Drill batteries - will they inevitably fail with intermittent use?

Intermittent use is ok if you accept the batts will be flat when you want to use it, and need charging first. The things that kill batts fast are overcharging with poor quality chargers, or charging when hot etc. If you give them a refresh charge every couple of months they ought to be fine.

The Makita chargers are smarter than most & of good quality.

That Makita deal looks good to me, superb quality kit IME. You get three batteries anyway.

NiCads aren't worried about being left flat - unlike car type batteries. They will tend to go flat on their own - but how fast depends very much on the quality of the cells. I'd expect Makita to use decent ones.

Yeah, can't justify it, can't afford it, but I think I will anyway. Sick of my B+Q jobbie failing at the first hurdle. The battery worry was my reason to not do it!

I read somewhere the pale blue / red battery Makita's are the non-pro range, is that true?

apparently they charge in 30-60mins so no problem really if they go flat.

I'm a very occassional DIYer; bought a Makita 12v drill / driver last year because I knew it would be well built and had 3 batteries.

I use the drill about 1 or 2 times per month, and the battery holds the charge fine. Recharging is quick and easy. I also bought one of their torches that takes the same batteries which was a really good buy as it is a crackingly powerful torch for the money!

As a complete non-expert, I'd heartily recommend buying the Makita set from Screwfix, and had it been available for that price when I was in the business of buying I'd have bought that one!

Matt

My Bosch NiCads go flat really quickly, which is a real pain since I always forget to charge them until I need the drill!

M.

right. In fact NiCds will last longer when only lightly used, as a) they'll be discharged to the point of reverse voltage less often b) their life is rated in cycles not hours or years.

NT

Don't think there is much in the variation of blue (although they certainly do a range of drills from the basic to the high end). The red batteries are however often the 1.3Ah ones. Some 1.3Ah batts are poor and not in the same league as the higher capacity ones, but there is nothing in theory that says you can't have a good quality 1.3Ah pack.

Not having used the Makita 1.3Ah batts I can't comment (although I know from experience that the DeWalt 1.3Ah ones are crap compared to the higher capacities).

I've got a Makita 12v drill driver & a Makita 12v impact driver that share 3 x 1.3a/hr batteries & a half hour charger. I don't have any problems with them at all, plenty of capacity.

The impact driver is a bigger drain on the batteries, especially when putting 6 x 90mm turbo coach screws into 6 x 2 decking joists. A battery will charge before you can use one up, so you can always have one in use, one cooling & one charging.

I suppose its a trade off, I like the light weight of the 1.3a/hr batteries and the half hour charge. If I went to bigger batteries I'd have extra weight, slower charge, more capacity & probably longer life.

Never let logic interfere with the desire to own a new power tool :-)

The difference between the B&Q and the Makita is incredible. BTDTGTTS.