My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

"Steve Barnes" wrote in message
m...
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

It's the disposable society which the manufacturers have us live in. Spares
are far to expensive so chuck the whole thing and buy all new. Sad and wrong
but that the way of the modern world - fill the land with perfectly good
items. I have a colour laser printer which cost £500. The four replacement
cartridges cost £370. After two changes you wonder "shall I just have a
whole new one with nice new guarantee etc?". My bubble jet cost £65 and the
two replacement cartridges come to £62 so when the time comes I'll throw a
perfectly good printer in the bin and buy a new one - the extra £3 will buy
me a brand new printer, power lead, data lead and guarantee! Oh and a box
which will also end up in a land fill. Batteries for some mobile phones cost
over £60 whereas a brand new phone, exactly the same, would cost... nowt.
FOC!

"Steve Barnes" wrote in message
m...
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

A new Bosch 14.4v drill/driver is available from Argos at £50. Cat No.
710/6701

Steve Barnes wrote:
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
?70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay ?140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

You can generally replace the cells inside, if you feel up to it.

"Steve Barnes" wrote in message
m...
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

Try Multicell. They will refurbish them.
http://www.multicell.co.uk/index.htm
Rgds
Alec

In article ,
says...
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

You might check out

http://www.geocities.com/powerbatteries/powertool.html

--
Mike

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 14:46:56 +0100, PJ wrote:


It's the disposable society which the manufacturers have us live in. Spares
are far to expensive so chuck the whole thing and buy all new. Sad and wrong
but that the way of the modern world - fill the land with perfectly good
items. I have a colour laser printer which cost £500. The four replacement
cartridges cost £370. After two changes you wonder "shall I just have a
whole new one with nice new guarantee etc?". My bubble jet cost £65 and the
two replacement cartridges come to £62 so when the time comes I'll throw a
perfectly good printer in the bin and buy a new one - the extra £3 will buy
me a brand new printer, power lead, data lead and guarantee! Oh and a box
which will also end up in a land fill. Batteries for some mobile phones cost
over £60 whereas a brand new phone, exactly the same, would cost... nowt.
FOC!

One thing that may or may not be relevent to your printer is that the
cartridges that come with the printer may be lower capacity than standard.
Have just ordered a laser printer. The standard toner cartridge has an
expected life of 7200 pages, while the cartridge that is included with the
printer is only 3600 pages.

"Steve Barnes" wrote in message
m...
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

recell do a very good service:
www.recell.co.uk

mrcheerful

Steve Barnes explained on 05/04/2004 :
My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?

With noting much to loose, you could always open up and rebuild the
battery pack with a new set of cells.

--


--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.org

In article ,
PJ wrote:
My bubble jet cost £65 and the two replacement cartridges come to £62 so
when the time comes I'll throw a perfectly good printer in the bin and
buy a new one

You can buy re-fill ink with instructions for a few quid. And even those
cartridges with the imbedded chip to prevent re-filling can be worked
round - see Ebay for devices.

--
*Born free - taxed to death *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
PJ wrote:
My bubble jet cost £65 and the two replacement cartridges come to £62 so
when the time comes I'll throw a perfectly good printer in the bin and
buy a new one

You can buy re-fill ink with instructions for a few quid. And even those
cartridges with the imbedded chip to prevent re-filling can be worked
round - see Ebay for devices.

Yes but the point is that you shouldn't have to. Also the refilled ones are
never quite as good as the print head is designed to wear out too. I found a
refilled cartridge was OK until half way through using the second refill and
then print quality was crap. Then there's the mess etc. We are in a
disposable society.

"PJ" wrote in message
...

"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
In article ,
PJ wrote:
My bubble jet cost £65 and the two replacement cartridges come to £62
so
when the time comes I'll throw a perfectly good printer in the bin and
buy a new one

You can buy re-fill ink with instructions for a few quid. And even those
cartridges with the imbedded chip to prevent re-filling can be worked
round - see Ebay for devices.

Yes but the point is that you shouldn't have to. Also the refilled ones
are
never quite as good as the print head is designed to wear out too. I found
a
refilled cartridge was OK until half way through using the second refill
and
then print quality was crap. Then there's the mess etc. We are in a
disposable society.

But you can still get your shoes soled and heeled.

