Tested: Why The Octane Battery Beats Milwaukee (for now) 

This channel is tiny but man it's done well. Thanks for all the content!!!

The Gen5X impact wrench is indeed the same as the Octane version except for branding. Gen5x shipped before Octane was announced, so it was not originally branded Octane

Have you tested the bosch pro core batteries? Probably the best batteries out there

Have you tested 3/8 drive units?

Sound engineer here. You'll have to physically decouple the dB meter from the testing setup. If not, you'll mostly measure structure-borne sound. Put the meter on a mic stand, use a defined distance that makes a bit more sense than "putting it right next to the tool". Best way would be to put it at ear height, near the actual position of the head of the operator. Keep that distance the same over all tests. A-weighting is good, but use a slow response time since this is a sound source that will emit pretty much one long sound. Measuring all the transients will most likely throw you off more than actually help.

So why does this battery "beat" milwaukee? Ridgid and Milwaukee are trying to sell you the same thing, their high end batteries - both claiming to have huge improvements. Fact is you're better off using the battery that came with your M18 on an impact tool, because it's already decent (go Milwaukee!). But little reason to fork out $100+ for a Hight Output for these tools, Ridgid puts all of your 100+ dollars to work with huge gains, making these batteries a good buy and M18 HO not (for an impact tool). Plus Bluetooth, guys! Gotta have bluetooth :P

Doesn't anyone else get the impression that there are no longer power tool companies, but rather that they morphed into battery mfr's who sell power tools as accessories to use their batteries?

I agree with your findings a 100%. I have the rigid Gen. 5 impact 1/2. it came factory with a 2 amp battery. Replace it with a 3 amp octane battery, immediate difference in torque.

Love your channel. Would like to see Kobalt tested since you have already covered Home Depots economical brands, ie. Rigid and Ryobi.

Awesome video. Octane is now dead. It would be awesome to see this same test on the same tool with the new Max Output batteries. The results might be even better with the new battery.

Great job. I'd also like to see the M12 stubby 3/8" vs M12 right angle 3/8" impact

I'm a commercial carpenter and millwright & new to your great channel. You guys do a super job & all the information helps me a lot on planning my future tool purchases. I mostly use Milwaukee, Makita, and some Bosch. Thanks for all your work. I plan on watching a lot of your past videos. Too many other tool review channels are clearly just marketing & sales boosters for Milwaukee and don't offer a lot of hard science like you do. Glad to find you & even happier to delete the other so called "tool reviews" in my subscription list.

Don't get a lot of Helen Keller references in a tool video.

Doubt it’s the battery drain why they stopped with the Octane. They don’t seem to self discharge any faster than other batteries. My guess is all that circuitry inside was $$$, and there wasn’t enough money to be made when they’re already selling 5 cells plus a basic 5s BMS board for $100+. Ridgid is a budget brand, they can’t step on Milwaukee’s toes too much with Bluetooth battery packs and 100ft-lbs more breakaway on the Octane High Torque over the M18 2767. If they outshine Milwaukee’s best sellers, some execs at TTI will get chewed out. Sucks thet’re getting rid of the Octanes. The new high torque impact coming out seems to have a lower breakaway rating, 1300 down from 1500 on the Octane. It doesn’t look like the new Max Output packs have the extra contacts to match up with the Octane tools, so I would bet the Octane packs would do a little better on Octane tools than the newer Max Output.

Great video. I have several from the Ridgid Octane lineup and was really curious on battery differences and how they really affect performance. You tackled all that, thank you kindly!

