Synthetic,
I have the 14 volt makita blower. I also brought my blower on ebay and it was 62.00 shipped to me and then I brought my battery/charger on ebay as well for 35.00. I have the black 2.2 amp Nimh battery on mine which last quite along time. These blowers are great to have as they have the juice to blow out a hot start, boost the spool up, and do the cool down with. As far as the thermal shock goes on the motor, I don't think it is a major concern. I have been using mine on my RAM500 and 1000 since the day I bought them and have had no problems. I use it for cool down after all my runs except for the last flight of the day. Using the blower to cool down the motor reduced my ECU charge times greatly when using nicads and it allows me to get 2 additional flights in a day off of my duralites now. I also fly with a guy who uses his makita to start and cool down the AMT Mercury he has on his hotspot. I have just purchased a manual start JG100 that I will be putting on my hotspot and will be using my blower to start it and cool it down.

If you can get one and like to fly alot, get 2 batteries...I can get through about 6 cool downs before I see the performance start to drop but since my trailer is wired for 110AC I can charge it at the field and usually do after about 3 flights.

Patrick.