Customer Reviews for Milwaukee M18 18-Volt Lithium-Ion HIGH OUTPUT Starter Kit with XC 8.0Ah Battery and Rapid Charger

This M18 18-Volt HIGH OUTPUT XC 8.0 Ah Battery is a great addition to my M18 tools. I have been extremely happy with all of my Milwaukee M18 tools. I have two XC 5.0 Ah and two XC 6.0 Ah batteries, and needed one with a bit more run-time. I haven’t yet had any projects that would use enough power to run it down, so I can’t say just how much better it is, but Milwaukee claims that this one provides 60% more run-time than an M18 XC 5.0 battery, so this is a welcome addition for those jobs that require more power and longer use of some tools. Though I didn’t time it, the first-time full charged pretty quickly (less than 1 hr.) using the Rapid Charger. This XC 8.0 is very close to the same size and weight of the XC 6.0, so I don’t even notice any difference in handling. While some other manufacturers are going to higher voltages, Milwaukee just keeps making the M18 batteries better, without the need for more voltage, plus we don’t have to replace our tools. These work with the entire line of over 175 M18 tools. Gotta love it.

Milwaukee produces great tools and batteries, and this battery is better than ever. The charger is identical to other Milwaukee M12/M18V chargers and is Made in China. The battery cells are made in Korea and the pack is produced/assembled/processed in China. As a “High Output” battery it's advertised as providing “50% more power” by Milwaukee, but it's not clear what that means in terms of actual performance. This unit's rating of 3.0 amp-hours should provide exactly as much run-time in a given tool as any other 3.0 amp-hour battery. It may be able to provide more amperage than other batteries, and it is designed to run cooler and charge more quickly. I can attest to faster charging, which may be helpful on a contractor's job site but I don't do enough to drain one battery in the 90 minutes or so it takes to charge a regular battery, so the fact this one will charge in under an hour doesn't affect me. It is also lighter, thinner, and slightly longer. I weighed a few other Milwaukee 3.0Ah batteries and this one is just under 4oz lighter, or about 15%. On some tools that alters the balance a bit, but it's not overly significant to me. In my applications as an advanced DIYer, I don't find a significant advantage with these batteries, but I'll certainly buy them over the last generation of M18 batteries and I applaud Milwaukee for continuously improving all their tools!

If you have bought a Milwaukee M18 bare tool with no battery or charger then you need a starter kit like this one. It gets you an M18 High Output 8 Amp Hour lithium ion battery and the rapid charger that charges both the M18 batteries as well as the M12 batteries. This 8 AH battery is large and heavy but will provide power for much longer periods than the smaller M18 batteries. I can tell you that you won't want to use this in any tool that you need reach up above your shoulders to use. However if you use it in stationary or tools that don't require a lot of reaching or lifting then it will last, last and last all day long. I weighed and measured my other M18 batteries and they are M18 CP 2.0 AH, 3.1 x 4.6 x 2.18 in., 15.2 oz., M18 XC 5.0 AH, 3.1 x 4.6 x 2.95 in., 1 Lb. 9.7oz., (this battery) M18 XC 8.0, 3.4 x 5.44 x 3.24 in., 2 Lb. 6.3 oz. I recommend this starter kit with the High Capacity M18 8.0 AH battery if you understand that it weighs quite a bit and may not be suitable for tools that require you to work at shoulder level or higher.

This review is for the M18 3.0 a/h battery kit, model # 48-59-1835. Sometimes reviews get lumped together so it’s good to know which gear you’re reading about. The new M18 3.0 a/h battery is advertised to run longer and cooler than previous Milwaukee batteries. I don’t know about temperature – I’ve never noted that any M18 battery runs hot – but these little cells do last a long time. The battery comes with a minimal charge, so you’ll need to charge it before use. The charger is a standard Milwaukee M18/M12 charger, not the new “fast charging” unit that Milwaukee is selling. The charger ‘talks’ to the battery to prevent overcharging and indicates the current level of charge. There’s no contractor’s bag included with this kit, just the battery and the charger. The blister pack is a major pain to open; I’d advise wearing leather gloves and using a box cutter. It’s a real pleasure to grab one of these new 3.0 a/h cells instead of using the larger 5 a/h batteries, especially when working with a hammer bit driver with the tool being held overhead. There are a fair number of Internet video showing the new 3.0 a/h batteries successfully competing against the standard 5.0 a/h batteries. If you’re of a certain age and remember the first NiCad powered tools you’ll really appreciate the technology Milwaukee has put into this new line of “high output” lithium batteries. There’s a 5 year warranty on the charger and a 2 year warranty on the battery and, of course, Home Depot offers a 90-day return policy. HTH Regards, Jim

