Here’s what happened: EGO, a very popular brand of cordless outdoor power tools, has gone from being a Home Depot exclusive to a Lowe’s exclusive. You can still find EGO tools at some other retailers, but not to the same extent that we’re talking about here.
On July 21st, 2020, Home Depot announced to their investors that they were accelerating investments in outdoor power categories and that this would involve a refinement of top brands. Home Depot will be performing a merchandise reset of their outdoor power equipment selection.
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As part of all this, according to the news release, Home Depot would be discontinuing the EGO line of outdoor power equipment. You can read more about this here.
On July 22nd, 2020, Lowe’s announced their new exclusive partnership with EGO, and that they will be the exclusive nationwide home center to offer EGO’s popular battery-powered outdoor power tools.
There are a lot of reader comments to both posts, and in those replies there are a lot of guesses as to what happened to prompt these changes..
WHY this big change? Frankly, I don’t expect to learn the answer to this, as details behind exclusivity arrangements are rarely made public. I could of course ask our press contacts for insights, but with near-zero expectations that I would actually learn anything substantial.
I have learned industry secrets here and there over the years, and I would think my discretion is partially responsible for that. It’s a moot point though, because these partnerships involve too high-level decisions and discussions for us to ever learn details about.
I could only guess as to how this could have come to be. What’s frustrating is that my best guesses all seem plausible.
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Was it Home Depot’s Initiative?
Here are Home Depot’s core-focus cordless power tools brands:
- Dewalt
- Makita
- Milwaukee
- Ridgid
- Ryobi
Of these brands, Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, and Ryobi all have a strong presence in the cordless outdoor power tool industry. They all have competitive offerings, and broad selection.
EGO certainly had a place in Home Depot’s cordless outdoor power tools category, and a sizable presence at that, and the fact is that their exclusivity at Home Depot contributed to their growth and success over the years, coupled with their innovative designs, constant improvements, great performance, and excellent quality.
EGO and Home Depot were great partner together, or so it seemed, and I am sure it worked out well to both companies’ benefits.
But what if Home Depot did want to give greater shelf space to some of the brands that make up the bulk of their cordless power tools department?
It is possible that Home Depot pushed EGO out to reset their cordless outdoor power equipment category.
What About Home Depot’s Investor News Release?
However, Home Depot “resetting” their outdoor power tool category indicates what will happen and not necessarily what led up to this. Did they part with EGO, or did EGO part with them? Does this matter with respect to the investor news release? No, and so it’s understandable and even expected for the messaging to be ambiguous about this.
Regardless of the how and why, EGO leaving Home Depot and going to Lowe’s leaves a hole in Home Depot’s selection, but also one they are highly capable of filling.
Home Depot’s release is titled: The Home Depot Accelerates Investments in Outdoor Power Categories, Refines Assortment of Top Brands. EGO is mentioned once:
As part of this merchandise reset, the company has made the decision to discontinue the Ego line of outdoor power equipment.
This language does suggest that Home Depot was the deciding party, pushing EGO out and into Lowe’s arms, but in no way confirms it. It is entirely possible that EGO informed Home Depot that they would not be renewing their exclusivity arrangement and that they have instead signed a deal with Lowe’s, leading Home Depot to discontinue the line a few months before the arrangement was set to end.
With Home Depot and Lowe’s being each other’s biggest competitors, details beyond what was announced so far are unlikely to become public.
Whether EGO left Home Depot, or Home Depot changed the relationship on their side, would Home Depot’s announcement have been any different? Probably not.
Was it Lowe’s Move?
It could be possible that Lowe’s lured EGO away from Home Depot, offering a more favorable deal and promising greater benefits.
Many of Lowe’s Kobalt cordless power tools are made by Chervon, EGO’s parent company, and so they enjoy a strong relationship in that regard. Lowe’s could want to boost their cordless lawn & garden tools selection, and bringing EGO over will certainly do that.
Consider Home Depot’s relationship with the aforementioned cordless power tool brands. Have you seen how dominant Milwaukee Tool has become in Home Depot’s cordless power tools, hand tools, power tool accessories, and safety product categories? They have a huge presence of Ridgid and Ryobi tools and accessories, with these being house brands both managed by TTI North America. Dewalt and Makita are also very visible at Home Depot, with Dewalt in cordless power tool, hand tool, storage, accessory, and clamping tool sections, among others. Diablo is strongly represented in Home Depot’s power tool accessories section. In case you have forgotten, Home Depot has an exclusive partnership with Stanley and FatMax. They also seem to have an exclusive presence of Empire Level too, with perhaps more products on the shelf now that the brand is owned by Milwaukee.
