If you were hoping to snag any of the new Ryobi 30th anniversary blackout tools at Home Depot, I’ve got some bad news for you.
You’re tool late, they’re already gone from many stores.
See Also: New Limited Edition Ryobi Blackout Tools
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From the looks of it, all of the stores in my area had at most 3 of the new color drill in stores, and there were only 100 or so available for online purchase yesterday when the listing went live.
My closest store went from 3 in stock to “limited availability, check your store,” which in my experience means they’re all gone. The situation looks to be the same for other stores in my area.
I’m sure that scalpers scooped up a lot of the inventory, seeing as how there were already listings on ebay and Amazon prior to yesterday’s official launch time.
A reader said that there would be more tools later this year, something Ryobi has not yet confirmed. Hopefully they release further tools in greater quantities.
Checking around a wider shopping radius, I can see there’s still inventory at one store near me with online ordering disabled. If you were hoping to get your hands on one, good luck – you’d better get moving.
Well, they did say this would be a “limited edition.”
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Ryobi wasn’t able to comment about the new tools or situation.
ebt
I put one in my cart yesterday as a gift to a friend. Then last night, I was asking if he still wanted to replace his old Ryobi drill and he made a face. “I have Makita, not Ryobi…why?”
Phew…
Cart is empty without my help!
blocky
For DIY cred, Rusto is still stocked at most locations:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-12-oz-Protective-Enamel-Flat-Black-Spray-Paint-7776830/100670370
or you could chase that OG look previously discussed in the comments:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-12-oz-Custom-Spray-5-in-1-Gloss-Navy-Spray-Paint-376904/323255148
PB
I like using an assortment of vinyl or silicone tape for my customization. Maybe even heat shrink.
But now with 3d printers and TPU, I wonder what I can do.
Scott F
Do the economics make sense for this to be “it”? Let’s be gracious and say there is one distribution center per store for sake of this math.
2000 home Depot stores * 3 units = 6,000 store sale units
2000 distribution centers * 100 units = 200,000 delivery units
That means ~206k sales per product before sellout, assuming consistency between Stuart’s location and the rest of the US. While that is a big number, it doesn’t feel very big in the corporate America sense (not sure the size of Ryobi’s client base).
Do we really think this is all we will see of these tools – or is this a trial to gauge interest/refine inventory projections for a larger release downstream? Seems like a lot of effort for a relatively small amount of sales .
206k units * $100 = ~$21M revenue –> feels low. I’m sure there’s not a lot of investment to change color scheme and setup a new packaging run, but then all of the logistics and other considerations.
I think these will be back….
MM
I think you’re right. I think many of these brands are starting to learn that the “limited edition” angle can be used to sell, and I’ve seen more and more products like that lately, even in specialty niches like automotive spray guns. Most seem at least moderately successful, like the various “blacked out” hand tools. Some are clearly popular like Leatherman’s various limited editions that sell out in minutes and then get scalped for much higher prices on Ebay, etc. I haven’t seen many limited edition tools in the cordless space though. I recall that Dewalt once made McLaren edition cordless drills & impact drivers, and Makita made at least some of their tools in odd colors, but that’s all that I can recall. We’ll probably see more of this in the future though.
HmmmDusty
Major Japanese cordless brands (Makita, Hikoki (Hitachi), Panasonic – all currently and historically released their impacts and some other tools in multiple colors – some as limited edition, some as just options. This goes back at least 15 years, to NiCad models before Lion. Makita did recently release some 25th anniversary LXT tools, which are definitely meant to be limited though.
Luis
Really? I thought LXT was launched in 2005…
Bonnie
They’re just misremembering the number. Makita did a round of 20th anniversary tools.
Robert
Cameras too. Many Japanese camera manufacturers release special edition cameras , usually in a unique color scheme. (Sometimes the alteration is more substantial, like taking pictures only in black & white.) The cost to the manufacturers to make these cosmetic changes must not be high, because the production runs are small, and yet the practice is common.
Champs
Perhaps they shipped them with the Ryobi keychains that may or may not be flying off shelves. It’ll be fine.
Stuart
No; from what I’ve seen over the holiday seasons repeatedly, online fulfillment is only counted separately where it draws from in-store allocations.
Meaning, it would have been store inventory plus 100-ish units, not 100 per warehouse or region. The only exception I’ve seen is for where the online inventory is store-to-home fulfillment t.
