Makita 193157-5 1234 12-Volt 2.6 Amp Hour NiMH Pod Style Battery

I have the Makita 6217DWDE 12-Volt NiMH 3/8-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit and one of the batteries started not holding a charge. So I brought it upstairs to my computer and typed in the model (1234) and found this page. They want $55 for the battery. You can buy the Makita 6217DWDE 12-Volt NiMH 3/8-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit with TWO of these exact batteries ($110 purchased individually) and that means the charger and drill itself cost $19.

That's just stupid.

So I bought another kit. Instead of spending $55 for one battery, I spent $129 and now I have TWO drills, THREE good batteries and TWO chargers.

In other words, unless you are flat broke, you're better off buying another kit than you are just replacing a bad battery.

Its the same form factor as my old makita rechargeable battery pack, but I had an Model 1801 charger which did not charge this newer battery. I had to buy a newer charger to charge this guy, then i was ok. Be sure to check that your charger can charge this battery. Just because the battery fits in your drill and charger, doesnt mean the charger will support charging it. !!!!

A lot of what was said here was true-but there are many 'factors' to consider. First of all, the old, orange NI-CAD Makita battery had a less amp hr rating than the subsequent newer NI-MH battery. Yes it does require a compatible charger, as the old one will not charge NI-MH and for that matter, the old chargers probably won't charge the newer orange NI-CAD batteries if they have a higher amp hr rating that the originals. Yeah it all sucks, much like computers, as they keep changing the rules and the hardware. But....every generation of battery works much better than its previous generation. You don't see people in the trades using NI-MH or Lithium-Iron batteries lamenting the old days of NI-CAD batteries. A lot of what kills rechargeable batteries is how and when you charge them. For NI-CAD batteries, it was always beneficial to run them down before charging and so later NI-CAD chargers would then 'discharge' the batteries for you before they charged them-worked pretty well. Now with...Read more