Well the bad news has been confirmed, Dewalt has discontinued the 40v line of outdoor tools. I was assured 2 months ago through a rep that they wouldnt be discontinuing the line but today was told otherwise. Stock up on any parts or batteries you may need as they dont know how long they will have them in stock.
How has this news been "confirmed"?
The only "confirmation" I found on the internet is another post by firefighter5145, that said the same thing as quoted above, with the additional claim of speaking with a DeWalt rep.
Since these two posts are all that can be found, and since these two posts are firefighter5145's only posts on GJ, how does one independently "confirm" an "official" announcement that has not been made by DeWalt?
Even more cynically, how does one distinguish a member with zero post history, despite having registered 3 years ago, from a corporate agent working on behalf of TTI with the goal of introducing doubt in the longevity of support for a competitor's brand in a tool category (cordless OPE) that is set to explode this spring (and indeed is already exploding), as broad market acceptance has finally metastasized into a categorical shift toward battery power in the garden?
As new consumers choose which battery platform to standardize on as they jump on the bandwagon to take advantage of the increased efficacy of lithium battery power in the outdoors, the decision on which brand to adopt is critical to everyone involved... because the dominate battery platform will enjoy the dominant market share, and the sustaining revenue that comes with it.
So without an independent way of verifying one person's claim, made twice in one morning, with no other corroborative evidence found anywhere else online or in person to back it up... how do we know what to believe?
Manufacturers don't help. Take Shindaiwa, a well respected Japanese manufacturer of professional outdoor power equipment, now owned by the same parent company which owns Echo. In 2016, Shindaiwa introduced a line of 56v OPE (string trimmer, hedge trimmer, blower) with a 2ah and 4ah battery pack option, and a promise that a lot more was to come. Two years later, in 2018, Shindaiwa quietly discontinued the entire line, and retailers who carried it blew the remaining inventory out at 50% to 75% off.
A phone call placed in 2019 to Echo/Shindaiwa headquarters in the USA completely denied the discontinuance of the Shindaiwa 56v OPE product line. The Shindaiwa website still featured brochures and videos describing the product line. Yet phone calls placed with 4 different independent and unrelated distributors around the country did indeed confirm that Shindaiwa had discontinued the line, and all future battery operated OPE would be marketed under the Echo brand (and naturally , the batteries would be different and incompatible).
So whoever answers the phone at the manufacturer's head office cannot necessarily be believed either, which renders the DeWalt claim even less credible if it is based solely on one such conversation.
All of the foregoing notwithstanding, the idea of DeWalt discontinuing the 40v series does make sense, if the 40v batteries do not work with the FlexVolt or the 20V Max systems. I don't own any DeWalt, so I have no frame of reference in that regard. But I am curious, and do wonder how much traction one anonymous claim on a forum can have in dissuading folks from adopting the current offerings DeWalt has in the 40v OPE line up.
Subscribing.
