Makita has announced a new 18V charger, DC18RD, that will soon be available in the USA and other parts of the world.
The new charger, much like Dewalt’s similar DCB102 charger, also comes with a built-in USB charger so that you can recharge personal electronics and USB-equipped tools without having to use another power outlet. The USB port can provide up to 1.5A of charging current.
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The special thing about this charger is that it can handle two Makita 18V batteries, simultaneously, and it will recharge both in the same time as with their actively cooled rapid charger.
Price: $110
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NERemodeling
It’s scheduled for release this month sometime I hear
M80
Makita press release says December.
Pete
Is anyone really excited for this? $140?! Why not buy a makita kit for that price, get another battery, charger, AND a drill for that price? Then you could even sell the drill and recoup some money. I could see it making sense if it was a 6 battery charger for a workshop or job site. But only charges two for $140? Seems like a waste.
Jim
Pete, you are obviously not the target audience. Someone like me is, who has a wide array of both the 18V and now some of the 36V Makita (2x18V) tools. I will be buying one of these as soon as I see one. With the 36V tools, when you are burning through 2 batteries at once, who wants the inconvenience of lugging around two charger occupying two outlets. This is the only Makita option to fast charge multiple batteries simultaneously. Plus, you have a USB charger. The $140 is small compared to my total tool investment.
Pete
My point was that for $140 you don’t get much. Only one extra battery charging port? Milwaukee sells a 6 battery port charger for $115. Yes I know the Makita has a faster charge time, I own a bunch of Makita products and they work well. BUT I am disappointed that this Makita charger only charges two batteries at once.
Jim
Pete, you value comparison to the Milwaukee 6 port charger is apples to oranges. The Milwaukee chargers works sequententually. While the Makita charger can fully charge two full size batteries in 45-minutes, the Milwaukee will take 2- hours. The only advantage to this Milwaukee charger is you do not have to swap the batteries out and you can tote 6 batteries around together. The Makita charger is built internally with two separate charging, cooling and control modules inside. The Milwaukee has one, that roll sequentially from battery to battery. (I would be curious to see how it function with a faulty battery pack? Is it smart enough to recognize, disregard and begin charging the next battery or will it hang up). Hence, with some additional plastic and series connections, Milwaukee could probably produce a 12-port charger cheaper than Makita could build a three port charger.
Bishop
$140??? Ebay item 121777134821 $109.95 Free Shipping!
Chrisk1970
wow. Makita is really getting back on MY map!