What can I say? This battery is everything you would expect from Milwaukee tool. Same size as their 6.0AH but with much more power and life. Add the new "quick charge" M12 and M18 charger and life gets simpler. I put this M18 8.0AH out of the box and into the charger. The battery power light indicated it was low. It took one hour to charge to !00%. Actually 1 hour and 5 minutes. I have a shop full of Milwaukee tools and I couldn't be happier with their products.

Great battery and charger. The Milwaukee M18 5.0 battery lasts a long time between charges and charger also charges very quickly. This charger can also charge the M12 battery.

I purchased a combo set for Milwaukee and this was included. The Milwaukee 90-degree impact set is phenomenal and I use it every day at work and at home. The battery and charger are excellent only drawback is the humming noise the charger makes. I would recommend this to anyone!

Saw was light weight and easy to use. I would recommend having a second battery for backup if planning on using for more than an hour at a time.

I was hesitant to buy this because of the bad reviews about the battery, but I have had no problem with the battery or the impact so far. I am an auto mechanic and in my opinion for a 3/8 it has a lot of torque. Would strongly recommend.

I have been using Milwaukee Tools personally for over 30 years. in the last 2 years I bought quite a few of the 18 volt and 12 volt tools the power and the longevity of the batteries surpasses any other battery operated tool sets I've ever used along with the vast selection of light duty to Industrial Construction it was a no-brainer to stick with Milwaukee when it was time to go cordless looking forward to my next purchase thank you for your innovations in the cordless tool department. Proud life long Customer JOHN A. THOMAS

Huge battery but at a cost.......................................................................... This is an unbiased review that is unaffected by the fact that I received this product for free. As proof of impartiality, just click on my nickname and see the average of the ratings I have given over 200 reviews to date. First, the good: This battery has 4 times the capacity as the 3 AH battery so it will last a long time before needing to be recharged. That can be a big plus at a job-site that has little or no access to line power for a charger. The battery comes with a 50% charge from the factory, which is good since that is a very efficient way to prolong the battery life while in storage. I wish the charger had a mode for loading the battery to that level as do some other brands. As for the charger, this is the same charger that can be used with all 18V Milwaukee batteries. It is not a special version just for this size battery, so if you already have an 18V charger, you would not need to buy this set, only the battery. See the photo of the charger part number label. The battery is cost effective when compared to the smaller versions. You would need to buy 4 of the 3AH batteries to get the same capacity and that would be more expensive. Next, the bad: This battery is much heavier than the rest, although for good reason. So that will make for a heavier tool and more labor if the extra power is not needed. And when the battery is discharged, it will take some time to recharge it. If you had two of the 5AH batteries, or three (or four) of the 3 AH batteries, you could have one or more on charge to be ready when the first one was discharged. Bigger is not always better.

It is a pain that all the different manufacturers have their own propriety batteries. I wish they would standardize like regular batteries. Now I have a couple of Milwaukee tools with batteries and this battery and charger I think I will focus on Milwaukee batteries and tools. At least these batteries are interchangeable with the Milwaukee tools and they seem to be powerful and last well. Unfortunately this battery wouldn’t fit in my Milwaukee compact work light because the area for the battery is not big enough. I figured out that I could cut away some of the plastic to make it fit without harming the light. It worked great. Check out my photos to see what I did. I really like that this battery has a “Fuel gauge” which shows how much charge is left in the battery. This is better than only knowing when the battery needs charging because it dies. This battery also has a 3 year warranty which is good. These batteries are expensive. Hopefully as the rechargeable battery technology improves they will come down in price.

