Jiggy Joiner
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RKA said:
You’re welcome
Metabo
- Thread starter festoolman
- Start date
You’re welcome
Svar said:
FYI, the Hitachi Power Tools division was purchased by American Company, KKR, Henry Kravis' investment firm in 2017.https://www.core77.com/posts/80207/...abo—But-Metabos-Tools-Will-Still-Be-Different
So KKR now owns Metabo and Hitachi Power Tools
DeformedTree
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- May 19, 2018
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JimH2 said:
They couldn't keep the Hitachi name as Hitachi don't own it, as they are no longer Hitachi.
Metabo HPT
I would argue it would be a good time to invent a new name. Maybe Menards should have pushed on them to rename to "Masterforce" so it all blends in even better in the stores.
Still mergers don't work smooth, companies generally run as they were when they were not one company. Users of one side or the other want their system to live on, and companies may just keep both, or even kill both and then folks get really mad.
forestmount
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- Apr 8, 2018
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- 23
Reading this thread in full I thought I might weigh in for what my opinion is worth.
I have an older Metabo corded drill and angle grinder. I actually bought these items after a very premature Makita angle grinder failure 20 years ago. (Less than 10 minutes use).
I see many recommendations for Makita, not my experience but maybe I am tainted as the reseller refused warranty for a product I owned for one month that cost me $2 a minute on my first use grinding my 1/2 inch mild steel bolt.
Perhaps not relevant but to paint a picture I am an owner builder and weekend warrior in no hurry to change out my older Metabo tools and have never bought Makita since. I don’t abuse tools but neither do I wrap them in cotton wool.
Fast forward until 2017 I had to replace my much loved cordless Milwaukee cordless drill I used for years for the above reasons and assembling bespoke electronics for earthmoving equipment - repetitive low strain work for a drill, removing screws etc.
It was not impressed with the look and feel of the non US made Milwaukee so I opted for the cordless Metabo drill and angle grinder kit.
I love this kit
The drill has great controls for speed and torque.
The angle grinder is a little legend for ease and power but remember I don’t use the grinder for assembly only my weekend warrior jobs.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
I have an older Metabo corded drill and angle grinder. I actually bought these items after a very premature Makita angle grinder failure 20 years ago. (Less than 10 minutes use).
I see many recommendations for Makita, not my experience but maybe I am tainted as the reseller refused warranty for a product I owned for one month that cost me $2 a minute on my first use grinding my 1/2 inch mild steel bolt.
Perhaps not relevant but to paint a picture I am an owner builder and weekend warrior in no hurry to change out my older Metabo tools and have never bought Makita since. I don’t abuse tools but neither do I wrap them in cotton wool.
Fast forward until 2017 I had to replace my much loved cordless Milwaukee cordless drill I used for years for the above reasons and assembling bespoke electronics for earthmoving equipment - repetitive low strain work for a drill, removing screws etc.
It was not impressed with the look and feel of the non US made Milwaukee so I opted for the cordless Metabo drill and angle grinder kit.
I love this kit
The drill has great controls for speed and torque.
The angle grinder is a little legend for ease and power but remember I don’t use the grinder for assembly only my weekend warrior jobs.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
I have several Metabo tools bought over a 30 year span after seeing them being used on German building sites where they competed head to head with the Festo and Protool brands at the upper end of the market.
They have never once let me down and I have been very impressed with the performance of every one. The newer tools tend to be Made in China and though my Metabo's are predominately made in (West) Germany, the 18v angle grinder is Chinese and a superb tool as is the little 12v Drill/driver.
The little Chinese made Metabo KGS 216 I bought for a song was 100% accurate out of the box unlike its 5 x more expensive Kapex KS120. :-\
It is a measure of the quality of the brand that Metabo make Mafell's 18v and 12v drills and whilst they are excellent, I have saved many beer tokens by opting for green rather than red.
But horses for courses, its a personal thing and one mans meat etc but the only two tools that I have ever sent back for a refund were the very disappointing Mafell DDF40 and that paragon of wood dividing non-excellence, The Festool Carvex.
They have never once let me down and I have been very impressed with the performance of every one. The newer tools tend to be Made in China and though my Metabo's are predominately made in (West) Germany, the 18v angle grinder is Chinese and a superb tool as is the little 12v Drill/driver.
The little Chinese made Metabo KGS 216 I bought for a song was 100% accurate out of the box unlike its 5 x more expensive Kapex KS120. :-\
It is a measure of the quality of the brand that Metabo make Mafell's 18v and 12v drills and whilst they are excellent, I have saved many beer tokens by opting for green rather than red.
