This last Thursday I stopped in one of my local Home Depots and they already had their holiday Special Buy displays out. I had just been in another Home Depot Wednesday and they hadn’t even cleared the space, so not every Home Depot is ramping up their special Buy displays just yet.
Stuart’s Note: My local Home Depot doesn’t have anything up yet, but I expect that to change soon. Most if not all Home Depots should have their seasonal tool promo displays up soon.
Advertisement
Each Home Depot seems to carry their own mix of the same holiday Special Buys and deals, but if your local store doesn’t have a specific deal, you can find most of them online. I’ll also post links for the items I can find. Pricing can also vary from store to store on some products. That is because there are some products that the local managers have more control over, and other products they have to sell at a fixed price.
Last year, what I observed was the prices on the products where the managers have discretion creep down between now and Black Friday, then they reset after Black Friday and creep down again until after the holiday season and eventually find their way into clearance.
Some products, likely the ones that the managers don’t have control over, stay the same price and eventually disappear into the rafters of the store until the next deal season. There’s no guarantee that’s what will happen this year, but I suspect we’ll see the same behavior.
Here’s some of the products I think are worth watching over the next few months.
Li-ion Battery Deals
$139 will buy you a Milwaukee M18 5Ah battery and rapid charger, two 18V 4Ah Ridgid batteries, two 18V 3Ah Makita batteries, or two 20V Max 3Ah Dewalt batteries.
Buy Now (Milwaukee Rapid Charger and M18 5.0Ah Battery)
Buy Now (Ridgid)
Buy Now (Makita) – Compare via Amazon
Buy Now (Dewalt)
We expect for the battery 2-packs to drop to $99, as they have in the past.
We see this every year, but $99 is still a decent deal for two Ryobi Lithium+ 4Ah batteries.
It just wouldn’t be the holiday season if you couldn’t get a package of two Milwaukee M12 3Ah (6 cell) battteries for $89.
The M12 drill and impact driver, shown on the poster but not in the photo, is all but guaranteed to drop to $99, based on historical trends.
(The price historically decreases later in the month.)
Tool Storage/Organization Deals
Stuart just wrote about these new Ridgid clear-lid organizers that connect to their modular pro toolbox system.
Since it’s new, we don’t know if the price will change.
Next up is a trio of part and tool carrying solutions for under $15.
I’ve never tried the double sided organizer, but I really like the style of organizer that has removable bins rather than dividers. It makes it easier to remove parts and if you standardize on one system you can just grab the bins you need for a particular job rather than carrying half a dozen cases.
I favor tool totes over bags, but the 15″ tool bag looks interesting with the pockets on the outside as well as the large zippered compartment.
Buy Now (Double-sided organizer)
Buy Now (15″ tool tote)
Buy Now (15″ tool bag)
Just because it’s in a special display, that doesn’t mean you should spend full price on a regularly stocked item. You can get a much better deal if you wait on these Milwaukee 20″ job site organizers, which regularly go on sale for $20.
Cordless Power Tool Deals
The holiday season is the time for $99 entry level drill and impact driver kits. Starting off with Dewalt they have the DCD777C2 drill with two 1.3Ah batteries and charger. They also have DCF787C1 impact driver kit with one 1.3Ah battery and charger. Both tools feature brushless motors.
Buy Now (Drill) – Compare via Amazon
Buy Now (Impact Driver) – Compare via Amazon
Milwaukee’s new M18 compact brushless 2801-21P drill and 2850-21P impact driver kits both come with a 2Ah battery, charger, and bag.
Buy Now (Drill)
Buy Now (Impact driver)
Makita’s brushless XFD131 drill and XDT131 impact driver both come with a 3Ah battery, charger, and bag.
Buy Now (Drill) – Compare via Amazon
Buy Now (Impact driver) – Compare via Amazon
For $99 you could get the Ryobi 18V drill/impact driver kit with two 1.3Ah batteries charger and bag, or a Ridgid brushless hammer drill with two 1.5Ah batteries and a charger.
