DR99 Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 They should be out in August. I though for sure they just were going to catch up with the competition and release 5.0ah packs that made the most sense to me. It's not like 4.0ah packs are bad, but the competition has larger capacities now, I don't get why Makita would bother with 4.0 packs unless they are doing it for cost reasons. http://www.coptool.com/makita-updates-lxt-18v-tools-to-get-ready-for-4-0-up-batteries/#more-3472 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Wow, a new drill, battery updates, Makita is alive! I was starting to wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwain Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Yeah the 4.0a batts have been out in UK and Aus for quite a while, and 5.0ah for a month or two as well. Not sure why they're not getting them to the US quickly. You'd think they would be keen prevent mass migrations... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR99 Posted July 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 It's pretty bad for Makita when I really though about it again. Yes the have some of the quickest charging time out of all of the 18v platforms, but every other major 18v platform has had 4.0ah packs out for awhile now. Even the budge lines like Ryobi, Ridgid, Porter Cable, and even Black and Decker have had them out for awhile now. I'm sorry I just want to know why it too Makita so long to make the change to 4.0ah packs so many other brands did it so quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krane Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 It's pretty bad for Makita when I really though about it again. Yes the have some of the quickest charging time out of all of the 18v platforms, but every other major 18v platform has had 4.0ah packs out for awhile now. Even the budge lines like Ryobi, Ridgid, Porter Cable, and even Black and Decker have had them out for awhile now. I'm sorry I just want to know why it too Makita so long to make the change to 4.0ah packs so many other brands did it so quickly. I'll say the charge times from Makita are impressive, twice as fast charge time over Milwaukee is quick.I don't recall the exact dates but it feels like Dewalt just released 4.0 within the last few months. I don't see any 5.0ah from Milwaukee on their website, are they in the wild yet? I would think the cost associated with 3, 4, and 5ah batteries will prevent some people from buying one over the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I do like the fast charging time Makita offers, but I can't help but wonder if that contributed to the battery issues they had. Hopefully the new cells in the 4.0 packs correct the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR99 Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I'll say the charge times from Makita are impressive, twice as fast charge time over Milwaukee is quick.I don't recall the exact dates but it feels like Dewalt just released 4.0 within the last few months. I don't see any 5.0ah from Milwaukee on their website, are they in the wild yet? I would think the cost associated with 3, 4, and 5ah batteries will prevent some people from buying one over the other. No Milwaukee hasn't announced any 5.0 ah packs yet. I think Milwaukee might be working on a new charger with active cooling, or a new battery pack that has passive cooling to help with heat and charge times. I would expect to see something at the Milwaukee media event in August about 5.0ah batteries. The charge times with Dewalts and Bosch 5.0ah packs is 90 minutes from a dead battery. I think I would imagine Milwaukee would be the same amount of time if they didn't change anything on the battery pack or charger. I think Milwaukee might realize that getting a little too long of a charge time for most people. Makita's and Metabo did active cooling right away on their battery pack and charger designs, Most of the big brands that don't have active cooling have the same charge times per amp hour whereas Makita and Metabo are able to charge faster because of the active cooling. Regarding availability Bosch and Dewalt do have 5.0 packs for sale individually in the USA, but they are not currently being bundled with any kits yet. Makita has had 4.0 packs for sale awhile outside of North America for awhile now, and 5.0 packs were just released with the new high torque brushless drill and impact they just released in other markets. OZ tool talk did a review of it and said the new Makita brushless drill is really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keslogan Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 I hope the new makita batteries come out soon. The 4.0's sell for about $300usd on ebay and the 5.0's for about $540. I need some more batteries before i start buying more tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 4, 2014 Report Share Posted August 4, 2014 Kinda blows my mind that all the manufactures didn't have 5ah battery's a few months ago. The Sony vtc5 2600 mah 30 amp continuous discharge cells have been out for a good while now. I suspect that's what's in the metabo 5.2ah packs but that's just speculation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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