It looks like Dewalt has pulled Atomic branding from their value line of hand tools at Home Depot, or at least all of their tape measures.
Goodbye Dewalt Atomic, hello… no special name or branding?
A few weeks ago we spotted upgraded Atomic series tools at online tool retailers, and they lacked Atomic branding. See: Dewalt Atomic Tape Measures Received a Quiet Upgrade.
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But now, Home Depot has rebranded, or rather unbranded their Atomic series tape measures.
According to Amazon’s product listings, the online retailer has been selling thousands of Dewalt Atomic tape measures, and at the time of this posting they’ve also been beating Home Depot on price.
When double checking Home Depot’s current prices, I saw that all mention of Atomic was removed from the Dewalt tape measure listings.
Dewalt and Home Depot seem to have had a long-time special arrangement where the retailer had exclusive or at least early access to Atomic tool sales.
Name and product family branding changes aren’t a big deal, at least not until we understand the implications, if any. Maybe Dewalt simply decided that “Atomic” should only refer to cordless power tools, similar to XR, or similar to how ToughSeries is only for hand tools.
Maybe we’re going to see new Atomic series hand tools?
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It’s not clear what’s going on here, or what prompted the major change. I have not yet seen any changes to Dewalt’s Atomic line of 20V Max cordless power tools.
MKY
Stuart –
“ …and at the time of this posting ***they’re also been beating ***Home Depot on price.””
Stuart
Thanks! *fixed*
DG
On 6/22 the 25 foot Atomic shows a delivery time of 1 to 2 months from a marketplace seller. Appears to be out of stock from Amazon. The 30 foot is still available.
Stuart
At that price, and the thousands Amazon said they sold, it seems they’re just waiting for a restock.
S
Could be. Or someone is waiting on a sale elsewhere to fulfill their orders. A lot of my wish lists lately have had 2-3 products on perpetual backorder for 3-6 months
Stuart
Ships from and sold by Amazon. “4K+ bought last month.”
This isn’t someone shopping Home Depot sales (which there never are on these individual tapes) and flipping them on Amazon.
Nick Mango
This is why they’re selling them 2 for $22 on Amazon right now. I bought 4 back in April and thought this looked like they were dumping them.
Stuart
Those listings are from resellers. Home Depot had 2-packs for $20 last holiday season, which is typical.
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/dewalt-atomic-tape-measure-holiday-2024-promo/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
eddiesky
Ever since I got a Fastcap, even though I have much black-yellow tools, I’m not loyal to DeWalt for tape measure (really just re-badged Stanley).
I did give away my nice chrome Luftkin to a friend (meaning he borrowed it and I’ll never see it again).
I think next one will be a Tajima…
Rx9
I suspect they might be pulling the name from the power tools as well in light of recent geopolitical events. It seems a bit silly, but keep in mind that corporations are highly allergic to controversy.
Jared
That never even occurred to me. Seems remote, but not impossible.
Stuart
If that was the reason, I assume changes would have been made to the cordless line as well.
Steven Phillips
Also, too soon. This decision was probably made last year before anything “atomic” was in the news and is just reaching shelves now.
ElectroAtletico
Stanley FATMAX still available on the HD shelves and still a vastly superior product to everything else.
Andrew Buresh
My cynical take is that this creates a different model or SKU to avoid price-matching. Happens with OPE fairly often so it isn’t unthinkable in my book; although a tape measure seems like a weird choice to make that distinction.
Stuart
Model number is the same.
Rog
Maybe they’re reserving the name strictly for the power tools? I always thought that made sense but silly on other products like hand tools.
Katie
Ha, ha, yes. Especially for a tape measure. Many tape measures are dangerous in how quickly they retract, Or maybe they are radioactive. I recently read that some popular dishware that became a collectors item, Fiesta, orange color, was made using actual uranium. They were widely sold back then. The company still stands behind them being safe!?
Now when will Stuart write something about cheap but reliable geiger counters.
Good in both the kitchen and the shop.”
Vards Uzvards
Just came back from the local HD store (Rio Rancho, NM). There were three kinds of DeWALT Atomic tape measures on the shelf – 16′, 25′ and 30′.
Stuart
I assume that the changes we’ve seen online will be reflected in new inventory moving forward. Products already on store shelves are unlikely to be updated.