Six 14500 LiIon (3P2S) would be double the mAh of the 1500 standard NiMH pack. ?1250mAh 3A cells are available ~$3ea in low qty.
Charging could be faster below like 70%. ?No heating up when topping off to 100% before going out the door.
Easier to tell what % charge the pack is, though without a % meter you'd need a table of voltage to SoC. ?Possibly lighter: lighter than ~2500mAh NiMH, only 10% less than 1500mAh.
The feature I'd really want is to have a USB jack ON THE PACK for charging, but the easiest hobby way to do that (4x14500) would be 2/3 the NiMH capacity. ?Commercial LiPo could be better.
I hate cradles, and, like has been said, even if the radio would charge the pack, you'd be stuck with a C/10 type charge. ?Doesn't HAVE to be the case, but they didn't put a dV or dT charger in this radio.
Lotta reasons to go Li. ?More reasons to go LSD like Eneloops. ?But I think we got stuck with 1500 NiMH so they wouldn't die a quick death charged C/10 with no termination.
Sadly, the commercial or even OEM pack is a tight squeeze to fit on the thing, so modifying the pack isn't something I'm personally going to try. ?I don't hate 1500 or the cradle _that_ much.
radellaf