Makita BML185 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Flashlight Works With 1.5 Amp Hour Batteries and 3.0 amp Hour Batteries

Makita BML185 can take two different sets of Lithium-Ion batteries. There are the two different sets of Lithium-Ion tools from Makita. The 3.0 amp hour tools (LXT) and the 1.5 amp hour tools (compact). The LXT tools do not work with the “compact” batteries. This can be fixed easily though. The 3.0 amp hour batteries and the 1.5 amp hour batteries both give the same power. There are simply twice as many cells in the 3.0 battery than there is in the 1.5 battery which means that the 3.0 battery will last twice as long. Makita did some market research when they were going to first introduce the 1.5 batteries and found that if a customer put the 1.5 battery on the LXT tools, they tended to say that the tools themselves were no good because of the battery life when in fact it was the fault of the smaller battery. What they did is put a square of plastic on the LXT tools (where the battery slides on) to prevent the smaller battery to fit in the tool. That square does not exist on the 1.5 amp hour tools so the 1.5 amp hour tools will actually take both types of batteries. It is actually very easy to punch out that square of plastic and then be able to use your batteries with the flashlight or any other LXT tool that you may purchase (once the plastic squares have been punched out on the tools). Just be aware that they will last half as long as they would with the 3.0 amp hour batteries. This information has been provided to me by Makita and I have been assured this will not damage the flashlight, the battery, or any other LXT tool.