Steve Barnes wrote:

My Bosch cordless 14.4v drill/driver has provided about 2 years fairly
heavy use and lately it is noticeable the batteries charge life is
getting much shorter and i assume will shortly need replacing. I
haven't shopped around much but noticed the cost of these are around
£70 - is this right? It doesn't add up to me, pay £140 for replacement
and spare when i could get a new one with 2 batteries for around the
same price. Is this something us cordless users have to put up with,
or are there cheaper outlets - i've looked in Screwfix but couldn't
find them?


The facts of life are that the batteries are the only valuable part of a
cordless. Each 14.4v pack probably has between 25 and 40 quids worth of
cells in it.

IF you can get teh pack apart successfully, you can get new cells for it.

www.overlander.co.uk

The facts of life are that the batteries are the only valuable part of a
cordless. Each 14.4v pack probably has between 25 and 40 quids worth of
cells in it.

IF you can get teh pack apart successfully, you can get new cells for it.

Disagree. What adds to the cost is packaging, logistics, storage, etc. Spare
parts for anything are always highly priced. In 1973 a study was done on a
Ford Escort. At the time they cost around £1000 but to build one from spare
parts was in excess of 50k!

Problem lately is that "machines" are manufactured in cheap labour places
such as the third world. They cost peanuts. Hence you can buy a brand new
angle grinder for £9.99. Spares though have to packaged, listed,
transported, stored, distributed, etc. so the cost is high. For an angle
grinder costing £9.99 you can buy (if you're daft enough!) a new disc for
£4.99. Says it all really.

PJ wrote:

The facts of life are that the batteries are the only valuable part of a
cordless. Each 14.4v pack probably has between 25 and 40 quids worth of
cells in it.

IF you can get teh pack apart successfully, you can get new cells for it.


Disagree. What adds to the cost is packaging, logistics, storage, etc. Spare
parts for anything are always highly priced. In 1973 a study was done on a
Ford Escort. At the time they cost around £1000 but to build one from spare
parts was in excess of 50k!

Problem lately is that "machines" are manufactured in cheap labour places
such as the third world. They cost peanuts. Hence you can buy a brand new
angle grinder for £9.99. Spares though have to packaged, listed,
transported, stored, distributed, etc. so the cost is high. For an angle
grinder costing £9.99 you can buy (if you're daft enough!) a new disc for
£4.99. Says it all really.




Yes, but in this case the actual bare cell cost bought in wholesale qtys
represents much more than 50% of teh unit cost.

So its not remarkable that the spare parts cost as much as the unit for
reasons stated above.

I am not disagreeing so much as qualifying your statement. Besides, ther
is always teh temptaion to undersell the product and overcharge teh
spares. Cf Bags for vacuum cleanres. Then you get a dyson which costs a
bomb, but 'has no bags'.

Of course it beeds a service every 6 months instead, but heck, people
haven't got wise to that yet...


I have noticed (looks round furtively) That SWMBO's Dysons have not been
used recently. Just my tatty 15 year old 50 quid cylinder machine. S******.

In article ,
PJ wrote:
You can buy re-fill ink with instructions for a few quid. And even
those cartridges with the imbedded chip to prevent re-filling can be
worked round - see Ebay for devices.

Yes but the point is that you shouldn't have to. Also the refilled ones
are never quite as good as the print head is designed to wear out too. I
found a refilled cartridge was OK until half way through using the
second refill and then print quality was crap. Then there's the mess
etc. We are in a disposable society.

I've been refilling the tanks on my venerable old Epson Stylus 600 for
years, and the print head never deteriorated. Until I broke it. ;-)

--
*A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

"IMM" wrote in message


A new Bosch 14.4v drill/driver is available from Argos at £50. Cat No.
710/6701

Or you can get a NU TOOL 20 volt one for a few quid more. Beware of
expensive imitations by the likes of Makita etc.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

On Tue, 6 Apr 2004 22:53:11 +0000 (UTC), "Michael Mcneil"
wrote:

"IMM" wrote in message


A new Bosch 14.4v drill/driver is available from Argos at £50. Cat No.
710/6701

Or you can get a NU TOOL 20 volt one for a few quid more. Beware of
expensive imitations by the likes of Makita etc.


Wait and see how long the batteries don't last and poor their
characteristics are in junk like Nu Tool.

The name is very apt.


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

"Michael Mcneil" wrote in message
news:d556fa04268cbce83690b1bf3766e266.45219@mygate .mailgate.org...
"IMM" wrote in message


A new Bosch 14.4v drill/driver is available from Argos at £50. Cat No.
710/6701

Or you can get a NU TOOL 20 volt one for a few quid more. Beware of
expensive imitations by the likes of Makita etc.

