Replacement tool battery racket is now history

Today's cordless tools and electronic devices are amazing. At least until the batteries get lazy. That's when I brace myself to get ripped off royally. The sad fact is that when it comes to replacement batteries for cordless equipment, most manufacturers can't resist the opportunity to earn ‘surplus profits' at our expense. How else can you explain the fact that replacement tool batteries usually cost almost as much as buying a brand new cordless tool - battery, case and accessories included! The situation is obviously engineered to take advantage of consumers' vulnerable position, but all that's changed. The monopoly has been broken across the board, and by Canadians, too.

I stumbled onto this happy development in early March. I was walking the aisles of the Canadian Home Workshop show, looking for interesting new things, when I noticed a booth for a company called BatteryBuyer (1-800-730-8658). At first I thought it was one of those firms that rebuilds old cordless tool battery packs by installing new cells at slightly less than the outrageous cost of new batteries from tool manufacturers. Nothing new there, but then I took a closer look. I'm glad I did.

The folks at BatteryBuyer have done what should have happened before. Two years ago they began selling brand new rechargeable battery packs for virtually every kind of cordless device known to mankind - tools, cell phones, cameras, cordless phones and even iPods (including battery changing instructions and tools for opening the case). They charge reasonable prices, maintain an excellent retail website, offer economical shipping options for world-wide delivery, and their batteries are often better than what came from the manufacturer originally. To see exactly how they're better, you need to understand a little-known feature of all rechargeable batteries.

Every cordless device is designed to use a battery of one specific voltage. But voltage only tells half the cordless battery story. The other half is something called milliamp-hours (mAh). If cordless tools were cars, voltage would be roughly correspondent to the horsepower of the engine. Milliamp-hours, on the other hand, correspond to the size of the gas tank. Battery packs with high mAh ratings run longer before needing a recharge, though there's a problem. Many tool companies downplay the mAh ratings of the batteries they offer. If you look closely, you might find a 1.2 mAh or 1.7 mAh rating stamped in fine print on the battery somewhere, but as often as not you'll find nothing.

By contrast, the decision makers at BatteryBuyer have opted for a full-disclosure policy, plainly listing mAh ratings, then going one step beyond. Besides offering lower battery prices than most original equipment manufacturers sell for, BatteryBuyer offers batteries with higher mAh ratings. They also use Panasonic cells exclusively in all their battery packs - widely recognized as tops in the rechargeable battery scene.

It took me a while to become convinced that all this is true. After all, if better batteries for less money were actually possible, then how come no one did it before? But true it is, and based on my preliminary experience with these products, the batteries are great, too. I've tried their replacements in a 14.4-volt DeWALT impact driver ($45 battery cost) and 18-volt Ryobi ($40). My tools have noticeably more power, speed and endurance. BatteryBuyer also sells batteries for those beloved old 7.2-volt and 9.6-volt ($25 to $35) Makita drills that people love to keep using because they're so light in weight and compact.

To be fair, Ryobi is one tool manufacturer that decided to end replacement battery extortion voluntarily. Replacement batteries for their One-Plus system have been reasonably priced at $35 for a number of years now. But when it comes to Ryobi replacements, BatteryBuyer has upped the ante. They offer nickel metal hydride (Ni-mH) battery packs with substantially higher mAh ratings for just a little more money than stock Ryobi battery prices. Ni-mH is a battery technology that Ryobi itself has never offered.

For all its faults, capitalism does have its good points. When excess profits are being earned, it makes people sit up and take notice. And when one or two people turn their outrage into an opportunity to offer better products at better prices, we all gain. I just wonder what we'll see the tool companies do now.