Tool Model Number Decoder

Full reference

Every suffix, brand by brand

The trailing letters are the ones that cost money: they are what separates a bare skin from a kit with two batteries and a charger. Australian stock often carries a region code as well.

Makita

A Makita code is the tool code run straight into a pack suffix, with no space or dash. Strip the suffix and you have the bare tool. Platform is read from position: 18V LXT tools start with D (DHP486), 12V max CXT tools end the model number with D (DF333D), and 40V max XGT tools end it with G (HP001G). There is a fourth platform the code does not announce at all, and it is the one that costs people money. A large part of the Australian range is 18Vx2, sold as 36V, and it wears an ordinary leading D like any other LXT tool. DLM382Z, DUC353Z, DSP600ZJ, DRS780Z, DLS714Z, DLW140Z, DJR360Z and DCE090Z all take two 18V batteries in the same handle and will not start on one. If you are buying a skin, check the retailer title for 18V x 2 before you buy a single battery. Two more cautions on reading the front of the code. Makita and DeWalt both use DC codes, so DCE and DCL exist in both catalogues (Makita DCE090Z power cutter and DCL180Z vacuum against DeWalt DCE590 and DCL050). This decoder sends a DC code with an Australian region suffix such as -XE or -XJ to DeWalt and one without to Makita, which is right most of the time but not always, so check the tool type in the title. And on garden tools a handle letter sits between the model and the pack suffix: L is the loop handle and U is the bike or U handle, as in DUR368LPT2 and DUR369LZ, so do not read that letter as part of the pack code.

In Australia: Makita Australia's dealer network is where the local warranty lives, and that network includes Bunnings alongside Total Tools, Sydney Tools, Tool Kit Depot, Toolmart and Blackwoods. Do not use the last letter of the code to guess whether stock is genuine. Bunnings sells MakPac J codes and X indexed kit codes as ordinary local stock, including DLX3206TJ, DSP600PT2J, DLX9008X1 and DLX1514TX1, and it sells ZK cased skins such as DBN900ZK. The suffix is not an import tell, the retailer is. The one code family that really does mark foreign stock is the United States catalogue, which uses a completely different grammar for the same 18V LXT tools: the American equivalent of the DHP486 is the XPH14Z. An X prefixed Makita code such as XPH, XFD or XDT on an Australian listing is US stock and will arrive with a US charger. If a code will not resolve on makita.com.au, treat it as another market's pack and check the warranty before you pay. DeWalt also uses a DC prefix, so a DCL or DCE code without a region suffix could be either brand: a DeWalt will usually carry -XE or -XJ.

• DHP486Z 18V LXT brushless heavy duty hammer driver drill, body only. D is 18V LXT cordless, HP is hammer driver drill, 486 is the model, Z is no battery, no charger and no case. In the box: tool, grip assembly 127701-6, depth rod 122576-8, belt clip 346317-0 and 251314-2.
• DHP486RTE The same DHP486 drill sold as a kit. R is the DC18RC rapid charger, T is 5.0Ah, E is the Australian plastic kitbox ending. In the box: DHP486Z drill, 2 x BL1850B 18V 5.0Ah batteries, DC18RC single port rapid charger, plastic carrying case 821524-1.
• DHP484SFE DHP484 compact brushless hammer driver drill kit. S is the DC18SD standard charger, F is 3.0Ah, E is the kitbox ending. Toolmart lists the contents as the DHP484 drill, 2 x 18V 3.0Ah batteries, charger and kitbox. The only difference from DHP484RFE is the charger, which is the slower one.
• DHP485SF DHP485 brushless hammer driver drill kit with a two letter ending. S is the standard charger and F is 3.0Ah, and there is no third letter, so the code says nothing about how many batteries are in the box. Bunnings sells it at $232 and does not state the count in the title. Overseas listings for the same code show one 3.0Ah battery, against two in the DHP485SFE. Open the includes list before you buy.

Milwaukee

Read a Milwaukee code in three parts. M18 or M12 is the battery platform, the letters after it are the tool, and the number block after the dash is what is in the box. The letter straight after the platform sets the motor tier: B is the entry line, C is a compact body, BL is brushless and F is FUEL, the top brushless line, and these stack, so M18CBLDD is a compact brushless drill driver. A trailing digit on the tool letters is the generation, so M18FPD3 is the third generation FUEL percussion drill. Milwaukee Australia prints the code without the hyphen, so M18FPD30 on the Australian site is M18FPD3-0 and M18FPD3502C is M18FPD3-502C.

In Australia: Australia uses C on kit codes where Europe uses X. Milwaukee Australia's catalogue lists M18FPD3-0 and M18FPD3-502C, and a search for 502X on that same catalogue returns no power tools at all, so a widely advertised M18FPD3-502X is a European pack. That matters because the Milwaukee Australia warranty says in plain terms that it does not apply to any parallel imported product, is not valid for products bought on Amazon, eBay or other non authorised websites, and applies only to products bought from authorised Milwaukee retailers in Australia or New Zealand. Authorised Australian stock sits at Total Tools, Sydney Tools, Blackwoods and the independent trade stores. The other tell is the printed hyphen: Milwaukee Australia's own site strips it, so M18FPD30 and M18FPD3-0 are the same tool, while a European retailer listing will carry the hyphen and usually an X. One last thing for secondhand buyers. The M18B and M18C tiers, such as M18BPD and M18CBLDD, are discontinued new but common on Marketplace. They take the same M18 batteries as a current FUEL tool, so an old skin and a new battery will work together.

• M18FPD3-0 M18 platform, FUEL brushless, percussion drill, third generation, tool only. Printed on the Australian site as M18FPD30 and listed as current. In the box: 13mm hammer drill driver, bit holder, side handle, belt clip. No battery and no charger.
• M18FPD3-502C The same third generation FUEL percussion drill as a kit. 50 is 5.0Ah, 2 is two packs, C is the Australian kit letter. Milwaukee Australia's own includes list is M18FPD30 drill, 2 x M18B5 REDLITHIUM 5.0Ah and the M12-18FC rapid charger, with no case listed. If you want a case with this one, check before you buy.
• M18FID3-502C M18 FUEL 1/4 inch hex impact driver, third generation, kit. Same 502C decode as the drill above, but this one does include a carrying case along with the bit holder and belt clip. In the box: M18FID30 impact driver, 2 x M18B5 5.0Ah, M12-18FC rapid charger, carrying case. Two identical suffixes, two different boxes, which is exactly why the suffix is not proof of a case.
• M12FPD2-202C M12 platform, FUEL brushless, percussion drill, second generation, kit. 20 is 2.0Ah, 2 is two packs, C is the Australian kit letter. In the box: M12FPD20 drill, 2 x M12B2 REDLITHIUM 2.0Ah compact batteries, C12C charger. No case listed.

