Battery replacements & upgrades

I rarely purchase new batteries for old cordless tools. Instead, I have the packs rebuilt by Primecell, a service that replaces and upgrades the cells in NiCd and NiMh batteries found in a variety of equipment including camcorders, RF Scanners, and power tools. New replacement batteries for, say, my Ryobi 12V drill would have been about $90, roughly the cost of purchasing a new drill with *two* new batteries and charger. Having the battery packs renewed by PrimeCell ran me about $60, two-way shipping included. I first used this service about five years ago and have since shipped them a total of three battery packs. The turnaround is quick (about a week, though you can pay up for 24-hr service). Not only is it less expensive than buying new ones, from my experience, the rebuilt batteries are much more powerful than OEM and they’ve also lasted 30-50 percent longer than the newer packs my Dad purchased for his drill.

-- Ladd Morse 11/24/08

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