New Kobalt Tools Discussion

Some of you may have seen the periscope but Kobalt just announced their new line of 24v Max brushless tools. To me it is going to be interesting to how things play out.

Based purely off of specs these tools are above DeWalt and above DeWalt in variety and innovation and on par with Milwaukee in all departments. Quality and longevity and field performance is still the major unknown factor. I’m looking forward to see if we will have another serious competitor in the contractor grade tool field.

Competition benefits all of us from a price tag and innovation perspective. They already have a brushless grinder, sawzall, 3/8 impact wrench and a finishing mode on their tools that DeWalt doesn’t have. The high specs on their impacts, 150 ft/lbs on the driver and 3/8 and 650 on the 1/2 drive are extremely competitive numbers.

When I first started working for my company, all the tools were Kobalts, including those of the owners. Eventually they were phased out by Milwaukees, but the irrigators still run Kobalts. The only issue I’ve ever had with Kobalts is that their batteries overheat rapidly under load. This made their recip. saw unusable. They were very solid tools.

If they have solve the battery issue they could be viable players in the tool market if they are able to overcome their current brand image and stigma against Kobalt Tools in the workplace. At the very least, Ryobi should be sweating. Post your thoughts and comments below. I want to hear what the crew thinks!

it takes time to prove a brand name regardless of what they have to offer tool wise, the tools need to be in the hands of the hardcore users. If the performance and quality is there and the longevity is as well and they are offering comparable tools to what is out there they need something to make people want to try or jump ship……there is hardcore brand loyalty out there as well so unless these tools can do thing others can’t it may take awhile to become mainstream. Bad news travels faster than good……. 

Look at RIDGID, their impact boasts over 2200 in pounds of torque and I see a lot more red than orange, just remember paper stats can be bloated until the tool hits a workload and it can’t even finish a days job. I have no experience with kobalt so I’m not knocking the tool, but to add to what comp said how are these going to hold up, just buyer beware.

What’s their warranty like?

Jimbo

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JimboS1ice wrote:

Look at RIDGID, their impact boasts over 2200 in pounds of torque and I see a lot more red than orange, just remember paper stats can be bloated until the tool hits a workload and it can’t even finish a days job. I have no experience with kobalt so I’m not knocking the tool, but to add to what comp said how are these going to hold up, just buyer beware.

What’s their warranty like?

Jimbo

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5 year warranty and you can return it within a year if you don’t like it. As far as actual support goes, I have no Idea. I doubt it’s as good as Milwaukees service but it wouldn’t be hard for them to beat DeWalts service. I agree with both you and comp on it being to early to tell untill we see some in the field. That’s why I’m excited for these to come out because it is basically a completely new tool brand.

I would be worried about long term support of the platform. Who knows if Kobalt will keep supporting it long term if it doesn’t take off.

Just more crap not to buy as far as im concerned. I dont see what the deal is. 24v? Big deal,brushless? Pretty much everyone has gone that same direction. No one is gonna abandon the setups they have for these. Why would they? There isnt anything these tools can do that others cant. 

Only good for beaters and to loan out to sheeple.

it doesn’t matter how good these tools are, it will take time to earn trust from the user and for a new company that is putting out tools directly in the line of fire with proven companies it will be tough…….pretty hard to put aside a brand you…. your father …..and some times grandfather raved about…..and are still going strong.

It all depends on the price.  The only reason we don’t have everything brushless yet from other brands is because marketing can make more money off of us if they roll out tools slowly.  I think the approach here is that they can make a tool as powerful as the top brands for cheaper by having a little more voltage in the battery.  If the new tools are priced similarly to old kobalts I’m hoping this is a nice kick to other manufacturers to step up their game.

So here is my question… Is this replacing a battery platform? I haven’t watched the TiA video yet but dorm they have an 18 and 20 volt line?

Jimbo

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Cheaper is great dont get me wrong,but as someone who has worked in manufacturing most of my life,cheaper also almost always means cheaper everything for it to hit that price point.

