Weekly Daily Giz Wiz, week of May 22nd, 2011, Netcast 1315

Don't You Hate It When A Power Tool Battery Dies in the Middle of Your Project? Nextec has a neat solution!

Craftsman has a new one-of-a-kind, time-saving technology for its cordless line of 12-volt lithium-ion NEXTEC power tools. With its new QuickBoost Charger, Craftsman can bring a completely dead battery back up to a 25 percent charge in just three minutes! That should give you enough extra power to finish up the job at hand. Sears says the new Craftsman NEXTEC QuickBoost Charger was developed to end the frustration of having to wait 30 minutes or more for a battery charge when your DIY project is almost complete. Now your only have to wait three minutes and you're set to go back to work! At the push of a button, the charger harnesses all its energy for a three minute quick boost charge, or a full charge in about 30 minutes.  This really works well. I dropped a completely depleted battery into the charger, and pushed the QuickBoost Button. The large green LED start blinking and became steady in just about 3 minutes. I could now go back to my project! Hardly enough time to grab a cup of coffee. The charger’s on board diagnostics monitor the battery’s progress and indicates the battery’s status including “charged”, “charging”, “complete” and “over temperature” using red, yellow and green LED lights. The QuickBoost charger is shipped as part of certain kits such as their new Hammerhead Auto Hammer kit which retails for $99.99. The QuickBoost Charger is also available as a stand-alone for $39.99. It's a great addition to any cordless Craftsman Nextec 12Volt lithium-ion power tools you already have.

www.craftsman.com  (I couldn’t find QuickBoost here yet, but it should be coming soon. And it may already be at your local Sear's store.)

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