Unveiling the Reality of Black Friday Tool Deals with Ed the Old Tech Guy

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What are you doing ? You know I do live streams right on YouTube , tiktok , facebook , linkedin , where you get to ask your favorite RCDD you know who I'm talking about me questions on installation , certification , design and even career path questions . But I can hear you now . But , doug , I'm dropping my truck at 6 pm on Thursdays .

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So if your company goes by the motto educating , encouraging and enriching , look me up on social media and let's get you hooked up on the show as a corporate sponsor . So everybody knows that this time of year means Black Friday deals and we know that's coming up really soon . But why does it seem like the Black Friday deals just are lackluster ?

They don't seem like they're a bunch of a deal . Well , you know , one of my good friends talks tools on his channel . He's the famous tool guy . Welcome to the show , mr Ed , the old tech guy . How you doing , my friend ?

When we got to the technical questions I just you know , I had this thing where I had some brain freezing , plus I had to be careful what I said with the NDA , and just this is a much better subject for me to feel much more at peace .

It's a business weekday , so I'm pretty well , no , no , hold on .

They want to stay on the topic about tools and tech . Those are that's most of my Viewers . They also like to . They like my DIY videos where I show how to repair your cars , how to do basic construction in your house , and I Talk a lot about being in the telecommunications and network business but having a backup in another field .

So , especially for those of you who are in cabling , you know how much construction goes into a facility Before you pull your cable in and actually dress it and get it all done . What if you had the capability of not only doing the cabling but also the construction beforehand ?

Imagine a business that could take on all the plumbing and the carpentry and then all the low voltage , If you were multifaceted that way .

When layoffs come , when bad things happen , it's a better survival method and that's really what I'm all about on my whole social media Journey here is teaching people how to survive and be you know , have more money in their life .

That's really all I'm trying to do is help help them out , because I needed a helping hand and and I didn't have that when I was younger , so I'm trying to pay it forward . But if you like tools , you like tech , come and visit Eddie , old tech guy at tiktok .

Facebook and especially YouTube that's where most of my longer videos are shopping videos , car repair videos and things of that nature .

I got to get back to the stores and make more videos , but in in talking about that and I know we're gonna jump in and you've got things you want to talk about but one of the things I want to mention is that a lot of the people getting into the trades and that means you guys that are pulling cable you have a deep affinity for those tools that are made

in the USA . You love tools and made in the USA and those those of us in in telecommunications , networking and Cabling business . You know we're not really getting into snap-on , we're not getting into Mac and these other high-end tools that mechanics use . So what's our brands of choice ?

And that's usually Klein or fluke , and I'm gonna tell you right now that Klein has some great specials at Lowe's , for you know , I think they don't have many bogos , but Klein is at Lowe's and I expect some prices to drop on some very much needed items . So if you need your Fox and Hound , go look for it at Lowe's .

And then somebody explained it to me . I'd never heard it , it's a company .

But this company came out calling it Fox and Hound and those ended up being like most telecom taxes , you know , given tools like Verizon , at&t , you know you name the big guys they were handing those out , the Fox and Hounds to their , to their tax , and they were the cheaper version .

So if you got in before a certain time , they were actually giving you the much more expensive version . That's really good with the metal tip .

But I had to take that back because now , now everybody's on it's got to be Milwaukee pack out and and this show is not a pack out versus Modbox show . It's not , at least not this episode . Those are future episodes coming up that I'm working on at the moment .

So many people today complain they were better tool deals a year ago , two years ago and actually every .

I've been doing Black Friday videos , I think now for three , four years and in those three , four years I get the same comment oh , the tool deals were better last year , but in 20 , I think it was like 2020 or something like that and one of my first Black Friday videos nobody was really saying

that . They were saying , oh , my God , it's awesome , you're getting a free tool . You're buying a $99 DeWalt pretty decent tool and you're getting another $99 tool for free . Right , those deals have seemingly disappeared . Now they're really selling you a tool that you know is pretty marked up and is at least eating half into what that second tool would cost .