Buy Now (Ryobi kit)
Buy Now (Ridgid kit)
Husky Mechanics Tool Sets
Tool kits are a good gift idea for kids leaving the nest, people buying a first time house, or first car, They are also good deals if you want a variety of tools packaged much cheaper than buying individual tools.
This year there are several Husky Mechanics tool kits for sale.
Buy Now (268 Piece)
Buy Now (230 Piece)
Buy Now (134 Piece)
Buy Now (92 Piece)
Buy Now (105 Piece)
Buy Now (60 Piece)
Wet/Dry Vacuums
Ridgid has a compact 3 gallon wet dry vac for $40.
(There are bound to be more wet/dry shop vacuum deals.)
Ryobi is discounting their EverCharge 18V hand vacuum to $60.
Other Notable Tools
I’m not going to link to the rest of these random tools, frankly my eyes are starting to cross and I’m probably giving Stuart a headache. I’m going to provide a link where you can see all the special holiday buys online at the end of the post.
I counted 6 different glove displays.
The “two for $10” Empire levels and rafter squares have been a staple of past holiday seasons. I’ve never tried this particular Bosch laser distance measuring tool, but I have the bigger brother of the 30′ cross line laser and I’ve found it indispensable.
Buy Now (Empire Level 2-Pack)
I counted 16 different flashlight and headlamp deals. I’m not counting the stick up lights, lanterns, or utility lights.
Husky hex keys, ratchet accessories, and ratcheting wrenches are all there again. I was planning on picking up the ratchet accessory set last year. I was waiting for it to drop in price, but it sold out right away near me. I might just shell out the $25 this time.
Finally, speaking of products that never get discounted and spend years up in the rafters, The Keg jig deal is back and it’s joined by the Rip-Cut. Around here, the Kreg jig is still around at the end of the season for the same price it started at, and maybe only one or two are gone from the display.
Stuart’s Note: Some of the deals and displays are restocked throughout the season, but the Kreg jigs didn’t seem to sell well at my local stores either.
One Last Bit of Advice
Following is a link that should take you to all of Home Depot’s holiday special buys. On Home Depot’s left sidebar, there’s see a check box that filters according to “In Stock at Store.” If you first select your store and then click that checkbox it should show you the Special Buys at a specific location. Not all of the in-store deals are listed there (yet?).
Due to the pricing considerations I discussed at the beginning, the website may not reflect the actual store pricing; sometimes the website pricing is better than the store pricing.
Chris
Oh boy it’s that time of year again!!
Though, I’m hesitant to wander into the Home Depot down the street from my college. I have a truck I need to pay off, on top of buying snap on tools(with my student discount!) for school. I might pop in and see if they have any packout boxes for sale though.
Philip
Acme tools has a sale on the Packout boxes right now
Frank
good call, I picked up one of the compact organizers I’ve been wanting for a while.
smee
My local HD had the Milwaukee 20″ Jobsite Organizers in the holiday display the other day, marked at around $20. I had been planning to get one anyway so I picked one up. It rang up at the normal $24.95 price but they dropped it to the posted price when I asked.
Bolt
They’ve got a 2 pack of 4×1/2” diablo diamond cut of wheels for 15 bucks that seems like a good deal. I’ll probably pick up a pack sometime soon.
Benjamen
I photographed the entire holiday display, so I could compared prices later and I totally missed the Diablo diamond cut-off discs when writing this post.
I’ve been thinking about picking up some from a few different manufacturers to try, so I would have included it if I had noticed. Thanks for the catch!
Jason. w
I own a total of two wrench’s and a rachet with 3 sockets. Yeah, it’s sad.
Which combo kit would you guys recommend? I don’t do my own car maintenance
Robear
Lowes has the new Craftsman tool sets. Good quality and affordable. Great starter set. Harbor Freight has a mechanics tool set which is decent and will be cheap on black Friday. HF also has new Quinn branded tools which are gorgeous and carry a higher price tag.
Bryan
Check out Tekton.com
Tekton has really stepped up their game. Affordable good quality tools. No hassle always guarantee. Can find them on Amazon too. But their website has more options, free shipping and reward points.
