Milwaukee broke the simple rule everyone uses to buy batteries

For about a decade, buying a Milwaukee battery required no research. The bigger the pack, the more power. The shorthand was accurate enough that it spread until it became the default advice in every tool aisle and every forum thread on the subject. It no longer holds. Milwaukee’s own power ratings now place a 6.0Ah pack on the same rung as a 12.0Ah pack, and place two batteries wearing identical 6.0Ah labels a full tier apart from each other. New buyers already lose money choosing between M12 and M18 on voltage alone. Capacity is the second trap, sitting one shelf over. I run Ryobi rather than M18, but I read the same placards, and Milwaukee’s have quietly stopped saying what most shoppers assume they say.