Lowe's/Kobalt 80 volt battery tool system: a cautionary tale.

[Duds13]

Was waiting for someone to mention Lynxx. Have the same 2 saws you have, 6 months after I bought them they were discontinued, instant orphans. Makes me very hesitant to buy store brand battery tools in the future.

Not sure I'd call this a bait & switch, more like they were discontinuing a house brand and replacing it with a national one that at least once upon a time had a good reputation.

Lowes does seem quick to discontinue items, hand tools too. A few years ago they made a file handle to use with their own files that had 1/4" locking hex tangs. Thought it was a great idea, have never had good experiences with traditional file handles. Of course, they were discontinued too.

Uh, maybe because guaranteed you will get inundated with spam emails, not just from them but from everybody they sell your name to.
I'm of the belief that you shouldn't need to "register" a tool in order to get warranty coverage.

No issues here with that.

 

[DynamicD]

im late to the party, but as soon as I saw the kobalt battery I recognized it,
GREENWORKS 80v looks identical:

82V 2.5Ah Battery with Bluetooth and Digital Readout | 2983302 | Greenworks Commercial

Similar price as the Kobalt one shared earlier... so no help there
Im gonna guess Greenworks makes it for them (or they just have the same vendor up the line...)
Greenworks Commercial has a dealer network, (at least for the 80v) not just sold in box store but smaller independent shops too.

 

[vacfarmer]

Extra late to this thread, but should anyone read all this & wonder-
Lowes still sells 80v tools. They are made by greenworks. The greenworks batteries are lower cost, and some good China ones are available also. You must modify the battery case to fit your kobalt tool/charger. It's easy diy with router or tablesaw- see utube.

 

[RayIN]

FWIW, instead of buying new battery packs, take your old one to BatteriesPlus/Interstate Battery store here, and have it rebuilt with new cells. They often can even increase the AH rating for less than a new battery cost.

 

[ultrarunner]

It worked well for me but be aware different stores can have different pricing…

FWIW, instead of buying new battery packs, take your old one to BatteriesPlus/Interstate Battery store here, and have it rebuilt with new cells. They often can even increase the AH rating for less than a new battery cost.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

We go thru tons of batteries at work. Milk walk key. Dee walt. Ingersoll. You name it

I started just getting back to air tools in the shop.

 

[5030]

I refuse to purchase anything Kobalt, years ago I purchased one of their high end miter saws that at about 9 months the cooling fan in the motor broke... it was discontinued and no parts were available. The saw was not used much, mainly the wife used it for cutting up small bit of wood for her bird houses and other odd and ends. Probably had a total of less than 15 hours of use total.

That was the last time I ever bought anything branded Kobalt.

Most likely made in China. Me, I stick with Bauer cordless, never let me down when I need it.

 

[jmc]

OP here.

One of my original beefs here was the standard battery included in each of their tool packages was out of stock if purchased seperately, but they did have a $300 battery instead. That standard battery was about $80 at the time, IIRC. They offered to notify me when is was available again. That was in 10/24. No word back from them yet.

 

[wilso]

I had a similar experience with the Kobalt 80v lineup. Picked up a few tools thinking I could build out the system, then suddenly everything disappeared from shelves. Batteries are the real killer, crazy expensive and hard to find. Makes me hesitant to invest more, even though the tools themselves worked fine.

 

[ultrarunner]

I had a similar experience with the Kobalt 80v lineup. Picked up a few tools thinking I could build out the system, then suddenly everything disappeared from shelves. Batteries are the real killer, crazy expensive and hard to find. Makes me hesitant to invest more, even though the tools themselves worked fine.

Time will tell if I made the right longevity choice going Stihl.

A top reasons for Stihl is thinking it would be hard for Stihl to walk away from its commercial customers should it abandon a platform.

Orphan batteries can be rebuilt but the question is if rebuilding is cost effective.

 

[not2old]

That’s interesting, because the Ridgid warranty states they only cover defects in workmanship or materials.

Be careful and read the whole warranty before you buy. Bought a Rigid shop vac and read the warranty while sending in the registration. Lifetime did not apply. This will be the Last Rigid corded tool I buy unless they change the crap wire they use that will not coil easily and is constantly kinked. Same reason I only bought one Craftsman corded tool more than thirty years ago. I'm still using that "dremel" tool and swear at it every time I use it.

 

[WM75Guy]

BatteriesPlus/Interstate battery, can rebuild your old batteries.

Might check again. Our local Batteries Plus quit rebuilding batteries 2 years ago.

 

[ultrarunner]

Good to know… it was about 2 years ago they did two for me… no complaints and a good value.

 

[Gregster613]

Good to know… it was about 2 years ago they did two for me… no complaints and a good value.

Yeah, I was looking around for them a while back and couldn't find any reference to them anymore. They seem to have disappeared after Covid like a lot of other business did. Darn shame too!

 

[ultrarunner]

Covid certainly changed many things forever…

Suppliers and vendors couldn’t hold on or simply

3 Battery Plus around here but nothing on the website on rebuilding :-(