warm them up somewhere for an hour. Nicads don't have these issues.
The whole sales pitch of carefree use is something I have not experienced with these. They don't have longer run times. They don't seem to be capable of more charge cycles. They don't heat themselves up in the cold by vibrating. They don't charge faster, twice as long as the nicads on the same charger, actually.
Don't buy these because the more married to a tool system you get, cuz you have so many tools and batteries, the harder it is to do the right thing and get that divorce. I want to desperately get rid of all my Milw but I have several hundred dollars worth of this stuff. I can't start over new until the tools actually stop working not just the batteries. It's hard, isn't it? - Cordless - Battery Packs - Milwaukee - Upgrade'
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