My local Home Depot has a new Makita XGT cordless outdoor power tools display in their seasonal promotional area, alongside other brands’ competitive offerings.
This was all under a giant brand-independent banner promoting all of the products as delivering gas-like power, low maintenance, and zero hassle.
This Home Depot store also had a strong presence of Makita 18V and 18V X2 cordless power tools.
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While Makita 18V and X2 cordless tools can regularly be found at Home Depot stores, this seems to be a first for the brand’s XGT 40V Max line.
The featured products include the XGT 15″ string trimmer kit with 4Ah (18V 8Ah equivalent) battery and charger, cordless blower kit, 24″ dual action hedge trimmer (tool-only), and 18″ chain saw kit.
They also had a 2-tool combo kit in stock, as well as spare batteries.
I liked the look of the new packaging, which also makes it very difficult to confuse these as being part of the 18V line. Makita’s 18V and XGT 40V Max cordless systems are not compatible with each other.
One thing to note – the 2-tool combo kit is actually $349 right now, and it comes with a bonus 4Ah battery. This promo didn’t seem to be featured in-store, but it’s still active online through the end of this month (4/30/23).
Double-checking Home Depot’s website, the chainsaw kit, blower kit, and string trimmer kit are all also eligible for a free bonus battery. My local store didn’t have this promo mentioned anywhere, and even if they did, they didn’t look to have enough bonus batteries to support it.
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The main takeaway is that Home Depot is finally carrying Makita XGT cordless power tools in-store. While this is a small selection featured in the promotional seasonal section, it’s still a change from Home Depot not carrying any XGT tools in-store as well.
Makita’s XGT and 18V cordless outdoor power tools were on display next to competing offerings from other cordless lineups, namely Dewalt 20V Max, Dewalt FlexVolt, Milwaukee M18, Ryobi 18V, and also Ridgid 18V.
MacLean Flood
Now if they’d only discount them like other tools in their daily and weekly deals…
-Mac
Stuart
There are aggressive promos right now on select XGT tools across Makita’s distributor network, including Home Depot.
https://toolguyd.com/best-makita-xgt-cordless-power-tool-deals-020123/
Eliot Truelove
I’ll have to check our my local Home Depot, I’m hoping your store isn’t unique and that it’s nationwide!
Home Depot the last few years have been sparse on their Makita selections. I’m all in on Makita, but it’s frustrating not being able to check out display models for many types of makita tools, hey only seem to have the same ones that have been around for years.
Now you’ve got me wanting to go first thing in the morning!
Stuart
Seasonal displays like this tend to be nationwide, or at the least multi-regional.
Keep in mind what I said about checking the online pricing and bonus battery promo. If your store has the batteries in stock, you can try to see if they’ll match the online offer.
Collin
Xgt is nice and the discounts are better. The 10-1/4″ circular saw kit can be had with an extra battery for a total of 2 batteries for less than most 7-1/4″ circular saw kits on the market.
Daniel
I bought the chainsaw with the the bonus battery to replace my 20 year old Craftsman (Poulan). I used it for the first time yesterday. All I can say is wow! I was skeptical, but it is stout. I used it to clean up brush and small trees and it ran as long as I wanted to work. I used the EGO Power+ synthetic bar and chain oil and liked it, too. The only complaint with the saw so far it it is a little heavy, even without a battery, which surprised me. I expected it to be lighter than my gas saw.
Now I just need to find a deal on the matching pole saw.
Steve
Seems like they go hot and cold with Makita. I like the Makita brand, but it can be more difficult to find, which is why I switched about 5-6 years ago to Milwaukee. I have some of their 18V X2 stuff when it first came out and it didn’t seem to work that well if both batteries weren’t fully charged. The XGT stuff is intriguing though…
OldDominionDIYer
Nothing better than some healthy competition! I love to see stuff like this when products are displayed side-by-side so the end user can really make easy comparisons and make a more educated purchase decision. Bring it on!
scott taylor
I have the 60v craftsman chainsaw (16in) and mower that I got a Lowes for a song and dance (>$200 for both on clearance with 5AH battery and 2.5AH battery). (btw it uses the cub cadet v60 batteries so I’m not locked out, fingers crossed) The chainsaw is a beast. Dang near cuts thru anything. Used it to cut up 20in maple with no issues. Also just bought the double pack of 16in chains at HD. they were clearancing them out and they were $5.51 for a double pack. Now I have 10 spare chains and will never ever sharpen a chain again 🙂
Bonnie
Hmmm…. That chainsaw kit is damn tempting. I love my corded Makita, the thing is a beast. But I’ve got a larger property now and need something a little more portable. I’ve been eyeing the DeWalt since I already have a couple flexvolt batteries, and the old 18×2 gets rave reviews from everyone I know with one. I’m probably unreasonably annoyed that XGT isn’t backwards compatible after being spoiled by DeWalt.
Harrison
Depends how you like your OPE to feel.
The Makita OPE feels more like traditional gas powered OPE. (Likely because they bought Dolmar, and retain some of their engineering.)
Good balance, tough build with aluminum handle on the best model, and they prioritize high chain speed. Plenty fast cutting if you keep your chains sharp.
The Dewalt 20” with the 15ah Flexvolt battery is probably as powerful as you can get from a non-OPE brand right now. Personally I don’t love the ergonomics of the Dewalt stuff. Most of the Stanley, Blank & Decker OPE feels very lanky, hollow and toy-like- clearly they don’t have the same experience building professional tools in that space.
That said, the new 20” model with the 15ah looks a lot better, though I haven’t handled one yet. The wattage potential of Flexvolt is certainly hard beat- until we see an 80v XGT saw anyways!
Trump gaines
Best part about local stores having this stock is when they clearance it down. Most folks don’t want a $500 impact kit when the 175 ryobi is down the display. I’ll wait and hope
eddie sky
“New and Exclusive!”
(I hate that. I prefer choice and competition for pricing. Rare are “sales and deals” on hot items … only a few lucky ones here seem to find them)
I’m considering the EGO for blower/weeder/hedger. But wouldn’t mind a Makita if they had 18″ bar saw… which I think I’m stuck on Husq (selling my gas one for 16″ or 18″ battery version).
Daniel
The Makita XGT chainsaw at Home Depot has an 18 inch bar.