But horses for courses, its a personal thing and one mans meat etc but the only two tools that I have ever sent back for a refund were the very disappointing Mafell DDF40 and that paragon of wood dividing non-excellence, The Festool Carvex.
There's been a few changes in my own Metabo tool lineup (& impressions) since I last posted to this thread a decade or so ago.
I still have Metabo's grinders. 9" x 2, 6" x one, 5" x 5. Of these one 9" & one 5" are cordless. The big 'un is superb; just as powerful but slightly deeper cutting than my corded version & surprisingly better-balanced too considering (or as I suspect because) it uses two big 8.0 AH batteries @ the back! The 5" cordless I'd describe as just OK. No better than anybody else's equivalent, which surprised me. It replaced a much older non-EC Robert Bosch, which I consider in every way apart from runtime every bit as good as the newer Metabo. It's also one of the rare tools that I've ever had to return for warranty repair. Apart from this anomalous tool the rest are superb, powerful, versatile, ergonomic and reliable. All of the corded 5" are specialist tools: a bigger two-hand old version of my 6" grinder, one lower V-speed for stonework, one ultra-low V-speed one for Stainless processing, sanding and wood carving & another quite old (30yrs?) extremely heavily used compact V-speed one that I once used for everything, but now just for carving. In my opinion, nobody makes better grinders. I still have a big 12" Robert Bosch grinder/diamond floor saw too.
I also have an amazing little triple-reduction keyed chuck drill with a puny 750 watts and about 650 RPM max that will out-torque any other drill that I've ever used. Seriously. I've driven 7" diameter earth augers with it! It's more torquey (75nm) than my 1500W Bosch coring drill! It almost ludicrously compact & lightweight, but fits all the 43mm accessories from their cordless range: angle drives, offset, keyed and keyless chucks & even the incredible additional triple reduction gearbox (a 6 x reduction in total making for an unprecedented 215 nm - less some friction losses - @ 220 RPM).
I'd love to have some more corded Metabo drills. Most are super, but unjustifiable as I still have a useful collection of very old AEG/Atlas Copco single & 2-speed hammer drills (4) that will undoubtedly outlast me.
Whilst Bosch is still (I believe) the world's premier manufacturer of SDS Plus & Max hammers (I once had 5), I nevertheless have an older Metabo inline 1,700W Max combi-hammer which was (& I suspect still is) the most powerful hammer that still drills. It has a useful 20 J of impact, and a genuine 52mm solid quad-tipped hammer drilling capacity in stone. There's more modern Max hammers around now, but none (I think) as powerful. I like its (now rare) inline design. Most Pneumatic hammers have transverse (or 'L'-shaped crank-to-piston drive mechanisms). Its long length makes it less useful for holding horizontally (both too long & heavy), but ideal for such esoterica as trenching, breaking slabs & the occasional big doleritic boulder & even spading hard-packed soil & clay for tree planting & gardening. For me, its a viable, economical & much lighter alternative to a Wacker-Neuson hex hammer or equiv.
I still use a couple of little Metabo SXE 400 sanders, simply because they perform so well and will accomplish tasks impossible for lesser tools. Tiny, lightweight, slim, gentle and extremely easy to handle. Everything, for instance, that my diabolical flamin' RO90Dx Festool wasn't.
I've had both STE 135 & 140 Jigsaws. Whilst neither are the equal of Mafell's beauty in natural & synthetic wood derivatives they're both way better than Festool's flawed Trion version. They're also the only jigsaws that I trust for heavy duty 2-10mm steel cutting, better even than the more powerful Bosch Jiggies. I especially like the headlights, switchable blower and auto-accelerator function of Metabo's 140 Plus version.
Which brings me to Metabo's cordless range. Somebody above said that "not all Metabos are equal" or words to that effect. I even stated that I was "unimpressed" with their cordless range. In some ways, this is still true, but in others it's also simultaneously a furlong wide of the mark.
Simply put, Metabo uses the world's best battery system. Their LiHD batteries (& Robert Bosch's ProCore equivalent) are the current absolute gold standard. It's so good, in fact, that many other high quality, specialist German tool manufacturers share the battery interface and format with Metabo. Meaning that you also have access to Mafell's superb range of Cordless saws (also the current gold standard), Rothenberger's range of plumbing press tools, Collomix mixers, Eisenblaetter's sander/grinders, Starmix & Rokamat vacs, the latter's hot-wire cutters, concrete grinders & pokers, plaster sponge floats & backpacks. Plus Steinel's cordless hot-air guns, & undoubtedly others to come are all part of the so-called Cordless Alliance System which use this common battery interface.
