Aftermarket Makita 18v Batteries?

[YD Forums]

Any recommendations for aftermarket Makita 18V batteries? I see lots of different ones on Amazon and reviews are mixed. Do any of these perform similar to original Maklita batteries. Are the ratings (5Ah, 6Ah, etc.) anywhere near accurate?

[ToolBane]

The only ones I might consider using would be branded ones that put their company name and a warranty behind their product. Waitley is one of them, there’s another one that starts with a “V” I believe. Vanon maybe?

 

The thing is, I’ve seen them get independently tested, and even if they are likely relatively a LOT safer than random no-name batteries that pretend to be real in the context of hopefully much reduced fire risk while charging, they typically run well short of their advertised rating when it comes to charge capacity.

 

I did some light math to guesstimate about what this would mean in practice, and it just doesn’t feel worthwhile to me. The Waitley 5Ah has a charge capacity closer to that of Makita’s 3Ah, for example. The 9Ah most likely runs closer to 7.5Ah. Suddenly that doesn’t add up to much more run time than Makita’s 6Ah batteries.

 

The instantaneous current output tends not to be as good either. Meaning medium to high-draw tools will suffer a noticeable decrease in performance.

 

Finally if personal stories are to be trusted they don’t seem to have much longevity either, frequently going bad after a year or two. Makita batteries go on sale or get included in combo prices frequently enough that simply sticking with them seems better in every regard. Safer, more reliable, not really more expensive when longevity is factored in...

 

Still wish Makita would release 8-9Ah batteries of their own for LXT batteries.