Ya I was going to say I think they have 21700s but I'd be careful measuring across with metal calipers

I think an important note here is that the chemistries in the mid-range 18650 cells are most of the time optimized for the longest lifespan of the battery while delivering reasonable performance. You *can* get 18650s that deliver this kind of performance, but the lifespan is not..... great. Additionally, the higher the amp draw, the less power you get out of the battery per cycle. So as far as this battery goes, that chemistry is probably way more expensive to manufacture, requires the bigger package to not degrade, and probably still won't last as many cycles as a more mid-rangy cell. The biggest advantage though, is that lower draw per cell on the big ol' chonkin batteries. That means that you can effectively deliver more of that rated "12 ah" capacity every cycle. This makes sense with you commenting on the battery probably being good in bursts. If it has time to cool and stabilize between burst loads, it's probably fine and hits near it's rated capacity. However, for something like driving a circular saw or a heavier tool, or even this impact under more continuous load..... you're gonna want that 6 amp hour. Better temps, longer cell lifespan, more power per cycle. That being said, this is super cool stuff! It's always neat to see new stuff hitting the field that out-paces the old.

Ridgid just killed off the Octane line and has released the new Max Output line. The idea was to have a more powerful compact battery they say. I think the main reason was the Octane batteries were too expensive to produce the expense drove their customers into Milwaukee or drove them in the opposite direction to save money into the Ryobi line.

what a fantastic video. i have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what the different ridgid batteries do different (other than marketing) apparently they are different in the amperage output. now just to figure out if i want a mid, high, ridgid or milwaukee.

New RIDGID IS TRASH BATTERIES AND TOOLS GET TBE THE OCTANE BATTERY WHILE U CAN 💯👍

The extended car analogy is actually genius.

Love your work. Can't wait to see the big Makita.

I love everything about this channel and you should be proud. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

Could you do a test with a ridgid subcompact wrench with the octane battery?

Finally, someone explains this correctly.

All that circuit board in that battery pack? is to keep people from hacking into your cordless tool.

I have this rigid and actually wondered if octane batteries would be any noticable difference. Guess what I just bought. You have that Project Farm / AVE style. Y'all will do well. Keep it up.

Anecdotal here. My 5 year old ridgid brad nailer, which is long overdue for service, only fully sinks nails with the 3 and 6 ah octanes. The 4 and 6ah max output batteries don’t cut it. Haven’t tried it with the 8, but 8 on a finish nailer is redoxulus

All that's fine. But all those electronics in a tool that goes thru what tools go through gets truly messed up sometimes. Drywall dust and moisture create an electronic nightmare. And with the vents in the battery, it's inevitable thats gonna happen. I've got 2 relatively young rigid 2 ah batteries that are totally messed up. No charge, no lights, just dead. Seemingly for no reason. It's like taking your laptop to a job site. Not a big fan of overly electronic tools in a working environment. To top it off, Ridgid won't cover either battery, because I didn't register the drill. So there goes a hundred bucks. Thanks for your video, very informative.

This has been full of discovery. I've had some Makita cordless tools for years and still really happy with them, but when looking for upgrades / replacements, my attitude towards the batteries has been influenced greatly following this video. If only we could get the x-ray view or have the manufactures just tell us what cell size and tech is in there rather than the outside number! Thank you for another great video and for the humour along the way

Man, I'm really loving this channel. I'd like to see a test of the Ingersoll Rand W7152 cordless impact wrench. I was seriously considering buying one, but the battery platform doesn't have many other tools that I would personally find useful.

Rigid and Milwaukee both owned by same company. So not really beating milwaukee, they test new tech on rigid before putting in milwaukee. Ex. Hydraulic driver

I have to disagree with your illustration that starts around the 6-minute mark. The capacity rating affects the power output of the battery when you take into consideration the discharge capability or the C rating of the battery. With a higher C rating, you can get more power relative to the capacity of the battery. For example, a battery with a 1C rating and 5Ah capacity is capable of outputting 5A without significant voltage drop and very minor degradation in the battery. Compare that to a battery with the same 1C rating, but 3Ah capacity. This one is only capable of outputting 3A without exhibiting a significant voltage drop. So yes the capacity does make a difference on the output torque of the tool. Of course, there are always tricks in engineering that can cause confusion. For example, the design of the strapping in the 3.0Ah battery you used in the video allows a controlled high current discharge that allows high output torque at the cost of battery life.

That battery had a Bluetooth/ WiFi module on it or an ATMl RF chip I can’t really see it very well. Looks like it’s prepared for the future activation policies.

