Quality of Batteries

[MikeBs]

There are lots of discussions on here about which cordless tools are better than others.
I use a lot of 20v Parkside stuff and find their drills are suitable for my hobby use. The angle grinders not quite so good.
Has anyone ever noticed a difference in the quality of batteries and chargers. I have occasionally thought about getting an adaptor to use Parkside batteries, of which I have quite a few to use on other tools.
Since I have gone down the Lidl route with a lot of my cordless stuff, it makes me reluctant to spend the extra to get another make and then have a need to get extra batteries and chargers.
Are Makita, Dewalt, etc batteries better than Parkside? Or are voltage and battery capacity the only measure of quality?

 

[qwakers]

everything is better than parkside. even ryobi. in every way, by any test or metric.

 

[Kayos]

I used Makita when I was on the tools, built a Ferrex (Aldi) kit to keep in the little van and found it unusable

I still use and abuse my Makita batteries

 

[skotl]

I've got Dewalt (75% of my tools), Makita (20%) and Bosch (the remaining 5%) in terms of known brands. I also have a variety of things, from glue gun to chainsaw to SDS drill to strimmer etc. with yer generic bullet-style charger batteries.

I used original Dewalt batteries for ten years and never had any problems but, over the last couple of years, I've amassed a ton of fake batteries for all of the above. Out of maybe 40 batteries, one was DOA, one died under load in the chainsaw, and the rest have been absolutely fine.

So now I just grab whatever battery is the right colour and is fully charged, and expect it to just work.

Long story short - seems to me that all of the manufacturers, including the fakes, know how to make a Just Works(tm) battery - not sure there's any noticeable difference.

 

[Parm]

I've got Dewalt (75% of my tools), Makita (20%) and Bosch (the remaining 5%) in terms of known brands. I also have a variety of things, from glue gun to chainsaw to SDS drill to strimmer etc. with yer generic bullet-style charger batteries.

I used original Dewalt batteries for ten years and never had any problems but, over the last couple of years, I've amassed a ton of fake batteries for all of the above. Out of maybe 40 batteries, one was DOA, one died under load in the chainsaw, and the rest have been absolutely fine.

So now I just grab whatever battery is the right colour and is fully charged, and expect it to just work.

Long story short - seems to me that all of the manufacturers, including the fakes, know how to make a Just Works(tm) battery - not sure there's any noticeable difference.

I concur

 

[qwakers]

i've had a handful of fake makita batteries. they all had far less than the advertised capacity (5ah batteries with the capacity of a genuine 3ah one) when dismantled, they are missing a load of the battery protection and the cells don't add up at all to the capacity advertised (big surprise there...)

whatever you go for, get genuine batteries.

 

[skotl]

i've had a handful of fake makita batteries. they all had far less than the advertised capacity (5ah batteries with the capacity of a genuine 3ah one) when dismantled, they are missing a load of the battery protection and the cells don't add up at all to the capacity advertised (big surprise there...)

whatever you go for, get genuine batteries.

...other opinions are available...

 

[angellonewolf]

as above ive got a mix of makita and dewalt 70 makita 30 dewalt in my general use day to day at work and agree that the parkside are a bit under powered they have a use for the diy at the price they are for putting up shelves etc (i had a big half inch for taking off wheel nuts that did good and worked well but i had a chance of the big makita and bought it as i dont use it much but when you need it its a godsend)

even the makita brushless drilll strugles with certain stuff lintles so the battery sds comes out

2nd hand prices of makita and dewalt are not that great facebook cash converters are worth a look drill only makita fetch £40/50 drill only a 4 amp battery £30 ish so would be worth buying the 2nd hand id say than parkside new yes a bit more by a few quid but what you will get will probably last you a lot of years (as long as youkeep the batterys charged i do my non used stuff every 2 months stick it in the charger leave till it charged and then another 10 or 20 mins)

im not a liker of the copy batterys they are cheap but i feel they dont have the same power and dont last as long (put a 4amp battery in a radio will last all day even a 3amp but a 5 amp copy would only last just over half a day) ive 3 copy batterys so not meny of them but that i think ive given them a fair chance but all where 2nd hand when i got them but in saying that all my makita and dewalt are 2nd hand

