My local Home Depot stores gave plenty of floor real estate to cordless outdoor power tools recently, and I was surprised to see that there was no Makita presence.
Makita USA usually focuses heavily on their cordless outdoor power tool products, with in-store and online promotions.
It’s impossible to know the context of their absence from Home Depot’s Spring Black Friday and outdoor power tool promos, but the effect was apparent.
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Home Depot had a very brand-diverse display last year, with Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, and Ryobi cordless outdoor power tools.
2023 was the first season where I saw Makita XGT cordless tools of any kind at Home Depot stores.
I didn’t take a good image of 2022’s display, but there was a varied mix of brands in 2021.
As shown in the first image, this year’s display is dominated by Ryobi and Milwaukee.
I didn’t spot Dewalt outdoor tools at my Home Depot store, but they had plenty of other cordless promos.
There was no Makita presence in the center walkway either, which was mainly occupied by Dewalt.
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Ridgid launched another line of cordless outdoor power tools that’s exclusive to Home Depot, and none of those tools were in-store either.
According to a local sales rep that showed me a pie chart on their tablet last fall, Ryobi dominates Home Depot’s cordless outdoor power tool sales, potentially explaining why 2/3 of their seasonal promotional section is occupied by the brand.
Milwaukee was given about the same space as in prior years.
Dewalt didn’t have a cordless OPE presence, and judging from Home Depot’s online inventory numbers, this seems to extend beyond my local stores.
Makita is prideful of their cordless OPE tech, and this is – or was – a market segment in which Makita USA has aggressively competed in the past.
A year ago, Home Depot made a major announcement, that they were setting a “goal for battery powered products to drive over 85% of outdoor lawn equipment sales by 2028.”
Home Depot said:
To reach this goal, The Home Depot will work to extend its leadership position in battery technology and offer cordless outdoor power tools from market leading brands such as Ryobi, Milwaukee, Makita, DeWalt and more.
So where are the Makita tools?
Did Home Depot choose to focus heavily on Ryobi, or was Makita uninterested or unwilling to fill seasonal promotional space they occupied in earlier years? Is there a different explanation?
Milwaukee M18 cordless outdoor tools are really good, and I also really like some of Dewalt’s options. Makita’s are good, too, and this is a specialty for the brand.
Makita’s North American segment has had a rough couple of years, which is why I am thinking maybe they declined to participate rather than being squeezed out by Ryobi. Sales and promotions can cost money, and maybe Makita really needs more profit right now, even at the expense of sales volume and visibility.
No matter the reason, this is bad for end users. Customers want OPTIONS.
Most Home Depot shoppers’ needs are going to be well-met between Ryobi and Milwaukee options, but we need to see Makita included there.
The same could be said about Dewalt, but they’re currently enjoying plenty of in-store visibility with cordless power tool-related promotional space.
Michael F
I believe the relationship between Home Depot and Makita is souring. I have absolutely no proof of this whatsoever but that’s how it feels to me. It’s difficult to imagine Makita refused to participate in the promotion because I recently got the XGT 21″ commercial mower on sale with the free blower e-rebate deal for $699. It was a great deal.
eddiesky
Home depot, like other big boxes, likely wants the “profitable” brand and space is at a premium, especially floor space and traffic.
Which is a shame. Also, I have FIVE home depots within 10 miles. And each one is setup different. Some have an aisle two deep, where another is three deep. Some have rental section, another does not. One the pro checkout has two staff, the others have one. On a given Saturday, the staff checkout has only two registers open and 8 self checkouts with one or two out of order (no cash, or cash only). You can never find carts (flatbeds) in store and have to haul from parking lot, say if you want bags of stone or soil, or blocks. Or if you need lumber and those awkward lumber cart-dollies…than really need brakes because you know you are moving a heavy load to garden checkout or to Pro checkout and some idiot walks right in front and you swear and panic stop all you can.
Honestly, I wish HD and LOWES take a financial hit in the next year, to close some stores because their layouts don’t make any sense.
I’m not a big fan of Lowes (horrible Pella installer experience, and 31.99% card) but lately, I prefer them over Home Depot. (I got some weed killer that was $4 cheaper than same item at HD… never seen that before).
Oh, I found Pink Kobalt mini toolboxes in stock. Remember when they were scarce! Now my lil girl will be happy!
Stuart
My Lowe’s store had 4 colors of mini tool boxes and additional pink tool boxes in the upper stacks.
Big box retail stores can be very different sizes and have different layouts. The same is true for supermarkets.