Of course, quality doesn't come cheap. Most are what I consider to be true professional grade tools, with commensurate pricing. Metabo actually (at least in their cordless drill range) offer some less expensive or professional product lines too, which are much cheaper, smaller, lighter and of somewhat reduced capacity. As always, the highest quality tools in the range/s still retain Teutonic manufacture.
For those already heavily invested in Hitachi-Koki/Hikoki/HPT, Makita or Milwaukee this is all probably irrelevant as these 3 manufactures already make a huge & versatile range of budget-priced & often adequately performing cordless tools anyway with their own proprietary but incompatible & slightly sub-standard batteries. The major difference is that the CAS collectively make a much smaller but nevertheless generally extremely high quality (& occasionally world's-best, but also unfortunately occasionally slightly dodgy too) specialist and generalist tools. Currently there's a "mere" 130 cordless tools available from the CAS, which is I'm guessing dwarfed by the rather bewildering array of offerings from the East Asian tool companies.
Whereas Metabo once made pretty crap cordless tools (their Saber & Circular Saws still are) their top-shelf drills are literally state of the art. I have a fantastic 3 speed non-hammer drill that is relatively light, fast, compact and awesomely powerful. It drives 32mm Speedbors with relative ease in Eucalyptus hardwood (previously impossible for a cordless tool from any manufacturer), 52mm spade bits and big single-flute augers. Yet also drills 1/8" pop rivet holes in sheet metal faster than any other drill I've ever used (@3400 RPM). Another (Tapping) drill will also drill & tap holes in 1/2" solid steel, automatically, seamlessly & intuitively reverse/drive cycling the regulation backwards 1/2 turn and forwards 1-1 1/2 turns, dependent merely on hand pressure.
Metabo's fantastic Quick chuck and accessory range is an absolute highlight for me. As the rather gimmicky name suggests, these are rapidly & easily exchanged between every "Quick" suffixed drill in the corded and cordless ranges, including that amazing triple reduction gearbox with its 12-14" long handle that I've already raved about. A choice of very strong all-metal chucks, hex-bit holder, alloy angle and offset drives make the new Bosch equivalents look rather puny & plasticky in comparison.
Of my other Metabo cordless, there's a fantastic, big powerful floodlight that I find equally at home in a darkened room or mounted on the roof for backyard BBQs. An OK (probably not as good as Makita's best) EC Rattler, a hideously expensive but extremely useful & fast auto Riveter, an extremely lightweight, accurate & surprisingly capacious older SCMS (that is now probably surpassed by the latest Makita & Hikoki releases) & the aforementioned pair of little & large cordless grinders.
Plus a couple of Mafell's finest cordless tracksaws: Plunge and Circular/Crosscutting Combi.
Of my own personal collection of cordless CAS tools I'm actually - at last - delighted. I'm not easily pleased & even more seldom impressed, but those that I'm using are nothing short of superb, if not approaching (with the possible exceptions of the smaller Grinder & the Rattler) the very best currently available anywhere or from any manufacturer.
Of the tools that I've been using over the past 40 years or so I'm still impressed. Of (almost all of) those cordless tools that I've acquired & used over the last 5 I'm honestly delighted. A rare but serendipitous combination of modern, sophisticated features & strength. Highly recommended.
I still have Metabo's grinders. 9" x 2, 6" x one, 5" x 5. Of these one 9" & one 5" are cordless. The big 'un is superb; just as powerful but slightly deeper cutting than my corded version & surprisingly better-balanced too considering (or as I suspect because) it uses two big 8.0 AH batteries @ the back! The 5" cordless I'd describe as just OK. No better than anybody else's equivalent, which surprised me. It replaced a much older non-EC Robert Bosch, which I consider in every way apart from runtime every bit as good as the newer Metabo. It's also one of the rare tools that I've ever had to return for warranty repair. Apart from this anomalous tool the rest are superb, powerful, versatile, ergonomic and reliable. All of the corded 5" are specialist tools: a bigger two-hand old version of my 6" grinder, one lower V-speed for stonework, one ultra-low V-speed one for Stainless processing, sanding and wood carving & another quite old (30yrs?) extremely heavily used compact V-speed one that I once used for everything, but now just for carving. In my opinion, nobody makes better grinders. I still have a big 12" Robert Bosch grinder/diamond floor saw too.
