Ridgid is launching a new 18V cordless power tool battery that they say “delivers 3x more power in a compact size.”
The new Ridgid 18V battery features “industry-leading 21700 tabless cell technology.”
It also features laser welded cell straps and upgraded heat sinks for cooler operation and a longer lifespan.
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The new Ridgid battery is part of their MaxOutput EXP series of batteries.
This will actually by Ridgid’s 3rd 4Ah battery.
Ridgid’s main claim is that the new battery delivers “3X power in a compact size,” and they back this up with some test data.
Drills 40% faster with 3 holes in just 10 seconds with a 2-9/16 in. self-feed bit in HIGH SPEED using an 18V Brushless 1/2 in. High Torque Hammer Drill/Driver through 2×8 yellow pine.
What’s even more interesting is that, according to Ridgid’s chart, the new 4Ah battery tabless cells outperforms their 8Ah battery.
Delivers more than 2X faster cutting vs the 4.0Ah Lithium-Ion Battery with the 18V Brushless 7-1/4 in. Rear Handle Circular Saw through 3X stacked 3/4″ OSB.
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Ridgid’s new 4Ah battery also outperforms their 8Ah battery when used with a cordless circular saw to cut stacked sheets of OSB.
Delivers over 70% faster cutting vs the 4.0Ah Lithium-Ion Battery with the 18V Brushless Reciprocating Saw through 2×10 yellow pine with a 10lb. weight attached.
There seems to be an obvious trend, where the new Ridgid battery delivers more power than their existing 4Ah batteries and even the higher capacity 8Ah battery.
It’s not clear how this translates to “3X more power,” but Ridgid does show compelling examples of faster application speeds.
The new battery will be available exclusively at Home Depot.
Price: TBA
ETA: September 2024
Discussion
If “tabless” battery technology is new to you, consider reading about Bosch’s new 18V tabless battery, as they provided excellent graphics.
In a nutshell, tabless batteries have a new electrode design and lower internal resistance, delivering more current with less heat.
Every cordless power brand that is launching new tabless-based Li-ion batteries has promised more power, longer runtime, or both.
Ridgid says their new battery delivers 3 times more power, and it seems clear via their drilling and cutting application speed examples that the new battery will give least select tools an instant upgrade.
It remains to be seen whether Ridgid will jump onto the pouch cell bandwagon.
Robert
Yes, I don’t see 3X power clearly supported in the charts supplied by Rigid. Perhaps like drag on ships, tool speed increases are at a more than linear rate to power.
Still, it’s good to see innovation in a non-industry leader. Maybe that will spur Dewalt and Milwaukee.
murc
Yes, while I’m all for improvement, I’m pretty sure it’s not as good as Milwaukee Forge, or Dewalt Powerstack.
William
I guess they just did some maximum current draw test for this statement. Sure for tabless cell battery, the maximum current which not result in early over temperature or voltage drop would be much higher than tab cell battery.
This has benefit in heavy duty job, but no difference in normal application that no high current drained from battery. You need to weigh the extra cost vs application before pay for that.
CA
I’ve actually been on the fence about trying some Ridgid battery powered tools. Maybe this will be an excuse to jump in!
kent
For my personal tools I’ve been using ridgid for about the last 15 years and I really like them. They obviously have all the regular tools like drills and impacts but they’ve done a good job at adding some good more niche tools like trim router, inflator and drywall gun. I like to load up during the buy one get one tool deal and I have around 30 different cordless tools and 25 batteries.
Keverything Solutions
My truck was broken into and most of my Mikita tools were stolen. I bought a bunch of Rigid tools at dirt cheap, and I actually see no real difference. Rigid has come along way from 15 years ago. And at least they aren’t Ryobi. Lol
TMQ
You should jump in. Lifetime warranty on batteries is reason enough alone.
Steve L
As battery design/chemistry continues to improve does this mean 12V tools will become even more popular?
Joe H
I’d be curious if the battery tech continues to improve if 12V will become popular across multiple brands to replace many people’s older 18V platforms especially as people become older and more arthritic. Currently only the Milwaukee M12 system is popular. I’d be curious to see a resurgence of 12V from other brands.
Kuro
Why make a 12 volt tool series when you can make compact 18 and 20 volt tools that use small battery packs? That seems to be ridgids strategy. They make a lot of their tools in compact and regular size variants and with battery releases like this new series , the packs can be small and still work on all of the tools rather than trying to convince customers to buy two systems and accidentally driving them to a single battery brand like Dewalt. (I know they have a few different battery sizes, but largely they are a 20 volt company. )
Stuart
I don’t think so. The biggest thing going against 12V-class tools is low interest and sales volume, with M12 being perhaps the sole exception.