While I understand where you’re coming from, Home Depot and Lowe’s taking a “a financial hit,” where they have to “close some stores” would mean layoffs and hardships for customers in their markets who will have to spend more or drive further distances.
Figure out which Home Depot store you like best, and stick with it. That’s what I do. There are 3 HD stores within 10-15 minutes of me, and I strongly prefer one of them. There are another 2-3 stores within a 25 minute drive. I’m most familiar with my “home” store, and sometimes get a little lost at the others.
Lowe’s is the same – all of the locations near me have different layouts. I travel a longer distance to a larger and better-laid-out one for holiday season deal scouting.
Mike
That’s interesting and surprising, but not shocking, to hear about Ryobi’s sales share at HD. I know several people who have liked the low price of one initial tool, only to spend big bucks rounding out a collection.
Top brands like Milwaukee or Makita add up very quickly, especially for a homeowner on a budget.
Makita is obviously losing market share at HD and every other channel in the US, and I would guess it relates to a new battery system with slow rollout, second rate performance from the legacy LXT system and successive price increases which make many of their high end tools (especially carpentry) non competitive in a crowded marketplace.
I think their pro level OPE is competitive with the likes of Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, etc.
I would like to hear from users about Milwaukee pro level OPE.
I recently saw a landscape trailer with a typical Scag ZTR behind a Greenworks ZTR. I’d like to hear the rationale and experiences on battery at this scale. Obviously as cars, and even heavy equipment and big rigs go battery powered, this will become common or eventually the norm.
I enjoy hearing from Stuart and others about the behind the scenes business side of big box – manufacturer relationships. I wonder as OPE seemingly becomes simpler with batteries, will independent pro OPE dealers become obsolete? After eliminating ICE and hydraulics, is there enough left?
As people get everything delivered to their door, what is the future for big box brick and mortar OPE sales? As beds and increasingly cars are bought and delivered directly from manufacturer to consumer, why not OPE up to ride on mowers?
JJ
I get that feeling too, but where would Makita land if they left Home Depot? Over to Lowe’s with Klein? Restoration Hardware? (jk)
On the other hand if HD wanted to drop Makita they could easily fill that space with more DeWalt, Bosch (who is happy to do sales), or possibly even CAT power tools.
Jason
Biggest issue for Makita OPE is battery size IMO. This mower is a pretty good deal with (4) 4ah and a dual bay charger for $399. Way better price than the Milwaukee or Dewalt but the Milwaukee comes with (2) 12ah and the Dewalt comes with (2) 10ah I think. When I had the M18 blower the runtime was only 20 minutes maybe with a 12 ah, the 4ah Makita would be pretty pitiful
There’s a reason they had to move to 40v but unlike Ryobi who had a big head start most of their users were on the 18v platform.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Makita-18V-X2-36V-LXT-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-21-in-Walk-Behind-Lawn-Mower-Kit-w-4-batteries-4-0Ah-XML10CM1/321778072
TomD
A quick check shows my local store has decent amounts of Makita in stock, and not at outrageous prices, either. $399 for a LXT with four 4.0ah batteries doesn’t seem horribly bad – 5 in stock.
The XGT mower is $1k and 14 in stock – similar enough to the $1.1k Milwaukee that I don’t think it’s a “hide them out of price shame”.
I suspect Makita isn’t paying co-marketing dollars right now for whatever reason.
Michael F
It seems Makita is fine being a low volume tool brand in North America. It’s odd to me they’d accept that position but everything seems to point to a strategic acceptance of this fact.
Stuart
There are more players entering the cordless OPE market. Now’s not the time to penny-pinch on growth or visibility. Nor is it the time for Home Depot to reduce their brand selection.
Mike
It is interesting how the marketing atmosphere industry wide and Makita specific has changed. No more Makita bikini calandars. Very little teal swag. This is fine by me, I want to believe I only care about the tools, but marketing probably works at some level on most people. People at least have to be able to see and then buy things for sales to happen.
If we accept that HD’s promotional arrangements with Makita and TTI, etc. are opaque, can you comment more on what else TTI does so well in the US vs Makita and others?
What are the most important aspects of marketing to the overall sales in US? Advertising, in store displays, perceived value? How about sales and profit during major vs minor promotions vs rest of year? Social media, in person industry demos, etc?
Obviously Ryobi and Milwaukee have some overlap but are largely at either end of a spectrum. Are there similarities in their marketing approach or do they both market differently but effectively?
How about sales of brick and mortar big box vs other retailers vs online?