Every company has to try to keep their hand in the bag somehow,there is a flood of stuff out there.

JimboS1ice wrote:

2 hours ago, JimboS1ice said:

So here is my question… Is this replacing a battery platform? I haven’t watched the TiA video yet but dorm they have an 18 and 20 volt line?

Jimbo

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The 18/20V is probably getting discontinued.

I’m excited for Dan and Eric to get a hold of these and put them up against Ryobi ridgid, we’ll see how they hold up. The circular saw has me interested in the new line. 

DR99 wrote:

48 minutes ago, DR99 said:

The 18/20V is probably getting discontinued.

They’ve been on clearance for a while, expecting to see deep discounts soon…but who really cares because the support for the tool ends at point of sale, you won’t be able to buy a battery a year from now from Lowe’s.

BMack37 wrote:

2 hours ago, BMack37 said:

 

They’ve been on clearance for a while, expecting to see deep discounts soon…but who really cares because the support for the tool ends at point of sale, you won’t be able to buy a battery a year from now from Lowe’s.

Kobalt is such a fringe brand good luck on finding a 3rd party Chinese knockoff either. Lowes and Kobalt have a long road to over take Ridgid and Home Depot. Plus guys with the old Kobalt 20v tools are pissed because their tools have been discontinued.

Hmmmmmm, if they drop the price enough I might buy a 20v Kobalt impact wrench to keep in my trunk, or cuz you know I can’t resist the allure of impact wrenches. They are like beating the shit out of the something in a controlled manner that actually is constructive.

One issue that I feel plagued Kobolt in the past was the variety of tools. I don’t remember them having much more than the basic 5 (circular saw, reciprocating saw, drill, impact driver and light). That is one thing they will have to resolve if they want the 24v line to succeed. One group of tools they should look into is cordless nailers. I feel like those are going to be the next big thing in cordless tools.

Great discussion, I imagine Kolbalt will have priority, upfront space at Lowes. I think there are a lot of people that have not yet bought into any particular brand yet, for example my son.  He works at Lowes, and if the tools are priced below Milwaukee or DeWalt, and are priced on par with say Ryobi, I am thinking more folks will go Kolbalt, especially if a snazzy display can lure them in.

[External image (uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied] Three years old and still running strong with original battery.

Not mine, at the company I work for’s main shop.

WigWagWorkshop wrote:

Great discussion, I imagine Kolbalt will have priority, upfront space at Lowes. I think there are a lot of people that have not yet bought into any particular brand yet, for example my son.  He works at Lowes, and if the tools are priced below Milwaukee or DeWalt, and are priced on par with say Ryobi, I am thinking more folks will go Kolbalt, especially if a snazzy display can lure them in.

That and the marketing of voltage… 24>18/20

Jimbo

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I’m wondering if this line is a big reason the select stores that had Metabo pulled them without really giving them much opportunity.

That could very well be

Jimbo

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these seam like they are goin to be sweet like the idea of another cell in the battery. I’m an rc junkie also and I know more volts = more fun with those so I wonder if will add up with these tools as well. I watched a vid on youtube were they raced this new drill against Milwaukee fuel gen2 it was a very close race kobalt just barely won.. but only time will tell. in a couple yrs when I get the itch for new cordless tools these might be in the running lol

My father and I are carpenters and after about 5 years of hard use our cheap porter cable drills have finally shit the bed.  Honestly for their value they lasted a long time and through many tough projects.

Now I am in the market for a new cordless set.  I am not one to just go out and buy the hottest brand name.  I need to see real proof that the product I’m buying is going to meet or exceed my expectations.  After watching just about every 18v brushless review on the internet I was almost dead set on the Milwaukee M18 fuel $300 impact and drill kit combo.  Until I stumbled upon Kobalts new line.  It seemed they had everything that dewalt, makita, and Milwaukee lacked but for less money!  The batteries have a low power indicator unlike makita.  All the tools had belt clips unlike Milwaukee,  they had more settings then dewalt.  The kobalts also have quick release and metal chucks as well as double bit holders and of course led work lights built in.  On top of that variable speed settings, impressive specs and 24V powerhouse batteries that cost tons less than the competition.  I watched a video where a guy was removing lug nuts on his van with his Kobalt  drill from the combo set, when he tried to remove them with the leading brands they failed miserably.  

