need a new drill driver, jigsaw. anybody used lithum-ion power tools just looking turough a catolouge could not belive the price differnce makita 14.4v cordless hammer drill driver£139.98 with lithum-ion £269.98 thats £120 of a differnce a lot of dough there so are these fancy batteries really that good.
i use both these tools a lot but dont know if i can justify that price
oppinons sought. cheers

The new lith-ion batteries don't form a memory if you charge them to often before draining them of there charge like standard alkali batteries do.....

Check out some of the offers on at screwfix at the moment of cordless drills....( makita)....

Have a look at Anglia Tool Centre. They usually have some very good deals on cordless tools.

Power Tools at Anglia Tool Centre

I've recently bought some stuff from them - very good service and next day delivery.

Mark

Ive recently bought a Panasonic LI-ON driver to replace a a NI-MH one and although its a good tool I dont think the battery life/power etc seems majorly better then the NI-MH one, having said that it wasn't that much more expensive. On the battery side, I was catagorically told by the panasonic service engineer NOT to fully discharge the NI-MH battery before charging, he reckoned it would shorten battery life.

thanks lads. think for now i will just use ni-mh jobs that have served me well. the 2 old de walts have been goin now for 5 years non stop and still goin, need back ups as i think they are about to give up the ghost

Smokie....here's a good deal for ya!!....i am thinking of getting them as well........

Makita 18V Twin Pack - Screwfix.com, Where the Trade Buys

Lithion Ion is the way forward

Light weight and fast charging power

You're other option is simply to replace the battery and not the whole drill. I had a Hitachi and simply replaced the batterys to L-ion. Much cheaper. You also need the charger.

lithium ion produce more power,
dont suffer memory effect (well nowhere near as much as (ni-hi or ni-cad)
lighter in weight
smaller in comparison
quicker to charge

the construction tool industry has dragged its feet with these batteries. they have had the technology to produce these since 1999 but its only the last 3 years that they have started rolling then out. they are definately the way to go.

if you want a comparison, then think of your mobile phones. they are all lithium ion now, they were ni-mh and the first ones were nickel cad....i knew those 5 yrs at the carphone warehouse would come in usefull one day ..ffs