I know what you mean. Robbing filth!

"Dave Plowman" wrote in message ...
[snip]
I've been refilling the tanks on my venerable old Epson Stylus 600 for
years, and the print head never deteriorated. Until I broke it. ;-)

I've been re-filling old Epson Stylus Color (black only - I gave up on the
colour!) for years and it still works; 20 -month old Canon S820 looks like
it's for the tip shortly. They don't make 'em like they used to.......

Richard

"mutley" wrote in message
...
"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
[snip]
I've been refilling the tanks on my venerable old Epson Stylus 600 for
years, and the print head never deteriorated. Until I broke it. ;-)

I've been re-filling old Epson Stylus Color (black only - I gave up on the
colour!) for years and it still works; 20 -month old Canon S820 looks like
it's for the tip shortly. They don't make 'em like they used to.......

I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

In article ,
Dave Plowman wrote:

I've been refilling the tanks on my venerable old Epson Stylus 600 for
years, and the print head never deteriorated. Until I broke it. ;-)

I think Epsons are the exception - they have heads that are fitted for
life. All that is changed when you fit new inktanks is indeed a tank with
ink in. With HP and Canon printers the replacement ink cart tends to come
complete with a new head. Refilling these too many times can lead to
problems. The advantage of this is that if you get a bad blockage in one
of the nozzles on an epson you tend to be stuffed - on a HP or canon a new
cart sorts it. Not sure on lexmarks - we don't have any of those (I suspect
they are like the HPs).

Of course, this raises the question of why Epson carts are not a lot cheaper
than HP or canon if they are so simple...

Darren

In article ,
mutley wrote:

I've been re-filling old Epson Stylus Color (black only - I gave up on the
colour!) for years and it still works; 20 -month old Canon S820 looks like
it's for the tip shortly. They don't make 'em like they used to.......

Have you been refilling the Canon? If so and it is suffering from streaky
prints then a new Canon cart can do wonders. Replaces the head on most
models...

Darren

In article , IMM wrote:

I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

So chaps (and chappesses) - a ringing endorsement for Epson printers I think.

Darren

"dmc" wrote in message ...
In article , IMM
wrote:

I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

So chaps (and chappesses) - a ringing endorsement for Epson printers I
think.

Want to waste your money? be my guest.

"IMM" wrote in message
...
But you can still get your shoes soled and heeled.


I'm not too sure about this 'throw away society', I am still using the same
yard brush that my Grandad gave me in 1970. I have had to replace the
handle a few times and the head twice but it is still going strong ;-)

John

John wrote:
"IMM" wrote in message
...

But you can still get your shoes soled and heeled.



I'm not too sure about this 'throw away society', I am still using the same
yard brush that my Grandad gave me in 1970. I have had to replace the
handle a few times and the head twice but it is still going strong ;-)

John


If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

Nick Brooks

"Nick Brooks" wrote in message
...
John wrote:
"IMM" wrote in message
...

But you can still get your shoes soled and heeled.

I'm not too sure about this 'throw away society', I am still using the
same
yard brush that my Grandad gave me in 1970. I have had to replace the
handle a few times and the head twice but it is still going strong ;-)

John


If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

Of course it is. He never went out and bought a new one.

In article , Nick Brooks
wrote:

If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

FX Whoosh! /FX

--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

"Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)" wrote in message
. ..
In article , Nick Brooks
wrote:

If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

FX Whoosh! /FX

I was about to post something similar, he obviously missed the winking
smiley, either that or I am missing the irony in his posting!

John

I think Epsons are the exception - they have heads that are fitted for
life. All that is changed when you fit new inktanks is indeed a tank with
ink in. With HP and Canon printers the replacement ink cart tends to come
complete with a new head. Refilling these too many times can lead to
problems. The advantage of this is that if you get a bad blockage in one
of the nozzles on an epson you tend to be stuffed - on a HP or canon a new
cart sorts it. Not sure on lexmarks - we don't have any of those (I
suspect
they are like the HPs).

Exactly.

"John" wrote in message
...

"IMM" wrote in message
...
But you can still get your shoes soled and heeled.