Over at Lowe’s, they have a very strong relationship with Stanley Black & Decker, especially since Lowe’s stores underwent a reset to heavily feature Craftsman tools. Dewalt, Irwin, and Lenox are also owned by Stanley Black & Decker, with these brands being prominent in Lowe’s tool department. You will find some Dewalt tools exclusive to Home Depot and others (such as Xtreme SubCompact) exclusive to Lowe’s.
But, from what I have seen, Lowe’s does not seem to have as many powerful relationships as Home Depot. Stanley Black & Decker’s Craftsman and Dewalt brands are certainly emphasized offerings at Lowe’s, but Lowe’s doesn’t seem as tightly bound to some of their other brands. For example, it does not appear that Lowe’s features Bosch and Metabo HPT cordless power tool offerings with the same energy as Home Depot does Milwaukee and Makita.
Bringing EGO to Lowe’s stores will be a big boost in itself, but I can’t help but wonder what benefits there might in addition to this.
Like EGO, Skil is a Chervon tool brand, and one that was acquired from Bosch a few years ago. Since then, Chervon has been working to revamp the brand. Did you notice that Lowe’s also announced that they will be offering a selection of Skil cordless power tools? This new arrangement is not just about EGO.
A reader emailed in today, sharing their observation that you can no longer purchase Skilsaw tools from Home Depot. Skilsaw is a pro-oriented arm of the Skil brand.
In my opinion, Skil could definitely benefit from a stronger retail presence, and so I could very well imagine Lowe’s pitching a powerful proposal to Chervon, perhaps one where they express interest in heavily featuring and promoting Skil’s cordless offerings during high-sales volume seasons.
Keep in mind that Lowe’s is EGO’s customer, as well as Skil’s customer. Chervon, the OEM for many Kobalt cordless power tools (I say many because a different brand might be making their 80V Max tools) has an existing relationship.
Does Skil exclusivity sweeten the deal, or does it play a big part?
What I’m trying to say is that Lowe’s could have won EGO over from Home Depot with a multi-faceted deal that would bolster their relationship. Lowe’s can benefit from broadening their cordless power tool and outdoor power tool brand and product selections, and Chervon could benefit from the opportunity to do this.
Chervon and Lowe’s already have an OEM relationship for Kobalt’s 24V Max cordless power tools. This new partnership with EGO would have led to a bigger relationship by itself, but adding Skil and maybe also Skilsaw into the mix makes for an enormous deal.
Was it EGO’s Move?
It is also possible for EGO to have said “hey Lowe’s, buddy, we’re thinking of leaving Home Depot – have you got an advantageous place for us?”
The last time I was at Lowe’s, with respect to cordless power tools, they had select Bosch and Metabo HPT offerings, strong showings of Kobalt and Dewalt tools, and emphasized focus on Craftsman tools. There’s room for another brand in there, and there’s room for a premier cordless outdoor power tools to make Lowe’s a bigger power tool and cordless outdoor power tool destination for shoppers.
Chervon has been expanding their still relatively new lines of Skil cordless power tools. Not to digress, but theirs are very good offerings and I am quite impressed with what they have done in a short amount of time. Then again, Chervon is a very experienced cordless power tools company and so this should not have come as a surprise.
However, their business is almost certainly down. When Sears sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker, and when they started closing down stores and losing online shoppers, that must have hurt Chervon quite a bit. The near-demise of a customer the size of Sears – and I’m specifically talking about Sears from a few years ago – would not have been insignificant.
International Tool went bankrupt, and in the proceedings it was said that “Sears was one of the Debtor’s most significant customers.”
Who is a significant customer of Chervon’s Skil brand of cordless power tools?
Skil looks to be enjoying strong sales at Amazon, but is Amazon a strong enough partner through which Skil could become a strong competitor against the other name brands they seek to match or best? Will Amazon help Skil gain appreciable market share?
EGO is a very well-known brand of cordless outdoor power tools. Will Skil become as well-known if they simply continue on their current path?
Chervon could have approached Lowe’s, saying something like: “Hey Lowe’s, have you seen how well our Skil brand has been selling at [Amazon and possibly other retailers]? We’d like to gain more market share. We would like Skil to be a Lowe’s retail exclusive, and we know how much you’ve been eyeing EGO – we’ll give you exclusivity there too.”
EGO is well-known and quite popular, and with strong brand loyalty where many customers will follow the brand to Lowe’s.
Starting with a selection of tools, Skil will now have a retail foothold. And, it’s not just Skil 12V and 20V cordless platforms, but also Skil’s 40V outdoor power tools lineup. This makes for a very mutually-beneficial deal. EGO is established and can bring customers to Lowe’s, and Skil is a burgeoning brand that can benefit from exposure to Lowe’s customers.
Home Depot has no room for Skil in either their cordless power tool or outdoor power tool departments. While Lowe’s has their existing partnerships, I could see this deal as being something they were sold on.
