Best Tabless Power Tool Batteries Compared: Five Packs Tested

Introduction

Tabless battery packs are the current big push across cordless power tool brands, and every company is making bold claims about them. To cut through the marketing, we strapped the new packs from Ridgid, Bosch, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Ryobi onto a range of tools, measured impact performance, voltage sag under extreme loads, runtime, and heat, and even opened a few of them up to look inside.

The verdict is not what you might expect. The most expensive or highest-capacity pack is not automatically the best buy. What matters is whether the new pack meaningfully outperforms the batteries your brand already sells.

Why Tabless Batteries Are Trending

Tabless packs are not literally without tabs. Instead of one central tab per cell, they use many contact points spread across the cell surface. The cell itself looks like a standard 21700 format, but the current no longer has to funnel through a single narrow exit. It is more like a multi-lane highway running the full length of the pack instead of every lane merging into one.

Our evaluation framework is simple, with three criteria. First, the brand’s tools need enough performance headroom that the extra current converts into real gains in power, runtime, and temperature. Second, the brand’s existing batteries need to be mediocre enough that the upgrade step is large and worth paying for. Third, the new pack has to perform well against the competition. A mid pack from a brand with great existing batteries is a cash grab.

Ridgid 4Ah Max Output EXP Tabless Battery

The Ridgid 4Ah Max Output EXP costs $139 at Home Depot, and its main advantage is size. It is by far the smallest pack here, even slightly lighter than the discontinued 3Ah Octane pack, about an ounce lighter than the current 4Ah Max Output, and roughly two ounces lighter than the equal-size 6Ah pack.

On Ridgid’s Octane high torque impact wrench, the new tabless pack delivered 800 ft-lbs versus 791 for the 3Ah and 788 for the standard 4Ah Max Output, and it also edged out the larger 6Ah pack across the load curve. Their existing 8Ah 21700 pack still peaked higher at 826 ft-lbs, but the margin is small, and the new pack offers comparable power in roughly half the size at a lower price. The pack uses Ampsource JP40 tabless cells with a mix of laser welding and spot welding, in a polycarbonate and ABS shell that is remarkably dense, with essentially no wasted space.

Overall it is a strong showing, though its long-term runtime under sustained draw will trail the 8Ah packs.

Bosch ProCORE 8Ah Tabless Battery

The Bosch ProCORE 8Ah tabless pack is the clear disappointment here. Weighing about an ounce less than the standard ProCORE 8Ah, it was tested on Bosch’s 7-1/4-inch Turbo Brushless circular saw, where it managed only 4,850 RPM under load versus 4,830 for the standard pack, and roughly 10 to 20 extra watts under heavier load, about 2%.

Runtime told the same story: 13 minutes 20 seconds versus 12 minutes 50 seconds for the standard pack under a harder-than-normal test. It did run 5 to 10 degrees cooler across the housing, but nothing you would notice in real use. In our extreme 1,100-watt voltage sag test, it started at the highest resting voltage of the group but dropped noticeably, beating a Samsung 21700 pack at the bottom but not matching what we have come to expect from tabless JP40 cells.

Inside, the pack is impressively built, with a solid copper heat tube style bus bar and an epoxy-coated board, but the interconnects are extraordinarily thin copper strips with minimal spot welds, and disassembly essentially destroys the pack. At best you are getting lower temperatures and unnoticeable performance changes. As it stands, we would not buy it over the standard pack.

Milwaukee M18 Forge 8Ah Tabless Battery

Milwaukee’s M18 Forge 8Ah tabless pack is a genuinely large upgrade, and it shines brightest on the newest tools. On the latest high torque impact wrench designed around Forge batteries, it delivered 980 ft-lbs, roughly 7 to 10% above an XC 5.0 or 6Ah Forge pack, and noticeably more than the XC 8.0’s 950 ft-lbs, all for the same $199 MSRP as the pack it replaces.

