$100 2 Ridgid 4AH or Milwaukee M12 Fan (Tool Only)

[gathermewool]

The four of us are going camping tomorrow for the first time with my kids (I know, I know, poo poo on me for waiting so long with my 7 yo son). Anyway, I pulled out a tent I bought 16 years ago that I haven’t used in at last 12 years and, luckily, it’s in perfect shape. It fits our $20 King-size air mattress with room to spare.

We‘re a bunch of light weights, so we’re definitely going to bring my Ridgid 18V battery-powered fan and two 4AH batteries. I’m not sure if the two batteries will last all night with the fan on high. I use this fan to keep me cool when I’m working outside for hours at a time. It puts out a surprising amount of flow.

So, one option is to buy 2 more Ridgid 4AH batteries for $100. Most of my larger tools are Ridgid 18s, inc a shop-vac we use daily. Even with daily vac use our overall consumption only requires us to charge one battery every week or so.

The other option is to purchase an M12 Milwaukee fan (tool only) for $100. I have one 4 AH and several 2AH M12 batteries. I have a small chain-saw, air pump and a small driver for these batteries.

I‘m leaning heavily toward having a second fan, mainly to have one on either side of the bed to maximize cooling on hot nights in the tent. With all four of us, one side may not cool as well, or at all, compared to the other side. I do plan to see if the tent will support my existing Ridgid fan from the ceiling, but that may not be practical or even feasible.

Thoughts?

 

[jhellwig]

None of them last long on high. If you can get by on low they should last the night.

 

[Rand]

my dewalt fan lasts 16hours~~ on a 5ah on med. maybe a notch under medium (rotary dial infinite adjustment)

You can recharge a few times with an inverter from your car battery.. typical car battery 700 watt hour~~ vs 100 Watt hour for a 5ah "18v" lithium pack.

Ridgid 18V Cordless Jobsite Fan Review R860721B

The Ridgid 18V Cordless Jobsite Fan has a few familiar features from the previous model but with a few upgrades to keep you cooler.

www.protoolreviews.com

The new fan which is stronger than the older fan was :

Our runtime test produced some impressive results. We set the fan to its max speed and got 6 hours, 31 minutes, and 20 seconds of continuous runtime using a Ridgid 4.0Ah Max Output battery.

 

[gathermewool]

I ended up going with the Milwaukee. The size and weight are what really tipped me over the edge. The Ridgid is much larger and 63% heavier.

The Ridgid is definitely a better bang for the buck, but for a second fan portability and practicality are more important.

The Milwaukee puts out a surprising amount of flow for its size but not as much and not nearly as quietly as the Ridgid. Still, the flow on medium is about what I was hoping for on high, so that’s a plus. As far as the Milwaukee being louder, it is, but the tone is unobtrusive. The blade noise also drowns out whatever DC motor noise there might be.

One final note. The battery remaining indicator is via a push button on the Ridgid battery, with four bars. Very nice. The Milwaukee batteries don’t have this feature; however, the fan, when first turned on, will display the battery remaining with four LEDs. A nice touch.

 

[D60]

I'd get some M12 6.0s

 

[gathermewool]

I'd get some M12 6.0s

I don’t mind swapping out the 2s and 4 I have. I haven’t yet used the chain saw. Maybe I’ll consider a larger battery if I have trouble with that battery tool.

As is, the most power-hungry M12 tool I have (besides the fan I just got) is the inflator. With tires just setting off the TPMS in the Fall/Winter I can top off all tires on both vehicles on a single 2AH charge. Either that or I can refill a flat tire with the same 2AH battery pack. I usually keep the 4AH battery installed in the inflator with an extra 2AH in the lantern.