I am normally not one to buy products when they are first released but Lowes has put such an outstanding warranty on these products with a 5 year tool, 3 year battery and a 1 year no questions asked replacement I think they just may surpass Milwaukee for my new purchase.  Also seeing some verified Amazon reviews stating that the milwaukees are Chinese  now made and falling apart didn’t help my decision to buy there brand.  Apparently these reviewers were die hard Milwaukee owners who are now disappointed…..I don’t want to be disappointed.  

The bottom line for me is that Kobalt made sure to add every feature the competitors missed.  Tomorrow we are going to lowes and checking them out.  Hopefully they will be everything we have wanted and more.   I look forward to a new tool set that will allow me to continue to put food on the table!  I hope Kobalt is the one.  If I’m not impressed in person I will probably shoot for the new compact makitas but after all the evidence and videos I think The brushless Kobalts are going to be the set for me.

Are you sure you’re not mistakenly comparing the kobalt line to budget tools from other brands?  Depending on the tool you’re comparing I’d say every one of the claims about X brand not having Y is false.

I was looking up where they’re made for you (china) and came across this that got enough chuckles to share…

jeffmcmillan wrote:

6 hours ago, jeffmcmillan said:

Are you sure you’re not mistakenly comparing the kobalt line to budget tools from other brands?  Depending on the tool you’re comparing I’d say every one of the claims about X brand not having Y is false.

 

I was looking up where they’re made for you (china) and came across this that got enough chuckles to share…

Lol I remember you doing this with DeWalt, and hence your new profile pic was born haahaaahha

Aren’t the new Kobalt tools made by Chervon(Which make Ego)? I don’t think there is any doubt that they are good tools…and the battery pricing is cheap as hell but you have to wonder how long they’ll support the tools. Lowe’s has a history of killing product lines and changing them for something cheaper if it isn’t profitable quickly enough.

I’ve posted about it many times before, but I pretty much wrote Kobalt off as an option in the middle 2000’s. I really bought into the original Williams/Snap-On hand tool line from 1998-2002. They were fantastic tools at good prices. Then around 2003 they moved the line to Danaher and it became barely distinguishable from the Craftsman tools of the time. 

That wasn’t a huge deal at first, but they were constantly changing everything, always for the worse, and as time went on the tools got shittier and shittier until eventually they just weren’t even worth considering anymore. 

Then they phased out Klein in favor of Greenlee, then phased out Greenlee in favor of Southwire. About the same time, they phased out Knipex and all but the most basic Channellock offerings, and the list goes on and on. In each instance they replaced them with a cheap ass Asian alternatives. 

As others have said, Lowe’s has ruined their credibility with me. They have a history of leaving their customers out on their ass and I expect this to be no different. The tools may end up being great. Chervon knows what they’re doing, hell, they made a lot of the power tools for Snap-On, but don’t count on Lowe’s to back them up, even if they’re fantastic.

Conductor562 wrote:

I’ve posted about it many times before, but I pretty much wrote Kobalt off as an option in the middle 2000’s. I really bought into the original Williams/Snap-On hand tool line from 1998-2002. They were fantastic tools at good prices. Then around 2003 they moved the line to Danaher and it became barely distinguishable from the Craftsman tools of the time. 

 

That wasn’t a huge deal at first, but they were constantly changing everything, always for the worse, and as time went on the tools got shittier and shittier until eventually they just weren’t even worth considering anymore. 

 

Then they phased out Klein in favor of Greenlee, then phased out Greenlee in favor of Southwire. About the same time, they phased out Knipex and all but the most basic Channellock offerings, and the list goes on and on. In each instance they replaced them with a cheap ass Asian alternatives. 

