Posted by on under stanley brand, bosch tools, stanley works, degrading quality, live webcast, shareholder value, dramatic cuts, porter cable, loyal customers, black decker, shareholders, merger, amp, nbsp, dewalt, attempts, delta, press release, new york city, lunch | 
It was announced yesterday that after 4 attempts over the past 27 years Stanley Works has finally acquired Black & Decker in a $4.5 billion deal ($3.5bn stock & $1bn debt). Unfortunately this means about 4,000 additional jobs (10% of work force) will be cut from the business that has already seen dramatic cuts. Shareholders of Black & Decker will get 1.275 shares of Stanley stock and should see an increase in overall shareholder value from the merger.
Stanley buys and sells companies faster than I can keep track, last year they sold CST/David White to Bosch Tools. It will be very interesting to see what shakes out from this deal. There are many arrangements behind the scenes with companies that have deals with Black & Decker to supply motors, parts, etc and they could potentially loose them under the Stanley brand. I guess the big question will be how will this effect the quality of the tools for DeWalt, Porter Cable and other brands. Black & Decker has had some problems in recent years with their loyal customers being disappointed in degrading quality. Is Stanley the answer?
In addition, both companies will host a joint investor lunch on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. ET in New York City. The live webcast of the meeting can be accessed at www.stanleyblackanddecker.com, www.stanleyworks.com and www.blackanddecker.com. Read the Full Press Release Below:
Tagi: stanley brand, bosch tools, stanley works, degrading quality, live webcast, shareholder value, dramatic cuts, porter cable, loyal customers, black decker, shareholders, merger, amp, nbsp, dewalt, attempts, delta, press release, new york city, lunch
Posted by on under versis, driver bits, work surface, dewalt, drill bits, power tool, puck, ly, magnets, milwaukee, press release, checkout, blog, ohio power |
Recently released from DeWalt are several versions of the new Magnetic ToughCase: ToughCase by itself ($13), 15pc ToughCase ($20) and 20pc Impact Ready ToughCase ($38). The name is pretty revealing on this one, it’s a really tough case with built in magnets on the lid. The magnets in the lid are very well placed allowing you to attach the ToughCase to any metal work surface and use it like a tray to hold drill bits and other accessories. The case also lives up to its name as you can see it getting run over by a car in the video below.
The DeWalt ToughCase is similar to the Milwaukee 20pc Magnetic Puck ($10, Ohio Power Tool) which has been available for some time however the Puck only holds driver bits and while built pretty solid not sure you could run your car over it.
If you are interested in getting a DeWalt ToughCase for FREE the nice folks at ToolGuyd.com are giving away 5 of them. You can either reply on their blog or use your twitter account to enter. Check out their site for all the details. For more info on the ToughCases checkout the full DeWalt Press Release below:
Tagi: versis, driver bits, work surface, dewalt, drill bits, power tool, puck, ly, magnets, milwaukee, press release, checkout, blog, ohio power
Posted by on under power measurements, power features, jumping the gun, speed power, dewalt, launch, makita, comps, watts, shelves, torque, bosch, homework, preference, hook, amp, milwaukee, pool, combo kits |
Nobody is going to accuse DeWalt of jumping the gun and rushing to market with their new line for 12V Max* Tools. There are some advantages to being the last kid into the pool however in that you get to see what has worked for the competition and try to improve upon it. From what we have seem it looks like the Yellow Team has done their homework dissecting the competition and researching customers’ needs. The launch of the DeWalt 12V tools will feature 7 tools (+ 2 additional combo kits) and should hit shelves in October just before the Holiday Season.
Our initial reaction to the entire line as a whole was positive but nothing super surprising or that would inspire someone to drop their current 12V tools and say “Wow I have to have that”! Price seemed in line with comps for the most part, size was a little larger for most items but with some advantages, weight was in line and power seemed to top the first generation tools from Bosch, Milwaukee & Makita but it was unclear if they were less than, equal or better than the 2nd generation 12V tools that we have been seeing. DeWalt unfortunately does not provide power measurements in torque to compare with the other tools; instead they use UWO (Unit Watts Output) which doesn’t translate to torque directly. Head to head tests planned soon, stay tuned.
The biggest difference when looking at the whole line collectively would probably be moving the battery below the handle which allows for thinner more ergonomic handle. This seems like it would be a personal preference thing of comfort, either way seems fine if speed/power/features can back it up. This does make the tool a little larger but it also allows for a belt hook which you will not find on most other compact tools which use holsters. It also makes it more stable when standing upright. This configuration may be more familiar to some professional and may get easier adoption for those not currently using any 12V tools.
Tagi: power measurements, power features, jumping the gun, speed power, dewalt, launch, makita, comps, watts, shelves, torque, bosch, homework, preference, hook, amp, milwaukee, pool, combo kits
Posted by on under plunge base, palm sander, speed unit, dewalt, power tool, variable speed, colt, bosch, routers, router, guess, improvements, press release, nbsp, pers, checkout, jobs |
Announced yesterday from the Yellow team is a new 1.25HP Compact Router available as a fixed base unit DWP611 ($139) or a combo kit which can be used with fixed or plunge base DW611PK ($199). The router is a variable speed unit and designed to do the work of both a palm router and many jobs of a full sized router. We have not seen one of these units in person so we are not sure how it would compare in size to the 1HP Bosch Colt Palm Sander PR20EVSK ($121, Ohio Power Tool) but our guess it would be very similar. It looks as though the new DeWalt is going to compete directly with the Bosch Colt which has been one of the most popular palm routers for years.
The DeWalt Compact Router also has some nice improvements such as clear base and LED lights which will make it much easier to see your work. We first saw these features on another Bosch router, the MRF23EVS but delays have kept the much anticipated 2.3HP Bosch router from being launched. Looks like this DeWalt router could beat it to market when it launches in October 2010. Checkout the full DeWalt Press Release below for more info.
Tagi: plunge base, palm sander, speed unit, dewalt, power tool, variable speed, colt, bosch, routers, router, guess, improvements, press release, nbsp, pers, checkout, jobs
Posted by on under inspection camera, max battery, rundown, briefly, dewalt |
We talked about the new 12v Inspection Camera from DeWalt briefly back in June when we did the DeWalt 12v Max Rundown but we thought it might be a good opportunity to go a little deeper on this unit. As we mentioned before this may potentially be our favorite new 12v DeWalt tool in the lineup. At $299 the DCT410S1 is a pretty good deal, although it only comes with (1) 12V Max battery that is plenty to power the camera for a day’s worth of normal use.
Tagi: inspection camera, max battery, rundown, briefly, dewalt