With Skil 12V, 20V, and 40V Max cordless power tools and outdoor power tools at Lowe’s stores, and EGO cordless outdoor power tools, and maybe Skilsaw tools as well, Lowe’s will be a much bigger customer to Chervon than previously. Let’s also not forget about Chervon and Lowe’s existing relationship involving Kobalt 24V Max cordless power tools.
Or…
Things could have played out much simpler. Perhaps EGO’s exclusivity arrangement with Home Depot was up for renewal and they asked both Home Depot and Lowe’s for proposals. Lowe’s presented a better deal and EGO signed with them, with Skil part of Lowe’s pitch.
Who Cares Anyway?
Some of you might be wondering who cares, why’d you make me read all that? Well, hopefully if you made it this far you found the topic as interesting to explore as I have.
We know what happened, or at least the outcome – EGO tools will be sold at Lowe’s instead of Home Depot.
This is big news by itself, but there’s also a lot more under the surface of this new deal.
We don’t know what led to this, the why, and that’s an important part in understanding the tool industry and the actions of retail titans. Home Depot and Lowe’s are very influential, as are other retail chains of their size. Knowing the why behind brand partnerships can help us understand how brand offerings might change over the years.
Tool brands’ presence and selection at Home Depot and Lowe’s have changed quite a bit over the 10+ years that I’ve been mindfully watching. Understanding what led to this recent partnership transition, and even if that just means exploring possible explanations, could play a part in tracking how it potentially influences future changes.
Which Scenario is Most Likely?
EGO was a strong seller for Home Depot. But, which party stood to benefit most from continuing their former exclusivity arrangement, and which would benefit most from discontinuing it?
Will Home Depot enjoy greater sales by moving EGO out and replacing their offerings with ones from their other cordless power tool brands? If so, which brands will we see gain greater presence – perhaps Ryobi? Which brand(s) would have been customers’ typical alternate choices if they didn’t go with EGO models at Home Depot?
It’s possible Home Depot is resetting their brand selection, but the question is whether it was their initiative to do so, or if it is in response to EGO leaving.
If you ask me, I think there is a greater probability that either Lowe’s offered Chervon an attractive package deal for an exclusivity arrangement, or that Chervon pitched a deal to Lowe’s.
With EGO as successful as they’ve been, would Home Depot have voluntarily dropped the brand from their lineup?
The brief mention of Skil being a part of things – this very strongly suggests a stronger relationship between Lowe’s and Chervon. If Home Depot decided to part with EGO, and Chervon was shopping for a new exclusivity arrangement, why would Skil be introduced into the mix at all?
In my opinion, it comes down to Lowe’s adamantly wanting EGO, or Chervon wanting Skil at Lowe’s. Maybe there’s a combination of factors, or there could be an entirely different decision path that I am unable to conceive given limited public details.
This might not have any consequence on the Kobalt brand, but it could. If the arrangement goes beyond EGO to also include Skil, why wouldn’t it also have some tie-in to Lowe’s OEM relationship with Chervon?
Let’s Hear Your Theories
Some of you chimed in about other possibilities, and I’m hoping you could elaborate on them. The most interesting theory I’ve seen so far is that this move is somehow connected to Craftsman’s outdoor power tool offerings.
What are your thoughts or theories about this new change in partnerships?
Rick
The obvious reason is financial, what deal is the most lucrative for the companies involved.
Lance
The complexity of the deal with Lowe’s (Ego and Skil/Skilsaw brands) suggests VERY strongly that the Lowe’s deal was in place long before the Home Depot announcement.
William
Let us not forget that Bill Boltz was the president and chief executive officer of Chervon North America prior to becoming the EVP – Merchandising at Lowes. He was an old Home Depot guy. These guys love nothing more than sticking it to their previous employer after jumping ship.
John Fal
Very interesting questions, I did get a email from ryobi yesterday to expect something big coming next month. Mybe Ryobi Pro cordless? Bigger voltage? Ryobi filling the Ego gap?
James
Sticking to my guns on it being TTI wanting the shelf space.
Joe S
Wouldn’t really be surprised if you were correct. Big incentive for Home Depot to keep TTI happy.
Jeff from Tool Box Buzz
My thoughts too. HD is going to be all TTI (they also make echo cordless) and Lowe’s is all Chervon. It makes it easier for logistics too just sourcing tools from one company.
My former TTI buddy was always chapped that Chervon made the ridgid 10” scms and they had been working for years to replace it. This reset probably makes the TTI folks quite happy.
Joe S
After reading the initial press release, my first thought was what is Home Depot thinking?! Then, Lowe’s announced Ego was coming, which leads me to believe Home depot’s press release was reactionary.
