This is always one of Home Depot’s hottest Milwaukee cordless power tool deals, where you buy an M18 starter kit with 2x batteries and a charger for $199, and select one free tool.
It’s a great value, especially if you go with a typically higher-priced M18 Fuel brushless tool option, such as the router.
Home Depot has marked their hottest Milwaukee M18 cordless power tool as “sold out online.”
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However, there are two things you should know before the “sold out” messaging bums you out.
First, the deal is still available for in-store pickup or local delivery for a fee. This means you can still order what you want, you just have to make it over to your local store to pick it up.
I checked, and the selection looks to be the same. At the time of this posting only the M18/M12 wireless jobsite speaker has sold out. Everything else looks to still be available.
You can look for the deal in-store as well, but there’s a good reason to order online for store pickup – Home Depot has dropped the online price from $199 to $179, saving you an extra $20.
So although you’d have to hoof it to your local store to pick up the order, or pay a small fee for local delivery from your store (the website says it would be $8.99 but this could vary depending on tools and location), an extra $20 discount sounds fair.
Price: $179
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If you’re worried about the Dewalt starter kit and free tool deal selling out, Home Depot still has plenty of those in stores and more than 20,000 starter kits are available for shipping right now.
Steve
There are 20k DeWalt kits and Milwaukee is sold out? Is that telling in any way? I’m a red guy myself, but that just seemed a little strange…
Stuart
No. The Dewalt typically sells out and is replenished gradually. It usually sells VERY well.
Home Depot could have deliberately pulled online inventory for whatever reasons.
They also have reseller problems – where do you think a lot of the Amazon 3rd party seller inventory comes from?
Steven+B
Ditto to DeWalt selling well. I live in an urban area that is under CONSTANT construction. As a tool enthusiast, I like to see what people are using. I pass by probably 20 construction/rennovation sites dropping my daughter off to school every day. It’s about 2/3 DeWalt 1/3 Milwaukee…all recent models. There’s almost no other tools ever out in use by tradesmen in my area (Boston)
Raab
Yeah for construction woodworking and schools dewault is king that’s why they are staying competitive. Most plumbers, elextriicions, concrete workers, mechanics, and some home mechanics use milwaukee cuz they had an automotive line as good as snap on for 1/2 price. Before dewalt. Then snap on and Cornwell dealers statted selling and warranting them. That means weekly payments for the hard to save crowd. Default was late to the automotive and other fields bad. It was embarrassing. I had default but a few products left a bad taste. I switched to red for most things like other trades cuz they kept innovating and have some crazy helpful stuff. I also have ryobi cuz they have some affordable crazy tools that red doesn’t or double for same tool (not exactly I know) that I use like twice a year. Also the versatility of ryobi not switching batteries made me a loyalist. It’s nice to use tools older than me without mods. That I can support. It just sucks that its not a compact formfactor. Ryobi usually has the same specialty tool a year or 2 after milwaukee mostly the m12 line. Sometimes with better features Sometimes with worse. Like 1/2 high torque ryobi is I believe 600lbs which is plenty. The milwaukee that’s 4 years older is 1200lbs. It breaks damn near all rust belt nuts lose or breaks something. I had the only ryobi 300lbs and it was good but failed on axle nuts and some harder overtightened lugnuts. I can’t have that as a mechanic. The ryobi is nice cuz its lighter. The m12 3/8 right angle impact though is a dream come true and why the ryobi is now the emergency truck impact. The right angle speeds things up and makes them so much easier. Quality is good enough on ryobi but if its gonna be daily abused then milwaukee is the way to go.
ChipBoundary
And all my local unions are pretty much 99.9% Milwaukee in my area (Wisconsin). Even when I venture to nearby states that is all I see. For tradesman, there’s nothing better. The amount of tradesman specific tools Milwaukee has is miles ahead of anyone else.
