Although you will spend a chunk of money if you are doing this to replace the older type of batteries for your drill, but to me it was worth it. You have to buy a new charger also by the way! I love my 9.6 drill and did not want to buy a new one (these last for ever if you ask me) the power is much better than ever before and they last forever. I used mine to drill several 3" holes through 3/4 inch treated plywood and was already using it before I started the project. The batteries were not freash and it did not let me down. Great product if you can shell out the money on an old drill.... that is up to you!!!

This battery provides an excellent upgrade option for those with older Makita tools. My original Ni-Cad batteries would no longer hold a charge and I was about ready to replace everything when I saw this battery at Menards. It was more expensive than another Ni-Cad, but worth every penny. Like others, I do wish it would have been more clearly marked on the packaging that my older charger would no longer work, so I ended up going back to the store to buy the new charger (another $50). Still, it's a better charger and it will work for both the old and new batteries, with better indicators for the charging status. It will also allow charging a battery sooner after use than the old charger. The old charger would require waiting quite awhile for a recently used battery to cool down before it would accept it. The new chargeer requires little or no cool down time before the battery can be popped in.

One drawback to the new charger is that it is larger and won't fit in the original case for my drill. For awhile I just kept the new charger in my main toolbox, but recently I found a great deal on a used drill with case (and another Ni-Mah battery) on ebay, so now I'm all set. From this description, it may sound like I would have been better off just to get a whole new setup, but as others have mentioned the newer drills are heavier and shaped differently than the older models. I'm helping a friend build a deck and there are some tight places on the deck where his brand new drill would not fit while mine still would due to the narrow design.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with this product. Besides the larger capacity and more time between charges, this battery seems to produce power more evenly over the life of a single charge. The drill has almost full torque until the battery runs out instead of gradually getting slower as the Ni-Cads seemed to do. This gives the feel that the drill has more power than before, though that may just be my perception.

For those people who already have the correct charger, then purchasing this battery is a no-brainer. If your model came with the model 9033 battery, this one even has a bit more capacity (2.6 amp-hours versus 2.2).

If I could rate it zero that's what I would rate it. I thought the NIMH batteries would last longer than my old NICAD batteries, but I was wrong. I have two that have been recharged about 10 times each. I did not use them every day. They would lose charge not being used. Now they will barely charge. As a matter of fact I've decided to give up battery operated tools because the batteries are more expensive to replace than buying a corded tool. I'd rather be tied to an extension cord. These tools where made for people who own a business and can write it off. I have two 9.6 volt Makita drills. The last I bought to get the new NIMH batteries. My first drill had the NICAD and they lasted about 10 years. I had to buy a new one and it's lasted longer than the NIMH. It is finally giving out. I would tell anyone thinking about buying battery operated tools not to buy them.
It's kind of like buying an ink jet printer. You can get it for a good price, but look out when you have to replace the ink cartridge. It's almost cheaper to just buy another printer.
These companies have a racket going on with the battery operated tools. Anyone want to buy two drills? Maybe you could hook a cord to it. Actually that's the way the battery operated tolds should be made wher you could run them on electricity. DO NOT BUY!

I finally succumbed and went out and purchased some new higher voltage battery powered drills. They were very much heavier and more cumbersome than my old Makita drills. What a great relief it was to find these new higher powered and better memory NiMH batteries. I ordered them and the new Makita DC1804 charger from Amazon and got them quite quickly. They have been working very very well thus far. I took back the new very heavy drills and am very pleased that I can now use my much lighter and less cumbersome 9.6 volt Makita drills again. The battery life is much longer and the new charger charges both the new batteries and the old batteries.
These are a definite purchase if you wish to continue using your 9.6 volt tools.
Wendell in beautiful Gardiner, WA.

The information here isn't complete. It doesn't tell you what kind of charger you need. If you're like me, your old charger won't work on this. How does the battery perform?..I'll follow up in a month when I get the charger for it.