This is why I don't buy Milwaukee. They are overhyped. My friend always boasts about his frickin Milwaukee. My ryobi is much better

Can you test one using ATG Gaphene battery (charging, holding power & run time)? Some Cat has not come to term with ATG.

Update- rigid kill the best bettery theyd ever make. Now its a standard 2ah "max" battery... so, probably like 5% better then the old 2ah.

battery go brrrrrrr

Just found this channel. Love it! I’m a field tech and you tests and break downs help a lot. Keep them coming.

This guy sounds like Stephan Papadakis and even uses similar words like: "trick" interesting, awesome channel

Open up a dewalt18v 4ah 21700 cell batterie and then the bosch pro core 4ah the build quality is alot different

7:20... I got my 9ah batteries for $99 each... they had sales on on them all the time and I grabbed a couple Throw a 9'r on there....🏁

It's so sad that you're comparing a simple motor tool to a car.

If these guys can go put in so much time and effort testing tools, we can at least just sit watch and like every one of their videos, so they can test more tools.

5:00 anyone else wince when the calipers shorted the ends of the cells? Then again maybe his calipers don’t conduct between the jaws…

I just purchased this impact yesterday. I feel like Google is listening and watching me cuz this ended up in my recommendations haha....😬

Nice vids but I'm cringing at the metal caliper over the ends of a cell. Please don't make a habit of that.

ty Milwaukee for upsetting the rotten apple cart ! Can't wait for D-Walt to show up.

I'm glad that somehow your caliper isn't conductive

I can only guess having all those batteries sitting around is getting a bit annoying. It would be wonderful if there was a standard battery all the big name cordless tools used. I have to say, I'm not big on the bluetooth thing either, but having something inside the battery keep track of of the number of cycles and other information can be really useful to know when a battery is getting close to the end of it's useful life. Since the cells inside them are rated for number of cycles before they've lost a certain percentage of capacity, it could show you what you started off with when the battery was new and let you compare it to it's current state. Be neat to know the what each cell is being charged to as well. That can have a big impact on battery life too.

You sure those aren't CR123s? What's the line in the middle?

Love the channel keep the videos coming hope to see a Dewalt impact someday soon

I have a theory that cordless tools are louder... Or at the very least, more annoying to listen to.

The 9Ah batteries (goes for milwaukee too) use terrible cells (high capacity but very low current) and tend to put out less power and die faster since they're typically running so close to their limit. They should have used the 25r and made it a 7.5Ah pack.

My eyes appreciate the dark themed spreadsheets. Great video!

Nice I like my rigid 1/2 impact peels axle nuts allday

I use the 3 and 6ah octane batteries and I agree they have similar performance. On the grinder or chainsaw the OG 5ah batteries are a total waste of time but the performance is great with the newer generation of batteries.

Does Ridgit still 9:25 make Octane 1/2 impact

Did yall just short the battery with a caliper?^^

"Communication skills of a young Hellen Keller" Holy shit, I'm using this one from now on!

Yes, more makita. And dewalt.. plz

WoW, I can't believe I actually landed on a YT channel where the speaker wasn't running off at the mouth about some unnecessary jibberish. AND, NO MUSIC overlay. Extremely well done and getting to the point without taking all day.

I have the 9ah Octane because it came with a kit, it had an impact driver, drill, light, and sawzalls, with a 2ah, 4ah, and 9ah battery for $279. Otherwise I'd have probably got the kit with two 3ah Octane batteries. I can tell ya though, the Octane battery even makes a difference in my subcompact 3/8" impact. I strapped it on for a bolt it couldn't get loose with the 4ah, and it busted it right off!

14 Milwaukee fan boys are already offended.

they need to start puttin c ratings on these like rc batteries

Would a smaller bolt and subsequently smaller socket produce a higher or lower ft-lb? I know you use a 38mm socket and im trying to guestimate how it would relate to 27mm/30mm bolts i frequently encounter. Thanks for you informative and extremely professional videos.

LXT battery system is no doubt the best in simplicity. you only have a few models: 1.5ah, 2ah, 3ah, 4ah, 5ah and 6ah.

