What battery to buy

Have a Strikemaster paired with a millwakee drill, drill came with 2 5ah batteries-set up has been great, but I tend to drill a lot of holes and I am using up both batteries. Should I Buy another 5 or get a 9? Also where would you buy them?
Thanks

Check ebay for 2 more 5 ah.

Thanks Dusty!

I’d strongly recommend a 9.0 or 12.0. Those are what Milwaukee calls “HD” batteries, and they far out perform the 5.0s when doing hard work like drilling holes, chainsawing, or angle grinding. I have a 12.0 and literally have not been able to kill it in a whole day of bouncing around winnebago drilling dozens of holes through 2 ft of ice.

Thanks Eye, not sure what HD means, but it sounds like one 9 in your book would be better thaN 2 5s.

tim hurley wrote:

Thanks Eye, not sure what HD means, but it sounds like one 9 in your book would be better thaN 2 5s.

Heavy duty. HD-high out put.
I run a hilti drill and I use 5ah batteries and I can go through 2 of them on a real busy moving day. I have 6 or 8 batteries total so I don’t bother buying a 8ah battery, if I had a choice between the 9 or 2 5s I’d try the 9 and have a 5 as back up. It sucks walking back to the shack for a battery swap. But isn’t a big deal at all.

The 12ah HD high output can be bought for 250 bucks. Hurts a bit but will be a awesome battery to drill with. You will see a huge power difference in this battery as well. The milwaukee will not be able to be stopped paired with a lite flight.

Makes you realize a 40v strikemaster would have been cheaper

I wanted a HD12.0 until I saw the price. Too bad there is not much of a price break buying 2 or I would go in on a set with you.

Thanks Bear, already have the 2 5s for back up, might just buy the 9 just for this time of year. Do not yet regret not getting the 40v because I like how light my current set up is; really only a few weeks where the ice is thick and hard, where my little batteries get spanked. Might just use my gas (ahhh!) auger for a couple of weeks. We’ll see.

Tim- I dont personally own a 9.0 but its classified the same as the 12.0, so I assume that it’s on the same level. What I can tell you is I use an angle grinder hard at work. 5.0s dont last more than a couple minutes. I can use that 12.0 all day, just top it off on my lunch break. Same with drilling holes. I kill 5.0s in no time, I’ve never killed the 12.0 in a day of fishing. I found mine on sale for $200. It’s a lot of money, but I own a lot of Milwaukee battery tools and with that battery, I rarely need to swap/ charge throughout a day.

Thanks for your input Eye.