It doesn’t surprise me that DeWalt is popular by you, they’re headquartered in Baltimore. Personally, I’ve used all the major brands and I will never again purchase anything but Milwaukee. I have literally never had a tool from them fail or let me down. Hilti would be a possibility, but their prices are beyond stupid, so not worth it.
James
Agree with most of that, and I have a ton of M12 and M18 (all of which I love) but I also have many Bosch tools and I try to keep an open mind, because like everything (clothing, sports equipment, hand tools, etc) no one brand can possibly be the best at everything.
eddie sky
blank blank expletive!
I did the Acme tools bare tool special and nope..didn’t get free battery(s) because one the tools (grinder) wasn’t on the list. NOW it is on this one??? F—-k
So I have two bare tools without charger and without batteries.
But good news is, neighbor had a bunch of chargers (came with kits) and gave me one (yay!) and I found pair of OEM Milwaukee 5ah packs on Amazon for under $130.
Sigh.
Joatman
You should see a lot of new batteries and tools available on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace here shortly…….people trying to unload what they don’t need from theses holiday bundle deals.
Charles
Can I return the batteries on this deal? I can never remember if this is the two sku deal.
Big Richard
It is a two SKU deal and you can return the battery starter kit. Depending on what tool you choose you will get about $90 back from returning the battery kit.
Stuart
This shouldn’t be encouraged; stores are cracking down and blocking partial returns.
Matt
No one is cracking down on this. The stories you hear of people not being able to return one item is due to lazy employees or ones that care too much. If you have a problem just go to a different associate. They could end this in one fell swoop if they wanted to and they haven’t yet.
Adam
And if it’s against policy (it was when I worked retail), then you’re risking the employee’s job by pushing them to do this. “Cares too much” is an awfully weird way of saying “wants to eat and keep a roof over their head”.
Jeremiah McKenna
Home depot simply charges you for the “free” tool/battery if you return the “paid” item.
J. Newell
YMMV but when I checked this out it did not ring up as two separate SKUs with separate prices that would be returnable separately. It showed up as a single purchase, so not “hackable,” at least on my Mac.
MFC
Wow… I have never seen an m18 2x 5ah with charger for $84 from a retail store. Even pre-covid. Speculations as to why batteries are getting seemingly cheaper? Is it because sourcing is getting easier, or more companies are mining lithium/cobalt?
Stuart
Competition.
Joseph
I’d assume they are killing off some battery part numbers. 5.0XC has a lot of overlap with the newer and more capable batteries.
Stuart
No. The 6Ah is larger, heavier, and more expensive. The 5Ah isn’t going anywhere.
Jeremiah McKenna
Competition, slow sales under typical conditions as well as their new battery technology coming out.
Neil H
Is this deal dead? Nothing online or local 🙁
Stuart
There are 26 in stock for pickup at my local store, and 43 available for local delivery. It could be that it’s sold out near you. Try changing the zip code or store location.
Gerald T
I have just started purchasing from the m12 line. Which is a better strategy when aiming to purchase the 6-7 tools wanted :
Buy multi -battery deals with free tools and the occasional tool only?
Buy tool + battery when on sale?
Stuart
The best pricing strategy depends on the tool(s).
Adam
$94.24 for the router is a ridiculous deal. I’m tempted, and I barely get to use my tools these days.
Greg
I have about 15 chargers that just sit.
Hoser
You and every other professional that uses cordless tools for a living. . . .
Jeremiah McKenna
Yeah, that’s why I look for bare tools or tools that come with a battery only. But these days the deals are so good that I’ll buy the charger kit and simply put it in the bin on the shelf with the ten other chargers. I have 2 rapid chargers I carry with me daily and 2 in my shed. I’ve never bought a charger specifically.
Kris Petrie
I just bought it in store with military discount applied so dropped it to 161.10 plus tax.
Jeremiah McKenna
Yep, not only that, bit sometimes I’ll also get a Pro deal.