In the latest round of Home Depot Math, let’s take a look at this secret deal on the Milwaukee M18 Fuel cordless blower.
To start off, this is a fantastic cordless blower. I have one on my testing rack – it’s performed very well, and feels comfortably balanced.
It blows air at up to 120MPH and 500 CFM, which are respectable performance specs for 18V class cordless blowers.
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It’s also refreshingly quiet, or at least quieter than most others I’ve used, with a 54 dB(A) noise rating.
Runtime has been great – Milwaukee says you’ll get around 20 minutes at 3/4 throttle with a FORGE 8Ah battery, and 30 minutes at 3/4 throttle with a FORGE 12Ah battery.
The variable speed and locking control switch is easy and convenient to use.
I really like this model cordless leaf and debris blower and feel I can recommend it without reservation.
At the time of this posting, Milwaukee authorized retailers have it for $149 for the tool-only blower, which seems like a fair price.
But as shown in the top image, Home Depot is bundling it with tinted safety glasses for $15 less.
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It’s a special buy at $149 right now. So I guess we can call the secret bundle deal an extra special bonus buy at $134 with free shipping.
I wear corrective glasses and so I can’t use the tinted safety glasses that come with the special deal bundle. If the same is true for you, give them away and keep the $15 extra savings that come along with it.
If you’re looking to buy an M18 cordless leaf blower, this is a good model at what looks like an excellent deal right now.
Both listings are for the M18 Fuel 3017-20 tool-only blower. So why do you get an extra $15 off if you buy the bundle with safety glasses? “Home Depot Math.”
This is a recommendable cordless blower at lower pricing. I’ve learned not to overthink it.
Home Depot has a couple of other bundle deals featuring the same blower: with the 16-inch chainsaw for $399, and with the 24-inch hedge trimmer for $349. Those bundles seem to give you a discount compared to buying the bare tools separately.
As an aside, Milwaukee just launched a new M18 brushless cordless blower, and Acme Tools has it available for preorder at $149. I don’t know what the implication is of Milwaukee launching a slightly lower spec’ed non-Fuel blower at the same price as the current street price of the M18 Fuel model.
It was price-checking that led me to stumble across the hidden bundle deal at Home Depot, and I suspect that the Fuel version won’t be at the $149 special buy price for much longer.
Retailers won’t be able to sell the M18 Fuel brushless and non-Fuel M18 brushless blowers at the same $149 price point. The M18 Fuel blower has a “was” and list price of $199. I would guess that the Fuel version might see a price increase next season, and that the non-Fuel model allows Milwaukee to offer something that’s still decent at the $149 price point.
To me, speculating about future pricing makes the $134 bundle price seem even better.
Robert
Could the good deal with the safety glasses just be that Home Depot is being a good corporate citizen? Cynicism tends to be a reflex reaction at times, but maybe a HD executive simply thought they could do this without much cost to the company.
Jonathan OAF
At my old building, I tried this with a 5AH battery and it lasted 2 minutes, you definitely need the larger battery types.
notinuse
Yep, running OPE with an 18V battery never seemed like a good match to me.
Clay
I have the slightly older version of this one and really like it.
This is a good reminder to wear eye protection when blowing. I damaged my eye once with airborne particulates while blowing and had a very painful few months and eventual surgery.
Stuart
Sorry to hear that, I hope you’ve healed up! I agree about eye protection – I wear goggles over my glasses.
John Blair
Home Depot math is often a requirement from the vendor. They are given a special discount from a company like Milwaukee, but they ask them to make it a special SKU so they don’t get price-matching requests from all of their other authorized dealers. Because it’s a “Bundle Price,” they don’t have to honor price matches for one item of the bundle. Sneaky workaround to not change market price but still get extra sales from people who like special deals.
TomD
This is exactly it – and this blower is one of those “wait and you’ll get it free” tools. I have like five of them somehow.
Dave P
These won’t hold up at all in dusty conditions. The dust takes the bearings out. Milwaukee’s warranty has been great, but I’m tired of driving 55 miles to an authorized service center to turn them in, and then making the drive again to pick up a new one once they’ve decided to honor the warranty.
I’m done with these; they won’t hold up AT ALL.
I’ve a couple of old cheap 110v blowers-I’m sorry that I don’t know what brand they are… but anyway they’ve been ran in the same dusty conditions for over a decade and they still work great.
Milwaukee stuff has been cheapened up. I have an absolute TON of Milwaukee cordless M12 and M 18 but I’m done buying any more. The batteries are great still but not the newer tools. The older stuff can really take a beating but not the newer stuff.
Dave F
I have this blower for well over a year and have been very pleased with it. It gets used at least weekly, not more. My wife even uses it, so I know it gets a seal of approval from her too.
Runtime has been great with standard batteries and it works even better with the larger ones.
For $135, its a great deal.
Aaron
Veteran Discount stacked. Down to $120.60 before taxes
Bill
They’re offering a similar deal on the Milwaukee framing nailer with glasses. $384 vs around $440 for just the nailer:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-FUEL-3-1-2-in-18-Volt-30-Degree-Brushless-Cordless-Framing-Nailer-Tool-Only-w-Tinted-Anti-Scratch-Safety-Glasses-2745-20-48-73-2015/318270174