No matter who initiated the discussions it seems like the Lowe’s / Chervon partnership is mutually beneficial. I’ve not used any of the new skil stuff, but I’ve heard a lot of positive things about the revived brand, particularly given the price point. Chervon has clearly invested a lot in the brand, and looks to be interested in expanding it. Seems to me like Skil will be positioned to compete with Ryobi. Right now, at the price point, Lowe’s doesn’t have such and expansive line. I know personally, I don’t own any “core tools” from Ryobi but so have some more “specialty” tools (hot glue gun, tire inflator, cordless vacuum). Got those tools basically because of the low price point and decent reviews, and I know a handful of people that have done the same. With those goals in mind, I basically didn’t consider even looking at Lowe’s for those tools. If the Skil brand were to continue to expand this could be Lowe’s answer to these type of purchases.
Then Lowe’s would have Ego and Skilsaw as more premium brands to be positioned against Milwaukee and Makita. Perhaps leaving Kobalt (and Craftsman) in the middle to compete with Ridgid? Side note, does Lowe’s still sell Porter Cable cordless?
The timing of Ryobi’s coming announcement is kind of interesting too though. Perhaps an 80v OPE line? Not sure that alone would force Home Depot to drop Ego though.
Michael Fox
I strongly believe this means TTI wants a larger presence in the OPE section at Home Depot. When it comes to Home Depot, what TTI wants TTI gets. They’re the only ones who can yank Home Depot’s chain like this. I can only hope that this means we’ll be seeing a Milwaukee lawn mower soon that TTI wants displayed front and center in the OPE section without competition from EGO.
Bill
Me thinks “has went” should be has gone.
Stuart
Thanks, fixed.
Jim Felt
“I don’t care do you?” To paraphrase a badly chosen jacket on a politician’s wife.
No really. That said it’s great to follow along with your (Stuart’s) train of thought. Sounds like the machinations of many of my clients.
I’ve personally never once felt much joy* in an Lowe’s store. Weird (to me) kind of down market tool selection and in my two state area pretty awful customer service skills.
*Pardon my Marie Kondo-ism. ;-)~
RC Ward
I just want the EGO brand to do well and continue on since they are the best at what they do. This is a loss for HD to be sure. One more reason to not go into a Home Depot.
Luckey Dodge
We need more high voltage lawn mowers! 80 volts is nice, but what is next?
I am holding any lawn mower purchase until I see an battery powered Zero-turn 36 ~ 45 inch 3-blade riding mower.
Just moved to Huntsville, AL from Punta Gorda, FL and sold my Toro 3-blade ZERO Turn to a neighbor. Everyone down there said we would never need a big ZERO-Turn in Northern Alabama! Ha, most of my neighbors here (Huntsville) have some fashion of ZERO-Turns mowers……….If they do not, they hire a yard-guy who promptly drives up in a Big Chevy and trailer who unloads his hugemongous ZERO-Turn who quickly cuts the grass in a rapid fashion! We have fast growing grass in this area. I wish my 3-blade Toro back…….Anyone listening? I would take an battery 3-Blader. Hint to Makers—–>ZERO-Turn riders do not need an expensive battery pack……..and do not need to be so big to keep the yard nicely groomed…..And it would be Quiet.
Hint, Huntsville just had 5,000 FBI people move into this area, RedStone Arsenal is here, Toyota, Rocketdyne and much more are here. Plenty of up-scale customers.
Thanks for listening…….Luckey
IJK
You’ll be happy next year then. Ego has announced they’re releasing a zero turn. Ryobi already has a 42″ zero turn available. Cub cadet has one as well.
Doresoom
Ha, I just moved away from Huntsville! Great place to live – I worked on Redstone for 11 years. The worst part was the gate traffic every morning.
You’re in luck – EGO has announced a zero turn that will run off of up to 6 of their 56V batteries.
Delbert
Hi, I’ve been watching your videos analysing the patents of big brands, very helpful! Can’t wait to see the ZERO turn EGO mower soon!
Lance
As far as I can tell, Echo and DeWalt are the only two companies at HD that make true OPE competition for Ego, and Ego was clearly superior to both of them.
This move leaves Home Depot without a good solution for a high end battery lawn mower, which is a key part of any homeowner’s OPE arsenal. I wouldn’t be surprised to see DeWalt and/or the TTI brands coming up with something very soon to try and fill that void.
To be honest, I can see HD staff being told to just push 40V Ryobi stuff: I’m sure the profit margins are great and they have a whole lineup of tools to offer.
I’m most interested in what Milwaukee does next. 18V just isn’t going to cut it for a lawnmower. Maybe they’ll come out with a $2500 MX Fuel lawnmower… their big 6Ah battery has 432 Wh of energy, slightly more than Ego’s 7.5 Ah battery.
