i much prefer 8 volt over 12 volt but we all have our opinions.............this all depends on how you use it ........you,ll get more run time out of the 8 volts but as far as hills go i,m not sure what difference you,ll see..............and lastly at least from my eperience i have seen more than 1 set of 8 volt well maintained batteries go for over 10 years with one set making 14 years and one set 13 years................i don,t know that you could ever exspect to get anywhere near 10 years out of 12 volts.................but you have to do whats best for you and what you can afford but if its just a matter of trying to save a few bucks the batteries are the very last place for that...........................