ive got a few 5amps now that i use for any tool im using angle grinder saw sander etc they seam to drain the batterys faster so keep them for that
my drill and impact have a 3amp battery each (both where new when amason had a deal on genuine batterys so bought 2 of them) and this for me a nice trade off for most of my work for them makes it lighter to carry and in use when on ladders and holding in awkward places if im then throwing in loads of screws and the 3amp is going down quick i throw in a 5amp

dewalt/makita vs milwaukee i think from what i hear milwaukee are better but the cost of them are a lot higher and the repair cost is a lot more (even if it can be repaired as the cost of parts for them seam high compaired to dewalt/makita)ive repaired a few of my tools when the needed a new anvil for my impact was £10er a new brushed carbon holder for my dewalt was £8 delivered (was a copy one as i was taking a chance on if it would fix it so did not want to spend loads)

so makita and dewalt are what i use good tools at a good price and work i can see why people would want to spend more i can see why people want the cheaper

as an addon for this ryobi tools are fair tools i think more in line with parkside built to do a job and are the cheaper side of the options but ive had quite a few off of mates to have a look at and if they dont work there a bin job as they are put together you cant even change brushes on them its inbuilt in built in to the motor housing so if going cheap get parkside only ryobi if parkside does not do the tool you need iveeven sean quite a few failed ryobi batterys as well

 

[MikeBs]

I would agree that the quality of tools from known makes is better. Most of my corded stuff is Bosch. I had a Wickes 18v cordless drill for years and when it eventually gave up I got my 1st Parkside 20v, about 10 yrs ago, and it’s still going, although the chuck is not as tight as when it was new.
Since then I’ve bought a variety of Lidl stuff and been generally pleased with them.
I’ve been tempted to treat myself to a better angle grinder. The Parkside Performance one will only operate with a 4A battery and even then it’s not great. I generally reach for corded if I have mains close by.
I just thought that, for batteries, Makita and Dewalt didn’t invent electrons and £ for £, Parkside electricity may be just as good. Hence an adaptor may suit my purposes rather than more batteries and chargers.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Some battries have a different type of cell inside that can deliver higher power outputs.

For example, Bosch have a 'pro-core' range as well as the 'cool-pack' range.
A procore can deliver something like 90amps compared to 50amps or so of the coolpack.

Only any use if you have a tool that can use the extra power but it's a major improvement on Angle Grinders etc.


There is also the physical construction.
Bosch have better fitting, tougher plastic than parkside by quite some margin.
Then ones like metabo have decent amounts of rubber moulded into the casing which offer a good bit of protection.

I'm not a fan of battery adapters. My main concern is if they still provide the correct discharge protection and so on (as some battries are £150+!).
I'm also a bit worried they could crack if the tool was dropped and short out the battery ruining it.
Having said that, if I was using parkside battries at £20 each I wouldn't be that worried about the risks of using an adaptor.

But with Bosch, metabo, others, using battery sharing platforms you can probably find one battery system now to cover a lot of the tools you would need.

 

[dobbslc]

I've got some Bosch 10.8 volt batteries I bought at least 15 years ago along with the drill and they are still going well.

 

[MetalMonkey]

There was an interesting Adam Savage Tested video the other day on CT scanning 18650s and the difference in construction and quality control between “branded” cells and no name/white label stuff.
I’ve always stuck with the genuine battery packs, the cheap/fake ones are too much of a gamble considering the risks if one goes up.

For hobby use, do you actually need a cordless grinder?

I have an 18v Hikoki one and its handy for odd awkward jobs, but for anything serious I break out a corded one. I could drop £300 on their top end 36v one – but that buys a lot of metabo corded.
The cord is a faff, but so is changing and charging batteries, and you’ll do a lot of that with heavy use of any cordless grinder. Just a thought

 

[hotponyshoes]

There was an interesting Adam Savage Tested video the other day on CT scanning 18650s and the difference in construction and quality control between “branded” cells and no name/white label stuff.
I’ve always stuck with the genuine battery packs, the cheap/fake ones are too much of a gamble considering the risks if one goes up.

