I’m not impressed with what I see, but maybe your take will be different. There are 5 12V Max bundles, featuring their PS31 brushed motor drill, compact reciprocating saw, and impact driver. The bundle involves a bare tool plus a charger, 4.0Ah battery pack, and tool bag.
I added all this to the Lots More Tool Deals on Amazon post, but it was a late addition and you might not have seen it.
After looking a little more closely, and forgive my bluntness, but the Bosch bundles are TERRIBLE deals. I’m just looking at the drill deals, maybe things are different with the other tool options.
Some of Amazon’s new “bundle” deals will save you money. Instead of manufacturer bundles, they have created tools combinations of separate products. This seems to be something new they’re trying out.
Take this Dremel rotary tool kit for example. It comes with a tool kit, plus a separate flex-shaft adapter. This other kit option features a different (bigger) kit that’s “bundled” with Dremel’s 3-jaw chuck.
Some bundles save you money, most don’t, but provide a convenient way to link products together.
I’ve been meaning to buy a Rubbermaid Brute trash can in 20 gallon sizing for some time now. The couple times I almost made it to checkout, it was a pain to match the garbage bin to the appropriate lid. When I was ready to order just before Thanksgiving, I was delighted to find a “bundle” that included both.
It’s pretty much the same as adding both items to your cart, and I was pleased with the order being a little more convenient.
Now, as for these Bosch bundles… they’re not very good, even though they do save you money on the separate items.
My issues with these bundles is not really about the bundles, but how they feature really bad bargains. Buying a bare tool, a charger, and a battery? That’s not the way to do things. You can save a lot by buying starter kits, or even tool kits.
A PS31 bare tool with 4.0Ah battery, charger, and tool bag, for $174? Wow, it’s $32.20 less than buying them separately? But $174 is still terrible.
Nope, it looks to be the same with the PS60 kit.
I’d buy this:
- Bosch PS31 drill kit for $99
Don’t like the 1.5Ah batteries?
- 4.0Ah battery for $69
- 2.5Ah battery for $49
- 2.0Ah x 2 with charger and L-Boxx for $69
- 2.0Ah battery for $39
Also See: Bosch $25 off $100+ Round 2 Promo Doesn’t Suck!
Just looking at batteries, you could get the Bosch kit for $99, and then a 4.0Ah battery and 2.0Ah battery for $83. So that’s a total of $182 for a drill, charger, 2x 1.5Ah batteries, 1x 2.0 battery, and 1x 4.0Ah battery, for $8 more. The kit should include a tool bag too.
Or get the 4.0Ah battery and carefully select $31 in other accessories, or slightly more to push that second part of the order over $100, and you could end up with a $75 order total. Combine with the drill kit, and you end up with the same $174 total price, but also 2x 1.5Ah batteries and whatever else you ordered to push the 4.0Ah battery over $100.
Hmm… Oh, what a mess!!
A lot of the tools in these bundles are eligible for $25 off $100+ savings, but you don’t get it if you buy the bundle. So add them to your cart separately, skip the tool bag, and you pay less.
Take their combo bundle option. You save $50.85 off the $316.97 “if bought separately” price. Their price: $266.12.
Here’s what I can do:
- Reciprocating Saw + Blades for $77.06
- Bare Drill + 2.0Ah battery for $94
- 12V Max L-Boxx Starter Set with 2x 2.0Ah batteries + LED flashlight for $93
Total: $264 and a few cents.
Their kit includes a 13″ tool bag, my configured kit includes an extra L-Boxx tool box, reciprocating saw blades, and 1 extra 2.0Ah battery pack, plus $2 savings from their bundle price.
There’s a bundle with 2x 4.0Ah battery packs, for $224.
I’d instead buy the drill/driver kit and 2x 4.0Ah battery packs. Or a Starter Kit plus 4.0Ah battery pack at the same price.
Total price: $99 plus $69 plus $69 minus $25 for $212. So you get a different tool bag, which probably won’t fit all the batteries, and more batteries, for $10 less. The batteries will be 2x 1.5Ah plus 2x 4,0Ah, or 1x 4.0Ah plus 2x 2.0Ah, or 4x 2.0Ah. And you get 1 or 2 L-Boxxes too, although you don’t get the fitted tray as with the bare tool.
But since you have the charger anyways…
- Bare Drill plus 4.0Ah battery for $124
- 2.0Ah x 2 with charger and L-Boxx plus 2.0Ah battery for $83
Total: $207. You get the drill, 2x 2.0Ah batteries, a charger, 1x 4.0Ah batteries, and an L-Boxx, compared to the drill, 2x 4.0Ah batteries, a charger, and tool bag, for $224.
Amazon’s Bosch 12V Max bundle savings suck. Well, at least in comparison to spending some time piecing together your own kit to take advantage of their $25 off $100+ promo.
