Over at Amazon, today’s deal of the day features 2 Dewalt 20V Max cordless saw kits.
The combos are similar – buy a 20V Max 5.0Ah starter kit, which comes with 2 batteries, a charger, and a carrying case, and either a Dewalt cordless circular saw or compact reciprocating saw, and get a hefty discount off the price.
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One option is the DCS391 circular saw, a very decent model, and the other is the DCS387 compact reciprocating saw. Both have brushed motors.
Price: $260 (each)
Buy Now(Circular Saw Bundle)
Buy Now(Reciprocating Saw Bundle)
The deal ends at 3am ET 2/14/17, unless supplies run out sooner.
Price Analysis/Thoughts
These bundles come with the DCB205-CK starter pack, which I maintain is grossly overpriced at $299.
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You could buy a 2-pack of batteries right now for $140 on Amazon. Add on a charger at its full retail price of $69, and you get $209. Or a 2-bay charger at $97, and you come to $237.
Even if you consider buying the charger at $69, which I would never recommend, that means you’re spending $81 for a carrying bag. Or if you upgrade to the 2-bay charger, a better option if you have to buy a charger outside of a tool kit or combo, then there’s still a $62 gap between the bundle price and the starter pack price.
The circular saw bare tool price is $119. It almost never fluctuates from there, from what I’ve seen. It’s a core tool, and one that’s always going to be in strong demand. The compact reciprocating saw is around $104 on Amazon.
Only looking at the lowest price for a 2-pack of batteries, $140, and the price of the bare tools, $119 and $104 for the circular saw and recip saw respectively, that comes to $259 and $244.
So in the case of the circular saw, you spend $1 more to get a charger and tool bag. In the case of them reciprocating saw, you spend $16 more.
The bundle price of $260 is quite a bit less than the $328 it would take to buy the components of the circular saw kit separately (minus a kit bag), and $313 it would take to create your own 2-battery recip saw kit (again, excluding any kit bag).
Let’s look at the 1-battery kit options:
The 1x 5.0Ah battery circular saw kit is ~$204 via Amazon. The 1x 5.0Ah battery reciprocating saw kit is $199. The Deal of the Day pricing gives you a second 5.0Ah battery pack for $56 to $61 more money. If you were to split a 2-pack with a buddy, the extra battery would cost you $70.
There are the facts, here’s what I think:
This is a good deal that saves you some money. Not a lot of money, but some is better than nothing. If you want to jump into Dewalt’s 20V Max lineup with a circular saw or reciprocating saw, both brushed motor versions, and you want 2 battery packs, this is the least expensive way to do it.
If you don’t need a charger, this is not a very good deal. Well, it depends. The circular saw bundle gives you a charger and kit bag for $1 more. The reciprocating saw bundle, for $16 more. And that assumes you’ve been meaning to buy either of the saw and could use some more 5.0Ah batteries at their semi-usual price.
This isn’t a HOT deal, it’s more of a “walk don’t run” type of deal.
Buy Now(Circular Saw Bundle)
Buy Now(Reciprocating Saw Bundle)
AJ
When does amazon/HD usually roll out the next set of great deals like they did for xmas?
James R.
Father’s Day.
Stuart
Yep, a few weeks before Father’s Day. But there are deals like this sprinkled in between.
They don’t have anywhere near the same level of deals as the winter holiday shopping season though.
Jonathan
Yesterday’s Deal of the Day 2 of 3 DeWalt deals was a far better deal, The new 152 ft/# 3 Speed Impact Driver DCSF(?)887 and the same Recip DCS387 but alas on 4ah batteries (2) but with with a hard case. For $199 (it might have been $249 I cant remember.
But I have to agree with your analysis of the inflated MSRP.
I have noticed that some DeWalt bare tools are $50+ more than others on a consistent basis, not sure if it is fewer sell/less demand or higher manufacturing cost, but it does seem more complex tools bare this cost.
Jonathan
The only reason, that I passed, despite being an excellent deal, was my Milwaukee M12 Fuel SAWZALL Promo from Dec 2016 should be delivered later this week. I’m set on the the impact driver front and Sawzall. As well as I’ve got four 5ah DeWalt batteries from the Amzn bare tool promo Nov/Dec 2016 thanks again TG, so I have ample battery runtime for most of my task on my jobsites.
Cr8ondt
I jumped on the Lowes deal last summer, 1) 4ah, charger, flashlight, DCS391 for $199. Quick price break down: 120+60+50+70=300, I call that a darn good deal.
This is still a good deal for sure.
Troy
FYI – I’ve had good luck lately buying batteries at pawn shops. They are brand new and broken out of kits. I just bought two 20v 4.0 Dewalts for $85 this week.
Obviously, there are issues dealing with a pawn shop and I lose some of my consumer protections, but I’m ok with that for 40%-50% savings off retail for a brand new item.
Jay
Tried that Dewalt circ saw. It was ok but I like my Makita XSS03Z better. The XSS03Z has the blade on the right, motor on the left which is what I’m used to. It’s a little pricy though. Bare tool currently going for around $155.