Trend has announced that they are soon launching a new cordless power tool system, which they’re calling T18S.
In case you are not familiar with the brand, Trend makes a range of woodworking accessories, such as the AirShield, an air circulating face shield.
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At least as far as I am aware, Trend is mainly in the woodworking and power tool accessories business, which is why it comes as a surprise that they’re launching a new line of cordless power tools.
(Thank you to Fred for sharing the newsletter!!)
The initial announcement could provide some insights, so let’s take a look.
To start, the image above shows their new T18S battery surrounded by what looks to be the first wave of cordless power tools, with the title The Right Battery for the Job.
Indeed, the new system will launch with 3 battery packs – a compact 2Ah battery, a compact 4Ah battery built with 21700 Li-ion cells, and a 5Ah battery.
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It looks like Trend’s first wave will include the following types of cordless power tools:
- Miter saw
- 1/4″ router
- Circular saw
- Biscuit joiner
- Angle grinder
- Impact Driver
- Hammer drill
- LED worklight
- Sanders (3 types)
To my knowledge, Makita is the only brand to offer a cordless biscuit joiner, and so it’s interesting to see a new model
There’s a lot of new branding – the tools feature Trend Trinity Technology and also 18VTXLi battery tech, which stands for Trend Xpert Lithium-ion. It appears that the battery bears 18VTXLi branding, while the system of tools will be T18S. It’s clear that this is an 18V system.
Okay, so T18S tools, TXLi batteries, and it’s is centered around Trend Trinity Technology.
In this video thumbnail, Trend advertises that the T18S cordless range has been Curated for Completion. Here we see the same collection of tools as above.
The T18S system is said to be A System 65 Years in the Making. It’s unclear what this means – was Trend established 65 years ago?
“Trend Trinity Technology” is a “3-tier system technology” that features high torque performance motors, longer lasting Lithium-ion batteries, and the “latest advanced electronics.”
Trend Trinity Technology is described as the harmonization of the 3 core elements that make up their cordless power tools.
Discussion
It’s surprising to see Trend jump into this market, given when there’s so much competition. Although, Grizzly launched new 20V cordless power tools, and CAT recently launched a new line of 18V brushless power tools overseas. I suppose there is always room for more brands.
Who do you think makes these cordless power tools for Trend? There could be some clues in the tool designs and batteries, such as with the triangular-shaped fuel gauge indicators, but I don’t see parallels to known OEMs.
It’s unclear as to whether these tools will be available in the USA, or if they will only be available overseas via Trend UK.
I dug deeper and looked at more of Trend’s marketing materials, and I also watched some of their promotional videos. I am sure sure Trend is proud of their new cordless power tool system, and I can see some potential here, but at this point, I am going to excuse myself and simply end the post here.
lava
My guess is Chervon. The batterie’s external features are strongly similar to Skil’s 20v batteries.
– latch is in similar location, similar format
– power contacts in similar housing
– slide tracks on sides have similar hollow rail format
Cr8on
I agree, definably a Chevron aesthetic here.
Stam
Not by Chervon absolutely.
fred
From the Trend website – it says the company was established sometime in 1955 – so that indeed correlates to “65 years in the making.”
They have been selling some corded tools (at least in the UK) :
https://trenddirectuk.com/power-tools.html
But when I got their email – I thought this cordless tool launch seemed like a bit of a departure – so thought to pass it on – in case you hadn’t seen it.
The Trend items I’ve owned over the years were mostly jigs, measuring tools, a few router bits and saw blades.
The only one that I’ve used with any regularity is their scribing tool – that I think is sometimes useful but not perfect:
https://www.amazon.com/Trend-SCRIBE-EasyScribe-Scribing-Tool/dp/B00H5PWUX8/
Ross Franklin
I wonder what the economics of starting a new battery platform are like. It seems like it would be such a long shot to hope that you could really carve out much of a share of battery tools market. I would be hesitant to buy a new tool that didn’t match the batteries of my existing tools.
How many brands are there, there seem to be so many and yet I can’t imagine that any besides the top few have much market share at all.
Even licensing an existing platform or manufacturer which apparently seems to be the case here, there must still be a fairly high startup cost to setup distribution and whatever else is needed.
fred
Maybe the UK market is different – and Trend believes that they can fill a niche that will be profitable. I may be wrong – but don’t expect that they will see broad worldwide distribution.
Another alternative is what the well respected USA plumbing tool manufacturer Reed did when the wanted to introduce their “Pump Stick”. They market it ready to use Bosch 18V batteries – but the battery coupling plate can be unscrewed and replaced with one to fit Dewalt, Makita or Milwaukee batteries. This is more a one-off approach rather than a declaration that you are going to be marketing a whole system of tools.
https://www.amazon.com/08140-CP15-38B-Stick-Cordless-Power/dp/B07WCQXKB7
MM
I’ve seen a number of companies use that approach with the modular coupling on the tool. For example, the Surebonder glue guns are available to suit all the major brands of cordless battery. I’ve also come across some small companies making a cordless soldering iron that uses your choice off batt.