Gordon
Regarding Skil, It doesn’t matter how well it sells at Amazon. There is always an advantage to a B&M store that can put your items up against competitors in a place people can see and touch. A lot of people will also buy tools the day they decide they need to use them. Weekend warriors especially. That seems to be the area Skil is targeting, much like Ryobi at HD.
Regarding HD’s future OPE. While DeWalt and Milwaukee have some nice OPE items, Neither has a lineup as comprehensive as Ego. Milwaukee is missing a mower, and DeWalt seems to not know which battery platform/combination they’re going to stick to. Ryobi is always going to be the budget focused (though they do have a battery riding mower!). Maybe there is room for Ridgid to bring some of the AEG tools into this country. But from my understanding there are some large hurdles which is why we haven’t seen any AEG “rebrand” tools here. Makita has just released a few updated versions of their OPE including a 36v self propelled, 21in mower that is getting great reviews.
It doesn’t look like they’re going to be bringing any pro level battery tools in either.
But we also have to remember that most Ego tools were priced lower than the big 3. They slotted in just a little higher than Ryobi. So it was probably quiet easy to up-sell your average consumer.
So I speculate that HD was feeling market saturation already and didn’t think selling more batteries was worth the shelf space. That’s a longshot but maybe.
Brent
You say: “With EGO as successful as they’ve been, would Home Depot have voluntarily dropped the brand from their lineup?”
If HD actually initiated the change, my guess is that, despite the success they have had with the Ego, they think they can make more margin dollars per unit with an even more premium priced Milwaukee line.
It may also be the case that the brand strength of a “pure play” battery OPE line is dropping, since so much stuff is now battery driven, and a broad brand umbrella like Milwaukee or Ryobi is a stronger sales driver.
Stuart
It’s possible that a combination of Milwaukee and Ryobi products could fill EGO’s gap at Home Depot, and there are benefits in consolidating their brand selection.
I’d say there’s a 50:50 chance that Home Depot’s reset was their decision, with an equal likelihood that it wasn’t and the move is more of an adaptation. We can only guess, and even then we might be wrong on all accounts.
Nathan
I figure it won’t be long before HD does away with all of the ECHO product too – not just the cordless but also the gas. Reasoning – no real reason for them to sell there. But TTI made the ECHO Cordless . And while the whole thing pissed me off after I bought into it. IT makes sense for them to rebrand to the Milwaukee battery system for sales.
Though Lowes does still have Husquvarna.
Makes sense your thoughts there. I could see Chervon saying – hey we would like you to carry Skil, or ???? HD -uh, K no see we have names people actually know. . . .
Sadly Dewalt is the only SBD product I see at HD too so how much longer before that goes away. It would be interesting to see
Joel
Chervon doesn’t only make Skil, they also make Kobalt power tools no? It makes sense that Chervon and Lowe’s will slowly become what TTI is to Home Depot.
Aaron Enfield
I went into Home Depot (in my geography, it is a) much closer; and b) has had much better service for me- I understand results vary) looking for an Ego something-or-other. It was Saturday morning and it was already busy busy. In the aisle in question there was a Ryobi rep with a life-size cut out marketing thingie that didn’t nearly fit in the aisle, and I watched him position this carefully in front of all of the Ego products that he could cover with it. I had to move this thing, which got me the stink eye, in order to get what I was looking for.
It was very funny 🙂
John
Regional or national resets are very expensive propositions. The retailer’s expectation during the the line review and subsequent reset is that they will realize increases in sales, profit, and customer traffic as a result of their investment. Line review negotiations not only focus on product costs, but back-end programs for advertising, marketing, mark-downs, competitive product buy-backs, etc. Home Depot negotiates very hard to secure favorable results in all these areas and this can be too much to bear for some suppliers. No one wants to walk away from Home Depot, but sometimes there is very little choice. I also suspect TTI threw a lot of financial incentives at HD and Chervon couldn’t or wouldn’t pony up. $$$ talks.
Bill
Looking at this from EGO’s perspective I can see two trains of thought. For reasons of size and market share, HD looks to be a better fit. With about 15% more stores nationwide than Lowe’s and 50% more in revenue, much of that from the commercial market, HD would also be a better fit for EGO to expand their commercial line of OPE. However on the other side, Lowe’s has long been seen and marketed as the home owner/DIY store. This could lead to more sales in EGO’s primary market, the home owner. Time will tell.
With all that said, I wonder if anyone has seen any commercial landscapers using battery powered OPE, primarily? Living in south Florida, we basically have year round grass mowing and overall landscaping, but I have yet to see a lawn crew using any battery powered OPE. And in south Florida it’s hard to drive anywhere and not see landscapers hard at work every day of the week, winter or summer.
