Hitachi Miter Saw - Perfect Holiday idea.

It's almost a crime that we're selling the Hitachi C10FSB for $399 when our competitors are at least $50 higher. What's even worse is that Hitachi is picking up ground shipping charges through the holidays, meaning $399.01 can get it delivered to your door. That's a great deal, since a 60 pound saw is pretty expensive to ship. The only thing we can't do is gift wrap it and put it under the tree for you.

This is a great miter saw with all the features you could want in a 10" dual compound sliding miter saw. Ok, so that's a big name for this tool. Basically, that says it has all the bells a whistles that you could possibly want except a laser, and you can always add a laser for $30 by buying the Irwin add-on miter saw laser, and then you'll get a free ($4 shipping) Irwin Marathon blade by mail for the saw to top it off.

Hitachi will even let you try this out risk free. If you don't like it, just send it back and they'll let us issue a full refund for the tool. What better way to do some great bargain shopping this holiday season? I may have to show my mother this saw. Oh, that reminds me, Dad - don't read this post.

Convert your Ni-Cad Milwaukee Tools to Lithium-Ion

Milwaukee Tools just started offering a cool upgrade for existing customers with Ni-Cad tools. It's a kit (2 batteries and a charger) that allows you to power the older Ni-Cad tools with their newer Li-Ion batteries. For around 2 bills, that's not bad at all if you've got several tools already that you'd like to give the longer run-times.

What's even better is that they're offering a 5 year warranty on these batteries. with the first two years being exchange replacement.

Why would you want to do this? There are a couple of reasons. The biggest being that the weight of Li-Ion batteries is considerably less than Ni-Cad, which means your tool using experience will be much more pleasant. Li-Ion also have a longer runtime and more charges in their lifetime.

While this isn't a "Throw out your old working batteries" type of an upgrade, if you've got some aged cells and are looking to freshen your personal battery inventory, this appears to be a great way to go. If the other manufacturers offered this, I'd be all over those, too. It's hard for me to pass up new geek toys.

For more information, including current pricing, you can take a look here.

Makita 18V Lithium-Ion Drills - White vs. Blue

Today, we added the Makita BDF452HW 18V Lithium-Ion Drill to our website. The first thing you'll notice is that it's white. We nicknamed it "Shamu" when we first saw it. But what makes it different from the standard blue Makita BDF451 18V LXT Lithium-Ion drill?

Pricepoint

So the first thing that'll grab you is the price difference. Sure, $100 less is a big deal, but there's got to be a cause, right? I mean, $100 for blue dye in the plastic they use seems a bit high. But wait, looking at the specifications reveals the answer.

Batteries

The Watt Hours of the batteries differ considerably. On the BDF451, they use 3 AH batteries at 18V, which gives 54 Watt hours (AH * V). The BDF452HW has 1.5 AH batteries at 18V, which gives 27 Watt hours. So the runtime on the BDF451 is going to be twice that of the BDF452HW with the included batteries. What's being done here is that Makita, in trying to get to that $200ish pricepoint, has made smaller batteries for a "Value" line.

Charger

The charger included with the white model is a 15 minute charger which doesn't have a fan includes a fan, although it wasn't listed anywhere in the specs for the charger. The blue model includes the 45 minute optimum controller with temperature control via a fan to circulate air through the battery itself. This helps create a more even charge by having the cells in a more consistent state during charging.

Update: Makita will apparently be moving all of their tools to this charger, which will be 22 minutes on a 3AH battery and 15 on the 1.5AH.

Transmission

Also noted is that the BDF451HW uses a 2 speed transmission and the BDF452 uses a 3 speed. The difference in gearing makes for a 450 vs 560 rating for torque as well. Not that most people will notice the difference in torque, but that shows which markets each one is intended for.

Markets

The white model is intended for use in the high-end homeowner market, the DIY guys and low-end contractor market. The blue model is the flagship, with all the bells and whistles, designed for the professional that is using the cordless tools on a regular basis. They're both Makita quality, but they're just expanding their horizons a bit. The side handle, belt hook, and a few other minor differences make the BDF452 the choice for contractors, and most DIY and homeowner types won't even notice those are missing.

Good Call

I think Makita made a good call here going after the lower price market. This should make it a much easier choice between current 18V Ni-Cad and Li-Ion drills and moving up to Li-Ion. Kudos to Makita for being first to come out with a full featured Li-Ion cordless drill at Ni-Cad pricing.

Limited Supplies - Stanley Socket Sets

For a very limited time, we've got fabulous pricing on a 20 piece mechanics socket set, a 20 piece 1/2" drive socket set, a 37 piece socket set and a 55 piece 1/2" and 3/8" drive kit. Prices start under $20 and don't get over $40 for these, so grab them while they're hot. I've already picked up a couple of the 37 piece for myself - one for that car and one for the house. These make great gifts for the upcoming holidays, not to mention they're just all around good quality tools.

If you're in need of a set of socket wrenches, make sure to check out all the deals we have right now. Even if you don't need them (like me), it's still hard to pass some of these up.