But I agree with Ross here, I find it very hard to consider some of these new lines of tools. There is little if any “track record” of reliability to consider. And even if the tools are great there’s the fact that the line is limited compared to the big players. Why would I consider buying into a brand like this when I could buy into a much bigger system with far more tools and batteries available (and by extension: parts, service, and deals more available)? What is this going to offer that, say, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita, etc, do not?
Jared
It’s interesting to see what tools Trend chose to launch with though. A biscuit joiner? A router? These aren’t the usual “core” tools.
I wonder if that hints at something. 🤔 Maybe that’s a choice to compete in a crowded market? E.g. you come for the biscuit joiner but stay for the sander, impact and drill?
I agree with the preceding comments though – it’s got to be tough to launch a new tools line. Unless you come out with something cheap to undercut your competitors, or something innovative, what’s the draw for new customers?
I wonder if Trend thinks they have an edge they can market – or if it’s just cheap and easy to contract with an OEM to put your name on their tools and see if you can snag some bonus sales.
MM
They might very well have a niche that we don’t know anything about. HTG mentioned below that they are an established woodworking brand (for corded tools, anyway), so perhaps that is their niche? Most of the tools in the list are woodworking-oriented anyway, only the angle grinder and the hammer drill aren’t, and those are very generic tools that are musts for every brand.
But even so, let’s say I’m coming from purely a woodworking angle: Why would I go Trend over say Dewalt (with their fantastic saws) or the new Metabo HPT offerings (a great full-size router, etc.)? What am I missing?
HTG
Here in the UK, I have owned a couple of Trend power tools, over the years. I had a trim router (T4E) (my first router), and then subsequently, a much bigger router (T5). I’ve passed both of them on now, but they seemed to me to be pretty good entry-level tools. They didn’t have the sophistication or ease of setup of some more expensive tools, but they could be set up accurately, and they worked and lasted well. They have a decent catalogue of tools accessories, and the routers have always been a significant part of their offering. They have shop vacs as well, and possibly more.
With the modern move away from corded tools, my guess would be that they have decided to launch into cordless tools because they worry that if they don’t, they will definitely be pushed out of the space completely. I’m guessing they think that if they snooze, they’ll lose.
Personally, I see them as a natural fit in routers. I’d say the majority of their products are router-related accessories. I would certainly give their cordless routers from them a second look (if I wanted a cordless router). For other tools, I’m not sure why they feel they have the right to play. But if you invest in a battery tech, presumably the cost of bringing more tools to market seems like an obvious step – something to make it worth investing in the battery platform to have continuing access to the router market, for example.
So mostly speculation, really. Interesting, though.
Tom
I can’t imagine they would have taken this step without extraordinary amounts of research. They have probably secured distribution commitments prior to spending capital on new tooling and building inventory.
DAVID PERKINS
Johnny come lately. I am not buying another battery platform.
I have slowly replaced all my 18v Ryobi and 12v Bosch with Milwaukee. Replaced the Ryobi because tool quality has plummeted in recent years and Bosch because they don’t seem to release tools in the states anymore.
The only way I will buy another platform is if Milwaukee doesn’t have a tool I need/want. I did that with a cordless Makita Biscuit Joiner this past year. Too cheap to buy the Domino.
lee hopkins
Trying to find Trends web site
A W
https://www.trend-uk.com/
Stuart
Be prepared to force-stop the site from loading – Trend UK automatically redirects to Trend USA.
Franco Calcagni
I see this as yet another missed opportunity.
CAT, Grizzly and Trend starting in a saturated market, as well as Flex…and who knows who else is out there that we have not heard about.
Trend, with their router, sanders, and biscuit joiner are definitely aiming at the woodworking market, Grizzly has mainly stationary woodworking equipment, not sure what they are doing with their cordless, but for now I will assume woodworkers. CAT is an industrial large construction equipment, so maybe they would cater to the automotive crowd….but then again, most CAT tools sold now are generally medium quality tools aimed at the home diy’er.
The missed opportunity? As an example, if the 3 of them had collaborated and OEM’d the same battery, they could each use their colors and branding, what I mean is they are compatible with each other. This could give them all a good start.
Anyone buying into a new system, like Hart as an example, would probably consider something like these 3 as more attractive as they will have more choice.
Choice being the different tools using the same battery. But also, any of us currently married into M18, Dewalt, Makita or other brand, how often do you see a new tool come out that has features that your current brand does not have. We all see reviews like, example again, rear handled circ saws from the big 3, and you see one that just has everything you want, more than your current brand has, but you aren’t going to adopt a new platform just because of this…so you stick with your brands saw which is good, but you would have loved to get the other.
