Here are some general Black Friday tool deal shopping tips we picked up over the years. These tips are aimed more at Black Friday tool deal shopping novices, such as beginner DIYers, new homeowners, or someone picking up a hobby for the first time.
There are of course exceptions.
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Do you have any other Black Friday and Holiday deal shopping tips to share?
Hand Tool Deal Tips
A lot of what you see in stores are designed to appeal to gift givers, who will be buying them up in large quantities. Such tools are designed to sell, but might not provide you with any benefits.
Wrenches might be shorter, small tool sets or assortments might lack important sizes, warranties and guarantees mean less when replacement tools are only sold a couple of months during the year.
There are great deals to be had, if you’re careful.
Some of the “stocking stuffers” are worth considering, even for those with well stocked tool boxes.
Power Tool Deal Tips
As with hand tools, there are plenty of good deals out there. But… as with hand tools, some of the lowest priced “special buy” power tools are cheapened in some way to achieve the lowest pricing possible. They might have less features, weaker motors, smaller batteries, slower chargers.
So when you see a cordless power tool kit with a price that’s too good to be true, look for the tradeoff. Maybe the saw works with a smaller circular blade size, which limits cutting capacity and might require a bit of searching for replacement blades. Or maybe the drill has just 1 speed setting and low max torque rating.
Power Tool Accessory Set Deal Tips
Don’t look at bit or blade count to determine whether an accessory set is a worthy buy. “Special Buy” screwdriver bit sets sometimes offer very little size or style selection, and drill bit sets are sometimes cheapened versions of a brand’s regular sets.
For bit sets, look at how many different sizes and styles of bits there are, and for drill bits make sure that the packaging says something about how the bits can be used on wood, plastic, or metal – except if you’re buying wood-specific or other specialty drill bits.
Be careful when looking at online stores to compare in-store prices. Resellers buy promo accessory sets at retail and sell them online at a hefty markup.
SteveR
Stuart–Your tips are well-taken. Yes, you may save some on Black Friday and beyond, but most, if not all, “deals” come at a price. As you’ve pointed out, features may be missing, not all desirable sizes of drills, sockets, screwdrivers, etc., are included and so on. Read the box CAREFULLY before you put down your cash or plastic.
If it’s to be a gift for a friend or relative, be sure it’s one that you’d buy for yourself. If it passes that test after you’ve weighed all the pros and cons, it will likely make a great gift.
adam
if you aren’t sure about an item, I’d err on the side of buying now and thinking more afterwards. Often won’t be there after you make your mind up, but you can always return if you decide otherwise.
John
Yeah case in point the “3/8 Kobalt Universal Socket Set” 19 socket set on Black Friday sale I thought was a not so bad deal looked okay, but then noticed it was missing and skipped 12 mm socket and had no 19mm (two of the most popular size in autos repair) but has an 11mm which fits almost nothing at all I’ve ever run into. Who came up with the sizes?
Farid
I once had Pontiac with one side of the alternator bracket had metric and other side had SAE bolts!
The issue with wrench sizes can be explained by looking at the table below which shows the Hex head size for each metric bolt size. Most tool sets are based on the DIN standard (European). These sizes have been around for a really long time. Unfortunately, a lot of Japanese cars, and even non Japanese cars that use Japanese auto parts have some JIS standard bolts mixed in. Someone needs to remind the tool suppliers, I guess.
Bolt Size (mm) DIN JIS4 7 7
5 8 8
6 10 10
7 11
8 13 12
10 17 14
12 19 17
14 22 19
16 24 22
18 27
20 30 30
Farid
Sorry, the webpage took away the spaces in the columns above.
The first number is bolt size (diameter), the second is the DIN standard wrench size. The third column is JIS wrench size.
fred
Sounds sort of like some of those old English bolts that had 17/32, 19/32or 25/32 hex heads – just to be different. And – don’t get me started about old thread patterns like Whitworth and Löwenherz.