Makita has hit their 12V Max compact cordless power tool battery with a shrink ray, giving it a higher capacity in a smaller size.
A reader (thank you Michael F!) gave us the heads-up in a comment:
Revisiting this thread to just mention that even the CXT 12V line has gotten a new 5Ah battery with 21700 cells in Japan. I just saw it on YouTube this morning. The CXT line must be more stale than LXT? I have no idea what they’re doing in terms of battery lines and strategy at this point.
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Indeed, Makita has the new battery, BL1050B, listed on several of their official websites.
For context, this is what their high capacity 4Ah battery looks like, built with a double stack of Li-ion cells.
The new 5Ah battery is shorter and a little larger, with view teardowns from a few months ago showing that it’s engineered with 21700-sized Li-ion cells. Until now, all of Makita’s 12V Max and 18V LXT battery packs have featured 18650-sized Li-ion cells.
Compared to 18650 cells, larger 21700 Li-ion battery cells usually provide greater power and higher charge capacity.
The new Makita BL1050B battery is labeled as delivering “typ. 5Ah” charge capacity, with their websites advertising energy storage capacity of 52.92 Wh.
The same Makita site advertises their 12V Max 4Ah battery (BL1041B) as having 44 Wh energy capacity.
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Using 10.8V (nominal voltage of 12V Max batteries) in the energy to charge capacity calculations – as 1 Wh (watt-hour) is equivalent to 1V x 1Ah (charge capacity) – it seems that the new Makita battery has an actual charge capacity of approximately 4.90 Wh.
That’s close enough. You might get a little more or less in actual use.
All that’s to say that I’m not concerned about the “typ. 5Ah” labeling as opposed to “5.0Ah.”
Makita advertises the new 12V CXT 5Ah battery as being their “highest output CXT battery in a compact and lightweight design,” suggesting it outperforms all of their current batteries with respect to power output.
The shorter size is also a benefit.
For reference, compact 18V batteries typically feature (5) cylindrical cells. 12V Max batteries have (3). Makita’s higher capacity 12V Max 4Ah battery has two rows of cells, for (6) total.
The battery has a larger footprint than their 12V Max 4Ah battery, but shorter size. It’s also a little lighter – the 4Ah battery weighs 0.38 kg (0.838 lbs), and the new 5Ah battery 0.31 kg (0.683 lbs).
Searching around online, it seems that the new Makita battery was announced or launched several months ago. It has not yet been announced in the USA.
I’m wondering if the new battery signals that new and higher-power additions might be coming to the CXT lineup.
Other questions come to mind as well.
Makita has launched a second higher output battery for their XGT cordless power tool lineup, and now a new high output and shorter battery for their 12V Max CXT lineup.
Makita’s highest output 18V 5Ah battery launched 10 years ago, with the only notable update since then being the addition of an LED charge status indicator. Meaning, their best 18V battery is based on 10 year old tech.
Do you take this as a sign we might see fresh and modern batteries for the 18V LXT cordless power tool system?
Rog
I trust CXT has a larger international appeal, as both my local HD and large independent Makita dealer dropped CXT completely
Michael F
Same. I wouldn’t blame anyone in North America who assumed CXT was completely discontinued.
Jronman
Makita has or at one time had a 6.0 ah 18 v battery. I hardly ever saw it though. Probably treated the same as the Festool 6.2 ah. You can buy just the battery but not available with kits.
Stuart
They still do, and tried to package it as a holiday promo last season.
Generally, 5Ah batteries with 18650 cells deliver superior performance than 6Ah. Or at least I’ve never seen or heard of a 6Ah 18650-based 18V battery outperforming a 5Ah battery.
18V 6Ah batteries with 18650 cells can offer extended runtime on low demand applications, such as radios and work lights. If the price is right, and the application suitable, they’re not completely impractical.
Lincoln
Thanks for the heads up. I was just thinking about buying these for my couple shaft based lawn tools.
MKY
Stuart –
“ Makita has hit their 12V Max compact cordless power tool battery with a shrink ray, ***give it*** a higher capacity in a smaller size. “
“Makita has launched a second higher output ***batteries*** for their XGT cordless power tool lineup, and now a new high output and shorter battery for their 12V Max CXT lineup.”
