Lowe’s and Kobalt sponsored our exploration into the Kobalt 24V XTR cordless power tool line earlier this year, and I remain deeply impressed by what the tools can do.
The have continued to be my go-to even following the paid campaign. I have been meaning to give these tools away, but cannot quite bring myself to do that yet – I like them and have been using them often!
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Quite a few readers have emailed me since then. Where or when will the Kobalt XTR cordless power tools be back in stock at Lowe’s?
I asked Lowe’s, and they said they expected for the combo kit to be back in stock for the holiday season. I’ve been checking, and they are now back in stock.
The Kobalt 24V 5-tool cordless power tool combo kit will be priced at $399.
The combo kit comes with a hammer drill/driver, impact driver, circular saw, reciprocating saw, and flashlight. It’s bundled with a 2Ah battery and a 4Ah “Ultimate Output battery” with a compact form factor. And, it all comes with a rolling tool box.
Kobalt will also have a 24V Max XTR drill kit and 1/2″ impact wrench kit in stock for the holiday shopping season as well, along with a number of other Kobalt 24V kits and combo kits.
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As discussed in previous posts, Kobalt XTR is their premium line of brushless cordless power tools. Their 24V brushless power tools are also still quite good; XTR is better.
I still haven’t used the flashlight yet, but can answer questions about the other tools that you might have.
One reason I’ve been using the Kobalt XTR drill is because in heavier duty tasks, it’ll shut off if it binds, rather than twisting at my wrists. For the other tools, I’ve been loving the abundance of power and performance.
If you were looking to buy into Kobalt’s 24V cordless power tool ecosystem, the XTR combo is a great way in. Their non-XTR tools are decent too. I’m focusing on XTR here because that’s what I’ve been asked specifically about. There’s also a chance that once the holiday inventory sells out, we might not see the combos restocked until near Father’s Day.
Buy it Now – Kobalt XTR Combo Kit via Lowe’s
See Lowe’s Black Friday Tool Deals Here
See Home Depot Black Friday Tool Deals Here
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Kobalt 24V Max XTR Cordless Power Tools at Lowe’s – More Features, Power, Performance
JD
I’m liking everything Chervon is putting out these days. I’d love get a better understanding for their strategy with Skil vs Kobalt vs EGO. Where they all fit together.
Kobalt XTR seems to be the top of the line, but I have trouble committing long term to any Lowe’s managed brand. The Skil 12V and 18V offerings are really compelling, but it’s not really available for hands-on testing in my area.
On the OPE front I see Kobalt and EGO competing. Between those two, I’d imagine EGO is the premium brand.
Steve
I would like to see Chervon have their own pro brand and really see what they could do. (Non-store brand and Skilsaw seems too specialized on saws).
Ideally Emerson sells Ridgid to Chervon and they take it over as I don’t think Ridgid is achieving its full potential being pretty much run by TTi with their focus on Ryobi and Milwaukee.
Stuart
With Ridgid cordless power tools, Home Depot is the only customer. The customer gets what the customer wants. If the customer doesn’t want it, it doesn’t get made.
Steve
You’re definitely right Stu, any jailbreak for Ridgid would have to involve the Home Depot exclusivity situation.
I doubt it would ever happen though, I would presume all parties are happy with the current arrangement between Emerson/TTi/HD. Ridgid just seems like a brand perfectly positioned for Chervon to maximize its full potential if they got a hold of it. Next would possibly be Porter Cable, but there would be lots of brand image rehab to do with that one. Also lots of reasons why SBD wouldn’t want to get rid of it, PC becoming a competitor to Dewalt among them.
This is all abstract day dreaming on my part.
Robm
Ridgid power tools are a carbon copy of AEG tools(one of TTI) line. Also AEGs line in much larger.
Stuart
Yes, I am aware of that.
AEG tools are not available in the USA.
You’re not going to see any AEG power tools under Ridgid branding if they’re not going to be sold at Home Depot.
fred
I think that Emerso probably licensed (perhaps sold) the Ridgid brand name to Home Depot – for tools other than Plumbing. If so that might get complicated – but its an interesting idea.