Many, of their tools are made in USA. I bought their new screwdriver set, 1/4 drive set (they don’t skip sizes) and they just came out with angle wrenches.
Matthew
Personally I look for the set with the fewest 12 point sockets (I don’t trust them unless there’s a12 point fastener and that is rare in my world). Husky is good, I like there ratchets better than Kobalt. I’m thinking of getting the universal set with 100 position ratchets and then supplementing with the Quinn sockets Robear mentioned.
aerodawg
Look at the gearwrench stuff on Amazon. I’ve been impressed with the price/quality ratio on it.
Frank D
Our HD has the holiday tool section in the garden overflow area with the usual holiday fare. No specials. No packout. They did have six of the new Ridgid job organizer boxes … picked one up.
ktash
Our local HD had the Milwaukee 142 driver set for $29. Four of the red boxes. It was the only thing I got there, but these are some of my favorite bits. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-SHOCKWAVE-IMPACT-DUTY-Driver-Bit-Set-142-Piece-48-32-4075/305227364. I got them now because there weren’t many out and I wondered if they’d run out quickly. I will probably keep this set. But, I’m not opening it until I see what other bits are offered over the holidays. The thing I didn’t like about them is that there are so many of the 1″ bits. I’d rather have the 2″ and 3.5 inch. The advantage of this set is that they have so many different types and sizes, so I won’t be searching through other tools to find an odd sized or little used type of bit.
Frank D
I may have a closer look, at first glance the diversity and utility is not quite there … so many tiny bits and not even a magnetic bit holder per package. Plus practically … what is in what sorting case when you need something.
ktash
Frank D, agreed about the diversity and utility. In my case, I have some items I really like and already own from previous sets, like bit holders, and I thought I’d put classes of items in different cases, like a single complete set of all bits in one case, a tool bag set in another, a household set in a third, a bench top case in the fourth. Or something like that, anyway. Since the cases are modular, it makes it easy to do.
It’s not the perfect set, to be sure, unfortunately this is what often seems to happen with the holiday specials, be it driver bits or tool kits.
mattd
the ratcheting wrenches are tempting me. I do not own any, and for the price this seems like the most comprehensive set out there with the addition of the stubbies.
Philip
It wasn’t in the holiday deals section, the Leatherman Wave+ was newly priced at $79 at the local HD here. Makes for a pretty nice holiday sales deal itself
Steve
Yay! That Ridgid vac is highly rated and really handy. Advice to others, stay away from the M12 drill/driver kit, unless you are using it to bridge your way into the system. By that I mean the battery and charger. It’s a great deal, but the fuel versions are so much better and there are way better offerings out there from Bosch and Dewalt. These models are just clunky and not current….but it you need backups or beater tools it’s a good buy.
Anton
Where are all the Dewalt deals?!
Benjamen
For Dewalt, besides that endcap with the Drill and impact driver, there was only $14.88 for 150 utility blades and $12.88 for a two pack of utility knives.
Chance
While that Dewalt battery “deal” isn’t that bad, for $20 (roughly) less you could buy a similar on Acme if that sale is still ongoing as of 11/4. Or for $20 more, you could buy a 5 mAh set for $159.
Last year Home Depot actually had a better deal with if I remember correctly this was a charger plus a 3 (maybe 4 mAh?) battery for if I remember correctly $100 range. That was a better deal, as the chargers aren’t cheap.
There are some Acme deals on Dewalt batteries nothing massively significant, ,SBD tends to have a (rightfully so) tight grip on prices/sales.
Brian A
Swear one store I was at had a sign with $99 on those battery deals. Maybe was the BF sign they mistakenly put there.
OldDominionDIYer
I am a bit disappointed that my local HD never seems to have the Packout stuff in stock. I finally bought into the system via Acme Tools and saved 2 bucks over the advertised Black Friday price coming to HD and didn’t have to pay the 6% state & local tax so win-win. I also am able to avoid the madness of Black Friday in the stores which is nearly priceless in itself!
Robert Pennington
“The two pack batteries will be $99 guaranteed.” -HD Manager
Brian
Has anyone found the 15″ tool tote combo? I can only find a three part combo that is $30.