This is an advantage that Trend, CAT and Grizzly could have. Maybe one of these will have more expensive, higher end tools, another may have economy models. You buy a CAT starter system. You need a biscuit joiner. Why get a corded when Trend is offering a cordless one that works with your batteries. You have 3-4 Trend tools and need an impact WRENCH, no problem CAT or Grizzly offer one.
This alliance could grow and as a group, they could quickly get a small piece of the market which right now as individuals will be hard.
Of course the biggest winner would be the consumer. If you could buy a cordless tool from any of these 3 and your current batteries work, great. If in the coming months/years others get into this…crazy example, Kreg decides to get into the market and joins them, then another; you could have 5, 6 eventually a dozen brands using the same platform…like CAS in Europe.
For the brands, whether they sell because they have a tool the others don’t have, or because their tool has better features, costs less, or just because the consumer likes CAT colors or has had Grizzly stationary tools and believes they represent decent quality at a good price. It doesn’t really matter, they market just like any other company like Makita, Dewalt or Milwaukee does….except they can say are batteries can be used with X number of tools or other brands.
Anyway, our loss and for these 3 companies, I doubt that alone they will all prosper as much as had they aligned themselves with each other.
X Lu
In theory just another dumb idea. People have chosen sides and have bought into their platforms. Breadth of line and perceived quality is what will attract customers just starting out-well that and anyone will buy any system at the moment of desperation. For me that means the warden has made a demand that something that I have put off needs to be done. At that point I will buy anything that helps get the job done.
Seriously though, the real question is do these tools deliver something that doesn’t exist among the major players-higher quality, superior ease of use, unique solutions etc. If they do in their niche I would be glad make the investment. Just seems like this will be more me too and if so why bother.
rob
They fill a niche by being on the store’s shelves and not costing Lamello, Festool or Mafell dollars. They are catering to stores that can’t get any other name brand stuff that isn’t upscale.
Nathan
Might be interesting. I’ve never thought I would need a cordless biscuit joiner but meh. They make routers but don’t sell any power tools stateside that I can see. but their accessories and bits are sold here. Router they show almost looks familiar but I don’t know why.
curious who makes the other bits for them if they are new. also curious if they were recently bought by someone.
rob
Most of the woodworking stores either don’t have massive borrowing credit with the largest power tool companies or don’t have buying power that would allow them to compete on price. If they carry Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Porter Cable or Bosch; it’s a very limited amount of SKU’s. Festool’s success in the USA owes a lot to this. They filled a hole. When Triton expanded here, they filled the downmarket hole. Trend is more of a finish carpentry oriented company (door and cabinet installation) but that does very much overlap with woodworking. I guarantee you, Trend is filling their customers’ shelves with these products.
Nathan
funny you mention triton because I sort of got that vibe off their website.
Jeremy Broun
Interesting post reading all the comments and curious why the post suddenly ended! I have had a relationship with Trend since 1989 promoting their cutters in my book ‘The Incredible Router’. Cutters are their niche market in innovation and they may still boast the greatest range but as with routers and jigs it is increasingly fiercely competitive. I have been asking router manufacturers why they have not brought out a cordless router years ago since brushless and lithium became game changers. The router is the very tool that is hindered by a cord even in the workshop! The USA seems to be stitched up by Milwauke and Dewalt on my casual observation from the UK so I guess Trend is in comparison a small but bold player. But as someone said wondering why Trend has entered cordless they may be dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t. Personally I think in what is essentially a traditional market, cordless routers will eventually join the club and maybe trigger some new innovations such as getting the weight and mass of the battery built into the plunge columns and router base not on top. Who knows! But I think they should keep them small.
Stuart
Over the years, and especially recently, many new brands have jumped into mature tool markets. These launches are usually accompanied with flashy but ambiguous advertising that doesn’t actually answer the question “as a tool user, why should I care?”
It’s always one let down after another.
What’s so special about Trend’s new cordless system once you cut through the buzzwords?
Jigsey
The Trend batteries look very similar to a Lidl brand called parkside over here in Europe… So I’m guessing Trend have licensed their name out to a OEM brand to help build a following and create a market, for zero cost to trend tools . Seems a good strategic move buy them
Kersley Virassamy
Trend and Parkside are nothing alike. Trend are selling like hot cakes here in the UK. they are sold in all major outlets like Screwfix and Toolstaion. I can see why they’re flying off the shelves cause the price is so low and lots of guys are buying them as they seem to be very good tools for the asking price with good performance. The cordless router and sanders are extremely good,so good I invested in the cordless mitre saw and I’m glad I did cause it most definitely outperform my 18v Metabo LTX from a few years back. I’m just hoping they’ll release a mutitool and jigsaw soon.