Lots of questions , hoping you wouldn’t mind giving any opinions or data here or in future posts.
Stuart
Those are very complex questions that I can’t address here, but I’ll try to answer at least some of them in the future.
Michael F
While I’m pretty sure bikini calendars would come across as pretty darn cringe in 2024, the trades drive adoption. When’s the last time you saw a plumber or electrician using Makita tools? Granted, they might have always had larger representation amongst carpenters but even then, they just don’t drive the mindshare that Milwaukee does at this point. All over social media you can find bros calling Makita “Miss Kita” jokingly. Somewhere along the line they lost a marketing and public relations battle and I’m not exactly sure when or how that happened.
Rog
How long until HD becomes exclusively a TTI reseller? That feels inevitable (to me).
Stuart
If HD is making decisions based on consumer interest and sales volume…
Rog
Is it a little bit of the chicken or the egg? Does TTI rise to the top because they play along w HD better therefore having more eyes and better sales?
Stuart
Not at all. It’s more a case of “cause and effect.”
In my opinion, Milwaukee continued to invest heavily in the US market over the years, while Makita did not.
Makita Annual Report 2010 https://www.makita.biz/ir/documents/annual/ar2010e.pdf : $2.64 Billion in net sales, 14% from North America (down from 2008)
TTI Annual Report 2010 https://www.ttigroup.com/sites/default/files/2022-09/10ar_Announcement.pdf : $3.38 Billion in sales, 72.8% from North America.
TTI’s revenue stemmed from many different brands, and although the available data is limited, it’s reasonable to conclude that Makita was a larger tool company at that time.
In my opinion, just as Milwaukee can be credited for their popularity, and Home Depot and TTI North America can be jointly credited for Ryobi’s popularity, Makita USA can be credited for the brand’s popularity in the US.
TTI had majority of sales (across all brands) in the US, and Milwaukee Tool is based here. Makita had a small share of sales in the US, and the company is based in Japan.
From a media standpoint, Milwaukee and Makita USA have always been polar opposites. I believe they are both responsible for their own modern circumstances.
A few years ago, in response to a specialty tool Milwaukee launched, their President remarked – and I recall correctly it was while he was waiting in front of me in the dinner line – that they didn’t expect it to sell many units.
Makita USA had to layoff a lot of people last year, despite the company earning “new record high” revenue and a net profit for the year ending March 31, 2023.
Milwaukee seems willing to take some hits to the purse for the sake of strategic growth. Makita doesn’t seem to be okay in taking some hits to the purse for the sake of strategic growth in the USA.
Maybe the past few years showed Makita USA that they needed a new strategy, but what? E-Rebates? That’s a good way to reduce standing inventory of promotional freebies, but will it work better than in-store visibility and aggressive promotions? I doubt it.
The only way missing out on Spring cordless OPE sales makes sense is if they’re going all-in with Father’s day and holiday sales.
Home Depot had PLENTY of room, for both Makita and Milwaukee. All 3 companies were included in a 2013 lawsuit over their cooperation. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/home-depot-milwaukee-and-makita-under-fire-for-anti-competitive-practices/%3C/a%3E , https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2012cv06361/261678
If there was comparable consumer demand for Makita, where the tools were selling like hotcakes online and in stores, you can bet Home Depot would have taken notice and continued to leverage it.
Personally, I think Makita, Home Depot, or both should try to prop up the brand, lest it decline.
Look at Bosch tools at Lowe’s stores. There’s so much wasted potential there. I’m concerned the same will happen to Makita at Home Depot. Should that happen, what will be the state of USA availability and support 5 or 10 years from now?
CMF
What you say here is quite valid, but keep in mind the perspective of the these 2 companies.
If Makita were to lose the USA (NA market with Canada) market completely, they would still have about 85% of the revenue they currently have.
If Milwaukee were to completely lose the US (NA) market, what would be left? I do not know the exact numbers, but maybe 25% of what they currently bring in for yearly revenue, maybe even less?
So looking at the bigger picture, from a business standpoint, Milwaukee has to do what it can to keep their market share and grow it when they can. They literally have everything to lose.
Makita, not that they do not care, but how much effort, time, & money can they put into a market that is quite saturated, when in the past, they do not get returns on their investment. Outside NA, I believe (could be wrong) that Makita is #2 behind Bosch.
So from each company’s standpoint, Milwaukee has either got to keep all their resources in keeping, or growing their US/NA market. The other choice would be to make a very serious push at Europe, Asia and the rest of the global market…which I believe would cost them infinitely more in time & money than what the spend to keep their US market, and no assurances they would make great gains in the global market, which is already well established.
