Just got my first Milwaukee tool, if I don't count my abrasive chop saw I picked up last year for $20. Bought a 1/2" Stubby with 2aH battery and charger. Home Depot at them on special for $149 Canadian. Typically the tool alone is $199.
What's the verdict on the aftermarket batteries for these?
It’s a coin flip really. Honestly - if its something you’re going to use a lot, it really is better to just take the hit and buy the Milwaukee. Look on eBay and amazon since you can find Milwaukee batteries cheaper than retail stores. I have a few aftermarket and out of the 4 i think i had, 2 are still going. I was in the same position before the winter and wanted to get 2 of the compact 3.0’s - which are ridiculously priced - esp when you see these aftermarket’s for like $20 a pair. Ultimately i found a promo package on eBay for like $80-$90 and took the hit. At least I KNOW they are gonna last. Even knowing the Milwaukee were the better ‘investment’ - its HARD to spend the money they ask - ESP at retail prices.
That impact will benefit greatly from a bigger battery. At the very least try to get a 4.0, but obviously the 6.0 would be the best performer. The bigger the amp hour, the more power the tools will output. As you swap from smaller to bigger batteries, you can even hear the rpm’s go up.
I’d at least get one good bigger OEM battery for that, and then if you wanna gamble with a pair of cheap aftermarket - try it and see how they do. Everyone agree’s that the cheap prices are hard to ignore. If nothing else, as you get some more tools, you’ll have something to throw in them. Maybe you’ll get lucky and they will be great or maybe you have em a year and they give up. Hard to argue that $10 ain’t worth a yr of use, but i trust Milwaukee to be honest with the battery ratings, and i trust the aftermarket to lie about it. There’s no guarantee what cells are actually gonna be inside the aftermarket. I’m betting they buy whatever is the cheapest bulk deal they can get - so maybe you get something decent one day, maybe not the next. Milwaukee will always be the same. I opened up one of my aftermarkets and ran the #’s. They came up listed as coming from Korea on one site, then North Korea on another. I wasn’t really happy about that.
You’re always gonna ask a lot from an impact - esp a small one like that. To get the most out of it, its best to go with something good. If it were just a light - it wouldn’t matter as much.
Also - the Milwaukee 3.0’s i bought - Milwaukee has redesigned the case. I imagine this would be true for all the m12 batteries now. The little snap clips that have a habbit of breaking over i time have been eliminated. I’m sure many aftermarkets are still using the old style battery cases.
These are clips (i think theres one on all 3 sides if I remember) that are not on my newer m12 batteries. The tops of the batteries are one solid piece now, not 2 halves snapped together. You would have to check other m12’s to see if they are all like that, and look at the aftermarkets to see if they are still using it. Not a huge deal - but theres a benefit to the one piece design too.