For hobby use, do you actually need a cordless grinder?

I have an 18v Hikoki one and its handy for odd awkward jobs, but for anything serious I break out a corded one. I could drop £300 on their top end 36v one – but that buys a lot of metabo corded.
The cord is a faff, but so is changing and charging batteries, and you’ll do a lot of that with heavy use of any cordless grinder. Just a thought

This is a good point.
I use a cordless for work as I go to 5 or 6 different places each day and use it for 3-4 minutes at each. It's perfect for mobile use as it would take me longer to run an extension lead than do the grinding.
I admit I also use it in the workshop for the cordless convenience and the chargers are nearby so it's not a big deal swapping battries.

A decent cordless grinder and enough battery power to run continuously will provide cost you £400-500.
You could have 5 decent corded grinders for that and keep a different disc in each to save changing them!
Although that's 5 leads to get tangled up and the Bosch x-lock disc change takes about 3 seconds...

 

[Nick DV]

I dropped Makita years ago, I use Hitachi/Hikoki now with genuine batteries and cannot fault them. Can be expensive if moving up to the dual volt stuff but worth it in my opinion My grinders are all 240v.

 

[8ob]

Are Makita, Dewalt, etc batteries better than Parkside? Or are voltage and battery capacity the only measure of quality?

The Aldi 20/40v batteries are very good, some of mine are four plus years old and showing no signs of weakening Fakita batteries seem to be a bit of a lottery, I stumbled across the Yofidra brand of tools and batteries, they seem to be as good as you can get.

Bob

 

[Islander71]

I have ended up with a mix of Ryobi, Bosch and Einhell cordless tools and batteries. The Ryobi tools, drill, angle drill and angle grinder are all OK, but I rate the batteries as poor, the angle grinder is almost useless on the Ryobi battery, but fine using a Badapter and Bosch battery. The Bosch drill and battery are excellent. I bought a cordless Einhell chainsaw which uses 2 18v batteries and have been surprised just how good the tool and the batteries are.

 

[MikeBs]

Thanks for all the responses.
This crossed my mind when my wife wanted to sand the wooden garage door which was originally stained, back to bare wood so she could restain and then varnish.
She didn’t want to use the corded dual action sander, but wanted a cordless. I got a Parkside one for about £20 and waited for her to complain how bad it was. I was stunned when I put a 4A battery on it, just how good it was. I started one door with a corded Bosch and she started the other with the Parkside. When comparing the two, I don’t think there was much in it.
Yet the difference between a corded angle grinder and a cordless is extreme. I just wondered if it was down to the tool or the battery. Or are cordless angle grinders just for short light work.

 

[Jackimus]

If you're getting a cordless angle grinder, you want it to be a nice brushless one, otherwise they can be gutless. Has less to do with the battery but you'd ideally want a high-discharge one to deal with load better / avoid stalling.

I saved up and got myself a Makita DGA517 and wouldn't really go below that in terms of cordless specs.

 

[Craig-SM]

All my cordless is Milwaukee and genuine batteries. No yet had a failed Milwaukee battery or charger in either M12 or M18.
I have bought a fake battery before that was listed as genuine and it was a damn good copy as side by side with a genuine I couldn’t tell the difference and only when registering it for warranty and the serial number wasn’t accepted. The seller refunded straight away without wanting the battery returned. The battery never lasted as long and took longer to charge. I never trusted to be left on charge unsupervised and when it failed I wasn’t surprised.

The first Milwaukee angle grinder I had was good but it didn’t have the performance of a corded one but being cordless was great in certain situations. That was replaced with a newer one and that does have corded performance and with now having a Forge battery for the power hungry tools it’s even better.

 

[Anguz]

dewalt all the way for me.. though i do have a makita impact gun but with a dewalt battery adaptor
mrs even uses a dewalt drill as a starter motor for the little generator- just a socket in the drill and spins the nut on the end of the crank.. works surprisingly well and the battery lasts ages