Best Power Tool Deal You've Ever Gotten?

Well it's not really a power tool. But it's POWER......

I bought a Coleman 2500W generator at Builder's Square for $89!

I walked in one day and saw a big stack of them on an end cap. There must have been at least ten of them. One of them on the front had a big orange price price tag marked $89. You know, they take a big wide marker and make very visible four or five inch high numbers. I figured it had to be a mistake and walked on by. A few minutes later I figured I'd check into it. I really didn't need a generator but for $89 I couldn't pass it up. So I picked one up and put it on a cart and headed for the checkout. Just as I was doing this about five other guys saw the sign and got in line behind me. I put it up on the counter and the girl scanned it and it came up as $389. Well I showed here the $89 sign and she said she'd have to get a manager which she did. The manager came and stated that it was clearly a mistake and that she would sell THAT ONE with the sign on it for $89 but the rest were going to be $389. She then told me that it would be sold "As is" with no returns. Well for a $300 savings I decided to chance it and walked out of there with a new generator for $89 plus tax. The rest of the guys behind me put theirs back and went about their shopping.

I used the thing a few times and it worked fine. I sold it a couple years later for $250.

John

LOML's works for a company that has several businesses, and was shutting down their HVAC service company. They had a "silent auction" within the company getting rid of several tools. I bid $25.00 for a brand new 28' alum ladder, $ 20.00 for a slightly used DeWalt reciprocating saw....and $ 30.00 for a slightly used DeWalt electric hammer. Turns out nobody else bid on any of these so I won them all. The hammer included an assortment of chisels & bits, several over 30" long x 1.75" dia. The bits alone were worth hundreds.

A ladder is a tool....not fun to use...but a tool...isn't it?

Rennie Heuer said:

Wow, that planer must be the most prized piece of equipment you have in your shop.

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As a matter of fact it is. I can't imagine ever selling it in the future, just have to give it to my son's if they ever get more involved in woodworking.

Don Taylor said:

Hi Rennie,
I did the same thing you did a couple of years ago except I paid $60. Go to the ryobi site and get a phone number to call them. They will send you everything you are missing. Just tell them it was a floor model. No need to mention what you paid for it. They sent me whole sets of everything so now I have dupes of many of the items. They were great to deal with.

Don

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Thanks Don. It's been a year or more now and I already have all the sleeves I need. Nothing else was missing.....I think.

I'll keep this in mind should such a deal ever pop up again!.

My best is my most recent. Walking through Lowes, stopped by the reduced section, got a PC 690 VS router for $35 marked down from $189. It came with 1/4 and 1/2 collets, but was missing the wrenches and manual. I already have another PC so wrenches were not needed and I can download the manual.

I did get a 100 porta band blades for $10 from Amazon when they are regularly priced over $400. Thanks Mark Rios!

Powermatic 3520B - $2500 delivered (right place, right time)
Tradesman 17" floor model Drill Press - $150 delivered (Amazon.com)
Woodcraft 8" slow speed grinder - free (I won it)

WOW. Some there's some serious price gloat going on here! I could almost imagine some of you doing gloat dances or something when your tools show up

Incredible story Steve - thanks for the reminder about the "family" side of tools.

And Jesse I liked your point about the best tool being the best deal. Price, though a strong motivating factor, is often NOT the best determining factor when making a purchase.

...soooo.... I had a thought as I awakened from a nap today.

How could someone mathematically say who really got the best deal here?

What would the equation have to look like?

I was lying on the couch and it passed through my head that it would have to be a relationship between the total dollar amount saved and the percentage saved over the list/retail cost.

Otherwise all the folks who managed to get something for FREE would say they won.

But they may have gotten a free $50 tool (rebates, special deals) when someone else saved $400 off of list price at a 25% discount.

If we had a standard list price of items and left out things like resale value and overall quality what would the equation look like?

Because then we could say who really got the best deal.

NOT that it matters!!! I'm just sayin'

Jet 1236 lathe - $300.00 free delivery sale from Amazon year 2005

Jet mini VS lathe - $200.00 free delivery sale from Amazon year 2006

Drill Doctor 750x - $60.00 free delivery from Amazon year 2006

Powermatic 3520B lathe - $2,000.00 installment plan delivered and assembled by a friend who won it as a woodturning event door price (he just bought a similar one a couple of months earlier) year 2006

As you can see...Amazon is my usual hunting ground LOL

WOW, almost everyone who has posted in this thread has made better deals than I have when it comes to saving money. Like Jesse, I am very happy to have some Festool stuff that I paid a LOT of money for –probably the best of these, and a tool combo that no one could ever convince me the part with, is the full price Festool Rotex sander coupled with my full price Festool vacuum.

I guess that the best price I have had on a tool is my recent purchase at Busy Bee Tools of a Triton 2.25 hp router $200 (Canadian) coupled with a $125 (Canadian) router table top and fence. Those were sale prices, not mark-downs.

My take

A few come to mind: When Lowes was closing out some Delta tools, I got a new in a box 13" 2 speed Planer for about $212, less than 1/2 price. Recently, I bought a Milwaukee 5625 3 1/2 hp router for $198 shipped from HDT. Just last week, I bought from Lowes a 12" CMS Delta w twin lasers for under $200. Just a few of my deals. I've also managed to buy hardwoods from private parties or sawyers for about 1/2 price of the retailers..

I bought a 1950's vintage Delta 9" titling arbor saw with a near new 1.5 HP Baldor motor for $25. I only wanted the motor and didn't care much about the saw. I told my friend about the saw minus the motor, and he bought it for $25, so the motor was FREE!