DeWalt

A DeWalt cordless code is DC, then a letter for the tool family, then a three or four digit model, then a short battery and case code, then a dash and a two letter region code. DCK and DCZ codes are multi tool kits rather than single tools. Corded DeWalt uses DW, DWE, DWS or DWD instead and takes the same region code, so DWS780-XE is the corded 305mm mitre saw. The pack code is where the money is, and it has one trap worth learning: a T at the very end with no digit after it is the TSTAK case, while a T followed by a digit is a 6.0Ah FLEXVOLT battery and the digit is how many. DCZ207M2T-XE is two 4.0Ah packs in a TSTAK, DCZ507T2-XE is two 6.0Ah FLEXVOLT packs, and DCZ407P1T1-XE is one of each. Note also that Makita and DeWalt both use DC codes: DCE and DCL exist in both catalogues, and this decoder sends a DC code carrying an Australian region suffix to DeWalt and one without to Makita.

In Australia: XE is the Australia and New Zealand pack and XJ is the European one, but in 2026 that no longer maps onto genuine versus grey. DEWALT Australia's own website lists DCF850N-XJ as a current Australian product, Bunnings sells DCS496N-XJ, DWV9210-XJ and DCPS7154N-XJ, and Toolmart sells DCD805N-XJ beside DCF887N-XE. Both codes sit in the authorised channel. What actually decides your warranty is the DEWALT Australia warranty document, which excludes products purchased outside of, or parallel imported into, Australia, New Zealand or the South Pacific Islands, and excludes products bought from unauthorised resellers including online trading companies. Buy from a DeWalt authorised Australian retailer and the suffix is irrelevant. The codes that really are foreign stock are the bare B codes with no region suffix, which are North American 20V MAX, and the QW, KR, B1 and IN codes. DCZ codes are an Australian invention and almost always mean Australian channel stock.

• DCF887N-XE Cordless fastening tool, model 887, N for bare tool with no battery or charger, XE for the Australia and New Zealand pack. Toolmart sells it at $218 ex GST as the 18V XR brushless impact driver, tool only, with nothing else in the box.
• DCD805N-XJ Cordless drill, model 805, N for bare tool, XJ for the European pack. Sold by an Australian trade retailer as the 18V brushless compact hammer drill driver, tool only. This is the clearest example that XJ now sits in the legitimate Australian channel.
• DCF850N-XJ Cordless fastening tool, model 850, N for bare tool, XJ region code. Listed on DEWALT's own Australian site as the 18V XR brushless compact impact driver, bare unit. If DeWalt Australia sells it here, the XJ is not telling you anything about warranty.
• DCZ2050P2T-XE Australian two piece combo kit. P2 is two 5.0Ah XR packs, the trailing T with nothing after it is the TSTAK case, XE is the Australian pack. In the box: DCD805 18V XR two speed hammer drill driver, DCF850 18V XR three speed impact driver, 2 x DCB184 18V XR 5.0Ah batteries, multivoltage charger, DWST1-70703 heavy duty TSTAK case. Bunnings titles it 18V XR 2 Piece 5.0Ah Compact Combo Kit.

Bosch Professional (blue)

Bosch splits into two things you have to read separately. The name, for example GSB 18V-55 or GWS 18V-10 PSC, tells you the tool and its capability. The ten character part number, for example 0 601 9J4 002, tells you exactly which pack you are buying. Unlike Makita or Milwaukee, the Bosch number is a lookup key rather than a readable code. There is no letter in it that spells out battery count, and two packs of the same tool can differ by a single character while one has an L-BOXX and the other a cardboard box. Two practical notes. It is not always all digits: letters appear inside the middle groups, as in 0 601 2A6 500, 0 601 4A3 040, 0 615 A50 08V and 0 611 24A 042, so if you meet a letter in the middle you have not misread it. And spaces and full stops are cosmetic, so 0 601 9J4 002, 0.601.9J4.002 and 06019J4002 are all the same part.

In Australia: Bosch Australia runs the Professional range on bosch-pt.com.au and the numbering matches Europe, so there is no Australian region suffix to look for and no XE style code. The useful Australian rule is the block split: 0 601 and 0 611 are the tool on its own, 0 615 is a set with batteries and a charger, and 0 603 is the green Home and Garden range. Do not use the blue and green split to guess where a tool came from or what warranty it carries. Bunnings now stocks Bosch Professional blue extensively and prints the ten character number in the product title, including 06019L0140, 06018G2001, 06015B2040, 0601482200 and 06019K4000, so blue is no longer a trade store only line here. Because the numbers are global, a grey import carries the identical number, and what tells you is the plug, the charger model and the seller, not the code. One last thing to keep in your head: a 0 601 number can still include an L-BOXX, as the GWS 18V-10 PSC shows, so never read 0 601 as bare in a cardboard box.

• 06019J4002 GWS 18V-10 Professional 125mm cordless angle grinder, bare. The 0 601 block marks a single tool rather than a set. In the box: tool, protective guard 1 605 510 365, backing flange, quick locking nut 2 608 000 684, cardboard box. No battery, charger or case.
• 06019G3F0B GWS 18V-10 PSC Professional 125mm cordless angle grinder, bare but cased. Same 0 601 single tool block, but this pack adds the case. In the box: tool, L-BOXX 136 plus inlay, Vibration Control auxiliary handle, quick locking nut, protective guard, clip-on cutting guard, backing flange. Still no battery and no charger, which is exactly why you must never read 0 601 as meaning cardboard box.
• 0615990M1G GWS 18V-10 SC Professional angle grinder tool kit. The 0 615 block marks a set with batteries and a charger. In the box: tool, 2 x GBA 18V 5.0Ah, GAL 1880 CV quick charger, L-BOXX 136 and inlay, GCY 42 Bluetooth module, Vibration Control auxiliary handle, quick locking nut, protective guard, backing flange.
• 0615990J4J GSB 18V-55 Professional 4.0Ah kit, cordless combi drill. 0 615 marks a set. In the box: tool, 2 x GBA 18V 4.0Ah batteries order number 1 600 A00 163, GAL 18V-40 quick charger order number 1 600 A01 9RN, toolbag order number 1 600 A00 3BH. Note this one ships in a bag, not an L-BOXX, so the 0 615 prefix tells you there are batteries but not what they travel in.

