| I appreciate the response. I might just not be the target of your blog, in your given example: >You're at the home center and see three power tool batteries on the shelf - all are 18V and rated at 3Ah, but they're different physical sizes. Which is better? >With a bit of research on your phone, Personally, myself nor anyone I know who uses power tools more than just buying a 12v drill once, would do this research on our phone in the aisle of Home Depot. If I see three batteries all rated the same, it would be a price decision or a form factor one ("bigger must be better"). That could be where my disconnect is - I've never once thought about what kind of internal battery cells are being used. >With many more options available, I'm sure many users will pair cheaper brand name batteries with pro-level tools and expect everything to work well together. This happens now across the consumer and business space. I have clients at work who buy a cheaper usb-c dock for their laptops, because why is the Dell official one $250? Some users might run into issues with it while others in their company don't. Some blame the dock, some blame their old laptop, some curse that their company didn't buy them Apple devices. The truth is always somewhere in the middle, sometimes it is the dock but sometimes it isn't. Dell doesn't care - they made $100B last year and they'll just tell you to buy the official Dell dock even if it is your old computer causing the issues. But I, and everyone I know, would hate it if no one made those cheaper usb-c docks and just limited our choices to the $250 options. The math behind the market of the batteries also doesn't interest anyone I know. We don't care how / why Milwaukee or Makita runs deals, we're just mad that we're spending so much. More options, and cheaper options, have never been a bad thing in a market. |
Even if conducting your research at home and online before buying into a cordless platform, you might encounter similar options and potential confusion.
Here are two Dewalt 20V Max batteries:
https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb230/20v-max-compact-3ah-ba... https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb200/20v-max-3ah-battery
Here are two Dewalt 6Ah batteries:
https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb206/20v-max-xrr-6ah-batter... https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb606/flexvoltr-2060v-max-ba...
Here are two Dewalt 5Ah batteries:
https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcbp520/20v-max-dewalt-powers... https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcb205/20v-max-xrr-5ah-batter...
More knowledgeable users have difficulty sorting out the differences. I used Dewalt as an example, but every brand has their own nuances to understand.
Bigger is still usually better, but not always, as the scale is no longer linear.
Most consumers expect a linear relationship.
>But I, and everyone I know, would hate it if no one made those cheaper usb-c docks and just limited our choices to the $250 options.
There are 3rd party batteries and adapters available on Amazon, ebay, and direct-import sellers.
I would never touch them, but they're there for those who want to buy them.
> I've never once thought about what kind of internal battery cells are being used.
I wouldn't expect most people to.
The main source of confusion is that each cordless power tool brand has battery options across several different technological generations.
Different brands' like-capacity batteries can have different power capabilities as well.
The end result might be that consumers will be presented with multiple batteries all labeled the same, such as 18V 4Ah, with all different capabilities.
People would spend less, but get less and not understand why.
Simply being able to swap batteries around wouldn't be a sufficient fix by itself.
It's like using a micro USB cable with a USB-C plug adapter, and expecting it to charge a laptop at 100W.