I have a confession to make.I bought into HART tools. Not one tool. Not a drill I grabbed because I needed to hang a shelf that afternoon.I bought into HART. Tools, batteries, chargers, more tools, more batteries. You know how these cordless tool systems work. The first tool is a purchase. After that, you're basically entering into a relationship.

And Walmart gave me every reason to think this particular relationship had a future.

Apparently Walmart and I had different definitions of commitment.

When Walmart launched HART as an exclusive brand back in 2019, it wasn't exactly shy about it. They rolled out hundreds of products including power tools, lawn equipment, hand tools and accessories. One of the big selling points was the interchangeable 20V battery system. Buy a few batteries and chargers, then keep adding tools without starting over every time.

That was the whole idea.

And it worked on me.

I'm not building skyscrapers for a living. I wanted decent tools around the house that worked, didn't cost a fortune and used the same batteries.HART fit that perfectly. I bought several tools, then naturally bought more batteries because that's what you're supposed to do when you're buying into a cordless tool platform.

The annoying part is that the tools have actually been pretty good.

Then, in December 2025, Techtronic Industries, the company behind HART, announced that it was discontinuing the HART business by the end of the year.

Not an internet rumor. Not some guy standing in the Walmart clearance aisle making a YouTube video titled "HART IS DEAD!!!" with six shocked-face emojis.

The company actually announced it.

The reasoning was basically business. Profitability, tariffs, economic uncertainty and focusing resources elsewhere.

Which I'm sure makes perfect sense from a corporate point of view.

From my point of view?

That's wonderful.

I'm sure the shareholders are relieved.

Meanwhile I've got a garage full of white-and-blue battery-powered souvenirs.

What makes it more irritating is that Walmart didn't decide cordless tools were a bad business. They just moved on to other brands. Walmart has been pushing Hyper Tough much harder and has also expanded its relationship with Greenworks.

So you walk into Walmart now and the message feels a little like:

"HART? HART who? Have you met our new friends?"

It's like getting dumped and then seeing your ex post pictures with somebody else before you've even finished moving your stuff out.

And here's why that matters.

When you buy cordless tools, you're not really just buying a drill, saw, blower or trimmer. You're buying the battery system that goes with it. Once you've got several batteries and chargers, buying another bare tool from the same brand makes sense because you've already paid for everything needed to run it.

That's how these companies get you.

And honestly, I'm fine with that arrangement as long as the company keeps supporting the system.

The problem comes when you've spent years building a collection and somebody suddenly decides the ecosystem isn't worth bothering with anymore.

The actual tools aren't really what worries me. My HART tools still work perfectly fine.

It's the batteries.

Can you still buy HART batteries today? Yes. HART's website is still online, Walmart still has HART products floating around, and replacement batteries can still be found.

For now.

But some HART battery listings have already gone out of stock, and there doesn't seem to be a clear public roadmap explaining how long these batteries will continue being manufactured or easily available.

Maybe they'll be around for years.

Maybe somebody continues making compatible replacements.

Maybe TTI eventually does something else with the HART brand. Interestingly, when they discontinued the business, they kept ownership of the HART name.

So HART isn't exactly buried six feet underground.

It's more like sitting in a corporate freezer somewhere.

And that's the part that bothers me.

I don't feel burned because HART made terrible tools.

Actually, it's almost the opposite.

I liked them.

I bought more of them because I liked them.

And I bought extra batteries because Walmart and HART marketed this thing as an ecosystem that you could continue building around.

Had Walmart put a little sign next to the display saying:

"Enjoy this convenient interchangeable battery system until we get bored with it."

I might have made a different purchasing decision.

Maybe I would have spent more money upfront and gone with Ryobi, DeWalt, Milwaukee or another established platform.

Maybe not.

But at least I would've considered how likely that battery system was to still be around years later.

And that's what makes Walmart's new tool push a little funny to me.

Now I'm supposed to look at all those Hyper Tough and Greenworks tools and think:

"Oh good! Another battery ecosystem!"

Forgive me if I'm not sprinting toward the register.

Greenworks might be excellent. The newer Hyper Tough stuff might be great. That's really not the point.

The point is trust.

If you're asking customers to buy tools built around proprietary batteries, you're asking them to invest in your platform.The customer isn't just deciding whether today's drill is worth $49. He's also deciding whether the batteries, chargers and other tools he buys around it will still be useful five or ten years from now.

At least that's what I'm going to be thinking about from now on.

I've learned.

I'm not throwing away my HART tools. They work. I've already paid for them, and I'm going to keep using them until either the tools die or the batteries finally give up.

Hopefully replacement batteries remain available long enough that this ends up being nothing more than an annoying footnote.

But I definitely won't be expanding my HART collection anymore.

Why would I?

The company behind the platform officially discontinued the business, Walmart has clearly shifted its attention elsewhere, and people who bought into the HART battery system are basically left hoping replacement batteries remain easy to find.

Maybe they will.

Maybe they won't.

And that's exactly the problem.

When Walmart launched HART, they sold customers on the convenience of buying into one battery system.

Some of us actually believed them.

Silly us.

So congratulations, Walmart.You taught me something.

The next time a retailer tells me its shiny new cordless tool lineup is an entire "system" I can build around for years, I'm going to remember the pile of HART tools sitting in my garage.

And I'm probably going to ask one additional question:

"Yeah... but for how long?"