DeWalt (and the other power tool brands) now offer USB-C PD adapters for their batteries, which might be even easier to assemble if you have a modern laptop that takes USB PD and have already invested in a power tool brand.
I use DeWalt cordless tools and did not know this existed. Probably cool if on the go a lot but steep otherwise.
The article you linked mentions it at the end, but all of their flex batteries should include this port by default.
I suspect DeWalt won't add the port until a major competitor makes them standard.
I was shopping for some L-series batteries for some photography lighting and knew little about the category.
It took a while to figure out to compare listings on Amazon by the date the product was released to find what the newest product capacities and features were.
Only by comparing products this way was I able to figure out the best ones offered input and output across USB C and micro in addition to their primary purpose of mounting to any device accept L series. (Review count and rating average for out of date products confuses comparisons when looking for detail like this)
I don't use cameras that require this kind of battery so having this additional capability made buying a couple batteries for a single product type a bit easier to stomach.
Indeed - when we had a big storm forecast where I live a few months ago I picked one of the ones up for my tool brand as an additional backup for phones and the like if we lost power (and the house battery). Having a few 2/4 Ah packs around that will run USB ports is comforting.
“Your leaf blower battery should be able to charge a laptop.”
Stopped reading right there. I fully believe that on evolutionary timescales, the human race will split into 2 races. There will be the leaf blowing species and the others. The “others” will explore the stars, the leaf blowers will have a decreased cranial volume and stay behind and blow leaves.
Nothing interesting can come from the mind of a leaf blower.
(I kid of course, at least he’s blowing them using batteries and not a 2-stroke engine).
I can't tell you the relief that came, in Portland at the height of the insane and wanton deployment of chemical weapons by a wide range of "police" forces in 2020, from the 'leaf blower dads' showing up to protect the crowds.
Those things worked wonders!
Since then, I've often wondered why people use their spare tear gas dispersers to blow leaves and dirt around, but that's another story.
If you are not testing your tear gas disperses regularly they don't work when you need them. Much better to find out the system has failed when testing on leaves vs when you have tear gas to deal with.
I hate leaf blowers with a passion, but the electric ones I've seen people use are considerably less noisy than the old gasoline powered ones, to the point where I'd mostly consider them acceptable. Either way, this seems like an odd place for this rant, even though I do admit it made me chuckle a bit.