 

As others have said, Lowe’s has ruined their credibility with me. They have a history of leaving their customers out on their ass and I expect this to be no different. The tools may end up being great. Chervon knows what they’re doing, hell, they made a lot of the power tools for Snap-On, but don’t count on Lowe’s to back them up, even if they’re fantastic.

JimboS1ice wrote:

3 minutes ago, JimboS1ice said:

They don’t have a decent hand tool in stock aside from maybe 5 facings of channelocks, everything is irwins, which aren’t bad but are Chinese, or Stanley has taken them over. I picked a pair of kobalt pliers up and was disgusted just by the metal fragments falling off the pliers, pretty pitiful if you ask me.


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Agree 100%. I don’t even remember the last hand tool I bought from Lowe’s. They run their tool business like a hedge fund. Build up brand recognition and and consumer loyalty, then cut costs, cut quality, and milk the brand. Bait and switch. 

I’m not crazy about Husky either, but at least HD typically carries premium alternatives. 

Conductor562 wrote:

 

Agree 100%. I don’t even remember the last hand tool I bought from Lowe’s. They run their tool business like a hedge fund. Build up brand recognition and and consumer loyalty, then cut costs, cut quality, and milk the brand. Bait and switch. 

 

I’m not crazy about Husky either, but at least HD typically carries premium alternatives. 

I owned the entire Kobalt 24v line (former Lowe’s employee, got them for 48% off at launch) and eventually returned them under the one-year-money-back guarantee. They performed fine, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that they’d be discontinued before the 5-year-warranty elapsed. I saw Kobalt discontinue their 12v line after about 2 years, their 18v/”20v” line after 4, and thought the way they transitioned from their old 18v to “new” 20v Max tools to be extremely dubious at best and outright BS at worst. I’m extremely happy with the Hitachi brushless stuff I already owned.

That being said, the Kobalt circular is fantastic and the impact is great, but I think corded circs are better and my former Kobalt impact is dwarfed by my Triple Hammer.

Yea, Kobalt does not have exude the same longevity that Ridgid has with powertools

DR99 wrote:

2 hours ago, DR99 said:

Yea, Kobalt does not have exude the same longevity that Ridgid has with powertools

They should have ponied up with the same warrantee that Ridgid provides if they really wanted to go after them. They also should have created their 24v stuff to be compatible with the older batteries, too.

So I met one of the big dogs in lows marking department that helps decide how the stores need to be set up. She said the Kobalts are made by hitachi. I bought a set of the new 24v drill and impact and I am very pleased with them. I’m a machine builder and 99% use them working with different metals. I will say they are not the Milwaukee fuels, but they are not supposed to at less then half the price. I will say they are better then the regular m18 that I used on a daily basis. They seem like a legit attempt at a good tool. Keep in mind I paid $169 for my combo and paid $50 for a 4ah battery. How they will hold up, time will tell, but for the money they are worth looking into.


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The lady was wrong about the Kobalt 24v tools being made by Hitach. They are made by Chervon a big tool oem company they are the brains behind Ego they are also buying out SKill from Bosch

DR99 wrote:

The lady was wrong about the Kobalt 24v tools being made by Hitach. They are made by Chervon a big tool oem company they are the brains behind Ego they are also buying out SKill from Bosch

You can defiantly see that Lowes carries more interior decorating stuff that is trendy compared to HD.

I’m surprised she told you so much information, especially Lowe’s vs HD.

FWIW I think the store layouts in general are much better at Lowe’s. I like how their power tools are sorted by brand, as opposed to having all the tools bunched together by type. Makes things much quicker when I know who makes what and whether they have it or not. It’s a bit claustrophobic going through power tools at HD.

Not to go too far off-tangent but I wish Lowe’s still had Makita and Milwaukee. In addition to having the most DeWalt stuff they’d have every brand aside from Ryobi and Ridgid well-represented. Conversely I wish HD had more Bosch and Hitachi (I believe you can only get Hitachi at Lowe’s now).

aabee wrote:

I’m surprised she told you so much information, especially Lowe’s vs HD.

