It was not that long ago that a portable telephone was about the size of a football and about as easy to carry around—let alone maintain a connection between parties.

But the public demand for portability led to better technology and other improvements. As a result, today's portable phones are the size of a playing card, and enable conversations to be conducted from East Coast to West with barely a hint of static.

This same combination of public demand and technological advancement has influenced the cordless tool industry. Cordless drills are available today that have power equal to what a few years ago could only have been found in corded, high-powered drills, for instance. And the demand for that combination of efficiency and convenience is ever increasing, tool industry officials say.

Wayne Garrett is president/CEO of Centaur Enterprises, a construction, agriculture and automotive tool distributor based in Grand Island, Neb. He has seen this coming for a while now, as the demand for cordless has helped speed up the rate of technological innovation.

"[Cordless technology] opens people's eyes to a whole new way of doing things," Garrett says. "In some regards, it took people time to understand their total capability.... Today, people look at it as a total solution. It frees them from safety hazards from [power] cords, or other potential problems. They can work more safely on roofs in a hands-free environment."

The cordless developments and resulting demand have made manufacturers sit up and take notice. Many are placing more emphasis on developing cordless tools with more power and overall efficiency, especially when it comes to rapid recharging and ability to hold a charge.

Metabo has been one manufacturer that by choice has not made great inroads in the cordless market. The lack of reliable recharging capabilities was the main reason. This year, however, Metabo has become more of a player in the cordless market. By the end of the year, it will have released five new cordless models, says vice president David Smith. Of these, three are drill drivers, a category that to date represented the only cordless tool Metabo had released. Another is a 6-½ inch blade cordless circular saw and, later in '05, Metabo will put out a cordless reciprocating saw.

"So we're finally getting beyond just the drill driver category," Smith says, "which is really where we've been for a number of years."

The popularity of cordless tools is something Metabo cannot ignore. People love their cordless, Smith says.

"It definitely continues to be the fastest growing portion of the tool market," Smith explains. "And has been for quite a few years now, that's for sure."

And this, in turn, means that Metabo will be doing more with cordless, Smith confirms.

Like the cell phone user who still has to deal with occasional "dead zones" and loses a call, so too does the cordless tool user have to be aware that, no matter how effective that cordless sander may be, it will need to be recharged—and sooner rather than later—for the worker trying to do more with less time. In some cases, for example, a fully charged cordless battery would remain charged for less time than the re-charging process itself would take. And that battery could only be re-charged so many times before it couldn't be re-charged any longer.

Cordless manufacturers as well as distributors agree that this will have to be where the next innovation in their industry comes from.

"The [re-charging] power is there, but still needs improving," Centaur's Garrett says.

While market demand has fueled Metabo's increased involvement, of equal importance is what they see as recent major developments and improvements in these re-charging mechanisms and the batteries themselves.

"With cordless tools it's not so much using the tool that really uses up the [life of the] battery," Smith explains. "It's the charging process, because the charging process usually generates a certain amount of heat within the cells of that battery pack. It eventually breaks down the chemicals [in that battery]."

In general, these cells are made with nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride, Smith explains. But newly developed cells, he adds, are made of lithium ion, "the wave of the future when it comes to cordless," as he calls it, adding that Metabo will introduce cordless tools with lithium ion batteries the second half of 2005.

"It's been a size vs. weight vs. cost issue to this point," Smith sums up. With the lithium ion batteries and related technology, "you may really start to see different types of tools going cordless than you have up to now."

Right now, the 18-volt battery seems to be the battery of choice, Garrett says. "The 18 volt's weight has become the satisfactory level for users. The 24 volt is too heavy. Barring some rapid improvements with the weight of the batteries, 18 volts will end up being the [preferred] level, in my opinion, just because of the weight ratio."

Depending on the job requirements, Garrett is upbeat on the ability of a cordless tool to match the power and strength of a corded one.

"As with anything, I think the more you do something, the more you work with a particular product, [manufacturers] will improve the little things," Garrett says. "You may not see massive changes, but little improvements such as their extending run times, for example.... Or the big thing now is the amperage on the battery."

Jay Gatz, supervising director for brand and channel marketing for Ridge Tool, also focuses on power.

"Here in America, we have a 'More power. Bigger is better' attitude," Gatz says. "We want bigger and bigger batteries, thinking we can do more and more work. It's a balancing act. How much work can you perform and how quickly can you recharge the battery?"

While he agrees with the analogy to cell phones, Gatz draws another comparison—more apt to the world of distributors and manufacturers.

"It's a bit like just-in-time manufacturing," he suggests. "We want the next batch of material to enter the plant just as it's needed by the consumer going out the other end. Likewise, we want the new battery coming off the charger at the moment that you've depleted the first one."

Gatz agrees with Garrett at Centaur that, right now, 18-volt batteries are the preferred source of power in cordless tools.

"In a standard drill, 18 volts is the sweet spot," says Gatz. "There are some 24-volt systems out there now, but they're not selling at that high a rate, and the reason is weight. Once you get to 18 volts—with the weight of the battery pack, the run time, and the heft of the drill—anything more than that and you're starting to make something cumbersome."