Ridgid has quietly introduced a number of new additions to their cordless power tool line over the last few months, and has several more on the way, including three new batteries for their growing 18V platform.
According to a press release, the Ridgid 18V Hyper Octane Lithium Ion line will provide users “more power, runtime and innovation.”
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These batteries offer more runtime than standard [1.5Ah] lithium-ion (3Ah = 2x more runtime, 6Ah = 4x more runtime and 9Ah = 8x more runtime). These batteries also have the ability to connect with RIDGID Octane™ Tools to provide the end user with maximized performance more power in high demand applications. And with Bluetooth Technology you can now work smarter on the job site with over 15 push notifications, security features, and battery status features.
Features
- Can deliver more power (when paired with any Ridgid Octane cordless power tools)
- Increased runtime over “standard” li-ion batteries
- Bluetooth-enabled
- Over 15 different push notifications
- Security features, such as lock-out
- Battery status features
Regarding runtime, Ridgid says that the 3Ah, 6Ah, and 9Ah batteries will last 2x, 4x, and 8x longer, respectively, when tested on a Ridgid hammer drill.
The Bluetooth connectivity and smartphone app can notify you about battery charge status, such as if it’s fully charged, when it’s running low, or if maintenance is needed. Security features include the ability to lock out a battery pack, track it, or set it to be disabled when it is taken out of range of the smart device.
A battery status feature reports on the estimated charging time, and total hours used.
The 6Ah battery (AC8400806) is currently available online for $129, and should be available at local Home Depot stores next month, along with the 3Ah (AC840088) and 9Ah (AC8400809) versions, which will have suggested retail prices of $89 and $169, respectively.
Home Depot is currently offering a two-pack of the 6Ah batteries for $159 with free delivery.
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All of them will come with Ridgid’s standard three-year limited warranty but bare batteries, as always, are not eligible for the Lifetime Service Agreement.
Buy Now(6Ah Battery via Home Depot)
Buy Now(6Ah 2-pack via Home Depot)
First Thoughts
More power is always a good thing. A few weeks back, I went out and grabbed Ridgid’s 18V router and palm sander as well as their 18V “starter” kit with a charger and 2.0 Ah battery that was woefully underpowered for either tool. (Both, by the way, went back to the store after the router motor froze while trying to shave off about 1/16th of an inch of 1/4-inch plywood with a flush trim bit).
So for those tools, I probably could have benefited from using a higher powered battery pack, such as this one. The downside, of course, is bigger batteries on smaller tools make for some awkward size and weight, but it’s a trade-off each user has to weigh on his or her own.
As for the bluetooth features, they all sound nice. Tracking total hours used could be helpful for maintaining the life of your batteries, and lockouts are always a bonus if you have a problem with people using your tools when you’re not around.
But if I’m using a drill, driver, or saw, and the battery is going low, sending a notification to my phone doesn’t sound very helpful.
I could maybe see the low-charge notification being useful with tools such as the Ridgid Hybrid LED wobble light, the Ridgid brushless air compressor, cordless fan, and other such tools which are not handheld during use.
To remind you, the new Ridgid 18V 6Ah battery is going to be similar in size to the 5Ah battery, which is larger than the 4Ah battery presently available. We have not seen the 3Ah battery yet, but it will presumably be larger than the compact 2Ah battery. The 9Ah, with 50% more battery cells than the 6Ah pack, will be proportionally taller.
Fm2176
Looks interesting, and while these batteries won’t be “must-haves” for my third-string cordless system (Ridgid), I’ll probably take advantage of any BOGO or other tempting promo.
At the moment, I only have two routers, a belt sander, ROS, recip saw, compressor, two fans, vacuum, and the brushless grinder, circular saw, impact driver, and drill. To power those tools I have six 4Ah and three 2Ah batteries, providing far less total runtime than my DeWalt and Milwaukee packs but more than sufficient for the above tools.
Rob
The 9Ah will eventually be listed on the Home Depot website, but will never actually be available to purchase just like the Ryobi version is right now (6/19/18). Seriously, some toxic combination of the TTI Group/Home Depot North American team is THE WORST at product launches. Get potential customers all excited, and then piss them off. Great work team!