Makita, with little effort in the US, will continue to make a couple of $$, without sinking more money, which did not payoff in the past. Or maybe in a few years, they will be like Panasonic, once great tools, now no longer visible in the US. But Makita would still have their 85% worldwide that is working for them.
So while many of the views expressed are valid, keep in mind where each company is coming from, or what the US market means to them.
TomD
HD would never want to be majority TTI as that would give TTI too much leverage; the fact that they’re downplaying a non-TTI competitor means they feel pretty secure in their position – in my reading.
Stuart
Home Depot is the customer in the supplier-retailer relationship. They hold the purse strings and thus all the power.
From TTI Group’s 2023 annual report:
It’s fair to conclude that Home Depot drives 44% of TTI’s total global revenue.
However, besides Milwaukee Tool’s dealings with THD, this includes Ridgid power tools, Ryobi power tools, both brands’ cordless outdoor power tools and equipment and things like Ryobi pressure washers.
TTI’s floorcare brands, such as Hoover and Dirt Devil also contribute to sales, but to a lesser extent.
I found this in another part:
So that’s $6 BILLION in revenue presumably from Home Depot.
Makita, for the year ending 3/31/24:
At today’s conversion rate, that’s around $597.5 million out of $4.728 billion in overall revenue (converted from 741.391 billion Yen).
If my math is correct, TTI brands earn more revenue via the company’s largest retail partner – presumably Home Depot – than Makita earns globally.
Mike
That’s amazing and underscores your point questioning whether Makita can afford to become irrelevant in the US. They seem to still deliver top quality products, and perhaps would be able to continue to do so as a US niche.
I could see how Makita (and Milwaukee) have been or could be a direct competitor to Ryobi among home owner sales (or rarely used specialty tools).
But really Milwaukee (and Ridgid, whose diminishing presence could be an updated post topic) are Makita’s natural competition from TTI. If the global revenues and profits are at least in the same ballpark as Milwaukee, perhaps they can continue to afford to compete on at least r&d.
It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in the promotion and shelf space negotiations, and both HD and TTI seem to have a winning formula.
HD’s share of TTI sales obviously give them lots of leverage, and while the goal of each is the biggest slice of the revenue/profit pie, the partnership has managed to grow a very large pie.
While HD is dominant and ubiquitous, they could decide to carry anybody’s tools at any time. TTI, as is referenced here and obvious in trades people’s bags (and red plastic boxes) and homeowners garages, is delivering desirable products. All of these brands/systems have compromises, but the product range, performance, availability, pricing and marketing seem to be winning out.
I agree with your point about it being in consumers’, HD’s, and Makita’s interest to remain relevant in the US.
It would seem in TTI’s interest to maximize their leverage to stamp out Makita from the orange box.
That’s interesting about the collusion lawsuit, I wonder with how crowded and competitive the industry is, if TTI could now afford to go more towards price dumping to really break Makita from the US market? Has Makita decided to not compete here on price at HD, and wait and see what the future holds for the US tool marketplace? In the mean time they’re missing out on a lot of pie.
MM
I haven’t gone looking for Makita OPE at my local HD but if they have it then they are devoting very little shelf space to it. They have plenty of Milwaukee and Dewalt and even more Ryobi.
Hon Cho
“Milwaukee was given about the same space as in prior years.”
Those brands aren’t “given” anything. They buy that space either with cash, merchandise credits, rebates or other compensation. Ryobi, in the USA, is a captive brand of Home Depot. Home Depot is also Milwaukee’s largest retailer. As many ToolGuyd readers likely know, Milwaukee and Ryobi are TTI manufactured brands and TTI has every reason to push their products in their number one retailer for those brands. As for Makita, their financials or marketing strategy didn’t work for this promotion for whatever reason(s) that we can only speculate about,
Stuart
Obviously promo space occupancy results from negotiated arrangements and at times competition.
Makita’s absence could also reflect low consumer interest or demand. HD wants to showcase tools that will bring in customers and drive sales.
In my opinion, Makita had much weaker than usual promotions for the holiday season. Skipping the spring cordless OPE season seems more impactful. Should this become a trend, everybody loses.
If this was a strategic move, it will be interesting to see what other plans Makita has for growth and competition. If it was involuntary, that’s not good for anyone, and it reflects poorly on Home Depot and their gas-free outdoor and lawn tool aspirations and claims.