I'm not too sure about this 'throw away society', I am still using the
same
yard brush that my Grandad gave me in 1970. I have had to replace the
handle a few times and the head twice but it is still going strong ;-)

You're doing better than you thought. Aside from using a brush from 1970
you're still using a joke (albeit a boring one) from 1963.

If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

Oh dear!

"Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics)" wrote in message
. ..
In article , Nick Brooks
wrote:

If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

FX Whoosh! /FX

Exactly again!!

In article ,
dmc wrote:
The advantage of this is that if you get a bad blockage in one
of the nozzles on an epson you tend to be stuffed

Not so - that's how I broke my head. ;-) I don't use colour that often so
had it apart to clean it - you basically just soak it in de-mineralised
water for a couple of days, and then pump some through each head. After
doing a final rinse, I clumsily pulled the tube I was using off, and broke
the head. But I've done it several times before with success.

--
*The statement above is false

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

In article ,
dmc wrote:
I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

So chaps (and chappesses) - a ringing endorsement for Epson printers I
think.

It wouldn't be fast enough for him. Quality means nothing and he's good at
wasting money anyway.

--
*It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:53:17 +0100, "IMM" wrote:


"mutley" wrote in message
.. .
"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
[snip]
I've been refilling the tanks on my venerable old Epson Stylus 600 for
years, and the print head never deteriorated. Until I broke it. ;-)

I've been re-filling old Epson Stylus Color (black only - I gave up on the
colour!) for years and it still works; 20 -month old Canon S820 looks like
it's for the tip shortly. They don't make 'em like they used to.......

I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

What woud you recommend instead and why?


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

What woud you recommend instead and why?

I bought a Cannon i865 recently - and it's ok in some ways. I was
restricted in choice through needing a parallel port one, though. It's
much faster than the Stylus 600 per page, but if anything slower for one
page from a cold start as many domestic users will do. One very annoying
feature is that although it takes A4 paper, it won't take an 'A4' envelope
sideways, so these have to be printed vertically. The CD printing feature
is useful - gives perfect registration every time. It has much bigger ink
tanks than the Epsom. The instructions are useless, and only on CD.

Very dense colours etc when set to transparency - useful for my PCBs, etc.

--
*Two many clicks spoil the browse *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 08:53:17 +0100, "IMM" wrote:


"mutley" wrote in message
.. .
"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
[snip]
I've been refilling the tanks on my venerable old Epson Stylus 600
for
years, and the print head never deteriorated. Until I broke it. ;-)

I've been re-filling old Epson Stylus Color (black only - I gave up on
the
colour!) for years and it still works; 20 -month old Canon S820 looks
like
it's for the tip shortly. They don't make 'em like they used to.......

I had an Epson Stylus and threw it out.

What woud you recommend instead and why?

Currently the Canon printers have the edge, and their cartridge do not cost
more than the printer. For convenience I bought Canon's cheapest printer as
I needed one pronto, it came out about 6 months ago, the i250, about £50.
It is excellent. I printed out some colour A4 digital photos taken with a
2Mp Olympus on photo paper. The results were excellent. An A4 blowup is
supposed to be watered down in appearance if you listen to the salesmen.
I, and others who have viewed the photo's have found it excellent. Printing
4 photo's in one A4 sheet and the again the result are excellent.

For lots of colour work the Canons that have separate colour cartridges in
the primary colours are supposed to be the best. Whether that is in
economy, as you only replace a particular colour, or in resolution, I don't
really know.

So far I am a happy bunny and didn't pay a fortune for a printer.

"PJ" wrote in message
...

If you've replaced the handle and the head are you sure it's still the
same brush?

Oh dear!

I visited Aston Martin. A man once came to them with a log book and a
chassis plate for a 1961 DB5 convertible. He also sent a 2 foot x 2 foot
box of bits. He asked them fully to "renovate" his car. They did. They had
a casting made for the engine and all the parts made and put back together
again. Apart from the Speedo dial nothing in the box was used, and this was
only used as a nostalgic link to the original 1961 car. They put the
original chassis plate back on.

I looked this brand new car sitting there looking gorgeous, with a 1961
registration. I said to them "you have just made a new DB5". They said "we
have not". They said "if you come to us and ask for a new DB5 we will not
give you one as we no longer make that model". I said "every bit of that
car is brand new". They said "we do not make DB5's anymore", and quoted the
last chassis number of the line. They said that the car I was looking at is
a 1961 DB5, the chassis number says so.

The cost of this renovation? £250,000