Bosch Home and Garden (green)

Green Bosch uses a written name rather than a letter code, for example UniversalImpact 18V-60 or EasyDrill 18V-40, plus a ten character part number that starts 0 603. The name tells you the tier and the tool, and the part number tells you the pack. As with blue, the part number is a lookup key and not a readable code, so the only reliable way to know what is in the box is to match the full number or read the words in the product title, which Bosch spells out as either Without battery | Without charger or 1 x 2.5 Ah battery | charger. Older green tools, the ones filling sheds and Marketplace listings, use a completely different naming system of short letter codes such as PSB 18 LI-2, PSR 18 LI, PST 700 E and PEX 300 AE. Those predate the Easy, Universal and Advanced tiers and cannot be read with the tier rules below.

In Australia: Green Bosch and blue Bosch are two separate 18V systems and the batteries do not interchange. Green PBA 18V packs belong to POWER FOR ALL, shared with Gardena and Flymo. Blue GBA and ProCORE 18V packs belong to the Bosch Professional 18V System, shared with the AMPShare alliance. Bosch Australia's own GBA 18V 4.0Ah page lists its compatibility as the Bosch Professional 18V System and AMPShare, and does not list POWER FOR ALL at all. The packs use different battery interfaces: a green pack will not run a blue tool and a blue pack will not run a green tool. Do not buy a green kit expecting the battery to power your blue Professional tools, and do not buy a blue skin expecting your green mower battery to start it. On where you buy, do not read anything into the aisle any more. Bunnings stocks Bosch Professional blue and prints the ten character number in the title, so the 0 603 against 0 601 split tells you which Bosch range the tool belongs to but no longer tells you which shop it came from. The naming trap that still catches people is the word Impact: UniversalImpact is a masonry hammer drill, AdvancedImpactDrive is an impact driver. Like blue, the green numbers are global, so a grey import carries the same part number and the tell is the charger, which in an Australian pack is an AL charger with an Australian plug.

• 06039D7100 UniversalImpact 18V-60 cordless impact drill, without battery and without charger. 0 603 marks it as green Home and Garden. 60 Nm maximum torque, drills up to 13mm in masonry and 35mm in timber. In the box: tool, double screwdriver bit, cardboard box. Impact here means hammer drill, not impact driver.
• 06039D7140 The same UniversalImpact 18V-60, sold as a kit. Only the last three characters change from 100 to 140. In the box: tool, 1 x PBA 18V 2.5Ah battery, AL 18V-20 charger, double screwdriver bit, carrying case. One battery, not two.
• 06039D7040 UniversalDrill 18V-60 cordless drill driver with 1 x 2.5 Ah battery and charger. Drill rather than Impact, so there is no hammer setting and it will struggle in brick. 60 Nm. In the box: tool, 1 x PBA 18V 2.5Ah, AL 18V-20 charger, double screwdriver bit, carrying case.
• 06039D8100 EasyImpact 18V-40 cordless impact drill, without battery and without charger. Easy tier, so a step below Universal, and 40 Nm against the 60 Nm of the Universal. In the box: tool, double screwdriver bit, carton.

Ryobi

Ryobi Australia runs three naming systems side by side at Bunnings, so the first job is working out which one you are holding. The older Euro style code is R, then the voltage, then tool letters, then a generation digit, then a dash suffix, like R18CS-0. The newer ONE+ HP style puts the tool letters first and the voltage second, like RPD18C1, with no dash suffix at all. The 36V garden range uses R36 or R36X with the letters after the voltage, like R36LMW34. On anything but the old dash codes the Bunnings product title is what tells you whether there is a battery in the box. The code will not. If your code does not resolve here, that is normal for Ryobi and the title wins.

In Australia: Ryobi is sold in Australia through Bunnings, effectively exclusively, so the Bunnings listing is the source of truth and the Bunnings I/N number is a second identifier worth writing down. Because it is a Bunnings line, a Ryobi code you find on an overseas site often does not exist here at all. The United States uses a separate P prefixed family such as P215 and PBLHM101, so a P code on an Australian listing is US stock on a US charger. New Zealand shares most Australian codes through Bunnings NZ, which is why some codes resolve on bunnings.co.nz but not bunnings.com.au. The practical point for anyone standing in the aisle is that Ryobi is mid transition between three code styles at once, so treat the code as a way to find the right listing and then read the title and the includes list for what is actually in the box.

• RPD18C1 18V ONE+ HP brushless compact hammer drill, tool only. RPD is percussion drill, 18 is the voltage, C is the compact body and 1 is the revision. There is no packaging suffix, so Tool Only lives in the title. In the box: drill, double screwdriver bit, belt clip. Battery and charger sold separately.
• RPD18X1 Same family as the RPD18C1 but X is the high torque body rather than the compact one. Tool only again, with no suffix to tell you that. In the box: drill, double screwdriver bit, belt clip, auxiliary handle.
• RCS18C 18V ONE+ HP 165mm brushless circular saw, tool only. This is RCS meaning circular saw, because the voltage is 18. 4,900 rpm, 55mm depth of cut at 90 degrees and 45mm at 45 degrees, left hand blade, parallel guide and a built in vacuum adaptor. Compare it with RCS36X4 below, where the same three letters mean a chainsaw.
• RCS36X4 36V brushless chainsaw with a 350mm (14 inch) bar, sold as a 4.0Ah kit. RCS here is a chainsaw, not a circular saw, because the voltage is 36. In the box: saw, 4.0Ah battery, 1.7A charger. The tool only version of the same saw is RCS36B1.

Ozito PXC

One thing on an Ozito code is reliable and the rest is not. The letter immediately before the dash is S for skin or K for kit, and that is your skin versus kit answer. Everything else moves around. The prefix can be PXC, PX or a bare P, all of them Power X Change. The digits after the dash are not a battery field: they encode tool size at least as often as battery size. Letters can also appear after the digits and they mean something different again. So read the letter before the dash, then read the Bunnings title, which always states the battery size and says Skin Only when there is no battery.