I would estimate that there were at most 10,000 units sold to Home Depot, and that many were scooped up by scalpers.
S
Is the “you’re tool late” pun on purpose? It’s worth staying there either way, just funny if it’s a typo.
Stuart
Unintentional typo. Oops! I’ll leave it for now, thanks for catching it!
Ciccio
When marketing meet human psychology LOL
What the point of special edition tools ??
If you are a tool collector, if there is such a thing, you can buy them, but the special/limited edition, usually, is reserved for a very expensive item, like a $500K sport car or a $200K watch. Something that grow in value with the time..
Honestly a limited edition drill for a $100
I just don’t see the point.
I’d rather buy a combo set with a few tools painted black, maybe with some accessories and a fancy tool case and a certificate with the limited edition number on it. That would be a nice way to celebrate the 30th anniversary.
But just a drill ?
The only one making deals are tools manufacturers, thats it, in my opinion.
Nate
Ehh, I bought one. I’ve been on the Ryobi system since that beginning, still have some of the old blue tools in service, and I thought it was nifty.
And, yeah, it’s a totally normal price. Twenty bucks more than the non-black kit, and includes a higher-capacity battery that more than covers the difference. It’s actually a good deal, on a metal-chuck drill that I will actually use.
That’s what’s weird about it, it’s not a gold-plated ratchet that you’ll stick in a case and never touch, it’s a normal drill you can use every day and it’ll still be black years from now. I think that’s _better_ than a gold-plated ratchet, to be clear, it’s just unusual.
But anyone waiting for them to be available online, after the SKU hit Reddit along with the news that you could buy them in-store and there were only 4 units per store, well, I don’t know what they were waiting for.
MM
People absolutely do collect tools! I’ve met people who collected vintage Craftsman hand tools. I’m annoyed with the very high collector value of the smallest sizes of Wilton “bullet” style vises–they have been discontinued for years and collectors love the little ones, which they call the “baby”. I want one to actually use, but I don’t want to pay the $1000+ that used ones frequently command on Ebay. Woodworking tools seem to be where most of the collector’s interest is; rare antique English and Scottish planes can sometimes sell for thousands of dollars. Same for Japanese chisels and plane irons made by a famous smith. Some of the Bridge City Toolworks items made before they sold out to China demand very high collector prices too.
Rodney
There are two drills in Ranson, WV.
Clay
One of the two reviews of this drill:
“I bought it two weeks ago and I’m obsessed. It’s too beautiful to use; my first drill for my collection.”
Ciccio
“That’s what’s weird about it, it’s not a gold-plated ratchet that you’ll stick in a case and never touch, it’s a normal drill you can use every day and it’ll still be black years from now.”
The manufacturer sold thousand of them in few days, and will sell thousand of them the next days as well, making great money and a large profit selling you and other people the same drill for more money.
I am not trying to be negative, but this is what it is, no value in this purchased, i just don’t see the point to pay more money for the same item.
Nate
It’s not. It’s less money, when you consider that the included battery is larger than the comparable non-special-edition kit.
And I was already planning to add a second metal-chuck drill to my livery, so I was just waiting for a good deal to show up. This is that deal, with a bonus that it looks different, so keeping two bit setups gets a bit easier since I can tell from across the room which is which. Suppose I could’ve spraypainted one of my existing drills, but that’s not really my style?
(I’ve been doing this dual setup with a pair of plastic-chuck drills for years: One keeps a stubby 3/16″ bit for general-purpose “I need to stuff a ziptie in here” or “I just need a hole and I don’t care what size really”. The other gets a bit actually chosen for the task at hand. Or I can set up both for the task, say, one with the drillbit and one with the countersink, or whatever. This is great, but the plastic chucks are hard to tighten, and absolutely can’t tighten far enough to use spiral-taps, which is a big part of my work on 8020 extrusion, and I was keeping a DeWalt drill around for that single purpose. Since I got my first metal-chuck HP drill, it gets the tap and the DeWalt found a new owner. But that means I’m back to swapping bits into the metal-chuck drill, or using the plastic turds for serious work. I’d really like to have a second one, so one can keep the spiral-tap semipermanently, the other gets the bit du jour, and the plastic relics stay around for misc light duty. But the HP drills rarely go on sale. This isn’t advertised as a sale, but considering the included battery, it effectively is the price dip I was looking for. Yoink!)
fm2176
Well, darn. Nearly every store near me is showing limited stock, but one about 35 miles away supposedly has three. Despite having dozens of drills, I kind of want one. While I own a fair number of Ryobi tools, I’ve purposefully avoided buying “core” tools like drivers and saws, so I’ve got an impact driver I picked up on deep clearance and my father-in-law’s old blue drill.
