Last November I noticed something unusual – every single major power tool manufacturer put together a $99 18V cordless drill/driver kit. In order to arrive at such low pricing, the kits were offered with a single compact Li-ion battery. Most pro-grade kits are bundled with 2 batteries.
A lot of those 1-battery kits became unavailable quickly after the 2012 holiday season was over.
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To my surprise, a new Makita 18V compact cordless Li-ion 1/2″ drill/driver kit recently popped up at Amazon, with a $140 $99 pricetag. If you want a professional-grade compact drill and only need a single battery pack, this seems to be a pretty good deal.
The new kit, LXFD01WSP1, is not exactly the same as the now-discontinued $99 special Home Depot carried last winter. The charger included in this kit is a 15-minute charger, whereas the holiday-special kit had a 30-minute charger.
Update: The new single battery kit is also available at Home Depot for $99 with free shipping and free in-store pickup where available.
Update 2: Amazon is currently matching Home Depot’s $99.00 price.
Update 3: Right now the drill kit is still $99 at Home Depot, but $119 and up at Amazon. (As of Oct 24th, 2013)
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Buy Now(via Home Depot)
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If you need a single-battery cordless drill kit now, this Makita kit is a great buy. If you can wait 3-1/2 months, Black Friday will surely bring plenty of deals. Here’s a list of all the $99 kits that were available last year.
This same drill is available in a 2-battery kit for about $175-180. Personally, I would go for the 2-battery kit, but in some cases it’s not worth the extra expense for a battery pack that might not be needed.
Brandon
Any idea when Makita might offer another free tool promo?
Stuart
I have no idea. Companies tend to hold this type of information close to their chests to avoid losing sales before a promo is ready to go live.
Jason
Tool promotions tend to straddle major tool buying holidays, but they can also just have them any random time also. I wish Milwaukee did more free tool promotions they just seem to offer a free battery which isn’t bad either just but a free tool wouldn’t be bad either sometimes.
matt
Milwaukee has a free tool promo right now. I think it was buy a kit get a free tool.. I dont know if it was 12v or 18v line. But I saw the flier this weekend.
Jason
Thanks for the heads up on the deal. The only bummer about this one is I already have most of the tools they are offering in the kit or as the free tool the one thing I don’t have is the right angle drill. I wish they had more kits and free tools to chose from, but you can’t win at everything.
mnoswad1
I don’t understand the “white” versions of makita tools. Looks like a “tools for women” marketing idea or something. Do these have less pawer, smaller batteries or just a different color? Is this just the influence of the ipod on product design?
Either way, i’m looking forward to to getting into the makita 18 volt system sometime, but i’ll be sticking to the makita blue tools. These just dont look “professional”. i know the concern seems silly, but still.
Stuart
Makita white = compact tools, mainly drills and drivers that can fit compact or high capacity battery packs.
Makita teal = heavier duty tools that only fit high capacity battery packs.
Some consider the teal tools to be Makita’s professional line, but in my experience the white tools are just as good. The battery compatibility limitation of the teal tools is seemingly to ensure that they perform at their best and as designed.
Aellynh
I’m not entirely sure that is true, Stuart. I’ve owned a Makita BTD141 and an LXDT08 impact drivers, they were both green and they accepted either the 1.5 or 3.0 batteries. Not sure if color is %100 indicative of battery compatibility for Makita.
Stuart
I am fairly certain about this – the heavier duty (teal) tools can only accept high capacity battery packs.
Maybe this will change if Makita comes out with 2.0Ah battery packs, but I doubt it.
Javier
$140 is a very good deal for this set. One of my buddies swears by the makita brand. This reminds me last week I seen a milwaukee m18 drill 1 battery kit for $99 at home depot. I almost bought it but I have other plans. I did like that it came with a case as part of the kit. For that price I would’ve imagined just a tool bag. Not sure if it’s still available in store but the deal is still good online. Also the 2 battery kit is only $169.
Stuart
Yep, still available. That kit was also part of the $99 drill kit roundup.
justin
The home depot $99 discontinued shows 7 in stock at my local store.
Rick
Pretty sure I saw one at my local home depot for 99 as well. The battery power on them is quite extraordinary.