Jared
It’s not a good sign for Makita. If they lick their wounds and regroup, maybe they can turn it around. It feels more like yet another sign that Makita is headed to the “also-ran” category in North America.
Makita is in a terrible position though. They have two incompatible battery systems. One is a potentially market-leading high power option… that can’t do compact tools. The other is an expansive line of 18v tools that are becoming increasingly long-in-the-tooth because they won’t update the batteries.
Both tool lines are expensive and have increasingly poor visibility.
Michael F
Agreed. In my opinion, they need to pick one of the following two options:
– Refresh the LXT lineup with new batteries including 21700 or pouch cells, even if this means incompatibility with the older X2 36V tools.
– Develop a “compact” XGT battery using an innovative pouch cell approach (even if only ~25% smaller than the current 2.5Ah XGT battery it would be a win) so that tools like Impacts and Multi-tools are viable on XGT.
If they do neither, it’s a very tough position to be in. We know they are dedicated to the LXT lineup by signals like them announcing the framing nailer in LXT flavor first, but in that case, they really need a battery refresh. Even tabless 18650 cells would be something!
Kacey
They have the best battery system bud. All the other power tool companies are hosing the consumer with BS battery systems. High output, low output, battery stack, flex volt, and million other stupid concepts. Who wants a 12 amp hour battery that’s as big as a bowling ball!? Put that on your power drill….. Makita is selling one battery that does it all.
Stuart
Do you work for Makita USA?
I ask because your argument mirrors the “who wants a huge battery on their drill or impact driver” point their marketing team very heavily emphasized during a private USA announcement livestream. They made the argument multiple times, and you would be the first person I have ever seen repeat similar in the years since then.
What’s ironic is that the company launched a massive 16Ah-equivalent battery that’s considerably larger than any other brand’s 12Ah battery. https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/makita-xgt-8ah-battery/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Higher capacity batteries are advantageous for all kinds of tools, including many that are missing from Makita’s 18V line. Higher capacity or higher output batteries are not a “stupid concept.”
Makita has different battery tech in their XGT line, including a new “high output” 4Ah battery – https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/makita-high-output-battery-bl4040f/%3C/a%3E that launched overseas months ago, but not here.
They’re selling lots of batteries that suit different needs and price points.
If Makita were to launch new 18V batteries with larger or higher output cells, it would go a long way towards modernizing the line. But can they do that without harming the new XGT line, which I would argue is more capable of going head to head against the competition?
Mike
That’s interesting to hear about the marketing pitch, as others have commented how the 10 cell 18650 packs are cumbersome (mostly carrying vs using) for impact drivers and midsize drills.
The suggestions for compact pouch cell 40v are spot on, though I wish they had created some sort of multi volt system for XGT like Hikoki’s.
I do think there is some validity to the argument that TTI is inferior or more compromised with their power architecture.
Obviously Ryobi is built to a price point, and their largely casual users less likely to accept a new battery system to replace their outdated stick interface system.
Milwaukee is more complicated. They are consistently at or near the top in power output for their tools. This is despite their dogged reluctance to create a new higher voltage system.
All of these tiers of batteries requiring charts are confusing, but they have managed to keep one battery system. Tabless, pouch and giant packs with innovative cooling from Milwaukee and others are pushing the industry’s development, but Milwaukee and their users have little choice when using high draw tools.
Brushless tools are obviously more efficient , but all the top competitors have them, and if Milwaukee wants to stay atop the raw performance heap for high draw tools like OPE, they can’t use small packs of conventional cells.
They have to use large packs, where the amp draw is spread among many cells, or use some new (probably more expensive) type of battery which better balances amp draw, capacity, heat generation and longevity than conventional cells.
When shopping for OPE, I came across a battery chainsaw brand “shootout”, where the Milwaukee was ranked at or near the top, even though they asterisked the minor point that the tool couldn’t complete the tests all at once because the batteries kept shutting off to prevent thermal meltdown. I don’t know what packs were used and how the tool works with the latest versions.
I believe the XGT blower gets about 10 minutes of run time with a 4 ah pack and it will be getting hot enough to likely reduce it’s lifespan appreciably. Their giant packs, while having a voltage/amp draw advantage over Milwaukee, are quite expensive (like all XGT) as well.
All of these different sizes of batteries are great (if you’re rich), as users can balance size/weight with not only runtime/capacity but also power output/amp draw.
In OPE as much as anything else, obviously one size battery does not fit all. I don’t think one voltage does either. A powered hand pruner or lightweight hedge trimmer is far off a backpack blower or mower.
