Another question about the C12

[Steven in Iowa]

Which size battery did you choose and why?

 

[Daniel Platt]

Steven,
I chose the 1.3Ah battery. Nearly all of my work is within reach of a power supply. I could see no reason for the extra weight. I keep one battery in the charger and it's charged long before the second battery dies. I seldom even have to swap batteries during the day, but my drill use is generally moderate.
If I was taking the drill off site and working all day without power, I'd go with a larger battery. This just isn't the case for me.
For the record, I love my C12. From driving 4 inch deck screws to pocket screws to delicately attaching a computer motherboard, it never lets me down. I very highly recommend this drill.
- Daniel

 

[mastercabman]

steven, i have 2 of the c12.my first one i got was the 3.0ah nimh,then i got the c12 2.4ah nicad.i use them both every day.as far as power goes,i can't tell the difference.the 3.0ah is suppose to last longer but it doesn't really matter.after all with 2 c12 4 batteries and 2 charger, i'm allways charged! the only thing i can tell you about the nicad is that they have a tendecy to build a memory.i'm not a battery expert,and if you are not familiar with that i recommend that you look it up on the internet.(it's when you put the battery in the charger and the battery thinks that is full but it's not).the 3.0ah nimh doesn't suffer from that problem as much,so it suppose to last longer.i install cabinets,and sometime i build cabinets/bookshelf/built ins,so 95% of my time is on site.if you just want a drill for your shop/garage than the 1.3ah will do just fine, but consider the 3.0 if you work on site.hope this helps!

 

[Steven in Iowa]

Dan and mastercabman, thanks a lot for your inputs.  I am going to buy a C12 to replace a failing DeWalt and plan on using it for a general purpose drill.  I'm leaning toward getting the 1.3ah battery since I'm always around a power source and the NiCad batteries charge faster plus are lighter.