A new Milwaukee M18 Fuel 2-tool cordless power tool combo kit has popped up in online retailers’ product catalogs.
A new cordless combo kit appearing in October is very likely to be a holiday season deal or the centerpiece of a larger promo, such as a “buy this, get a tool for free” deal.
The new Milwaukee 3698-22CX cordless power tool combo kit comes with the 2904 brushless hammer drill and 2953 impact driver. That’s no different than for their regular combo kit, model 3697-22.
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Going by the online product info and images, the differences are in everything else that comes with the tool kit.
Let’s talk about the apparent differences between the 3698-22CX and 3697-22 tool kits.
3698-22CX M18 Fuel 2-Tool Kit
- 2904 hammer drill
- 2953 impact driver
- Tool bag (soft case)
- M18/M12 charger – looks like the Rapid Charger from the shape
- High Output 3Ah battery
- High Output 6Ah battery
3697-22 M18 Fuel 2-Tool Kit
- 2904 hammer drill
- 2953 impact driver
- Tool box (hard case)
- M18/M12 standard charger
- 2x 5Ah batteries
The details could change, or maybe the images are temporary placeholders. Neither is likely, but could happen.
The online pricing is said to be $449.
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Given the pricing of the typical M18 Fuel 2-tool combo kit, I think that either it’s going to be the basis for a “buy this, get a free tool or battery” promotion, or it’s going to be aggressively discounted to provide an appealing and compelling gateway into the M18 cordless power tool system.
If I were at Milwaukee – and keep in mind that I haven’t spoke to a soul about this new M18 Fuel combo yet – I’d price the tool kit at $299 or thereabouts. Given that we’ve seen the other 2-tool combo priced as low as $349, I think $299 would be a great price point.
Or, perhaps not, as Milwaukee has other non-Fuel combo kits at that price point. Then again, the holiday season is a great time to open the door to new tool users, and generally brands want that door to be as easy to walk through as possible.
You’ve got my prediction – we’ll know in a couple of weeks whether I’m right or not.
MM
Speaking of Milwaukee, it’s been months since you posted a lot of hype about the new brushless motor design they announced at Pipeline. At the time you mentioned you were very excited about the cool new toys you got to see behind the curtain and the various implications this new tech would have for future products, but we peons had to wait to learn all the details.
What’s the situation with that?
Stuart
Oh, I’m still very much impressed.
Milwaukee released the podcast where I learned about a lot of the details. I’ve been working on written content, it’s just been taking a while.
I had a call today about some of the tech at Pipeline that I missed and didn’t have enough of a chance to talk about.
With the motors and supporting tech, the implications were in my imagination. You know how you learn a new skill and can then apply that to many other future projects? That’s how I see the new motor and power tech.
Crow
This doesn’t seem like a great deal, but it is a great kit if you need a contractor grade impact driver and drill with batteries. In my experience at a company that all use milwaukee, the 3Ah and 6Ah high output are the best two batteries milwaukee make in terms of reliability. I’m waiting for holiday sales so I can get myself a couple more. The rapid charger is a nice upgrade too.
Scott F
Do you think the 5Ah batteries will be phased out in favor of the HD battery line? I no longer care much about deals that include those 5Ah packs, and hope this is the first domino in that transition.
Stuart
I don’t think so. The 5Ah has the same power level as the 3Ah battery, but longer runtime. Then you have the Forge 6Ah and High Output 8Ah and 12Ah.
There’s some redundancy that can be eliminated, but not the 5Ah.
JR Ramos
I wish they would, but it stands as an inexpensive “extra” to include cheaply in kits and such. They just can’t maintain a load so many tools suffer with them. The 6Ah HO should be the standard for most tools…way better. It’s a “professional level” tool company, so in my opinion they should be dropping items/battery packs that don’t yield professional performance in their newer tools (last few years). The compact low Ah packs can stick around and people mostly know what to expect with those and why they’re choosing them. Dropping the old school 5Ah pack might let them drop the price on the 6Ah HO a bit, too (if they would). Right now it’s just the same old ridiculous inflated pricing with stepped/retail perception increments and there’s no need for it.
I can’t think of many tools they have where the 5Ah is a great fit, but of course it “works.” Someone (I think Workshop Addict) on youtube just did a great voltage/load comparison test with all of Milwaukee’s and DeWalt’s battery packs and the results are something everyone should watch. It was with the new 7-1/4″ power hungry circular saw but you can really see the dud packs in the lineup. They did the same with the M12 packs. The old 18650 packs on M18 just fall on their face with any sort of good working load that lasts more than a few seconds…but they “work.”
William
I got this kit from acmetools for $299. Really impressed by how compact and light the 4th gen drill is. Also the wrist saver auto stop feature works really well.
The impact driver is also nice but they’re more like wrenches at this point, I have a weaker makita and never needed more than 50% power. modern impacts are way too powerful for being 1/4 hex, they’ll snap the bit or adapter before giving up on power