But let's be honest , let's be fair to the stores that are having these deals . They're not the manufacturers . Yes , they're doing a markup . Yes , absolutely buying a book and they're making money . They wouldn't be doing it if they weren't making money . But inflation has cut in deep and you're not going to get the same deals that you've seen before .

But I will say this the deals this year are a bit of a hop , not a leap . A bit of a hop better than last year . Last year's Black Friday was abysmal . It was abysmal this year . The $99 Mechanics Toolboxes are back .

A lot of the bogos that means buy one , get one free are back and that's what we wanted to see and we're seeing it from the bigger companies , milwaukee and DeWalt , and we Milwaukee Mekita , I mean didn't do a great show . Their bogos is kind of weak , but they're trying . They're trying to do that .

So I absolutely applaud the companies for coming out and doing their best and moving some prices around , especially DeWalt . I know that's not everybody's favorite , but DeWalt's showing on how many free tools you can get out here on the different deals is awesome .

Do you seem to find that the expensive , well-known tools are having better Black Friday deals , or is it the middle of the road tools are having better deals .

But just talking to the hand tool section , since Milwaukee's there , dewalt is there and pretty much all the other tool producers are making hand tools as well We'd have to really have a discussion on what you call middle of the road , because there's a lot of Amazon brands that are coming and inflating the business and you're sitting there going I'm not sure , but

amazing deals are happening out of all the major companies , that major companies being Milwaukee , dewalt , makita , bosch , we could say Skill maybe , and I'm probably missing one Ryobi , flex and a few others . Right , ryobi . I know that people love it , especially DIYers .

I would not use Ryobi as a full-time tool on the job personally , but I have heard some amazing things about their OnePlus or HP system . Hp , their high-powered system , supposed to be great . I don't have one . I could tell you a good story about why Ryobi isn't in my favorites list . I'll tell you that if you want in a minute .

The battery platform that you choose needs to have all the tools that you need to do the job today , not tomorrow , not that they're coming out with it , right ? So we saw the new tough-built modular boxes and I'm sorry if I'm jumping around , but just I'm gonna make a point here in a second the modular boxes they just launched them , right ?

I put a comment out there to Tough-Built saying the launch means nothing , and the reason why it means nothing is because you didn't come out with drawers day one . See , if you're gonna get into that system , you don't got six months to wait for drawers for the next launch of the new tools .

So if you're gonna decide on a tool today , make sure you decide on a brand , a battery platform or a modular box system that has everything you need to do your job today , because you don't want to wait six months to or two years if they come out with it . Or if they don't come out with it . What do I mean by that ?

You know a lot of people don't know that low voltage guys use ratchets . So the electric ratchets are an amazing thing , by the way . Right , milwaukee , only second by Snap-on's ratchet . Snap-on's ratchet is amazing guys , the 14 volt . But how many low voltage guys are gonna buy Snap-on ? Not many . So you go Milwaukee .

The next one underneath that one , I like Makitas , and here's the reason why I like Makitas , because you could go 3 eighths and a quarter inch . The Waltz does the same , but the Waltz has a weird battery placement that many people have complained about .

So you to me , the two that are kind of right there battling each other , are Milwaukee and Makita in the ratchets . But Milwaukee has some new ratchets that came out with longer heads and actually have a system where you can like put in the socket that you need and it's very low profile , very good design by Milwaukee , I'm sorry .

I'm going to the tangent You're talking what I love .

Now most technicians kind of look at Makita with disdain , but yet it's still a great I mean absolutely great product . Why do you think that fall down ?

The reason why is that they slowed innovation . I believe and this is a personal belief that Japanese have a very interesting way of engineering and it's a smart way . If you look at Toyota or Honda , right , they have the same design for many years , the same engine design . They just keep making a little better and a little better and a little better .