In Australia: Ozito is an Australian and New Zealand brand owned by Einhell and sold through Bunnings, so every PXC code is Australian channel stock by definition and there is no grey import question to answer. The one thing to watch is that PXC shares the Einhell Power X-Change 18V battery system used overseas, so an Einhell coded tool bought online may physically take an Ozito battery, but it is not covered by the Ozito Australia warranty and Bunnings will not service it. The second thing to watch is the 36V range. Those tools are 2 x 18V, and a 36V skin sitting in your boot with one battery is a tool you cannot start, which catches people out the same way Makita's 18Vx2 range does. Ozito is also the brand that made the word skin standard in Australian retail, and Bunnings prints Skin Only in the title with the matching S in the code, which is why it is the easiest brand to check on your phone in the aisle.

• PXCBDS-018 PXC 18V brushless compact drill driver, skin only. BD is brushless drill, S is skin. 40 Nm, 0.8 to 10mm keyless chuck, 0.79 kg, no battery or charger. Worth knowing that Ozito's own product title calls this a 12mm drill while its specification table says 10mm. The chuck is 10mm, so size your bits to 10mm.
• PXCLMK-1418 PXC 18V 300mm brushless lawn mower, 4.0Ah kit. LM is lawn mower, K is kit. In the box: PXCLMS-018 brushless mower skin, 25L grass catcher, safety key, 1 x PXBP-400 18V 4.0Ah battery, 1 x PXCG-030C compact fast charger. This is the listing that proves the S and K rule, because the kit explicitly contains the S coded skin.
• PXCLMS-018 The skin version of the same mower that sits inside PXCLMK-1418. Same tool letters, S instead of K, no battery and no charger.
• PAGK-1240 PXC 18V 125mm angle grinder kit. Note the bare P prefix with no X and no C, which is normal on current Bunnings stock. AG is angle grinder, K is kit, and the 12 in the digits is the 125mm disc rather than a battery figure. In the box: grinder, cutting guard, 18V 4.0Ah battery, compact fast charger.

AEG

AEG Australia has changed its numbering and both systems are live on the AEG Australia site right now. The current system is A, then the voltage, then tool letters, then a short digit block that describes the pack, as in A18PDB51. The legacy system, shared with Milwaukee because both are TTI brands, puts the tool letters first and adds a dash suffix, as in BSB18BL-0 and BSB18B2MK-502C. On a current code a single trailing 0 means skin only, and a two digit ending reads as battery capacity then quantity.

In Australia: AEG in Australia is sold through Bunnings and Tool Kit Depot, and AEG Australia's own site is aegpowertools.com.au, so Australian codes are the ones that resolve there. That matters because AEG in Europe is a different distributor with a different catalogue and European AEG codes often do not exist here. The current A18 codes are new and largely Australian, so a BSB or BSS legacy code is an older generation of an Australian tool rather than grey stock. AEG sits under TTI alongside Milwaukee and Ryobi, which is why the legacy kit codes use the same -0 and -502C grammar as Milwaukee, but the batteries do not interchange between the three brands. The habit to get into with AEG is checking for a case, because AEG Australia regularly ships a battery and charger with no box at all and still calls it a kit.

• A18FPD0 18V FUSION hammer drill, skin only. A18 is the 18V platform, F is FUSION, PD is percussion drill and the trailing 0 means no battery and no charger. In the box: drill, belt hook, bit holder, auxiliary handle, manual.
• A18PDB51 18V brushless hammer drill, 5.0Ah kit. PD is percussion drill, B is brushless, 51 is one 5.0Ah pack. In the box: A18PDB0 drill, 1 x A18FB5 18V 5.0Ah FORCE battery, A18SPC30 18V 3.2A charger, PH2 bit, bit holder, belt hook, auxiliary handle. No case, which is worth flagging because it is sold as a kit.
• A18PDB0 The skin version of the same brushless hammer drill that sits inside the A18PDB51 kit. No battery, no charger. The kit listing names A18PDB0 as its included skin, which is how this pairing is confirmed, and it is the source we cite because AEG Australia has no standalone page for the skin.
• A18SPDBL0 18V brushless sub compact hammer drill, skin only. S is sub compact, PD is percussion drill, BL is brushless and 0 is skin. Shorter body than the A18PDB0 for working between studs and inside cabinets.

HiKOKI

HiKOKI, formerly Hitachi, uses a Japanese style code followed by a packaging code in round brackets. The tool part reads as tool letters, then the voltage, then a series block, as in DV18DE or G3613DVE. The part in brackets, such as (NN), (H4Z) or (HRZ), is the pack. HiKOKI does not publish a legend for the bracketed codes and the letters are not consistent across tool families, so treat the brackets as a lookup and not as a decode. Australian retailers print Skin or Kit in the title and that is what you should trust.

In Australia: HiKOKI Australia is hikokipowertools.com.au and Australian codes carry the same bracketed suffixes used in Japan and Europe, so there is no Australian specific suffix to look for. The Australian tell is the retailer's word rather than the code: HiKOKI Australia, Total Tools and Aims Industrial all print Skin or Kit in the title. A decoder that tells you (H4Z) means four amp hours is wrong, and that error costs you a battery, because H4Z tools ship with none. Watch for Japanese domestic stock on marketplaces, which often carries codes ending (NN) or (NNG) and ships with a 100V charger that is not suitable for Australian mains. On the brand confusion that gets asked more than any other: HiKOKI and German Metabo are separate brands owned by the same parent, Koki Holdings, and their batteries do not interchange, because HiKOKI runs MultiVolt and Metabo runs its own 18V LiHD packs in the Cordless Alliance System. Metabo HPT is the North American name for the HiKOKI tools, not for German Metabo, and it is not the Australian badge. In Australia the Koki tools are sold as HiKOKI.

• DV18DE(H4Z) 18V brushless impact driver drill, meaning a hammer drill driver, skin only. DV is impact driver drill, 18 is the voltage, DE is the series and (H4Z) is the Australian skin pack. No battery and no charger in the box.
• DV18DC(H4Z) 18V brushless 1/2 inch impact driver drill, skin. Same DV family and same (H4Z) skin pack, with DC being a different series to DE. Listed at Total Tools as Skin.
• WH18DC(H4Z) 18V brushless 1/4 inch impact driver, skin. WH is impact driver, and (H4Z) again means no battery and no charger.
• G3613DVE(H4Z) 36V MultiVolt 125mm angle grinder with a slide switch, skin. G is angle grinder, DVE is the slide switch series, (H4Z) is the skin pack. The paddle switch version of the same grinder is G3613DVF(H4Z).

Metabo

Metabo does not use a packaging suffix at all. The tool is named in words and letters, for example SB 18 LTX BL Q I, and the pack is identified by a separate nine digit order number such as 602361850. Two versions of the same tool share the name and differ only in that number. In Australia there is a second layer: Metabo Australia gives its local combo kits their own AU prefixed order numbers that do not exist overseas. If you have a Metabo in your hand and no box, the name on the tool gets you the model and the nine digit number on the rating plate or the box gets you the pack.

