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The Real Reason for Battery-powered Tools

I suppose a lot of tool shopping takes place over the holidays. I was in Home Depot today and was really surprised how completely battery-operated tools dominated the tool aisles. You have to struggle to find a corded tool that runs off of 110 VAC, aka, normal household electricity out of the wall plug.

What sort of answers would you get if you asked the average customer to explain this domination by battery-operated tools? Probably something about "convenience."

The convenience argument is actually pretty lame unless you are working in back of the barn or in the 'outback' somewhere.

Did these customers ever notice that corded (110 VAC) tools are more powerful and less expensive? 

The customer is afraid he will be old-fashioned if he buys a corded tool. So he lets himself be pushed along with all the other sheep.

The real reason is "ecosystem entrapment." That is the business model that every global cooperation yearns for, these days. Apple was the early master of this gimmick. Then Amazon came along and will do anything to get you to sign up for Prime. And customers actually think Amazon is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, to save the customer money!

When you buy a battery-operated tool, you must buy an expensive lithium battery and charger that only work with other tools made by that same company. You don't even want to look at rival brands' tools after that it. Yep, they gotcha! Obviously there is no technological reason why all these battery systems couldn't be compatible and interchangeable.

I am going through this very problem right now. 

from dengarden.com

Comments

Anonymous said…
Next think ya know, they'll want to stop making buggy whips!

Chris