Also as someone above posted, I think Milwaukee’s MX Fuel would be a perfect fit for a line of commercial OPE. For handheld tools like string trimmers, blowers, edgers and hedge trimmers these large batteries could be housed in a backpack.
Paul
Yes, EGO has a large group of diehard fans and yes, they have really been focusing on OPE.
But, I’ve also noticed that there are a lot of owners who are stating the batteries are not lasting. A few of the major OPE Youtubers are no longer showing EGO products because of the battery issues.
In fact, one reviewer who was an avid EGO fan quietly stated this year that of the 20 plus batteries he has acquired over the last five years – only four are still working.
You can have the best marketing in the world but if your products are causing a lot of returns for a retailer and you are unresponsive to their demands – they will drop you like a hot rock.
Michael
In Australia the failed Masters hardware venture with Lowe’s had a big (and pretty much exclusive) Ego presence in the outdoor power tools section. I would think that this has its roots all the way back then.
JoeM
I’m glad I neither need, nor want, outdoor power equipment. This is a whole lot of corporate shenanigans I don’t have the patience for. By the time I want systems like this, I’ll have figured out a solution run by drones, powered by green energy. I don’t need all this corporate melodrama, when I know I could program a better system with a powerful enough server, and wireless system to interact with the equipment.
Until then… not going to care if they shift a brand to a new exclusive place… That they were ever exclusive knocks them off my purchase list automatically.
rob
I’m wishing that with the reset they’ll bother to carry Makita’s good ope stuff instead of the budget garbage, but that seems a bit unlikely. I literally walked in the door with the boss’s credit card ready to walk out with some bare tool x2 stuff to go with what I already had and, well, coincidentally, found myself forced into becoming an ego customer that day.
Bob
Some one mentioned pro’s using battery OPE. I remeber seeing DeWalt 40v press materials showing lawn care pro’s using that equipment. I had my doubts. I have never seen any professional lawn care company using ANY brand of battery powered OPE. The only batteries they have are lead acid…to start their gas mowers. I was in that world in my teens so always like to see what these guys are using now. Stand up mowers! Great maneuverability but will
any of these guys knees work in 20 years? Yikes.
Not saying it will never happen but around here, at this time they all are burning Dinosaur blood.
Curious to see if in other parts of the country they have seen pro’s using Ego or whomever? I heard CA was considering a state wide ban on gas OPE at some future time. Currently some jurisdictions already have a ban. Duno if it was noise pollution, actual pollution or just a case of Cali being that special kind of crazy lol.
As to this Lowes/HD saga. I don’t have a dog in this fight. My OPE is all lightly used gas pro grade equipment from Stihl, Husqvarna, Walker, Cushman, Jacobsen, John Deere etc. As I use it non professionally it will literaly out last me, with proper maintenance. And yes drone lawn care equipment will probably be available before this stuff wears out. I enjoy it tho. Cutting my grass is my weekly zen moment. Never giving that up!!!!
IJK
Several places (some HOAs, not just cities) in the US are starting to restrict 2-cycle OPE, not just CA, but I do know of at least one guy using only electric OPE for his lawncare service. It’s mostly a noise pollution thing with a side of smog reduction.
As for your idea of drone lawncare equipment, Robo-mowers already exist, still need to take care of the edging yourself, though.
Toolfreak
The stuff between Chervon/EGO and Home Depot/Lowe’s has been happening out of sight for the last few months. There’s no way any of this was a surprise to the big players involved.
I’d say it’s likely a more complex combination of things, not only the EGO exclusivity agreement expiring, but Lowe’s investing more in the Kobalt 24V/XTR and Skil lineups, TTi having more outdoor tools to sell through Home Depot, etc.
Really, it seems like this works out best for all involved. Maybe some people would think HD would want the #1 OPE brand just to have it, but that doesn’t make much sense when your one oddball agreement with a brand is at the expense of all your other exclusive house brands.
Moving forward, I think HD will do even better selling TTi’s full line of Milwaukee, Ryobi, Ridgid, etc. power tools and outdoor power tools. Lowe’s will do better adding EGO to their lineup with Kobalt, Craftsman, etc. as additional options.
>>it does not appear that Lowe’s features Bosch and Metabo HPT cordless power tool offerings with the same energy as Home Depot does Milwaukee and Makita.
It is to Lowe’s detriment that they do not feature more Bosch tools, or more “Pro” tools in general. This is really weird for a store that has a “Pro Desk” and “Pro Checkout” that caters specifically to those in the trades.
Stuart
Maybe. I saw some items seemingly sell out maybe two or three months ago, and the listings were removed rather than to simply say “temporarily out of stock” or similar.
Toolfreak
The EGO mowers went on clearance at my local HD around the same time as the announcement/blog posts.
