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It’s time for another round of example of funky retail price math, this time featuring the new Makita 18V cordless hammer drill.
I recently posted about the drill’s seemingly inflated torque claims, but here we’re just talking about tool pricing.
The new Makita XPH16T 18V cordless hammer drill kit seems a bit pricey at $359.
This kit comes with the drill/driver, 2x 5Ah batteries, and a tool bag.
The screenshot is from Tool Nut. Acme Tools has the same price, and I saw the same at other authorized dealers.
The new hammer drill is also bundled in a 2pc cordless combo kit. This XT296ST kit comes with the same XPH16 hammer drill, an XDT14 impact driver, 2x 5Ah batteries, charger, and tool bag.
The XDT14 launched at least 5 years ago – I referenced it in a 2018 post – and I found mentions of it in emails dating back to 2016.
It’s a bit strange for a brand new hammer drill to be paired with an older impact driver like this one.
The price for this 2pc combo kit is $339. Again, the same price is found at multiple authorized Makita tool dealers.
The drill kit is $359. Add in an impact driver and… the price goes down by $20?
At these retail prices, they’re basically paying you $20 to take the impact driver. Even if you don’t need it, $339 is lower than $359.
I’m not saying that this is a good price – $339 still seem high for what you’re getting.
At the time of this posting, Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel hammer drill and impact driver combo kit is $379 at Home Depot, plus you get a bonus battery. Both tools greatly outclass the ones in this Makita combo kit. Earlier this week, the Milwaukee combo kit was $349 for the two tools, 2x 5Ah batteries, charger, tool case, and a bonus battery.
$339 seems like a lot for a kit with a compact hammer drill and several year old impact driver.
Is the drill-only kit priced at $359 to make this combo kit seem like a great price at $339?
Actually, that makes sense. I wanted to try the Makita XGT cordless impact driver, and the way things worked out, I saved a lot of money by getting the combo kit with the hammer drill rather than just the impact driver in a kit, plus I got an extra bonus battery too. That was a few months ago, before the last price increase.
Maybe these kits will be discounted in a couple of months for the winter holiday shopping season, but it’s too soon to tell.
Purchase Links
Buy the Drill Kit at Tool Nut
Buy the Drill Kit at Acme Tools
Buy the Drill Kit at Amazon
Buy the Combo Kit at Tool Nut
Buy the Combo Kit at Acme Tools
Buy the Combo Kit at Amazon