In Australia: Metabo's tool names and nine digit order numbers are global, so the code alone will not tell you whether a tool is Australian stock. The one strong Australian marker is the AU prefix on combo kit and power source kit order numbers, which Metabo Australia creates locally. The other practical Australian point is CAS: Metabo 18V LiHD packs run tools from the Cordless Alliance System partner brands, which is a real reason Australian trade buyers pick Metabo. Metabo Australia states the pack in words, cardboard box or metaBOX, so there is no suffix shorthand to learn and no equivalent of a Makita Z or a Milwaukee -0. If you are comparing Metabo with HiKOKI because someone told you they are the same company, they share a parent and nothing else that matters to you: different batteries, different chargers, different dealers.

• 602361850 SB 18 LTX BL Q I cordless combi drill, bare. SB is combi drill, 18 is 18V, LTX is the lithium platform, BL is brushless, Q is the quick change chuck and I is Impuls mode. Delivered in a cardboard box with the tool, quick change chuck, side handle, belt hook and bit case. No battery pack and no charger.
• 602360850 SB 18 LTX BL I cordless hammer drill, bare. Note the missing Q against 602361850, which means no quick change chuck. One letter different in the name, a different order number, and a materially different tool. This is why you paste the number and not the name.
• 602359850 BS 18 LTX BL Q I cordless drill driver, bare. BS instead of SB means no hammer action. Same LTX BL Q I feature letters, so brushless with a quick change chuck and Impuls mode.
• 603182850 SB 18 LTX-3 BL Q I Metal cordless combi drill, bare. The -3 is a three speed gearbox and Metal is the metalworking version with an automatically re-tensioning chuck. Cardboard box delivery with the Futuro Top quick change chuck, side handle and C-wrench. No battery or charger.

Festool

Festool names the tool in words and letters, for example TPC 18/4 or TXS 18, then adds a pack word: Basic, Plus or Set. A six digit order number such as 575604 identifies the exact pack. The pack word is what tells you what is in the box, and the six digit number is what you should paste into a decoder rather than the word, because Australian retailers use Set and Plus loosely for the same pack. An I that appears before the pack word, as in I-Basic and I-Plus, belongs to the tool version rather than the packaging, so read the word after it.

In Australia: Festool Australia is festool.com.au and the order numbers are the same six digit global numbers, so there is no Australian suffix and no region code to check. Festool Australia sells through a controlled dealer network and Australian dealers state plainly when their stock is sourced from Festool Australia with the local manufacturer warranty, which is the clearest Australian tell you will get. Because the numbers are global, imported stock carries the identical order number and the difference shows up only in the charger plug and the warranty. The Australian trap is the word Basic, because unlike a Makita Z or a Milwaukee -0 a Festool Basic still includes the Systainer, so you are paying for a case whether you wanted one or not. The second trap is that Australian retailers mix Set and Plus for the same pack, so use the six digit number.

• 575604 TPC 18/4 I-BASIC. TPC 18V four speed hammer drill, Basic pack, tool only but supplied in a Systainer. In the box: drill, soft grip handle, CENTROTEC BH 60 CE magnetic bit holder, CENTROTEC tool chuck, FastFix keyless chuck KC 13-1/2-MMFP, belt clip, PZ 2 bit, Systainer3 SYS 2 M 187, manual. No battery and no charger, but yes to the case.
• 577285 TPC 18/4 5,2 I-Plus. The same TPC 18V four speed hammer drill with batteries. In the box: drill, soft grip handle and belt clip, CENTROTEC BH 60 CE magnetic bit holder, CENTROTEC tool chuck with FastFix keyless chuck, PZ 2 bit, TCL 6 rapid charger, 2 x 18V 5.2Ah batteries, Systainer3 SYS 2 M 187, manual. Replaces the earlier 575012. Both this and the 575604 Basic carry the I, which is exactly why the I cannot be read as a battery marker.
• 576894 TXS 18 Basic. TXS 18V compact two speed drill driver, Basic pack, sold at Total Tools as a Skin in a Systainer. Basic means Systainer yes, battery and charger no. Note the Australian retailer calling a Basic a Skin, which is the local habit and not a Festool word.
• 575601 TDC 18/4 Basic. TDC 18V four speed drill driver, Basic pack in a Systainer. TDC rather than TPC means no hammer setting. Same Basic rule: case yes, battery and charger no.

Worx

Worx uses WX or WG plus a three digit model number, then a full stop and a digit that tells you the pack. The decimal is the whole packaging system and it is the simplest of any brand here. A .9 is tool only and any other digit means there is a battery and charger in the box. On the WG garden codes a region letter can sit between the model number and the decimal, as in WG349E.9, and the decimal rule still holds. The base WX or WG number identifies the tool regardless of pack.

In Australia: Worx Australia is au.worx.com and the Australian tell is in the battery and charger rather than the model code, because the WX and WG numbers are global. Australian kits ship Australian specification batteries and an Australian plug charger, and Worx Australia's own listings spell out that a skin needs an Australian 20V battery and an Australian charger. That matters because Worx sells the same numbers in Europe on 220 to 240V and in North America on a different charger, and the North American listings are the ones that turn up on marketplaces. In Australia Worx is sold direct and through Bunnings. The practical Australian point is that the 20V PowerShare pack also runs the 40V tools by pairing two packs, so a .9 skin plus the batteries you already own is often the sensible buy, as long as you own two of them.

• WX370.9 Worx 20V 13mm hammer drill, tool only. WX370 is the tool and .9 is the skin pack. Battery and charger sold separately, and they need to be the Australian 20V pack and Australian charger.
• WX370.1 The same 20V 13mm hammer drill as a kit. Only the decimal changes. In the box: drill, 2 x WA3551.1 POWERSHARE 20V 2.0Ah batteries, 1 x WA3760 20V charger, carry bag, double ended bit, belt clip.
• WX530.9 Worx 20V 165mm EXACTRACK circular saw, tool only. In the box: saw, blade, vacuum adapter, hex key, parallel guide. The listing states in plain words that this is a bare unit and the battery and charger are sold separately, which is exactly what the .9 promises.
• WX352.9 Worx 20V 60Nm 13mm brushless hammer drill, tool only. Different model to the WX370 and a different motor, same .9 rule.