Ezzy
That’s because M12 does 12v right. Going with a post style battery for 12v absolutely is the right choice. I’d happily give up power on 12v tools for maximum lightness and compactness. I’m a Handyman. I have 18v tools and recently got the m12 Surge impact and m12 drill. For 95% of my work I don’t need more power and I’d prefer lightness. On the rare occasions I need more power I get out my 18v tools.
Lance
Agreed. M12 is enough for the vast majority of jobs. For the heavy stuff I have 18V Makita.
xxPaulCPxx
I do the same, but I don’t like how you have to “pinch” post style batteries to pull them out of the tool. Hits my arthritic thumbs Juuuust right. That’s why I love the Dewalt 12v, which has the single lever release
Mike McFalls
It would be great if some of this new battery technology would make it 12v tools. While I agree the interest in 12v tools is low, they are powerful and useful these days, particularly for homeowners and DIY. Dewalt doesn’t have much of a 12v lineup. Makita’s is decent but getting long in the tooth. Bosch has pushed some innovation in the space recently – particularly with the planer and drywall driver. As Stuart says though, it’s mostly Milwaukee in this space. I have a number of the M12 tools and am impressed with all.
Bruce
I have 12v Bosch drill and impact driver and am pleased with them. Any job that is quick and easy 20 holes or so I use them. I do jump ship for other jobs though. I use Ridgid for the 1/2″ high torque impact 18v tool that raises and lowers my travel trailer on the lowest setting very well. I have still broken the lock pins with this setting though. My standby for labor intensive jobs, I use my Milwaukee 18v 1/2″ hammer drill driver. However, the switch to Ridgid is due to the hammer/drill/driver mechanism has locked up in the clutch position.
Jared
Great news for Ridgid.
Remember “Octane” batteries that boosted performance with Octane tools? Then the batteries were discontinued but the tools with Octane branding remained.
“Max Output” came next, but didn’t perform quite to the level of the outgoing Octane packs in Octane tools.
Presumably these new tabless packs will leapfrog both of them.
Andy
I assume that we’ll see testing from TTC soon enough that will let us know if these outperform the Octane batteries
Joe H
Octane is where my mind first went.
Lance
I bought a pair of Octane 9Ah right before the line disappeared. Very glad I did – they run the 18v shop vac very well!
SamR
Ridgid always confuses me. Above is another example!
I only bought tools from them if they plug into the wall, like R8694221B.
kent
Why do they confuse you? I see them falling in to a specific place in the market where they have done a lot of first to market tools to see if that will work and then once another brand sees its viable they quit making it. They had an auto shift drill and the megamax system.
Stuart
A few years ago, Ridgid used to participate in Home Depot new product showcases. Home Depot has since moved to virtual events.
Ridgid was showing off their 18V wobble light, and when I asked about availability, I was told something along the lines of “it depends on whether Home Depot picks it up.”
I guess this was close to 10 years ago now. It eventually launched, I briefly reviewed it in 2016, and then it disappeared. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/ridgid-hybrid-wobble-led-area-worklight-review/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Ridgid and Home Depot have a somewhat unique supplier-retailer relationship that shapes Ridgid’s nature as a tool brand.
Whereas a brand like Dewalt has multiple consumer and industrial dealers, Ridgid 18V cordless power tools are exclusive to Home Depot.
When you think about it, Home Depot’s goal for Ridgid isn’t to best Dewalt, Milwaukee, or Makita, but to draw in more customers and potentially to beat Lowe’s exclusive brands, such as Kobalt and Flex.
If someone chooses Ridgid over Kobalt, that’s how Home Depot wins. If someone shops more at Home Depot to expand their Ridgid kit, that’s how Home Depot wins. If a Ridgid sale takes away from say a Dewalt, Milwaukee, or Dewalt sale at Home Depot, that might be considered a zero-gain outcome.
It’s Ridgid and Home Depot’s direct private label brand-like relationship that seems to be responsible for their relatively very short product lifecycles.
On the positive side, it helps make them more responsive to trends.
Steve
I didn’t realize Ridgid was Home Depot’s exclusive brand. In my mind, it certainely wins over Kobalt, but Flex would be a more compelling comparison. I also didn’t realize Flex was a Lowe’s exclusive.
With batteries getting more powerful, I’m not sure Flex’s 24V platform will hold up. They seem caught between the mainstreen 18V platforms and upscale 40+V/MX lines. Their tools are big and heavy and that’s a big tradeoff to make over something smaller/lighter and nearly as powerful. Probably room for everyone, but Ridgid seems a little better positioned.
I believe they (Ridgid’s consumer side) split from the commerical plumbing Ridgid brand, which has always been a little confusing as well…
Stuart
It’s complicated.
Ridgid has plumbing tools (non-exclusive), benchtop construction tools (exclusive), tool boxes (exclusive), cordless power tools (exclusive), vacuums (exclusive and non-exclusive), and now lawn and garden tools (exclusive).