Satch
Ridgid is a conundrum to me. Is it Ryobi + or is it Milwaukee light? I own a drill/ impact set I bought a few years ago when I needed to rebuild my deck. $169 I think. Forgot to register the Batts in time for the lifetime warranty.
It has performed well if not spectacularly. My old Bosch NiCd set would not charge and it was cheaper to do this than buy new packs. Again, it goes pop when the trigger is pulled but batt life is average at best. 1.5 Ah I believe.
So how does this fit with the new higher capacity packs? I don’t know. What was it, two 6.0Ah for $160? Before long you will see kits out with at least one 6.0Ah and possibly a lower rated one with two new drill/ impact tools and maybe even brushless for a couple of hundred dollars or a little more.
Should a person wait for that it upgrade packs? From what I am reading you need newer tools and maybe chargers to take any extra advantages these may offer. Tough decisions. As far as that goes, should a person even consider Ridgid anymore? Ryobi has bigger packs out too and a MUCH larger tool base. I wonder if you should just be looking up the food chain to Milwaukee to begin with before investing in these heavier packs? And this from a Blue fan. I do like Bosch.
Bryan
I’ve had horrible luck with Ridgid batteries so I got out of the platform. Never had an issue with my Ryobi batteries or Milwaukee oddly enough even though it’s all TTI.
Doresoom
I’ve had a Ridgid 5Ah die on me completely, and a Ryobi 2Ah refuse to charge, but I brought it back to life by disassembling it. The Ridgid was partially my fault, since I left it on an unplugged charger.
Never had a problem with Milwaukee M12 or M18 in over 5 years of being on both platforms.
Will
Why does leaving a battery on an unplugged charger kill it? Is it all batteries or a Ridgid issue?
ktash
I’ve never heard of this. Is it a thing?
Doresoom
What I assumed happened was that the charger didn’t have a completely open circuit when off, just one with very high resistance, which could slowly drain the battery below the cutoff voltage. The hypothesis could be wrong, but seemed like one possible explanation.
Lucius Jackson
I’ve returned two 9 ah already gonna give the 6 ah a try but the 4 ah are awesome
mattd
IMHO the ONLY reason to buy ridgid over any other brand is the lifetime service agreement. Their tools are not very much more durable than ryobi, and are not any more powerful than dewalt, makita, or milwaukee. Their tool lineup is also not very impressive when compared to pretty much any other brand. Their pricing is more expensive than ryobi and not much cheaper than other brands mid-teir lines. So if these batteries are not going to come in kits with tools, thus making them LSA eligible, then I don’t really see any reason to invest in them. that said, I would rather see a built in USB output than bluetooth integration in power tool batteries. That way they can be useful for more than just power tools. I know most companies make adapters, but it would be handier just being built in.
satch
Matt, I am with you on this. If these packs are not going to be integrated into some of the kits, then it would very hard for me to justiy buying them stand-alone.
And do we know if Ridgid batteries have to be part of a tool kit to qualify for the LSA? It is actually the reason I bought my set to begin with. I have learned the hard way over the years that unless you have all the packaging and paperwork returns are tough. So I always avoid registering warranty cards til after a month or so in casema malfunctioning lemon needs to go back to the store.
I got so busy with the project I was working on I forgot to do it in time. And I believe they are pretty generous with the time period you are allowed to do this. 90 days I think. So as of now due to my own bungling I have a drill set that is just average, no LSA, and cost 70 dollars more than a comparable Ryobi set. Just making the comparison here for rewders.
BYW, as a generic Ridgid cordless question, do any of you find the line to be a bit bulky? Particularly the 12 volt stuff. I looked at it when I started getting interested in 12v models and found the grip to be extremely thick. I have big hands and thought it would be okay til I grabbed one up at HD. Clubbish was the first thing thst came to mind.
ktash
I have the Ridgid cordless trim router. It’s the only 18v Ridgid tool I own. I got it because I have the Ridgid corded trim router and like the way it handles and adjusts. The cordless has served me well, except battery life is limited. I just got three 2ah Ridgid batteries for $79 for this router so I can use it for longer. I like the smaller ones for handling, but battery life is a problem. Doubtful that I’ll get any other Ridgid 18v cordless tools, since I have too many other brands of 18v cordless tools right now.
