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My brother and I used Ego for lawn work. I'm not sure if these brands have lawn/garden stuff (I think I remember Ryobi does), but it's the same concept. I love battery powered tools, but I hate how the brands tie you in.
They absolutely saw how the AA and C and D and even the 18650 cells that every vape shop carries meant that a single supply of batteries could power any device you need them to and said absolutely the fuck not.
Never mind the terror that the CEO must feel as he contemplates tools that plug into any wall socket and need no batteries, ever.
Considering the market for the batteries, handy people with power tools, it's kind of a shock that we've gone down without much fight. No, we won't make some sort of viral battery carrier that you can 3D print at home, load up with 18650s, and use with an adapter for any tool. Yeah, we'll just go ahead and buy DeWalt everything now that we bought that one battery pack for $75. Darn, if only I had the kind of tools that were good for grinding off little plastic nubs and shit that gets in the way. Oh well, time for my daily beating, it is what it is.
The big manufacturers (specifically, the ones listed by OP) change their battery connectors and voltages every 10 or so years in order to re-patent the shapes to make them the sole suppliers of usable batteries. People that work on job sites need batteries that are intrinsically safe and robust enough to get thrown around or smashed by other heavy tools. So those packs have to be really overbuilt.
Luckily the major design patents are about to run out and a third party will swoop in and free us from the tool manufacturer battery tyranny.
Luckily the major design patents are about to run out and a third party will swoop in and free us from the tool manufacturer battery tyranny.
Yay! :)
The funny thing is all of the pictured tools here use 18650s (or other standard sizes) in their battery packs. The plastic around them means nothing.