Stihl

Stihl does not encode the pack in the model number at all. The model, for example FSA 57 R or MSA 80 C-B, names the tool and tells you which battery family it belongs to, and Stihl Australia then sells that same model as either Skin Only or Kit with those words written into the product name. Paste a Stihl model number into a decoder and you will learn what the tool is, but you will never learn what is in the box from the code. The petrol range works the same way: MS 251 names a chainsaw and says nothing about packaging.

In Australia: Stihl in Australia is sold through the Stihl dealer network and the Stihl Australia online shop rather than general hardware, so you identify Australian stock by where you bought it and not by the code. Stihl Australia writes Skin Only or Kit directly into the product name, which is unusual among these brands and makes the listings self documenting. Stihl Australia uses the word skin itself, which is worth noting because Stihl in North America and Europe says bare tool for the same thing. The genuine Australian buying trap is the battery family rather than import status: an AK-System tool will not take an AP-System battery, so a Skin Only bought without checking the system leaves you holding a tool you cannot run. The second trap is watt hours, because Stihl does not advertise amp hours the way the trade brands do and the two numbers are not comparable without converting.

• FSA 57 R Listed as "FSA 57 R AK-System Skin Only". Battery grass trimmer on the AK homeowner system, loop handle, skin only. FSA is battery grass trimmer, 57 is the model and R is the handle variant. Comes fitted with a Stihl AutoCut C 3-2 mowing head that refills without tools. No battery and no charger. The same tool is sold as FSA 57 R AK-System Kit.
• MSA 80 C-B Listed as "MSA 80 C-B AK-System Skin Only". Battery chainsaw on the AK system, skin only. MSA is battery chainsaw, 80 is the model, C is comfort features and B is quick chain tensioning. The kit version carries the identical model code and only the words change, which is the whole Stihl system in one line.
• HSA 50 Listed as "HSA 50 AK-System Skin Only". Battery hedge trimmer on the AK system, skin only. HSA is battery hedge trimmer and 50 is the model. No battery and no charger, and it takes AK packs, not AP.
• KMA 80 R Listed as "KMA 80 R AK-System Skin Only". Battery KombiSystem powerhead on the AK system, loop handle, skin only. KMA is the battery Kombi powerhead, which takes the interchangeable KombiTool attachments. Budget for the attachment as well as the battery and charger.

Husqvarna

Husqvarna uses a model name with a trailing i on the battery tools, for example 120i, 340i and 540i XP, and spells the pack out in words in the product name, either tool only or with battery and charger included. There is also a nine digit article number, written with spaces and a hyphen like 970 72 05-07, which identifies the exact pack. There is no suffix code to decode. There is a second family as well, Aspire, which uses names rather than numbers and sits on a different battery system. A bare three digit number on its own is ambiguous, so check whether it carries an i before you buy parts for it.

In Australia: Husqvarna Australia is husqvarna.com/au and it sells through its own dealer network plus selected retail, so Australian stock is identified by the seller rather than the code. The important Australian point is that the i separates battery from petrol, and people regularly order parts for the wrong machine because 120 and 120i are different saws. The second point is the battery family. Aspire runs the Power for All alliance P4A 18V pack, the same alliance battery used by Bosch green and Gardena, while the numbered saws such as 120i, 340i and 540i XP run Husqvarna's own BLi or 40-B series packs. Those two families do not cross, so an Aspire battery will not run a 540i XP and buying one for that reason is money wasted. Article numbers are global rather than Australian, so a grey import carries the same number, and the tell is the charger plug and whether the seller is an authorised Australian dealer.

• 120i Listed as "Husqvarna 120i (tool only)". Homeowner battery chainsaw. 120 is the size class and the i means battery rather than petrol. Sold tool only, so no battery and no charger. There is a separate kit listing of the same saw and the code does not change between them.
• 120i Listed as "Husqvarna 120i Kit". The same 120i chainsaw sold with a BLi200 battery and a 40-C80 charger. Brushless with a savE mode for longer runtime. The word Kit in the name is the only thing that changes.
• 135 Mark II Listed as "Husqvarna 135 Mark II". Petrol chainsaw with an X-Torq engine, for firewood and felling small trees around the garden. No i, so it is petrol and not battery, and Mark II is the generation. If you have been shopping for a 135i you are looking at a different machine.
• 540i XP Listed as "Husqvarna 540i XP (tool only)". Professional rear handle battery chainsaw. XP is professional grade and i is battery. Sold tool only. The matching batteries are the BLi series or the newer 40-B codes, not the Aspire P4A packs, so do not buy an Aspire battery for this saw.