While battery technology will undoubtedly continue to improve, physics dictates higher voltage better manages amp draw. High voltage brands will be able to leverage this advantage, should they choose.
Milwaukee is consciously deciding to work around this disadvantage in favor of battery interface consistency.
I have no experience with battery mowers, but I think Makita’s OPE is fantastic, especially their power heads and attachments. These attachments can work with LXT, LXTx2, XGT and gas power heads.
I know Milwaukee recently introduced some new OPE like a full size dedicated pole saw and would like to hear some feedback from users on their OPE.
Stuart
From my understanding of Li-ion battery tech, there won’t be a compact 36V/40V Max pouch-cell battery.
It’s possible, but very impractical.
There are images and details floating around of another new Makita higher output XGT battery, this time in the 2.5Ah (18V 5Ah equivalent) size.
But there’s no word about any new 18V battery. If they’re using tabless 18650 cells for XGT, they should be able to use it for 18V, it’s only a question of whether they want to.
One of the problems across the industry is that tool and battery tech have leapfrogged over each other over the years.
At the start of Li-ion tools, NiCad was left behind. I believe that Ryobi is the only major brand to keep the same 18V interface, with all others going through significant design changes.
You can power older tools with modern batteries, and modern tools with older-model batteries. This compatibility and convenience requires compromises.
We’re getting to the point where tools and battery tech are perfectly matched.
Jared
That’s like arguing that FIAT is the best car company because they only sell ONE car.
Meanwhile those other ridiculous companies and their “stupid concepts” drive them to make mid-size cars, vans, SUVs, pickup trucks, busses, luxury vehicles, hatchbacks…. EVEN SEMI-TRUCKS!
Try commuting in one of those semi-trucks to work each day and you’ll soon see FIAT is a much better choice.
ITCD
Obviously people want those larger batteries because it’s not hard to find people in the DeWalt and Milwaukee platforms buying them. It may not make sense on a little impact, but there’s a lot more to Makita and their competitors’ ecosystems than impacts and drills. Makita even makes the battery backpack, which means it’s not dangling off the tool, and even if it is on something like a lawn mower the size doesn’t matter.
Get an ear to the ground on tool users and tool enthusiasts, explore forums and subreddits, and a VERY common gripe you’ll find with Makita is that the 18V maxes out at 6Ah while everyone else does bigger batteries. And when you’re running a tool all day that’s power hungry and doesn’t need to squeeze in tight spaces, or already has the battery attached in a way where it balances the tool or the tool itself isn’t weighing on the user like with lawn mowers and routers and circ saws, people WANT bigger, people WANT more runtime for things like their tower lights or their Milwaukee portable pump or their vacuum.
krashtd
I can tell you unequivocally from within HD, interest and demand for Makita products is barely existent. I don’t know if they have priced themselves out of the market relevant to their battery options or what exactly is driving it, but it doesn’t help that their 18v line is incredibly stagnant on battery development and their new 40v line is incredibly expensive.
For context, we have pallets of Makita string trimmers that have been in the overhead since the switchover from EGO to DeWalt and Makita – almost 4 years. A timespan in which we have turned over the same number of trimmers from Ryobi, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Echo multiple times.
Bob
For me it’s price. 14 months ago all my cordless were Makita. I needed a new trim router because I hated my corded Makita. I decided to try the DeWalt cordless since it solved what I hated about my Makita – much better depth adjustment. That broke my seal on battery platform.
Since then, I’ve bought several more cordless DeWalt tools. Each time, I looked at my old favorite Makita first. And each time, the DeWalt equivalent was not only cheaper, but there were also battery bundles. Makita was just not competitive despite my brand attachment going back 30 years.
I also broke the seal on M12 last year when I wanted the small triangle orbital sander that seems to have no competitor. I’ve become addicted to that platform. My first cordless tool was a Milwaukee 12V drill in 1992 (the included metal toolbox still serves me well), so it is fitting.
Mike reeve
It’s the same here in nz .
Black n yellow or red is all u see on site these days.
Few dinosaurs still using the blue but they are near retirement age anyway.
CA
I don’t know about you guys but I’m pretty old school 90’s trades. Makita teal was my first battery powered tool. And it was pretty darned good. I don’t know what happened. Milwaukee was mostly corded but solid. I never heard of DeWalt at the time because I lived in the midwest. The evolution of all of these brands does fascinate me though. In all honesty the biggest thing that strikes me is the move from metal kit cases to plastic to none.