These special editions might be considered “collectible” by some, but I’d argue that they’re about as valuable as the “commemorative” guns sold through the likes of VFW Magazine and American Rifleman through the years. You know, a John Wayne 94 Winchester or a Vietnam War M1911A1. You might pay more for it, and it sure looks pretty, but you can keep it unused for years and watch as it only loses value. That $2000 investment you’ve kept in the gun safe for three decades is worth less than an unaltered normal gun. With cordless power tools, good luck. At least Ryobi seems to be committed to One+, but that 30th Anniversary battery will die at some point, and your “special” drill will be forced to use the standard 24Ah plutonium-oxide One+ Hyperion battery available in 2062.
I got the blacked-out Ridgid kid seven or so years ago and use it–well, as much as I use any other tools. They sat out in my garage for a few years, and I had to work to free up the chuck on the drill. Oh well, they’re tools… a “special edition”, perhaps, but besides the color the exact same as the Gen5X Ridgid tools from that era.
If I’m unable to find these Ryobi tools (honestly, I really don’t know if I’d buy them if I found them), I guess I’ll have to content myself with owning the 85th Anniversary Black and Decker drill: https://www.amazon.com/Decker-RD1440K-Anniversary-Cordless-Driver/dp/B00006FX9U/
That was my only cordless tool for years and did more than a few projects, despite being front heavy and unable to stand on its battery, not to mention Ni-Cad. I even bought a few spare batteries for it at Walmart when B+D discontinued their 14.4v tools. I guess tool collectors were a bit different back then–that and online scalpers were uncommon–as I found that drill in a torn box on the Kmart clearance rack in the late-’90s.
fm2176
I typed away too soon. My local HD had two on the display, along with a few vacuums. I bought one of each, despite not needing them. Truth be told, I might have made a case for the vacuum, as my Evercharge has been intermittently refusing to turn on, but I figured it’ll work nicely hidden away as a toolshed cleanup tool.
Besides the hit or miss inventory, scalper listings, and debatable pricing scheme, let’s talk about the significance of these tools: 30 years of compatibility is unmatched by any other tool brand out there. DeWalt and Milwaukee’s platforms (among others) are getting relatively long in the tooth now, having been around for roughly 15 years, but Ryobi One+ was first introduced about the same time as DeWalt’s 18v Ni-Cad system. Consider all of the platforms that have come and gone in that time.
Some of the biggest hangups for many when it comes to buying cordless tools are the facts that a) batteries eventually fail, b) batteries are expensive, and c) battery platforms are eventually abandoned. Ryobi has made the cost of admission into One+ relatively cheap for years with their annual Ryobi Days sales, along with other promos. In recent years, they’ve offered 2Ah and 4Ah starter kits instead, but in years past, you could get two-4Ah batteries with a charger for $99, along with your choice of a free tool. For the past two years, they’ve had an HP starter kit with better batteries and more premium free tool offers for $199. So, someone who bought a Ryobi kit in 1996 could conceivably invest $99 and get not only two much better batteries than they originally had but also expand their tool selection. A good friend of mine paid something along the lines of $30 for a large combo kit with case years ago (something like six different tools in a blow mold case, IIFC). With a couple of new batteries, he had a perfectly serviceable tool setup for his needs. That’s something you just can’t do with other brands. DeWalt 18v kits can sometimes be found somewhat cheap, but the tools are usually worn out, and you’ll pay an arm and a leg for batteries.
Anyway, that’s it. I spent $150 I didn’t need to for tools I’ll rarely use.
Rx9
Oh no. I was totally going to buy one of these to screw my broken Labubu doll’s head back on.
In all seriousness, I’m going to take a hard pass. I also wouldn’t ever buy a Labubu, so I guess I’m not the target market for this either. Also, real collectible items are never actually sold as “collectibles”.
Shane Hester
I saw 3 of these on the shelf yesterday. Had no idea they were “hot”! Vicksburg, Ms if you live nearby or are “jonesing” for this drill!