Cordless tools: The new Planned Obsolescence
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Maybe this is something well known, and I'm just late to the game: If you have a cordless tool, you are likely on a forced replacement scheme, and you don't know it. About 10 years ago I bought a cordless hedge trimmer, and its worked well. In the winter I bring it inside and store it, battery out, in the basement where it keeps relatively nice and warm. This year, after recharging the battery overnight, I went out yesterday to trim the hedge. The battery (NiCad) ran down after about 5 minutes, so I'm guessing its just not holding a charge any longer. No problem, I'll just go to the vendor, a national chain, and get a new battery, right? Um, no. That particular battery is no longer available. And so far, I've been unable to locate a third party replacement part. It looks like the battery pack is screwed together, so maybe I can take it apart, and replace the individual cells. Maybe. Its probably soldered together, and I'm not sure I'd trust my soldering skills if I have to solder directly to the replacement cells, if I can even find something suitable. So, in all likelihood, I'm going to have to bin an otherwise perfectly good hedge trimmer, just because I can't replace the battery pack. That's just wasteful. Not to mention an added cost. I do have an old pair of hedge trimming shears, and I used them to finish the job. Maybe I'll just stick with them. But if I replace the electric trimmer, I'll definitely consider a corded trimmer rather than cordless. So if you have cordless tools that are a few years old, it might be worth buying a spare battery pack, or two, for the future.
Keep Calm and Carry On
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I thought we learned that back in the '70s. Rechargeable batteries still have not improved sufficiently for occasional use by the average person. Professionals who use them constantly do get their money's worth.
This. My neighbor's a carpenter, and he's been all-in on battery-powered tools for years. What's especially convenient is that since he only buys tools from the same brand, his batteries are all interchangeable. What amazes me is that his batteries will run power tools all day. Why can't I ever get more than 3 hours from a lousy laptop? Both use lithium-ion batteries. To the laptop manufacturers: Make them bigger/heavier, I don't care.