VersaPak Starter Battery Kit

The 300 charging cycles is a fantasy. After a few cycles, it will only power a cordless screwdriver for 30 seconds on a charge! Very expensive for such a short life product. I could buy a new screwdriver with a battery and charger for less money.

I'm an electrical engineer. I have used these batteries at both work and at home. I designed several products for my employer that actually used these batteries. Yes, they decided to buy batteries from B&D (actually Panasonic, who makes them) and use them in their own products. The batteries are garden-variety NiMH cells. I've cracked the batteries to see what's inside. They did very well for my company, no complaints to speak of over 1000s of units over some years. I had several at home. Most have been "in-use" since 2001 or so, although they stay on charge 99% of the time. In the past 2-3 years, I will find a dead cell every now and again, and have lost maybe half of them due to this attrition. I have about 6 batteries left, down from about 10. They are still going fairly well. I'm sure they do not have their original capacity, but they're still enough to do small jobs without dying. The batteries seem to do better staying on the little dual "slow" charger, such as the one in this kit. The 4-port "fast" charger is faster but doesn't keep the batteries charged up as well for the long term. They're not Li-ion. Don't expect Li-ion performance. But I'd say they are just as good as any other NiMH/Ni-Cd batteries out there. They do tend to be a little expensive for what they are, but that's the price you pay for a specialized system like Versapak.

Not recommended. Batteries do not last. A few charges then ready for garbage can. Very low quality. Much too expensive.

very poor quality discharge in 5-10 minutes, take three hours to charge