This Milwaukee M18 Rocket LED tripod worklight is on sale for $199. But… there’s also this special bundle, 2130-20P, which comes with an M18 5.0Ah battery pack and charger, and it’s also on sale for $199.
Thank you to Adam for the heads-up!
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Here’s the funny thing. I started a deal post about the special bundle a few weeks ago, when I thought it was a great deal at the regular $249 price for just the LED worklight. I hadn’t fully worked out the post, and forgot all about it because I had asked Milwaukee a question about the Rocket branding.
So, there are actually 2 Rocket LED tripod worklights – this one, and the new higher brightness (and pricier) model that also features a built-in charger.
Anyways, $249 is a great price for what you get.
$199? That’s just crazy!
Just the battery retails at $129 for one, or $199 for 2. An M18 starter set, with 5.0Ah battery and charger, is $149. Just this LED worklight recently went on sale from $249 to $199.
So $199 for everything?!!
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I really like this LED worklight, and can’t imagine that it’s not selling well. The tripod support stand is excellent, the extending head design is excellent, the illumination is great, and well, it’s pretty good all around.
In other words, if you’ve been eyeing this Rocket LED tripod worklight, this deal might be too good to pass up.
There are lots of photos in my preview post, and I also have a test sample close by in case you have any quick questions.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
RKA
I would caution or flat out discourage others from buying this one. I bought one last January I think. Right out of the box the extending columns would not stay put. I judiciously tightened the screws on the clamping collars until they would hold when the cam clamp was engaged. Being plastic, I tried not to go crazy. 6 months later I was setting it up in another location and the top column would not stay put. Turns out the plastic collar cracked. I called Milwaukee and asked for a quote on the part I found on their website and they said it’s not available for purchase. They suggested I bring it in for warranty repair. I will eventually try, but if they tell me this was a result of misuse (wouldn’t be a stretch), then my option is to pay them to fix it (no) or rig it with something myself (seriously, for what this costs?!?).
These plastic locking collars aren’t going to last. They were a dumb idea, sorry Milwaukee. Otherwise a fantastic work light. I hope the newer (more expensive) one has better collars on it. The ability to charge, 3 independently swiveling heads and higher output sound great.
Ryan
The new one has metal collars.
Nate818
Mine does that too. I used loctite and out of fear lightly tightened it. It’s good now.
fred
If I read their ad correctly – International Tool throws in a $20 gift card when you buy this for $199 from them:
http://www.internationaltool.com/milwaukee-2130-20p-m18-led-tower-light-with-battery-and-charger
Doug
Thanks for the tip, yes the $20 gift card deal is legit.
Adam
I purchased one in store tonight with a One-Key kit. So glad I didn’t have to wait in line Friday. They essentially had everything unboxed by the time they closed, and all prices were live.
If it wasn’t raining, I might have bought the husky storage racking.
Neil
Ordered. Thanks!
Ryan
Just to clear things up, as I understand it this unit is known as the Stand Light, and the new one with the three pivoting heads is the Rocket Light. I’ve owned both, and here’s what Ive found. First of all, the deal you referenced is only for the $249 stand light and not the $399 rocket light. If you don’t need the XC Starter kit, return it for a 50% refund($75) thereby dropping the cost of the stand light to $124. A good deal, I’d say, considering at that price you could buy three of the stand lights for the cost of one rocket light. As for how they compare, a few points I noticed: both lights sport 12 LEDs, but the rocket has better color rendering than the stand light for some reason. You’d think they’d use the same color LEDs, but the stand light definitely looks more yellow. If you’re a painter or someone that requires accurate colors spring for the rocket light. The rocket has 3000 lumens on high, while the stand light has 2000. It’s a noticeable difference in use, but not huge, in my opinion. The stand light is about 6″ taller at max height than the rocket, but when collapsed the rocket is actually a couple inches longer. The rocket is also significantly heavier due to the larger battery charging base with a/c in port, and this also causes it to be awkward to carry with the side handle due to being poorly balanced. The cheaper stand light has great balance when carrying it around in its collapsed form. Speaking of charging the charging function is pretty useless if you ask me, same with charging radios. Given that heavy users will likely have a multi-bank rapid charger I don’t see it being worth the extra weight and cost having the charging function. (Also, it’s not a rapid charger.) The stand light has a single button that cycles through high, medium, low, and off. The rocket has three buttons, one for on/off, one to increase brightness through its three levels, and one to decrease it. It will remember the last setting it was on when turned off and back on. The rocket light is the only one that can point straight down. This is a major difference to me, and a real game changer in the tripod work light category. I don’t know of another that can do this. In the end, the rocket is certainly better but I don’t know if it’s better enough to justify the major cost difference. I think I’ll wait until the rocket comes down in price. Given how they’re trying to push the stand light, my guess is they’ve got a refresh for it scheduled to come out in the next few months. I’d like to see $199 be the normal price for the stand light, and $299 would seem more reasonable for the rocket. Hope this info helps.
Adam
I’ve made the mistake of referring to it as the rocket light, as Home Depot put that as the title of the product. Sounded cooler saying I own the rocket light.
The starter kit that comes in that can not be returned. You could sell it on ebay / craigslist though.
Ryan
You can actually, but you need to bring up the bare tool (2130-20) and a separate XC Starter kit. HD has a “coupon” in their system to apply a discount of -$149 to the purchase negating the cost of the starter kit. If you purchase the bundled kit, (2130-20P) then you’re right you can’t return it since the battery and charger don’t have their own packaging. I know this works because I’ve bought 4 of them and returned all the battery kits for the 75 refund.
Izzy
Can you share the item number of the XC starter kit? The combo discount doesn’t appear to work with the XC 5.0 kit listed at $149…
Ryan
The starter kit’s model number is 48-59-1850, and the Home Depot SKU is 1000026243. Bring that kit up to a register along with an UNBUNDLED stand light (2130-20, not 2130-20P) and when they ring it up they need to look under their store promotions catalog in the computer. They will see it on the first or second page of promotions, then they check the little box to add it and $149 is deducted from the total.
Stuart
Thanks for those points!
I refer to it as a Rocket light because that’s Milwaukee’s branding for all their tripod lights. Yea, it confused me too, I initially thought it was a mistake.
fred
I think that the 2135-20 Rocket light is on sale today only at Zoro for $285.70 using promo Code HANDIT2YOU
The same code gets you 30% off most tool purchases
BJ
Didn’t work for me, said light isn’t eligible
firefly
So it sound like we need an improved version of the stand light with metal collar, articulating head that can point down, higher lumen. Either that or the rocket light sans the charger at a lower price point…
Ryan
Yes exactly.
fred
Toolbarn doing the same deal
http://www.toolbarn.com/specials
jay k.
So i gave in and bought this light… superhappy about the purchase… but i picked up HD’s Ridgid catalog and they have a panel light and flood light which can be placed on a new collapsible tripod stand -all under Gen5X branding… do you have anymore info on these?
jay k.
I saw a pretty beefy cordless belt sander too.
Ryan
Killer deal update: I was talking to a Milwaukee rep at Home Depot and he told me I could still get the BUNDLED light (including the 5.0 batt and charger) for $199, PLUS a separate starter kit. So that’s two 5.0 batts, two chargers, and the light for $199. That’s a helluvadeal. I asked why they’re letting you get two starter kits, and he said he thinks they just forgot to remove the deal from the computer’s promotions when they started bundling the batteries in the box with the light. They’ll probably catch it and cut that off soon, but as of an hour ago it’s still working.
Michael Eibling
It’s on sale again at home depot