 

FWIW I think the store layouts in general are much better at Lowe’s. I like how their power tools are sorted by brand, as opposed to having all the tools bunched together by type. Makes things much quicker when I know who makes what and whether they have it or not. It’s a bit claustrophobic going through power tools at HD.

 

Not to go too far off-tangent but I wish Lowe’s still had Makita and Milwaukee. In addition to having the most DeWalt stuff they’d have every brand aside from Ryobi and Ridgid well-represented. Conversely I wish HD had more Bosch and Hitachi (I believe you can only get Hitachi at Lowe’s now).

aabee wrote:

I’m surprised she told you so much information, especially Lowe’s vs HD.

 

FWIW I think the store layouts in general are much better at Lowe’s. I like how their power tools are sorted by brand, as opposed to having all the tools bunched together by type. Makes things much quicker when I know who makes what and whether they have it or not. It’s a bit claustrophobic going through power tools at HD.

 

Not to go too far off-tangent but I wish Lowe’s still had Makita and Milwaukee. In addition to having the most DeWalt stuff they’d have every brand aside from Ryobi and Ridgid well-represented. Conversely I wish HD had more Bosch and Hitachi (I believe you can only get Hitachi at Lowe’s now).

It would be nice to see them heavily invest in the brand and expand it. I would like to see them push to have a ton of tools like makita and ridged do. I think that with the new battery technology that is on the market across the board you can pretty much put a battery on anything, and it seems like some companies are understanding that. The more competition that there is in the market the better it is for all of us. 

I’m new here but this thread reaffirms that signing up was a great idea.

You guys have a lot of knowledge not only on how well the tools from different brands are made, but how the companies behind them are running things.  This is all great info.

Thanks for a great site!

I think Kobalt’s issue is that it’s simply too little, too late. DeWalt and (sadly enough) Porter-Cable are their two biggest power-tool selections, and they already had smaller amounts of Hitachi, Bosch, and a lot of Black and Decker. The latter has their imprint all over Lowe’s, which is fine for DeWalt but middling (IMHO) in the case of Porter-Cable and B&D stuff.

One thing that hasn’t been brought up as well is distribution for tool review sites. A lot of the popular YouTube tool channel reviewers receive lots of samples from major tool companies. You can usually find at least a few reviews of Milwaukee or DeWalt’s newest offerings within a few days of release. Meanwhile, Kobalt’s 24v line has been out for nearly 10 months and reviews are hard to come by.

Again, I’ll state that the quality of these tools overall are good, but longevity and long-term support are very much an issue. I’d love to see Lowe’s get behind them as I think they could certainly compete with Ridgid from a specs POV. As cheap as the batteries are, a similar life-time warranty would make me dive right back in. With their second wave of tools already out, I’m not aware of a third wave (radio, jigsaw, and sander seem the obvious choices).

aabee wrote:

I think Kobalt’s issue is that it’s simply too little, too late. DeWalt and (sadly enough) Porter-Cable are their two biggest power-tool selections, and they already had smaller amounts of Hitachi, Bosch, and a lot of Black and Decker. The latter has their imprint all over Lowe’s, which is fine for DeWalt but middling (IMHO) in the case of Porter-Cable and B&D stuff.

 

One thing that hasn’t been brought up as well is distribution for tool review sites. A lot of the popular YouTube tool channel reviewers receive lots of samples from major tool companies. You can usually find at least a few reviews of Milwaukee or DeWalt’s newest offerings within a few days of release. Meanwhile, Kobalt’s 24v line has been out for nearly 10 months and reviews are hard to come by.