Now lots of the OPE is on clearance right in the front of the store, Not just EGO stuff but Makita, Milwaukee, Ryobi, etc. plus a lot of lawn/patio furniture sets still in boxes.
Not sure if this is just end of season clearance or related to the “reset”. Maybe both. Seems like a lot for middle of the summer.
red92s
Be a lot easier for HD to plug that hole in their lineup if Milwaukee actually offered a mower. It’s crazy to me that they haven’t released on. DeWalt’s kinda sucks, at least the way it’s packaged with batteries, but at least they tried.
Ian
Looks like SBD could be the biggest loser out of all of this.
Skil and Kobalt would be competing with Craftsman at Lowes, and HD seem to be pushing Dewalt into the background. At the 2 HD stores near me, they have rearranged the power tools aisle, so it’s now Ryobi, Ridgid, Makita, Milwaukee, then DeWalt, from the front of the store.
Paul Stregevsky
It’s a mistake to to regard Skil as a brand that plays only in the 12V and 20V playground. Skil’s 40V OPE lineup is highly competitive–well, except for the 40V mower, a lightweight withplastic wheels.
Matt F
It seems that Amazon is offering more Ego tools than I remember being available: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ego&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
I don’t know if they are buying retail and reselling as they have been known to do. But I wonder if HD had provisions that blocked sales through Amazon that no longer exist under the Lowes deal.
Matt F
I think Lowes has also been a big seller of Greenworks products. I can only imagine Greenworks is a thorn in the side of EGO and I would expect Lowes to drop Greenworks. If Greenworks is sold along side EGO, this is a big step down for EGO.
Jeremy in Michigan
I sensed all summer that Lowes was giving up on Greenworks products, at least here in Southwest Michigan. No new Generation 2 tools except the chainsaw and a few blowers. The mowers were not promoted and the Kobalt 40V and 80V lines of mowers really did not change (they are made ultimately by the same manufacturer that makes the Greenworks mowers – check out the similarities). I like the Greenworks tools. But I think the Lowe’s / EGO thing makes sense now after watching how they more or less just carried out time and did not promote Greenworks much here. Greenworks is next to be vacant from Lowe’s. By the way Craftsman 60V is nowhere to be seen other than at Menards in our area. And I think that will go away also.
TheoinTX
I am very surprised by the announcement as Lowes has Kobalt (40v, 80v, rebrnded Greenworks) and Greenworks (40, 60v, 80v) ) that are great Outdoor Power Tools.
Thus does EGO displace both?!
Jeremy in Michigan
I think from what I am seeing in Michigan, yes. I have bought and used EGO and also Greenworks, blowers, trimmers, and I have Greenworks mower. I like the Greenworks tools better.
EUGENIO
I’m glad that I didn’t buy into EGO’s platform. We only have Home Depot down here in Puerto Rico.
Ecotek
I was in my local Lowes today. As I’ve been thinking of buying into the Kobalt 80V OPE system, I took a stroll down that aisle. I noticed that all of that equipment is on clearance. I’m thinking they’re making room for the EGO products. Now I’m nervous to buy into a battery system on it’s way out. Does anyone know if I’m reading too far into this?
Stuart
It’s hard to say, as it’s also end of season for a lot of things. Soon it’ll be fall cleanup tools and blowers on the shelves, and then snowblowers.
CCaptain
Same here!! In the past few years I’ve invested plenty of my hard earn $ in the 80v Kobalt lawn equipment line. Just this week I noticed kolbalt @ 50% off. If Chevron makes Kobalt and Ego. What will happen to kobalt when Ego arrives at Lowe’s. It frustrates me and sickens me to the point of no return not knowing kobalt future at Lowe’s!! 😥
Sean
On the Canadian HD site (homedepot.ca) Ego is not even a listed product any longer. Though there is still stock in the stores. Will be interesting to see if prices drop.
EGOless
Finally a place to talk about my EGO/Home Depot nightmare. Thank you!
A month ago from Home Depot I purchased an EGO mower with a 7.5 battery, a snowblower that came with two 7.5 batteries and a weed whacker that was a tool only. The snowblower was delivered with only one battery and it was then useless since it needs two to operate.
For a solid month I have spent hours and hours on the phone with Home Depot customer service trying to get that second battery. I would be on hold for hours while they tried unsuccessfully to contact EGO. They called and EGO never answered. They said they emailed EGO too, but I never saw any answer from EGO.
I got so frustrated I finally said to Home Depot to come and pick up the whole EGO line of tools here at my house. EGO customer service is this bad? I will not do business with it. A few days ago, Home Depot picked up all the stuff, gave me no receipt and left. I called to check on my refund but they can’t even confirm the stuff was picked up. So now I am thinking this is a Home Depot issue, not EGO.