I also have an amazing little triple-reduction keyed chuck drill with a puny 750 watts and about 650 RPM max that will out-torque any other drill that I've ever used. Seriously. I've driven 7" diameter earth augers with it! It's more torquey (75nm) than my 1500W Bosch coring drill! It almost ludicrously compact & lightweight, but fits all the 43mm accessories from their cordless range: angle drives, offset, keyed and keyless chucks & even the incredible additional triple reduction gearbox (a 6 x reduction in total making for an unprecedented 215 nm - less some friction losses - @ 220 RPM).
I'd love to have some more corded Metabo drills. Most are super, but unjustifiable as I still have a useful collection of very old AEG/Atlas Copco single & 2-speed hammer drills (4) that will undoubtedly outlast me.
Whilst Bosch is still (I believe) the world's premier manufacturer of SDS Plus & Max hammers (I once had 5), I nevertheless have an older Metabo inline 1,700W Max combi-hammer which was (& I suspect still is) the most powerful hammer that still drills. It has a useful 20 J of impact, and a genuine 52mm solid quad-tipped hammer drilling capacity in stone. There's more modern Max hammers around now, but none (I think) as powerful. I like its (now rare) inline design. Most Pneumatic hammers have transverse (or 'L'-shaped crank-to-piston drive mechanisms). Its long length makes it less useful for holding horizontally (both too long & heavy), but ideal for such esoterica as trenching, breaking slabs & the occasional big doleritic boulder & even spading hard-packed soil & clay for tree planting & gardening. For me, its a viable, economical & much lighter alternative to a Wacker-Neuson hex hammer or equiv.
I still use a couple of little Metabo SXE 400 sanders, simply because they perform so well and will accomplish tasks impossible for lesser tools. Tiny, lightweight, slim, gentle and extremely easy to handle. Everything, for instance, that my diabolical flamin' RO90Dx Festool wasn't.
I've had both STE 135 & 140 Jigsaws. Whilst neither are the equal of Mafell's beauty in natural & synthetic wood derivatives they're both way better than Festool's flawed Trion version. They're also the only jigsaws that I trust for heavy duty 2-10mm steel cutting, better even than the more powerful Bosch Jiggies. I especially like the headlights, switchable blower and auto-accelerator function of Metabo's 140 Plus version.
Which brings me to Metabo's cordless range. Somebody above said that "not all Metabos are equal" or words to that effect. I even stated that I was "unimpressed" with their cordless range. In some ways, this is still true, but in others it's also simultaneously a furlong wide of the mark.
Simply put, Metabo uses the world's best battery system. Their LiHD batteries (& Robert Bosch's ProCore equivalent) are the current absolute gold standard. It's so good, in fact, that many other high quality, specialist German tool manufacturers share the battery interface and format with Metabo. Meaning that you also have access to Mafell's superb range of Cordless saws (also the current gold standard), Rothenberger's range of plumbing press tools, Collomix mixers, Eisenblaetter's sander/grinders, Starmix & Rokamat vacs, the latter's hot-wire cutters, concrete grinders & pokers, plaster sponge floats & backpacks. Plus Steinel's cordless hot-air guns, & undoubtedly others to come are all part of the so-called Cordless Alliance System which use this common battery interface.
Of course, quality doesn't come cheap. Most are what I consider to be true professional grade tools, with commensurate pricing. Metabo actually (at least in their cordless drill range) offer some less expensive or professional product lines too, which are much cheaper, smaller, lighter and of somewhat reduced capacity. As always, the highest quality tools in the range/s still retain Teutonic manufacture.
For those already heavily invested in Hitachi-Koki/Hikoki/HPT, Makita or Milwaukee this is all probably irrelevant as these 3 manufactures already make a huge & versatile range of budget-priced & often adequately performing cordless tools anyway with their own proprietary but incompatible & slightly sub-standard batteries. The major difference is that the CAS collectively make a much smaller but nevertheless generally extremely high quality (& occasionally world's-best, but also unfortunately occasionally slightly dodgy too) specialist and generalist tools. Currently there's a "mere" 130 cordless tools available from the CAS, which is I'm guessing dwarfed by the rather bewildering array of offerings from the East Asian tool companies.