The rules that hold across every brand

• ▸Skin is Australian retail English for a tool sold with no battery and no charger. Overseas the same thing is called bare tool, body only or tool only. In Australia the word appears in the product title at Bunnings, on the Ozito, AEG, Worx, Stihl and Sydney Tools listings, and even Stihl Australia writes Skin Only into the product name. It does not mean the box is empty: a skin normally still includes the fixed accessories such as a side handle, depth rod, belt clip, blade or guard. Two brands break the pattern in opposite directions, so learn them: a Festool Basic is a skin but still includes the Systainer case, and a Makita ZK is a skin that includes a case while still having no battery. Makita ZK is ordinary Bunnings stock here, not an import code, so do not walk away from a DBN900ZK or a DHG181ZK because of the K.
• ▸Kit or skin at a glance, one line per brand. Makita: Z means skin, ZK and ZJ mean skin in a case, and anything ending R or S plus a letter is a kit. Milwaukee: -0 or a bare 0 on the end means tool only, and a three digit block such as 502 or 202 means a kit. DeWalt: N means bare, NT means bare in a TSTAK, and a letter plus digit such as P2 or M2 means a kit. Bosch: the part number does it, 0 601 and 0 611 are the tool alone, 0 615 is a set with batteries and a charger, and green 0 603 states the pack in words in the product title. Ryobi: the newer ONE+ HP codes carry nothing at all, so the Bunnings title is the only answer. Ozito: the letter immediately before the dash is S for skin or K for kit. AEG: a trailing 0 means skin. HiKOKI: (NN) means no battery and no charger. If you remember nothing else, remember that the brands split into two groups, the ones that encode it and the ones that make you read the title.
• ▸A kit code with a digit block at the end usually reads as battery capacity first and then how many packs, and that part of the code is the reliable part. Milwaukee -502C is 5.0Ah and two packs, -202C is 2.0Ah and two packs, -302C is 3.0Ah and two packs. AEG A18PDB51 is 5.0Ah and one pack. DeWalt uses a letter for the capacity and a digit for the count, so P2 is two 5.0Ah, M2 is two 4.0Ah, T2 is two 6.0Ah FLEXVOLT and X2 is two 9.0Ah FLEXVOLT. Two brands do not fit and you should stop trying to make them. Makita encodes the charger type and the capacity as separate letters and does not encode the count at all: RTE is a 5.0Ah kit with a rapid charger and a kitbox, but DTD158RT and DHP485SF are equally normal Australian kit codes with no count in them anywhere. Ozito's digit block is not a battery field at all on most of the range, because it more often carries the tool size, so PGSK-7525 is a 7.5 litre sprayer and PCSK-1640 a 165mm saw. Read the battery off the title for those two.
• ▸The digits are usually right about the battery and almost never right about the case. This is where suffix decoders mislead people most. A Bosch 0 601 number is a single tool with no battery, yet the GWS 18V-10 PSC at 0 601 9G3 F0B ships in an L-BOXX while the GWS 18V-10 at 0 601 9J4 002 ships in a cardboard box. Milwaukee's -502C includes a carrying case on the M18FID3-502C impact driver and no case at all on the M18FPD3-502C drill, on the same site, on the same platform, with the same suffix. An AEG A18PDB51 is called a kit and has no case. If a case matters to you, the includes list is the only thing that will tell you, not the code.
• ▸Some tools take two batteries to run at all, and the code will not warn you. Makita's 18Vx2 range wears an ordinary leading D like every other 18V LXT tool, so DLM382Z, DUC353Z, DSP600ZJ, DRS780Z, DLS714Z, DLW140Z, DJR360Z and DCE090Z all look like single battery skins and none of them will start on one pack. Ozito does the same thing on its 36V (2x18V) garden range, where PCSK-3540 and PHTK-6540 are kits containing two 18V packs and a skin such as PXCCSS-0182 needs two of yours. DeWalt does it on the 36V mowers. Before you buy a skin for a mower, chainsaw, plunge saw, mitre saw or cut off saw, look for 18V x 2, 2x18V or 36V in the retailer title and count how many packs you actually own. Buying one 5.0Ah battery for a twin battery mower leaves you with a mower that will not start.
• ▸The same tool has a different number in different markets because the pack differs, not the tool. The drill is identical, but the charger plug, the case, the battery capacity and the language of the manual change by region, and each of those combinations gets its own part number. Makita signals it with the last letter, E for the Australian plastic kitbox against J for the European MakPac, although both are now sold here. Milwaukee signals it with C for the Australian kit against X for the European HD Box. DeWalt signals it with a region code after a dash, XE for Australia and New Zealand against XJ for Europe, although again both are now sold here. Bosch, Festool, Metabo and Husqvarna do not signal it at all, because their numbers are global and a grey import carries the identical number.
• ▸The strongest grey import tell is a suffix that returns nothing on the Australian brand site. Milwaukee Australia's own catalogue search for 502X returns no power tools, so an M18 kit advertised here as -502X is European stock. The same test works in reverse: Milwaukee Australia lists M18FPD3-0 and M18FPD3-502C, and Makita Australia lists RTE endings rather than RTJ. Before you trust a suffix rule, run the code through the brand's Australian site search. If it does not resolve there, it is not Australian channel stock, whatever the seller says. The one thing that test cannot do is prove a code is foreign just because it looks European, which is the mistake in the next item.
• ▸The DeWalt XE versus XJ rule that circulates on Australian forums is out of date, and the Makita J versus E rule has gone the same way. DEWALT Australia lists DCF850N-XJ on its own Australian website as a current product, Bunnings sells DCS496N-XJ and DWV9210-XJ, and Australian trade retailers sell DCD805N-XJ on the same shelf as DCF887N-XE. On the Makita side, Bunnings sells MakPac J codes and X indexed kit codes as ordinary local stock, including DLX3206TJ, DSP600PT2J and DLX1514TX1. Neither suffix proves a parallel import any more. What still decides the warranty is the manufacturer's Australian warranty document, and for DeWalt that document excludes products purchased outside of, or parallel imported into, Australia, New Zealand or the South Pacific Islands, and excludes products from unauthorised resellers including online trading companies. Buy from an authorised Australian retailer and the suffix does not matter.
• ▸Warranty exclusions are the reason any of this matters, and two brands state it in writing. Milwaukee Australia's warranty says it does not apply to any parallel imported product, is not valid for products purchased on Amazon, eBay and other non authorised websites, and is only applicable to products purchased from authorised Milwaukee retailers in Australia or New Zealand. DEWALT Australia excludes parallel imports into Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands, and excludes unauthorised resellers by name. So a code that decodes to a foreign pack is not just a packaging difference, it is usually an uncovered tool.
• ▸Where a brand sells in Australia used to tell you which numbering to expect, and it tells you less than it used to. Ryobi and Ozito are Bunnings lines, so the Bunnings title and I/N number are the source of truth. But Bunnings is now also a major Makita, DeWalt and Bosch Professional stockist, sitting alongside Total Tools, Sydney Tools, Tool Kit Depot, Toolmart and Blackwoods, and it prints the full manufacturer code in the product title, including blue Bosch numbers such as 06019K4000 and 0615990M1Z. AEG is a Bunnings line despite sharing a numbering heritage with Milwaukee, because both sit under TTI, which is why legacy AEG kit codes such as BSB18B2MK-502C decode exactly like a Milwaukee code. Stihl and Husqvarna are dealer network brands where the pack is written in words rather than coded. The shop is no longer a reliable guide to the code family, but it is still the only reliable guide to the warranty.