Maybe EGO is just ignoring Home Depot customers now? I don’t know. Maybe they both stink. But now I am stuck having to start all over with another brand and to tell you the truth, we liked the Ego mower and weed whacker. We didn’t yet use the snow blower but it seems to be highly rated. What do I do? Is EGO customer service this horrible???
We went to Lowes today and none of the employees even knew about this new exclusivity. They had barely two EGO items on the shelf. Home Depot is clearing out their shelves. ACE was the original EGO vendor and they have limited inventory too. SO HELP!!! Should I trust EGO customer service? Only when I buy from Lowes or ACE? EGO recommends ACE and Lowes from its website.
Stuart
I’m sorry, I really don’t know what to advise.
Bill
EGOless, I’ll give it try but I also know that my experience with EGO does not negate your’s. I can honestly say that experiences with EGO customer service have been great, as have their products. First let me outline the EGO equipment that I own: a mower, LM2102SP (aka Gen-2, but not the same as the current Gen-3 mower with twin blades) which comes with a 7.5Ah battery and the rapid charger; string trimmer, ST1521S – a split shaft carbon fiber unit that comes with a 2.5Ah battery and a standard charger as well as the awesome “PowerLoad” head; A Multi-Head Combo Kit, MHC1502, which comes with the edger and string-trimmer attachments as well as a 5.0Ah battery and standard charger. I also purchased the 10″ Pole Saw attachment for this unit and a 31″ extension pole. Lastly I have the Leaf Blower, LB6504 that comes with a 5.0Ah battery and standard charger.
Living in South Florida, most of this equipment gets year round use on a weekly or biweekly basis for most of the past two years. With that said I have only had two failures. The first was a split down the bottom of the plastic shield of the bag attachment for the mower. When I called EGO they opened a Case number and just shipped me a replacement bag and the new bag has been fine. The other issue was when the PowerLoad head on my string trimmer failed to load the string as it had done flawlessly for months. EGO shipped me out an entirely new string trimmer, after a few minutes on the phone with a tech who tried to troubleshoot the problem. I only had to put my old unit in the box from the new string trimmer and return it with the included label and tracking number. All on their dime of course.
So in short, my experience with EGO has been that of a company that produces quality products and stands behind them. I have read many reviews on EGO product over the past two years with overall consensus on the positive side. In fact I would go so far as to say that based on performance and reliability, EGO is one of the top brands of battery powered OPE (outdoor power equipment) in the market. I have also watched as they have responded well to complaints regarding any overall performance issues. A case in point, that I can personally attest to, is the issue of uplift and suction performance of their mowers. When I first purchased my mower, I noticed that it wasn’t great at picking up leaves or cleaning off the sidewalk after I edged. I usually mow with the bag attachment and while the mower gave me a clean cut, bagging and clean-up was not up to par. A little research revealed that EGO was listening to their customer, recognized the problem and produced a “High Lift Blade” to resolve the issue. I purchased the new blade and found this simple fix was a great improvement as did others.
Now EGO has taken this solution one step further and produced their newest mower, the Select Cut twin-blade LM2135SP. With this mower you now have a choice between two different twin-bladed options and they both come with the new mower. One set is for mulching and the other is for bagging and pickup.
So I see EGO as one of the most progressive and innovative companies out there producing OPE.
Good luck and I hope you resolve your issues with HD and EGO.
Bill
Sorry, I need an edit button. My second sentence should read ….”that my experiences”.
Don
My theory is that EGO was terribly frustrated with Home Depot’s repair service. I know I was and skeptical about buying other EGO products. It took me six weeks to get my mower repaired under warranty. When I asked for a new mower, HD’s response was “had you charged it on our HD card then we would replace your mower”.
Hopefully Lowe’s can do better.
Bill
Bottom line it was a money deal. EGO equipment will cost more for the consumer … I chose EGO equipment and it appears i made a mistake. All they are pushing are kits with Tool + Battery + Charger in retail outlets. I don’t want 5 tools, 5 batteries, and 5 chargers. I wanted one fast charger, 4 or 5 tools, and a battery (with a spare battery perhaps). “But you can order the tool only on-line”; well that’s BS! What you get is an opened box where somebody took the charger and battery out, then sold it to you as “New” warranted equipment. Yeah right, try and get warranty service on that….
JayBee
I just wanna know why you can find absolutely zero of the Ego Zero Turn mower in stock at Lowes?
Stuart
Low launch supplies and it’s now end of season?
Joe Duggan
Fun story to read. In the end tools are like a pair of shoes. Regardless of brand, if you buy a good one then immediately buy another because if you buy the exact same thing 18 months later its lost all its previous quality and you are disappointed. They all seem to be restricted to a lot ( particular production run)
Joe