This is one hefty power pack! You get the 18 Volt 12 Ah battery, and a rapid charger in the pack. This starter kit can then form the basis of any M18 tool set by adding the tools you need. The charger can also handle M12 batteries. This is the bag daddy of the M18 batteries and is physically bigger than all the others. It is almost 4” deep. In fact, it is a little too big for some M18 tools which were made before june 2018. It seems that someone forgot about tolerances because the battery has been made the same size as the battery ‘holes’ in some M18 tools making it impossible or impractical to insert this battery into the tool! The tools likely to have problems are the ones with a ‘hole’ into which the battery must be inserted. When the battery forms the base of the tool (such as drivers and drills), you should have no problems. I had problems inserting the battery into three of the M18 tools that I have. The Jobsite Fan takes the battery OK, but it sticks out the bottom, lower than the feet of the fan. It can be used. See picture. The battery could not be inserted into the 2130-20 M18 3000 Lumen ROCKET LED Stand Work Light & Charger. It is simply too big, even though it looks like the light was designed with this size battery in mind. I found I could force the battery into the 2135-20 2000-Lumen ROCKET LED Stand Work Light, but I immediately regretted it as it was a huge battle to get the battery out again. I found some fine print on the package stating that service parts are needed for: 2787-20, 2788-20, 2771-20, 2122-20, 2130-20, 2135-20, 2361-20, 2145-20, 2146-20, and 2360-20 made before June 2018. On their website they state that FREE service upgrades for the listed products are available to any customer that purchases a this battery pack (starting summer 2018 you will be able to visit e-Service to request your service part). The battery had some charge already and the charger worked flawlessly to get it fully charged. The charger has indicators that show when the battery is charging, full or defective etc. If you are going to be using the larger power hungry tools such as the big drivers and angle grinders, this battery is going to give you the longest work time. It adds a lot of weight to your tool for sure, so one should also consider buying two lighter M18 5Ah or 9Ah batteries so that one can be charging while you use the second, especially if you are having to hold the power tool up high. Cells made in Korea with additional processing in China. 3 year warranty on the battery. Charger made in China. 5 year warranty on the charger.

Having just received one of the newest Milwaukee Searchlights which came as a "tool only" item I was in need of both a M18 Battery and appropriate Milwaukee M18 lithium-Ion charging station. Got this Milwaukee Starter kit which addressed both my shortfalls. Battery is a 5.0Amp variety which is more than sufficient for my new searchlight. The charging station not only recharges M18 batteries but also the M12 battery series of Milwaukee tools. Could not be any happier especially knowing this is a fresh battery and not some earlier battery hanging on the shelf for a year or more. Its been quite some time since I've acquired rechargeable tools and I've had all the various brands and technologies varying from the earliest Ni-Cad batteries to Nickel Metal Hydride. Lithium-Ion is the current technology and impressive. Heavier in weight per battery pack however run times are a minimum 5 times longer (probably more). If you are in the market for a replacement rechargeable tool you should seriously consider Milwaukee....solidly made, decent warranty, and really nice to own and use.

Milwaukee builds some well made tools from what I've seen lately in my purchases and this kit is no exception. Seems like a lot for a charger and one battery but the battery charges fast and the tools are very well built. I got this to pair with the 1/2" impact wrench. The batteries are noticeably more compact than my older 18V set (which is porter cable)(see picture for comparison of sizes). This would be good if you were lugging it around all day on the job, One thing I like about the batteries is the gauge built into the battery so you can do a quick check on the charge without having to put it on the charger (which is the only way to check the charge on my older 18V tools) It's nice that these are made so that they will mount on the side of a Milwaukee toolbox although I was not able to use that because my toolbox has stuff too close to both sides. But it fits nicely in the top compartment along with my other charger and batteries. I'll probably pick up one of the high demand batteries later but this one will do me for a starter.

The extended capacity battery pack has all kinds of numbers associated with it to show that it runs longer and better in extreme conditions. What I care about is that after a few days of letting the battery sit on my Milwaukee tool, I can use it for another job. To find out I ran a test with the Milwaukee 18v brushless impact driver. I didn't do extensive testing. A few days after using it to remove screws on the patio, I used it to drive a screw into a piece of plywood. It appears to be working fine. On the battery charger 2 lights were red. Number one reason I don't like tools with Batteries is tool companies upgrade the voltage and outdate the lower voltage tools, i hear that from other tool people as well. This charger accommodates both 12v and 18v volt Batteries. If you build tools around those batteries you can use one charger station. I hope when I need my battery in extreme conditions it tests good, but right now it is dry and sunny in Florida. The regular 18v battery is pictured next to the extended capacity battery. The XC is thicker and heavier, for light jobs you might want to use the regular 18v. The XC 5.0 adds weight to your tool.

This battery last quite awhile on a full charge and the charger recharges the battery quickly! Very happy with this battery/charger combo!

The rapid charger works really well and the grease gun that I also purchased is really nice. I will be buying a few more Milwaukee M18 tools

Great little device!

Great product works fantastic highly recommended