 

Again, I’ll state that the quality of these tools overall are good, but longevity and long-term support are very much an issue. I’d love to see Lowe’s get behind them as I think they could certainly compete with Ridgid from a specs POV. As cheap as the batteries are, a similar life-time warranty would make me dive right back in. With their second wave of tools already out, I’m not aware of a third wave (radio, jigsaw, and sander seem the obvious choices).

tcoscarelli wrote:

I agree completely. Ridgid has put an 18v battery on almost everything. If lows wants to compete then they need to get tool out and quickly. Plus they need to generate some buzz and they are not. My 24v tools are sweet and I think they can definitely compete if lows let them.


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aabee wrote:

On 1/7/2017 at 8:39 PM, aabee said:

I think Kobalt’s issue is that it’s simply too little, too late. DeWalt and (sadly enough) Porter-Cable are their two biggest power-tool selections, and they already had smaller amounts of Hitachi, Bosch, and a lot of Black and Decker. The latter has their imprint all over Lowe’s, which is fine for DeWalt but middling (IMHO) in the case of Porter-Cable and B&D stuff.

 

One thing that hasn’t been brought up as well is distribution for tool review sites. A lot of the popular YouTube tool channel reviewers receive lots of samples from major tool companies. You can usually find at least a few reviews of Milwaukee or DeWalt’s newest offerings within a few days of release. Meanwhile, Kobalt’s 24v line has been out for nearly 10 months and reviews are hard to come by.

 

Again, I’ll state that the quality of these tools overall are good, but longevity and long-term support are very much an issue. I’d love to see Lowe’s get behind them as I think they could certainly compete with Ridgid from a specs POV. As cheap as the batteries are, a similar life-time warranty would make me dive right back in. With their second wave of tools already out, I’m not aware of a third wave (radio, jigsaw, and sander seem the obvious choices).

TIA, WA and “Mr Explain everything and say nothing” all reviewed the 24v when they came out…and I’m sure plenty others did as well. All that I recall were on Youtube.

BMack37 wrote:

14 hours ago, BMack37 said:

 

TIA, WA and “Mr Explain everything and say nothing” all reviewed the 24v when they came out…and I’m sure plenty others did as well. All that I recall were on Youtube.

TIA doesn’t have any dedicated reviews of the 24v line. They had a behind-the-scenes special with the Kobalt team at NASCAR but never went anywhere else with reviewing their products.

The workshop addict reviews only covered the impact and drill about 7 or 8 months after release; not exactly when the products came out. And I don’t know who the reviewer is by name that did them, but he was awful and came off as not knowing what he was talking about or nervous (probably both). Among other things, he included the battery as the drill’s total weight.

Would the last reviewer you mentioned happen to be Real Tool Reviews? He just did one on the drill IIRC.

JimboS1ice wrote:

Look at RIDGID, their impact boasts over 2200 in pounds of torque and I see a lot more red than orange, just remember paper stats can be bloated until the tool hits a workload and it can’t even finish a days job. I have no experience with kobalt so I’m not knocking the tool, but to add to what comp said how are these going to hold up, just buyer beware.

What’s their warranty like?

Jimbo

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KobaltFan1 wrote:

1 hour ago, KobaltFan1 said:

 

I have the new Kobalt Brushless circular saw, impact and flash light. So far it has out performed my 18v Milwaukee Brushless system 3 to 1. My recommendation is make sure if you are operating the circular saw to have the 4.0 battery because if not the battery will shut off on you to prevent damage to the battery and possibly the tool it’s self.


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Hogwash!

Please explain how you arrived at this statement? Is “3 to 1” used simply as an expression, or is there some mathematical substance to it?

What Milwaukee models are you comparing them to? To say these Kobalt tools are 3 times the tools the very solid Milwaukee offerings are is quite a bold statement. 

I haven’t used the new Kobalt stuff, but I put as much stock in this statement as I would a headline in the National Inquirer that Kim Jong Un and Kate Upton have a baby together. Then again, I haven’t seen Ms. Upton’s lady parts lately either ?

Send me a kobalt saw I’ll pace it against my Milwaukees, not knocking kobalt but that is rather bold for a store brand tool


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