It’s a bit of a pain to have several 18v battery platforms. I agree that companies like TTI need to do a better job with all this. If only there were some universal battery line that fit all the brands, they would make a killing, I’m sure. There are technical reasons why not, but in the wishful thinking category, this would make life so much easier.
TonyT
That will happen when all pigs fly – the leaders like the lock-in that proprietary batteries provide.
In the case of TTI, imagine what would happen if Ryobi started using Milwaukee batteries? Good for users maybe, but not the Milwaukee brand
Framer joe
You can’t expect a cordless router to perform with anything less then a 4ah battery….2ah or smaller are for cordless trim guns or drills being used for small screws.
I had the cordless Ryobi router and sander for years and switched to Ridgid when it came out. They are marginally better but work great with 4ah in them.
Gotta be all cordless ,no power around.
Ridgid is an no better then Ryobi brushless tools….the warranty is a joke,as is Milwaukee 5yr…. plenty of people getting screwed by Milwaukee…
As for the combo mentioned..the packout deal is better at the same price….
ktash
My understanding is that both 4ah and 2ah will give the same amount of power, but one will last longer (twice as long?). I’m no expert, but would like clarification since I just ordered a special 2ah 3-pack, with this assumption. Mainly because it’s lighter and better balanced with a 2 ah battery than a 4 ah one. Assumption is that I can just swap out the batteries when they are drained. Not a big deal because I’m using them for edging, round-over, etc, and having them stop doesn’t hurt anything with this type of routing.
Any input about this will be appreciated, since I can return the 3-pack before opening it.
Hal Miller
Having a Bluetooth battery paired with a device turning on & off an AC outlet would really be useful. Automatically turning on/off an attached vacuum to any number of Ridgid battery powered tools would be extremely convenient.
I now have a remote button turning on/off an AC relay for my ShopVac. Many Ridgid tools interface very nicely with the 1″ vacuum attachment on the ShopVac. With this capability controlled by the batteries Bluetooth would automate my push button process.
Anybody seen any tools with this capability.
Rod
Has anyone had their 6ah burn their motor on their 18v brushless impact drill?? My battery killed TWO on the field! Help!
Beth Lopez
Hello experts! I am struggling with a customer complaint regarding Rigid 3.Ah vs. Rigid 4Ah batteries. I’ve spent way too much time researching and watching YouTube videos and *think* I’ve concluded the only difference between the two (amp hours] is that one (4 Ah) last longer than the other (3Ah); while they are equal in power. Can anyone confirm and perhaps (please!!?!) provide any additional details about this?
Thank you so much,
Beth
Stuart
They *should* be comparable in power – I don’t think there are any chemistry or performance differences between 3Ah and 4Ah batteries.
Let’s say that you have a constant-drain source, such as an LED worklight, that drains 1Ah of charge capacity in 15 minutes. A brand new 4Ah battery would then last 60 minutes before needing to be recharged. In theory, a brand new 3Ah battery will provide 3/4 of the runtime, or around 45 minutes. A 5Ah battery of the same general style and type might last for 75 minutes.
The amp-hour property of a battery pack can be considered similar to a “fuel tank.” The higher the Ah, the more “fuel” the battery has.
Perhaps these posts could help if you’d like greater clarity:
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/revisiting-what-amp-hour-means-cordless-power-tool-batteries/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/cordless-power-tool-faq-what-does-ah-really-mean/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Bryan
This all sounds like marketing BS to me. First of the the “Ah” is a measure of the energy capacity of the battery. When they tell me it has more run time that the standard battery, which is 1.5Ah, that is a pretty stupid market gimmick. That would be like Borden selling the new 1 gallon milk jug which has twice the milk of the half gallon jug. Now I understand that with the “smart” talking between an OCTANE battery and a OCTANE power tool, the power tool could more efficiently use the battery, potentially increasing its run time, but also reducing it over a standard battery if you subject it to high power demands. The bluetooth stuff seem unimportant to me. I do which there were USB ports on the batteries though.