On Feb 25, 2:06 pm, "Leon" wrote:

IT seems a no brainer to go new. Although this is not genuine Makita,
neither is the rebuild.

I would try to find out the maker of the little "C" cell batteries in
the "new" not original batteries would be. (You know your batteries
are just several individual units daisy chained together, right?) I
have opened up batteries that lasted a long time like in an old
DeWalt, and they were Panasonic. They were cycled and used to death
before playing out in three years. They seem to be pretty good.

Opening up lousy batteries on lousy tools, I found that they had names
like "Mr. Cheer" and "Sunrise" and "Powerful".

Before this guy got big, he gave me a great education on batteries and
how they are assembled, and how blessed we are to not know what crap
might be under the plastic.

http://www.voltmanbatteries.com/

I have found him to have the best price and the best product. Note -
you only ship one way, so you can put it in a priority mail flat rate
box and ship it up there cheap.

As always, just my 0.02.

If uncomfortable to with a rebuild, get a knockoff. If the folks have
a good reputation, buy it with your American Express so you will have
someone on your side if it fails. Also, you could check with AE to
see if they will double the manufacturer's warranty. Since it is new
(even though not OEM), they might.

Robert