BTW – the Kobalt $399 kit seems pretty good for what you get. I just bought a Milwaukee kit as a gift for a new homeowner – thought it looked nice at $599 – but this one does too – and the $200 difference in price aint bad.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-FUEL-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless-Combo-Kit-4-Tool-W-Free-Jig-Saw-Oscillating-Multi-Tool-2998-24-2737-20-2626-20/314315606
Jay
Man I need friends like you.
A W
I think they’ll be very happy with Milwaukee. As a young homeowner, I spent some time going back and forth between an M18 starter set or a Kobalt one and ultimately went Milwaukee for the one handed hackzall. I’m really glad I did, as additional tools, such as lighting, hedge trimmer and the surge impact driver have slowly worked their way into my toolbox.
Toolfreak
Skil is the budget/DIY brand. Chervon bought Skil from Bosch, presumably because they got a great deal and they were already developing the next generation of Skil tools, so they bought the brand to just keep doing what they had been doing and make money for themselves instead of for Bosch.
Kobalt 24V is the prosumer-level stuff. It’s Chervon’s 24V brushless tech sold under contract with Lowe’s. Lowe’s probably wanted a way to keep it’s house brand of power tools but wasn’t making enough money having to license the 18V/20V tech, and brushed motors were getting old, so Chervon’s answer was to add another battery cell for a 24V Max system and Lowe’s went in on the deal. The XTR stuff is probably supposed to be higher-end “pro” level but I think some of it’s just a minor reworking of existing 24V stuff with overdriven motors and of course that new 4Ah battery with larger cells.
EGO is their premium line for yard tools. These are still homeowner-grade stuff though, not really aimed at commercial/pro use.
Given that EGO is now at Lowe’s rather than HD, I’d guess there will be even more Skil/Kobalt/EGO stuff coming from Chervon.
fred
BF and other sales emails keep coming in. Here are a few:
Woodcraft – 20% off Whiteside router bits – 11/20 to 11/22 only
MLCS – use code FLASH-SETS – to get 10% off router bit sets – Today 11/20 only
Infinity Cutting Tools – 10% off on all orders over $80 – use code BF2020
Zoro – “sale prices” on Williams, Milwaukee, Makita, Bosch, Metabo and Crescent/Jobox through 12/31
Jared
Those tools look great and pricing seems very good. I hope they sell a bundle of them so it remains a viable tool line – that would be my only concern. Kobalt shows no signs of disappearing (coming out with this new line relatively recently and all), but with the Craftsman presence in Lowes, variable availability and the number of good brands in the power tool space… I still worry.
That’s not a worry at all, of course, unless the batteries aren’t available or you are adverse to having more than one battery platform.
Eli
Stuart,
Do you know if the XTR batteries are compatible with the 24v MAX tools?
Aaron
They are.
Stuart
As far as I am aware, they are fully compatible.
Toolfreak
The XTR 4Ah “ultimate output” battery will slide in to most of the non-XTR tools, but there are some issues in certain tools. If you use it with the angle grinder it’ll shut off, and it won’t fit into the regular/non-misting fan due to the wider width of the battery.
Frank D
I saw that ad page the other day, and stand corrected. When I saw less and less Kobalt at Lowes, maybe some clearance stickers, and then a sea of Craftsman stuff came in; I honestly thought Kobalt was being phased out / EOL. But they’re back with more. Good for them. Great news for those on the platform.
( I struggled with Ridgid 24v going the way of the dodo )
A-A-Ron
I’m surprised that the 3-pc kit comes with a free tool, yet no such offer is available for the 5-pc kit.
Stuart
It could be related to how many of the larger kits they expect to sell, or how many they could produce for a holiday promo.
Toolfreak
What they offer the free tools with is usually determined months ahead of time, so there is likely a huge stock of the 3-pc kits to be sold with the free tools, and far less of the 5-pc available.
They seem to have different free tool offers 2-3 times a year, so at some point there might be a free tool offer with the 5-pc kit.
George
While I have had no real problems with the Kobalt tools I have, the problem I have is the continuous feeling of product line support. Recently the “tool only” for some of the line is not available except with a battery pack and if one has 5 batteries the odds of needing more is nil. I cannot find a “tool only” chainsaw or pole saw. They keep saying ” coming back in stock soon “.