The next year comes out and it's a little better , but it's the same engine . It's the same engine and most of the time that really helps them produce something that they can put a lot of predictability and understanding into that the market will enjoy and have a car for 200 to 400,000 miles . It's the same thing when they're designing tools .

I think when it comes to Makita , they're saying this is the true , proven model , let's only make some small hints of changes , let's innovate slowly . And I think there's a battle within Makita that Makita USA is saying man , we're not keeping up , guys . You got to walk making all kinds of stuff that we're not .

You got Milwaukee absolutely killing it in the market . And that's where Milwaukee has done better , because Milwaukee , their innovation team , just keeps coming out like the Milwaukee Packout System . When it came out , came out of nowhere . Everybody wanted something like that . Nobody expected Milwaukee to produce it .

That doesn't mean that the other ones can't catch up with Milwaukee , but Milwaukee's got a pretty good lead that they're going to have to chew at that to get caught up with them .

You know , grab a Milwaukee driver and just drive half a second faster than the Makita and say it's better . Right , it's better , it's better , it's better . And that's not taking so many things into consideration . One of them is production line , because that Milwaukee may have been made better than three Milwaukee devices after it .

Right , Maybe those were made pretty junky and that's why people have such a suede version of like tool . Brands are like oh , Milwaukee sucks . I had three of them burn out . Well , the guy that tested it actually has a great Milwaukee and it's working great for them . Same thing happens to all brands , but Milwaukee has been consistently innovating .

Their quality control has been decent and they've . There's a good portion of the people out there that have fallen in love with that brand , even though they're big . You know they're hard harping with made in the USA tools . Right , Let me tell you , right now , Milwaukee has very little made in the USA .

They do have plants in the USA , but those electronic devices from every producer coming from all over the world .

Well , so is Chevy and Cadillac , so is Honda and Acura , but they're extremely different simply because of the quality that's being placed in it , the level of engineering that's designed around it . There's a reason why the Milwaukee is $400 and the Ryobi is $150 , because the quality that's being put into that Milwaukee tool is way better than that Ryobi .

Do not be fooled . Don't let people tell you it's built in the same factory . This happens a lot with hand tools . Many hand tools are built in the same factory and people believe that the forging is the same , the amount of chrome that's placed on the hand tool is the same . They believe that the strength and the flexibility of the tool is the same .

No , it's not . No , it's not . Some of these brands that are having it built in those factories are paying a little more money to have it built to their specifications .

And they've already decided they're going to make that their career , they're going to stick with low voltage . What kind of brand names would you recommend that that person buy ?

Craftsman for basic hand tools , your basic tools , your cutters , your snippers , your pliers , things like that that you're going to need Craftsman . Now , a lot of those aren't made of the highest quality . I'm sorry , craftsman , I love my old Craftsman USA from Sears , but it's not the same at Ace or Lowe's .

I'm sorry , it's just not the same , but you can still buy those , or Cobalt or some cheaper made tools to get you started . Now , if you have money , though , if you've got the money , please go to Klein . Their tools are extremely impressive . Go buy some NipEx pliers and cutters those are , you know , chef's kiss .

Good If you're going to move over to the battery tools . If you don't have money and you're starting out slow , go to Walt . Do Walt , because they have so many sales . Yes , they're going to have a few more that are going to burn up on you than expected , but they'll serve you well . Then you could decide going on Milwaukee .

Now , if you're going to go to the Waldo , let me just finish this Make sure to stay in the XR lineup . Atomic is great for home users , but I'm not crazy about Atomic being used on a daily , so stay there . But Atomic does make some really small impacts .

When you're doing ladder rack it just feels great in the hand , and Makita has that really small one too , and so does Milwaukee . Start out with the Walt or Makita . But if you've got the money and you want to start out now and you want to start hitting heavy , you can go Milwaukee straight through .

You may consider Flex , which is again a very they're a high-end brand if you really think about it . Flexing Europe is a very well-known brand here in the United States , and Lowe's , since they launched here officially under the Lowe's name as Flex , they make a high-end tool .

