In particular, I'm skeptical of the real expected cost savings over time. Electricity is cheaper than gasoline, but batteries for portable equipment tend to be very expensive, and how long do they last? Especially since manufacturers have historically changed the battery interface substantially every few years, forcing people to upgrade their equipment. Maybe that's changing, though, it does seem like the latest iteration of DeWalt batteries have been around considerably longer than the previous generation was.
I've bought three of them -- I'm actually using DeWalt because of that. But the batteries all arrived and refused to charge. I probed them with a multimeter, and found the cell voltage was quite low. Hooking it up to a constant current lab supply for ~30 minutes raised the cell voltage enough to get the charger to accept it... but I've only had one run with them. I hope they'll work again.
I'm a heavy DeWalt user and I'm already a little salty sometimes about how much they charge for their batteries. If they change up the standard again so I need adapters or new tools, I'm going to switch manufacturers altogether. So far I like their stuff well enough, thankfully I haven't run into any problems with new batteries not working out of the box yet. Knock on wood
> always wait for a sale or deal and get the batteries free with tool
I agree. I don't think I've ever paid full price buying a battery by itself. I just can't stomach the terrible value. I watch for a sale and pick up a new tool with the battery I want. I've got a few relatively obscure tools that way that I'd probably not bother purchasing otherwise.
It's price segmentation - they know that a contractor/employee who needs a battery ASAP will pay sticker price, whereas homeowners will wait for a sale.