In the extreme voltage sag test, the difference was dramatic. A standard XC 6.0 sagged down to 16.25 volts over ten seconds under a 1,100-watt draw, while the Forge tabless held 18.1 volts and barely moved from there, effectively delivering full working voltage under maximum simulated load.

Build quality is also a real improvement over Milwaukee’s troubled existing packs: flame-resistant PA66 nylon case, ventilation through the top and bottom of the housing, a conformal-coated board, and, best of all, side screws securing the battery within a suspended chassis, a fix for the pack halves that tend to split apart. Combined with a lower price than DeWalt’s equivalent and the fact that Milwaukee’s older batteries are the least durable of the group, this is an easy high placement.

DeWalt 8Ah Power Pack Tabless Battery

DeWalt’s 8Ah Power Pack earned its keep on the biggest tool of the day, the 3/4-inch DCF 964, the most powerful impact wrench the brand has ever made. There it produced 1,265 ft-lbs, well above the 4Ah compact and the 5Ah PowerStack at 1,167, and it beat the 9Ah FlexVolt pack at the top end, taking over from the heavier and larger FlexVolt as the best current DeWalt battery.

On this tool it made massive gains over every other option you can slide into DeWalt’s larger tools. The pack uses the same Ampsource JP40 tabless cells as the Milwaukee Forge, with laser weld traces greatly increasing contact area, and it held voltage slightly higher than Milwaukee in the sag test, though that may partly reflect a higher resting voltage off the charger. At $219 MSRP it asks $20 more than the 8Ah XR, which the Power Pack comfortably outperforms.

It falls just behind Milwaukee in the overall ranking mainly because DeWalt’s existing batteries are not as problematic, so the incremental value of upgrading is somewhat smaller, even though the raw performance gain on the flagship tools is exceptional.

Ryobi Edge 4Ah Tabless Battery

Ryobi is the surprise winner. The new Edge 4Ah tabless pack (PBLA G02) is the cheapest of the day at a $129 MSRP, and it made the biggest practical difference relative to the batteries it replaces. On Ryobi’s new grinder, the 3Ah pack managed 6,900 RPM under load and the 4Ah High Performance 6,600 RPM, while the Edge hit 7,370 RPM, with the 8Ah double stack at 7,430.

The wattage numbers are where it really pulls away: the Edge sustained 670 watts under load versus 430 watts for the 4Ah High Performance, exceeding even what the last-generation grinder achieved with a 9Ah pack. On runtime, the High Performance pack managed 5 minutes of cutting under load while the Edge managed 8, with 53,000 total revolutions versus 31,700, meaning far more work done from the same amp-hour rating.

Temperature results were equally striking: 138 degrees for the High Performance pack versus a lukewarm 108 degrees at the cell area for the Edge, with only the transmission area on top getting hot in both cases. Measured against our three criteria, Ryobi scores well across the board: its tools have headroom, its existing batteries range from mediocre to discontinued, and the Edge itself is good, cheap, and runs cool.

Overall Buying Advice

Ranked by value for the money rather than raw performance alone: Ryobi Edge 4Ah takes the overall win, Milwaukee’s M18 Forge 8Ah comes second thanks to a large upgrade step and far better pack durability, and DeWalt’s 8Ah Power Pack sits very close behind as the brand’s new best battery. Ridgid’s compact 4Ah EXP is a solid choice if size matters more than sustained runtime.

Bosch’s ProCORE 8Ah tabless version falls a long way behind, likely awaiting a second generation with different cells or interconnects. Until then, the standard ProCORE 8Ah remains the better buy in that system. If your brand’s current batteries already perform well, a tabless upgrade may simply not be worth it; if they have been a weak point, the jump can be genuinely transformative.

Conclusion

Tabless technology is real, but its value depends entirely on the brand and the pack. Ryobi delivers the most meaningful improvement at the lowest price, Milwaukee and DeWalt offer premium packs with large, noticeable gains on their newest flagship tools, and Ridgid packs comparable power into a remarkably small body. Bosch is the one to skip for now.