The problem with them is that for placing ladder rack and doing cabinets and things that we do in low voltage , it's really heavy after a while . So you want those mini guns Milwaukee , dewalt , makita you can't go wrong if you want the premier premier at this moment , because this lineup changes constantly . Like race cars , like race horses .

Milwaukee right now , milwaukee right now has the lead . I have to concede to that . Dewalt is head and head with Makita and for the most part been beating them pretty good because they continue to innovate . Makita isn't , so you have to start getting a little scared about that .

But Makita's 40-volt system is primed to be wicked great , so you have to take chances there . You don't want to think about it , you want safe . Nobody's ever gotten fired for picking Milwaukee right now , that's actually a good statement .

You see , they believe that if that warranty only applies to the original purchaser so the person who bought it and has the receipt or is in the system they can return it and replace it . You bought it secondhand . You cannot , and some of these tool brands are doing that and I think that's pure trash . Again , I will take a step back .

Made in the USA tools are probably your best bet . Buying used hand tool wise Power tools that's a tough one . I would recommend buying new in power tools . I know it's probably harder in the pocket and I know that the guy in the local pawn shop is telling you he's got a bunch of Milwaukee for half price . But you're really taking a chance there .

You know they were treated . You don't know how they were abused . I've seen people use impacts to mix plaster and mud cement and really beat up these tools . So you get it out in the field . You're placing ladder rack and all of a sudden you're missing hours because your tools keep breaking down .

Go new on anything electronic unless it can be recertified by the manufacturer .

What you're saying is they're requiring receipts or to be in some kind of a system . Now .

Just bring a broken , we'll give you a new one , and we're not talking about it anymore . Harbor Freight , though , has begun to do some kind of strange things , though with certain tool sets , where , if it's a set of three pliers , you have to bring the three pliers back .

You can't just bring the broken one , you gotta bring the three back , even though the tool may be in perfect condition , and then they give you the new pack of three . Okay , so you have to remember that , but in cobalt , there's no questions asked you go there and you get a brand new one back .

I think the same may be true for Husky again , cheaper tools but some of these tool brands are absolutely starting to say you're not the original purchaser , you need to have a receipt . They're trying to hurt the used market .

Okay , still not on par with Makita , milwaukee , dewalt .

I'm sorry , but I have had a buddy of mine who owns his own construction business and I asked him to do a test for me and this was a couple years now . He bought from the good better best model . He bought the good right in the middle . The name brand is Bower .

He bought that brand , changed all his power tools to Bower and he did find some very interesting finicky things , like the blade on the saw . When you close it all the way or set it to the end point , it doesn't set to automatic zero . It was at negative number , so he actually has to eyeball it to zero and close it to get a true zero cut .

So that's annoying . That's annoying . But the tool has not failed him . He keeps that thing up . He got the two year warranty with it and he got it so cheap and the battery system is so cheap that when it falls down from ladder rack and smashes into 20 pieces , he picks up the pieces , goes back to Harbor Freight . They give him a new one .

He renews the warranty for two years and keeps going . He loves this thing and he's a professional . He has more construction business than any other construction handyman guy that I know . He's got a few guys under him . He does everything from changing a fan all the way to like rebuilding a whole house .

Right , and the reason why these tools have worked for him is when he does precision , large amount of cuts and things of that nature . He's always lived by this rule my corded , expensive tools come out . He has Bosch , he's got the Walt , he's got the very expensive , nice stuff .

He says when I'm doing the easy stuff changing a fan , changing this , changing that that's what power tools are for and this model has worked great for him . He loves the tools .

You do have a limited lifetime warranty with RIDGID and I know some of the people in your comments at this point are going where's RIDGID ? Where's Cobalt ? Ridgid guys , ridgid . So RIDGID absolutely has a lifetime warranty and many people like that . But it's limited lifetime warranty . The tool can't be abused .

