I don't think the line is going away - they've actually expanded the battery selection beyond the original 2.0ah all the way up to 6.0ah, but the stores refuse to stock any replacement batteries except for a single 2.5ah part. Why do that if they're going to cut the line out?
I certainly hope these don't go away - I bought the chainsaw, polesaw, and string trimmer, and I've gotten tremendous use out of them. I've refitted the Kobalt string mast with an "Ugly Head" 2-in-1 spool that eliminates the string in favor of either swinging plastic blades or easily replaceable filaments. When I run into anything thick in the yard I swap in the brush attachment from my old Craftsman brush cutter - which Kobalt explicitly says not to do in their instructions. It works just fine, I've used it for years that way. Just remember to wear safety glasses.
I showed up here tonight hoping to find someone that knew about refurbishing these batteries. I had two, with a pair of rapid chargers, and as of today both cells are dead. These things are EXPENSIVE! I checked all over the place and the best deals are on refurb 2.0ah batteries, but they get terrible reviews and have no warranty support. I've seen a long list of people selling 'new' batteries on eBay and they say they're 'pulled from a bundle' or 'taken from a complete kit', but if thats the case how come some of these sellers have 20 or 30 of them? What's the scam?
I don't want to go back to burning dinosaur squeezins' - any of you guys know a way to resurrect these batteries, or a less-costly source for genuine new ones?