24V Max tools are really 21.6V – they have 6 Li-ion battery cells per row compared to 5 for 18V tools. 36V and 40V Max tools have 10 cells per row.
KH
They are HD exclusive in the us but are a top tier brand sold under the AEG name worldwide. So while most of that is true design and build quality are not just an HD marketing decision, even though what tools they of that lineup they decide to carry is.
Stuart
How many AEG tools might not exist if not for Home Depot sales volume?
There also looks to be some exclusive products, as the cordless outdoor power tools don’t appear on AEG’s website.
Brad
I wonder if that’s why the stopped making the Stealth Force pulse driver. By most accounts it was a nice tool, but I figured people who only thought to look at raw torque ratings went for traditional impact drivers.
Stuart
Always keep in mind that Home Depot is the customer. I’m guessing sales weren’t good enough to keep them in-stores, and it didn’t make sense to run another production batch just to sell them on the website.
Gordon Niessen
The graphs are all backwards. Less time is not a longer bar.
Stuart
True, but the charts work if you consider them to depict “application speed” rather than “application time.”
Brian
I’d guess the 3x power is comparing the power output of a single old 18650 cell to a new tabletless 21700 cell.
The charts show the new 4ah in a 5s1p configuration and compares it to old 4ah in 5s2p batteries (so twice as many cells), which would have twice the power of a 5s1p made with old 18650 cells.
Nathan
While I don’t get 3x power what I do see is potentially 1.5x current draw though.
Ie if you were getting around 4 amps out of the battery before you can pull 6 amps out of the new battery.
So far I don’t see tables cell besting pouch cell. At the compact battery sizing. Now when there is a 8ah pouch or a flexvolt pouch we might see something else
MKY
Stuart –
“Ridgid says their new battery delivers ***3 more power***, and it seems clear…”
Stuart
Thanks – sorry, 3 *times*. I removed the X to write it out, but apparently didn’t.
Andrew
Do you think they will release an 8ah version of this tablets design, because that would be awesome for hours of circular saw cutting
Stuart
They already have a “MaxOutput EXP” 8Ah battery. A higher performance tabless battery would have to be kicked into a higher tier, maybe “MaxOutput EXP Plus” or something like that.
Will it make sense for Ridgid to have another 8Ah battery, and would its price be higher than Ridgid users are willing to pay?
Plain+grainy
Maybe they can do a Ridgid cordless belt sander race. Then see which battery goes the furthest!
Chris Colameco
Oh! So you mean they’ve gone back to the technology they were using in 2018 with Octane!
Brilliant!
Stuart
This tech wasn’t around in 2018; tabless Li-ion cells are a relatively new-to-market development.
William
Can’t believe their 4Ah tabless cell pack outperformed their 8Ah tabbed cell pack. Not sure how they tested it, the tabless cell is good at temperature rise performance, low impedance, but capacity does not change. If they could drain more current in heavy duty, means they run out the capacity faster than the others, unless the tabbed cell pack trigger the over temperature protection(in heavy duty, it’s for sure tabbed cell pack would trigger over temperature protection much earlier than tabless cell pack depends on how big the current is). Bosch claimed tabless cell pack has more than 71% longer run time in some applications, they may stopped testing when tabbed cell pack triggered OTP. If that is the case, users who do not drain the battery continously in daily job may not have that sense of longer run time since tabbed cell pack could continue the discharge after cool down. The total run time may be same.
For these users, they may not pay more money for the new technology.
Gerard Bourcier
Will these new batteries fit Ridgid’s existing 18 volt tools and chargers?
Stuart
Ridgid 18v tools and chargers from Home Depot? They should, or at least I don’t see why they wouldn’t.
Big Richard
DeWalt has their new DCB2108 8Ah tabless battery coming soon as well.
MM
That’s great news–and not just from a power perspective, but I also like how they put the rubber base on that new battery like the Powerstacks have. I have several older 4ah batteries that I’ve been putting off retiring. Now they’re starting to demonstrate reduced power and runtime so I’m looking to upgrade. I’m well covered for small and large batteries already, so a combination of 5ah Powerstacks and these sounds very attractive.
Now if they’d come out with either tabless or better yet pouch style Flevolt… And speaking of Dewalt leaks, I saw a Vietnamese video showing off a DCD1007…that looked like an absolute monster.
Big Richard
Yup, the DCD1007 is the new FlexVolt Advantage drill/driver. Fatter, but shorter than the DCD999 and more importantly it has their anti-kickback/bind up E-Clutch. Which you will want, it has 180Nm of torque compared to the 999’s 126Nm. Pair that with the new DCF860 impact driver, and you will have about the most powerful combo out there. They are not taking their 100th year laying down.