So if you use it to mix cement and it just shows that they could deny it . Second , you have to go through their wonky form . At the beginning , when you first purchased your tool , you have to scan your receipt , put it up there . Now I have heard reports that that whole setup of getting your lifetime warranty in the system has gotten easier .

So RIDGID is also a very good brand , well known for plumbing and things of that nature . But listen , if you're pulling cable , what do you need ? You need an impact , you need a drill , you need a ratchet . I don't know what else you need .

By the way , for those of you wondering who makes RIDGID , the company that makes Ryobi Milwaukee also makes RIDGID and it's a pretty decent tool .

But I still got to imagine even if it is a Chevrolet , it's still going to be a little bit better quality than if it would have been a manufacturer only made Chevrolet's because they learn from the other , from the other , the other production lines and and the same management team is probably going to still run both those lines .

So there's going to be some some overlap there on quality and dedication and motivation to do it right .

Right , because even though they're owned by the same parent company , there's still sister companies underneath . They have heads of research and development and heads of you know , like underling CEOs , if you will that will make these decisions . They watch what Milwaukee did right and say let's make that guy , because we've seen a couple rigid tools be clones .

Now the same goes for Flex and Cobalt . Flex was built , has been building many of the Cobalt tools , so those two you'll see some of that happening like some of the Cobalts , are so well made you'd be hard pressed to think it wasn't a Flex tool . But Flex again is their best brand at Lowes . So don't count those out either . Go test them out .

Go try them out for yourself . It isn't an easy market . It's not as easy as when we were young and it was Makita and Crassman .

They're just stacking those stacks in there and making these batteries , and even though they don't seem big because they're 1.8 amp hour or two amp hour and you're like that's not a lot , I want a six amp hour the difference is that those sack batteries have a lot more torque , a lot more juice on the punch , and the instead of the cell batteries .

So they're more expensive , though , and that technology is evolving .

And what's even more interesting is that , since Toyota has recently made some major innovations in battery technology for EVs , you can expect some of that technology to come to battery platforms , and I really wonder how many of these companies won't make you buy all new tools to fit that battery platform .

The only one I can count on that probably wouldn't do that is most likely Makita . They may say I will make it in the LXT , we'll just put it all in there so you can keep going on your same tools . Maybe this is just a guess and prediction , but everybody else would be more than happy making you rebuy everything to get that new power .

I used each one of those batteries maybe two or three times and I can't charge them anymore . Every time I put them in the charge just kicks me back in there . What are your thoughts on ? Why does the cordless drills manufacturers do that , and is there a way to reclaim one of those batteries that's not charging anymore ?

Go find a battery that's actually working fine , that's still charged fully , and grab yourself a cable and put it on the negative to the negative and then on the good battery you're going to put the cable on the positive and then on the bad battery , you're just going to touch the positive and let go right away , and when you do that it will give it just

enough charge , right ? You're going to pull the cables all out , right To grab this battery and stick it back on the charger and it will most likely recharge . I've done this to a few Milwaukee batteries and TTI . Out of all the different platforms , seems to be the one really needing a jump sometimes .

Most tools have circuitry built in that do not allow the battery to go under flow or under so much loss of energy that it won't recharge . Tti seems to be having that little bit of a problem . I haven't seen that in Makita , and not saying it doesn't happen , guys .

I haven't seen it in Makita and I haven't seen it in a few other brands like the Walt and others , but I have seen it a lot more on Milwaukee . But it's no big deal . Once you jump the battery it usually comes right back to life , it charges fully and you can use it . It's a common thing . I don't know if that answers your question .

We work with wrenches a lot . When you're building the ladder rack and you're building all the stuff that we got to build , guys , go ahead and do that . Go ahead and get yourself a ratcheting one . There's nothing like it , man . Nothing like grabbing a 19mm . Score Bam . Instead of putting it in turn , put it in turn . I'm sick of that .

But don't sleep on GearWrench , guys . It's one of my favorite tool brands , right ?