Air tools hurt my ears much less. The sound of air tools I have is deeper, or maybe the additional lower frequency components and amplitudes mask the higher pitch sounds more.

Tape over the extra pins and do another test?

Yep...mine came with a 4ah battery and it was ok...put my 6ah octane battery on and was extremely impressed.even the 3ah octane is amazing. Too bad theyre killing octane.

With the noise test try testing 5/8 bolts on 3mm angle iron. This is where I find the cordless impacts produce way more noise over air tools

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Milwaukee uses rigid as their testing platform to test new technology for tools before adding it to the Milwaukee lineup

Bosch also uses the 21700 in their Profactor Core Batteries. These batteries outperform the old batteries containing 18650 cells by a lot.

I got the x5 1/2 brushless (non-octane) before the octane came out. I wonder what the difference would be using the octane battery on the x5 1/2 brushless (non-octane)

I've had this impact for about a year. I don't like it as much as the milwaukees we use at work but it's great for home use. The ridgid seems very well built but it vibrates so much more than milwaukee. Haven't found a bolt on my truck it won't take off yet.

Maybe within another 10 years the battery market will rationalize and these will become a good deal and a sensible choice. Today, it's comparable to cellphone bills of two decades ago. Nice work.

Be interested to see more on the decibele metre between air and cordless. What you mentioned makes sens. I hate how loud cordless tools seem to be. You can hear them across the shop. But it might be the way they work... Like European emergency services sirens vs American ones.

I like my kobalt because I'm poor lol

What I do not understand is during the ten second test max reached 301, however, during the fifteen second test it showed around 360 at the ten second mark. Why would you not use this result rather than the 301? It is essentially the exact same test only extended an additional five seconds, so that 360 at ten seconds would technically be the max break away in a ten second time span. Would it of or am I missing something else that differentiates these two tests?

Fuel pump and injector capacity are they bottle necks in the car analogy. Possibly the ignition coils but not as much on modern cars.

As always, well done! I have to agree about the noise levels between cordless and air tools. Different tones and pitches from the mechanisms, but both are very loud. I saw over 115 dB on your reader! I use both with hearing protection and my ears thank me.

I like the Torque Talk! That example with the car and gas tank was awesome.

Nice job. If you want to use a dB meter you really, really need to isolate it from your workpiece and tool. Keep it up!

Since you used a car example, what would be the water methonal injection with a good controller but for a tool?

do you have any flexvolt batteries to try on the dewalt? I have a 9ah flex volt I would possibly loan out.

I love watching this channel

Workshop Addict did some testing on the Ridgid high torque and the impact driver. It looks like they get too hot to even touch and the impact driver started leaking grease.

Great video! Would love to see a comparison of the Astro pneumatic Nano 1/2” right angle impact and the Capri tools 1/2” right angle impact.

I can't wait to see your channel blow up. I'm sharing this with everybody I know.

It would interesting to know the vibration levels of these tools as well. May be a deciding factor for people looking to minimize exposure levels.

I would say they couldn't get the Chips for the batteries with the chip shortage

I agree with the battery issue, but it is what it is..... would be nice to have one base battery for all tools

Hey I have a craftsman 9-19984 air impact if you want to test it

thanks for this video especialy because its about the 1/2 in impact

That Octane high torque is an absolute beast. I'll tag you in a post on my instagram from when I was using it on a DOT bridge job. Definitely a noticeable boost with the Octane batteries and it shows on your tests for sure. Love the channel 👍 I'll also tag you on a post from a very special ridgid battery, you won't want to miss it 😂

Is there any difference between a octane 4 amp vs a regular 4 amp battery

Don't rigid batteries fit milwaukee tools, and vice versa?

So Milwaukee and Ryobi adopt the tri beam led light like the Ridgid and now the ridgid mid torque is gonna look like a previous gen Milwaukee and the high torque like the current Milwaukee and less torque then the current ridgid high torque. What is TTI thinking

Can it run Doom?

20 gallon gas tank pal 😂😂😂😂