Stuart
Thanks! *fixed*
It never fails, every time I fix or change something during proofreading, I mess up something else.
MKY
Given the volume and speed that you’re up against, I think you do an excellent job.
Michael F
Hey, pretty neat to see my comment mentioned! I would love to see an LXT battery with newer cells, but like other Makita fans I’m getting a bit frustrated by North American neglect (I’m sure Bosch fans can relate here as well). A lot has been made about how XGT doesn’t make sense to develop alongside LXT, and I even agreed with that sentiment at first. But as someone who has owned M18/M12 in the past and now owns both XGT/LXT, it very much feels like an extension of one system and not two distinct systems. You can even use a charging adapter. It just works much better in actuality than it seems in theory.
Blocky
I would love to see this here in NA. I have a dozen cxt tools.
Saulac
I am confident that we will see modern 18v batteries and the revitalization of the 18v lineup. Makita certainly jumped the gun in going with the higher voltage. A 18v track saw, table saw…and they are back in the game in no time.
Stuart
They have an 18V X2 track saw.
Milwaukee and Bosch have 18V cordless track saws, but they also have high output batteries. Festool’s 18V track saws work with 1 or 2 batteries, in respective tortoise and hare modes.
Makita is not coming out with an 18V single-battery track saw, and definitely not a table saw, unless the system seems upgraded batteries.
Even then, users might pair such tools with a single older-style battery and see much disappointment. In the absence of maybe incredibly aggressive promotional pricing, it would be years until high capacity battery adoption is high enough to support broad adoption of very high-demand single-battery tools.
I agree that they would be “back in the game,” but definitely not “in no time.”
Perry
I’ve been in the makita 18v systems (Ni-Mh back then and Li-Ion now) for 21 years and I’ve had more failures with tools purchased in the past few years than ever before. Their 12v system seems to have been a flop in n. America, and XGT is a confusing product Unless you are Familiar with makita already, but even then it doesn’t really seem to make a lot of sense.
I don’t know what makita is doing anymore, and I’ve started buying metabo to replace them, since metabo also has the ergonomics and trigger control that I like for the work I do. Plus their pricing is far better than makita, and the 36/18v systems work together
Dan
I’ll keep a look out for these. I love my LXT tools, but I pretty much make my money with my CXT tools. I’ve got mostly the 2 AH batteries and a couple of 4 AH. I mostly use the 2s due to the size and have never found them lacking.
Michael F
For what it’s worth, @ToolsAndStuffOFFICIAL has also reportedly torn down all three new Makita CXT batteries. There is a new 2.0Ah high output utilizing 18650 Sanyo RX cells, a new 4.0Ah high output using 18650 Sanyo RX cells, and the “Typ.5.0Ah” battery utilizing 21700 Samsung 50S cells. I’m hoping this bodes well for an LXT battery refresh as well. Fingers crossed.
Tator
Hilti has had 12v 5ah batteries for about a year now!
Rob
Hilti beat them to the punch by a year. The six cell 4ah Makita 12v battery definitely has more oompf than the new 5ah.
glenn
This battery will be available in Australia from the 29/05.
I really hope that this battery release signals some new CXT tools.
I switched from the M12 line to CXT many years back and while I really like them, I have been regretting that decision for a couple years now, due to it essentially being a stagnant line up.
The only new tool that I can think in the last couple of years, is the mini chainsaw.
If they do decide to release some higher demand tools, I guess it wouldn’t be too far fetched to see a 10AH battery at some point.
blocky
I also wish CXT was a deeper lineup, but I have augmented with an M12 Rocket light, bandsaw, and stapler. Everytime I use a tool to do the thing: no regrets.
I used to joke about 2xCXT tools, but I’d definitely clip a 10ah battery to my rotary hammer.
glenn
I too have other brands to fill the gaps, and for tools that are outside the ability of 12 max.
I would really like to see a 140mm or a 150mm circular saw, a Dremel type rotary tool, a planer, a trim router and 125mm random orbital sander like Bosch have, and a few more lighting options.
I also have the rotary hammer and it would have been awesome to have a 10ah battery while I was still on tools for work. Could have gotten a week out of it, lol.