On Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 10:54:47 AM UTC-4, Doug White wrote:
After reading a number of on-line reviews, I was all set to send a 1.3 Ah
12V DeWalt drill battery pack off to MTO:

http://mtobattery.com/store/page2.html

when I saw the recent thread praising Primecell:

http://www.primecell.com/pctools.htm

I did some careful comparisons, and thought I would pass along what I
found out.

I can buy a new Dewalt 2.4 Ah NiCd battery (the original was only 1.3 Ah)
for $50 with free shipping from Amazon Prime. The 1.3 Ah can be had for
$30, plus shipping.

The NiCd rebuild from Primecell is $33, and the NiMH is $47. Add $9
shipping to get it to them & $9 back (plus the hassle of packing &
shipping), and an "improved" rebuilt NiCd is $51. NiMH would cost $65,
and would get me "2 to 3" times the capacity in a smaller pack that the
new one.

MTO has a range of capacity options:
2.1 Ah = $27, 2.1 Ah (Heavy Duty) = $32,
3.3 Ah NiMH = $40, 4.0 Ah NiMH = $55

I like the fact that they state the capacity of the NiMH conversions.
Shipping is free for orders over $80, but I still have to ship out to
them. For one pack, the 2.1 Ah NiCd heavy duty rebuild would be $50, vs
$51 for unknown capacity from Primecell.

If I had a couple packs to deal with, I would probably go with MTO. For
one, I think I'll skip the shipping hassles & just buy the new DeWalt
higher capacity pack. The prices seem to have come down a lot. I think
the high capacity DeWalt pack was closer to $60 several months ago, and
list is supposedly $110. I have to wonder if the rebuilders are cutting
into the battery pack business enough that DeWalt & the like are feeling
the pinch & dropping prices.

Doug White

the primecell people are crazy nuts