Cost of new DW735

[Alfred Hoffmann]

I bought my DW735 in Dec. 2004 for $349 as a special at a local Borg. The same machine is now listed at $649. That's an 86% increase in 4 years. What improvement to the unit deserves that much of an increase? Wow!! Is that what is happening to most power tools?

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

No changes to the machine other than time and "good press". I believe it was still fairly new in 2004, so they had to price it attractively. If you look for reviews for this machine, you'll see how a lot of people really like it and IMO it gives them more flexibility to price it accordingly.

that being said, I would love to meet the people that pay full price for that planer. I believe the local HD had it listed for $549, but maybe it's gone up (just like everything else). A quick Google shows it can still be had in the 400's for reconditioned units, and every now and then the Borg will put it on sale. I managed to catch a unit on sale at Lowes, and then used a 10% off and a "project starter card" I had received in the mail.

[Walt Caza]

Hi Alfred,
Yes, tool pricing has been sharply increasing.

But, in fairness, you chose a higher than typical list price, and a lower
than normal purchase price, to get to 86% increase.
If we plug in more realistic numbers, the increase, which is not unlike all
consumer goods, would be less than your skewed math suggests.

As John F hinted, informed shoppers are not paying anywhere near high
list price for those yellow planers.
Your point is good, your dodgey numbers...not so much.
I find the sticker shock really sets in when you shop bigger iron.

Sorry to be contrary,
But let's keep a toe on reality please,
be well,
Walt

ps braces himself for friction

[Jason Beam]

I'll be a little UHMW and Teflon!

I agree with walt. Those two prices have to be one of the best and one of the worst prices i've seen ever quoted for this machine. I've NEVER seen it sell $649 anywhere. I've also never seen it sell for $349. You're comparing some pretty uncommon extremes.

Reality being what it is, the more likely range is in the 400-550 range. 99% of the prices i've seen quoted for this machine (by fellow woodworkers who've bought it, btw), has been well within this range.

[Tom Esh]

...I've NEVER seen it sell $649 anywhere...

Looks like something happened recently or is in progress. $649 today at both BORGs and Amazon. Maybe it's a PI, or maybe just a setup for deep holiday discounts. Hopefully it's the latter.

[Doug Shepard]

The gap between 04 and 08 saw a BIG spike in the cost of raw materials too, which caused almost all tool manufacturers to increase their prices. It's settled down some now, but things got real crazy a couple years ago with lots of shortages of certain types of steel and iron. It was generally attributed to the Chinese buying up huge quantities of stuff, but it made some things extremely hard to get and drove the costs up.

[Jim Becker]

What Doug said plus the escalation of cost of transportation and the currency markets.

[Rod Sheridan]

As well as the exchange rate changes during this time interval.

Regards, Rod.

[David Cramer]

Back in 2004 that is about what I paid, $350ish:) with a rebate and it being at the intro price. After that I believe I saw it go to $449 to $499 to $549 yesterday at my local Lowes, the same one that I purchased it from originally. I always check out items that I own to see what they currently cost and yesterday it was $549, but apparently today it is $649.

It's a great little planer that fits its purpose with portability and decent results, in my opinion. Also, trust me on this and I've said this in other posts, those stores make very little money on power tools. I know this first hand from working at a Home Center. The manufacturer may, but not the stores. Power tools are a draw, not a money maker.

David

[Shawn Walker]

I just saw it sale priced at two different tool stores... One had it for $449.00, and the other had it for $469.00.... Those are Canadian prices.
Regular price around here is $549.00

[David Schnegg]

$649?? Maybe it comes with the Shelix head now as a standard option... ok, back to reality.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Although that would be a fantastic package, I'm sure it doesn't make sense for Dewalt on a number of business issues....

think about it though - let's say ASP is $500, and the Sheilx ASP would be 400 (taking into account various incentives and deals). That's $900.....at what price point would the product start to be much more attractive than "full sized" planers? 850? 800? 700?

[Russ Sears]

I saw that price and told my wife how smart I was for buying it when I did :)

Cost of fuel, metals, and as Rod hinted at, the strength of the dollar are all contributing to the jump in tool prices. My Jet mini-lathe went up $100 not too many month after I bought it.

[Bob Slater]

I just saw it sale priced at two different tool stores... One had it for $449.00, and the other had it for $469.00.... Those are Canadian prices.
Regular price around here is $549.00

I'd buy that at $449. Where was it? BTW, that is $363 USd since our dollar took the plunge.

[glenn bradley]

My dad got one last March for $360 including the tables and an extra set of knives. At the time Lowe's was around $449 for the planer alone. I think this machine has been priced out of it's worth. Except for the second speed the DW734 is a very nice 3 knife lunchbox at $379 on Amazon right now.

[Peter Quinn]

Yup. presently $649 on Amazon. My wife bought it for me for $325 a few years back, free shipping, from Amazon. That, using the same vendor, same tool, would be a , lets see......100% increase. Ouch.

It is a nice little planer, but $649 worth? Not sure about that.

[Andy Casiello]

I bought a 735 in September on eBay, new in box from a reseller for $ 370. (With an ebay 10% coupon and the MS cashback it was under $ 300). You can still find them for good prices. Just don't jump on Amazon and do the one-click order deal thinking you're getting the best price.

[Eddie Kaden]

Home Depot has new in the box units listed for $499. I just bought one with a 10% off special which brought it down to $449 and got one year of no interest financing on my Home Depot credit card. 2 days later saw the same one at the local Woodcraft for $699. The salesman there said that they just had a price increase. I wouldn't wait too long if the price increase is industry wide.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Eddie, that's a pretty good price for the 735. Nice!

[Brad Townsend]

Here locally a couple of weeks ago, Lowes and HD had it at $649 while the Farm & Fleet a couple miles up the road had it on sale at $466 and change. Quite a difference! Yesterday I noted that the Farm & Fleet is back up to the old price of $549, still a hundred bucks cheaper than Lowes or HD.

I have had this machine for nearly four years and really like it, but there is no way on Earth I would pay $649 for it. For pricing like that, it should be black with green trim.;)

[Don Bullock]

Wow!:eek: I'm sure glad that I got mine last year at $449. Woodcraft had a special that included a rebate of a "free" DW stand.

99874

PS -- It won't be long and I'll be out of this crowded garage/shop where we store all kinds of things other than my tools.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Yesterday in one local Lowes, it was $549. Today in another Lowes, it is $659. That is $110 overnight. WOW! Two stores were less than twenty miles apart.

[Dan McCallum]

' . . . things got real crazy a couple years ago with lots of shortages of certain types of steel and iron. It was generally attributed to the Chinese buying up huge quantities of stuff, but it made some things extremely hard to get and drove the costs up'

I have a DW735 and I don't find that it contains much steel or iron, mostly plastic! If I melted down my Parks I'd have enough metal to make ten of these cheap Chinese planers!

Seriously, steel/iron costs may be part of it, but another explanation is the tanking of the US dollar over the past couple of years. With the recent problems in the world economy however, the US dollar strengthing and consumer demand falling off a cliff, I would expect to see prices on these and many other tools start to come down.

[Robyn Horton]

Just picked one up last night at Home Depot for $424 Canadian so that's about $330 for you guy's in the US.