What Comes In Milwaukee's 9-Tool Combo Kit & Is It A Good Deal?

Whether you need them for work, to handle odd jobs around the house, or to make your hobbies a little bit easier, it's a good idea to have a stock of power tools. Items like drills, saws, and sanders can come in handy in a variety of situations you anticipate and even some you might not. For many, finding out which brand is the right fit and sticking with it as they add to their collection is the ideal way to buy. And Milwaukee proves a widely-selected choice for tool users from all walks of life.

Since the company as founded, Milwaukee has made a name for itself as a premier deliverer of quality tools. For the most part, its offerings are battery powered, though there are a few remaining corded tools you can still buy. While the bulk of its products are solid — aside from a handful of Milwaukee-branded items you should steer clear of — they can get quite expensive. Thus, not only can building a Milwaukee set prove time-consuming, but quite costly as well. Attempting to mitigate both, Milwaukee came up with something of a solution.

Milwaukee offers a 9-tool combo kit, featuring an assortment of handy tools for a range of jobs.

Milwaukee's 9-tool combo set is available through Home Depot, and it doesn't leave a whole lot on the table as far as essential power tools go. In terms of drills, there are three: an M18 Fuel hammer drill, M18 Fuel hex impact driver, and an M18 Fuel impact wrench with an included friction ring. An M18 Fuel framing circular saw, M18 Fuel grinder, and an M18 Fuel reciprocating saw are also included. Additionally, you get an M18 LED work light, two M18 XC5.0 batteries, an M12 and M18 multi-voltage battery charger, and two work bags.

To round out this already sizable tool set, there's a degree of customization available. When ordering this kit online, a dropdown menu is present, allowing you to select which additional tool or tools you may want to add. This selection can bring the total to that 9-tool maximum. If you don't opt for the kit as-is, some of your options include a wet-dry vacuum, a compact portable band saw, or a jig saw plus a finishing nailer, to name a few of the choices present. Of course, it should be noted that the add-on selection does influence the final price, so that's worth keeping in mind.

Speaking of price, how much does this Milwaukee kit cost, and is it a worthwhile buy? Here's how the cost breaks down.

Before diving into the cost of the Milwaukee 9-tool kit, we'll first look at the price of each piece individually. On the Home Depot website, the M18 Fuel hammer driver is listed at $199, the M18 Fuel hex impact driver $149, and the M18 Fuel impact wrench $229. That's already $577, and we're just getting started. The M18 Fuel framing circular saw is $229, the M18 Fuel grinder is $199, and the M18 Fuel reciprocating saw is $199, bumping the total to $1,204. The M18 LED work light at $59 and two M18 XC5.0 batteries along with the charger at $397 bring the bill to $1,660, and that's not even accounting for the two contractor bags.

The combo kit alone has an MSRP of $1,199. As touched on before, if you do decide to add on an additional battery, tool, or tools, that retail price will fluctuate. For example, adding the jig saw and finishing nailer together brings the cost to $1,559, an oscillating tool makes it $1,428, or a single 6Ah battery takes it to $1,318. No matter the selection, it's still a lot of money to drop all at once on a set of tools.

Overall, the question of whether this Milwaukee tool kit is the right buy for you is one only you can answer. If you think the price is fair, and you see yourself using everything included, then by all means go for it. If it doesn't quite fit your budget and you only really need a few of the included items, then maybe piecing together what you need — potentially using some of the places to find refurbished Milwaukee tools online — is the better route.