• ▸Three brands deliberately give you no suffix to decode, and a decoder should say so rather than guess. Bosch uses a ten character part number that is a lookup key, where 0 601 and 0 611 are Professional single tools, 0 615 is a Professional set with batteries and a charger, and 0 603 is the green Home and Garden range. It is not all digits either, so letters inside the middle groups, as in 0 601 2A6 500 or 0 615 A50 08V, are normal. Metabo names the tool in words and identifies the pack with a nine digit order number, stating cardboard box or metaBOX in the delivery scope. Festool names the pack Basic, Plus or Set and pins it with a six digit order number. In all three cases the number is the answer and there is no letter to parse.
• ▸My code has no suffix, so what now. That is a real answer, not a dead end. On Ryobi's newer Australian ONE+ HP codes such as RPD18C1, on every Bosch tool, and on a lot of Makita two letter kit endings, the packaging is simply not in the code, and the product title carries it instead. Bosch writes it out in words at the end of the name, either Without battery | Without charger or 1 x 2.5 Ah battery | charger. Bunnings puts Skin Only or a stated Ah Kit in the title. Milwaukee Australia puts a full includes list on the product page. So the instruction is go and read the title and the includes list, and that beats a confident guess every time. Whatever the code says, the retailer's includes list wins.
• ▸When the code will not decode, that is the decoder being honest. A meaningful share of live Australian codes resolve to nothing under any published rule, including Makita DUR193F001, DUR192LST and DRT50ZJX2, Ozito PX2PAK-500 and PXBC-25B, and Ryobi R18XSV914BLK. Manufacturers change their own grammar, keep old series running beside new ones, and make Australian only packs that never get documented. A no match here does not mean the tool is fake, an import or discontinued. It means the code alone is not authoritative, which is true of every code on this page. Check the tool type and the includes list on the retailer listing before you spend money.
• ▸Buying secondhand with no box. Find the code on the tool itself before you decode anything. Makita stamps it on the foot of the handle or on the motor housing label, Milwaukee prints it on the label under the battery, and Bosch puts it on the motor housing sticker along with the ten character number. One trap on Makita: the six digit numbers with a dash that you see everywhere, such as 197280-8, 1915J2-8 and 127701-6, are part numbers for batteries, cases and accessories, not tool codes, and Bunnings lists a lot of Makita batteries that way. B- numbers such as B-90928 are the same thing, a battery multipack. If the number you are holding has a dash after six digits, you are reading a spare part, not the tool.
• ▸Will my old battery fit, which is what half of these questions really are. Within a brand, mostly yes and sometimes no. Makita LXT 18V has held its footprint for years, so an old skin and a new pack work together, but LXT and 40V max XGT do not interchange in either direction, and 18Vx2 tools need two LXT packs rather than one bigger one. Milwaukee M18 has held its footprint across every generation, so an M18BPD from 2016 runs a current 5.0Ah pack. Ryobi ONE+ has held its footprint since 1996, which is the longest run of any of them. Across brands, no. Green Bosch PBA on POWER FOR ALL and blue Bosch GBA or ProCORE on the Bosch Professional 18V System are two separate systems with different interfaces and will not run each other's tools. AEG and Ryobi are both TTI and still do not interchange. Ozito PXC and Einhell Power X-Change physically fit because they are the same platform, but mixing them is not warranted. Stihl AK and AP are different families within the one brand. Check the family, not just the voltage.
• ▸Watch the words that mean different things on different brands. Impact on a Bosch green tool, as in UniversalImpact, means a masonry hammer drill, while AdvancedImpactDrive means a hex impact driver. Makita HP and Milwaukee PD both mean hammer drill driver, but DeWalt DCD covers both plain drills and hammer drills so the prefix tells you nothing about the hammer. Ryobi RCS means circular saw at 18V and corded but chainsaw on the 36V garden range. Metabo BS is a drill driver and SB is a combi drill, a one letter difference for a materially different tool. HiKOKI DV is a hammer drill driver and DS is a plain drill driver. A decoder that maps prefixes to tool types has to be brand specific, because there is no shared grammar.
• ▸The same letter means different things on different brands, so do not carry a rule across. A trailing X on a Makita combo kit is a packaging index carrying no capacity at all, while on DeWalt X is a 9.0Ah FLEXVOLT battery and X2 means two of them. A T at the end of a DeWalt pack code is a TSTAK case when nothing follows it and a 6.0Ah FLEXVOLT battery when a digit does, which is the difference between DCZ207M2T-XE and DCZ507T2-XE. A trailing C is the Australian kit letter on Milwaukee and a connectivity marker on Bosch blue. Makita's E is an Australian kitbox ending and DeWalt's E appears to be a POWERSTACK pack. Decode one brand at a time.
• ▸When a suffix cannot be decoded with confidence, say so rather than guessing, because a confident wrong answer costs someone a battery they did not buy. HiKOKI is the clearest case: the bracketed codes such as (H4Z), (W4Z), (NN) and (HMZ) are not documented publicly, the same letters appear across different tool families, and (H4Z) tools are sold in Australia as skins with no battery despite the 4 in the code. Reading the 4 as 4.0Ah is the single most common HiKOKI error. Makita is the same story in a quieter way: its two letter kit endings such as RT, SF, RM and SM are everywhere at Bunnings and none of them say how many batteries are in the box, and Makita Australia does not publish the grammar anywhere.
• ▸Hyphens, spaces and full stops are cosmetic and should never change the decode. Milwaukee Australia prints M18FPD30 for M18FPD3-0 and M18FPD3502C for M18FPD3-502C. Bosch prints 0 601 9J4 002 or 0.601.9J4.002 while retailers write 06019J4002. Husqvarna prints 970 72 05-07. Festool writes battery capacities with a European comma, so 5,2 Ah is 5.2Ah. A decoder should strip spaces, hyphens and full stops before matching, with the single exception of Worx, where the full stop before the last digit is the entire packaging system and .9 means tool only.
• ▸Garden brands rate batteries differently from trade tool brands and the comparison catches Australian buyers out. Stihl rates AK packs in watt hours, so the AK 10 is 72 Wh, the AK 20 is 144 Wh and the AK 30 S is 180 Wh. Husqvarna's Aspire P4A 18-B72 pack is listed as 18V, 4Ah and 72 Wh, which shows the conversion. A typical 18V 5.0Ah trade pack is around 90 Wh. Battery family also does not cross within a brand: a Stihl AK tool will not take an AP pack, and a Husqvarna Aspire P4A pack will not run a 540i XP. Buying a skin without checking the family leaves you with a tool you cannot power.
• ▸Two brands make the skin versus kit question trivially easy and are worth holding up as the benchmark. On Ozito the letter immediately before the dash is S for skin or K for kit, and it is provable because the PXCLMK-1418 kit listing states that it contains the PXCLMS-018 skin. One caveat: letters also appear after the digit block and they mean something else entirely, so PXBWK-2330S is a kit despite ending in S and PXBMK-4047SP is self propelled. Only the letter immediately before the dash answers the question, so ignore anything after the digits. On Worx the digit after the full stop does the same job, where .9 is tool only and any other digit is a kit. Every other brand in this list requires either a multi letter lookup or reading the retailer title.

Codes change, and the same tool can carry a different number depending on which market it was built for. Before you buy on a code alone, check the photo and the listed contents: the box is the final word on whether a battery is included.