Whereas Metabo once made pretty crap cordless tools (their Saber & Circular Saws still are) their top-shelf drills are literally state of the art. I have a fantastic 3 speed non-hammer drill that is relatively light, fast, compact and awesomely powerful. It drives 32mm Speedbors with relative ease in Eucalyptus hardwood (previously impossible for a cordless tool from any manufacturer), 52mm spade bits and big single-flute augers. Yet also drills 1/8" pop rivet holes in sheet metal faster than any other drill I've ever used (@3400 RPM). Another (Tapping) drill will also drill & tap holes in 1/2" solid steel, automatically, seamlessly & intuitively reverse/drive cycling the regulation backwards 1/2 turn and forwards 1-1 1/2 turns, dependent merely on hand pressure.
Metabo's fantastic Quick chuck and accessory range is an absolute highlight for me. As the rather gimmicky name suggests, these are rapidly & easily exchanged between every "Quick" suffixed drill in the corded and cordless ranges, including that amazing triple reduction gearbox with its 12-14" long handle that I've already raved about. A choice of very strong all-metal chucks, hex-bit holder, alloy angle and offset drives make the new Bosch equivalents look rather puny & plasticky in comparison.
Of my other Metabo cordless, there's a fantastic, big powerful floodlight that I find equally at home in a darkened room or mounted on the roof for backyard BBQs. An OK (probably not as good as Makita's best) EC Rattler, a hideously expensive but extremely useful & fast auto Riveter, an extremely lightweight, accurate & surprisingly capacious older SCMS (that is now probably surpassed by the latest Makita & Hikoki releases) & the aforementioned pair of little & large cordless grinders.
Plus a couple of Mafell's finest cordless tracksaws: Plunge and Circular/Crosscutting Combi.
Of my own personal collection of cordless CAS tools I'm actually - at last - delighted. I'm not easily pleased & even more seldom impressed, but those that I'm using are nothing short of superb, if not approaching (with the possible exceptions of the smaller Grinder & the Rattler) the very best currently available anywhere or from any manufacturer.
Of the tools that I've been using over the past 40 years or so I'm still impressed. Of (almost all of) those cordless tools that I've acquired & used over the last 5 I'm honestly delighted. A rare but serendipitous combination of modern, sophisticated features & strength. Highly recommended.
Anyone have experience with this Metabo cordless circular saw? this saw has a base plate that also works on guide rail tracks. I figure this unit with the newer 8.0 amp hour LIHD battery would be a nice cordless saw option especially if it will also ride on my Mafell/Bosch guide rails...https://www.metabo.com/us/enus/tool...57-601857890-6-1-2-cordless-circular-saw.html
TLDR my last post?
It's rubbish! Try the Bosch, which also (obviously) runs on the Bosch/Mafell tracks. Bobbie Bosch does a 12.0 AH battery.
https://www.bosch-professional.com/de/de/products/gks-18v-57-g-06016A2101
Or one of the Mafells; K55 or 65, KSS40, 50 or 60 or MT55 (all 18 Bl) if you want CAS compatibility.
It's rubbish! Try the Bosch, which also (obviously) runs on the Bosch/Mafell tracks. Bobbie Bosch does a 12.0 AH battery.
https://www.bosch-professional.com/de/de/products/gks-18v-57-g-06016A2101
Or one of the Mafells; K55 or 65, KSS40, 50 or 60 or MT55 (all 18 Bl) if you want CAS compatibility.
I don't think that model Bosch saw is available in the U.S. I also own a Mafell KSS 40, the Bosch saw looks a bit similar? I do like the fact that my Mafell and Metabo share the same battery platform and that is part of the reason I was interested in the Metabo KS 57. May I ask why you say the Metabo KS 57 is rubbish?
Not me, but the lads o'er @ the MUF are extremely scathing of its performance, or rather lack thereof.
I believe that a touch of arbor float is but one of its vices. It also won't align precisely with the same splinter guard edge produced by your Mafell track saw.
I believe that a touch of arbor float is but one of its vices. It also won't align precisely with the same splinter guard edge produced by your Mafell track saw.
I did read some of those Metabo complaints mostly from one user. I would like to hear more reviews of the KS 57... I really love the Metabo battery platform. Makita also has a new 18 volt x 2 cordless circular saw that has a track saw base on it. Looks like a nice unit?
jobsworth said:
I've had the corded version for about 5-6 years now. It's OK. Extremely well packaged, folds up to an ultra-compact shallow depthed square-ish topped 'cube'that fits in just about any corner, car boot etc. yet it extends to a 24" cut saw with full height legs etc. It's also pretty powerful (2200w?). Given that the cordless version would be using the 9" grinders EC motor, I'd imagine that would likewise be fairly powerful too once allowed to climb up to full speed first.
My main complaint is the rather cheesy onboard arbor nut spanner that simply cannot cope with the nut's hard metal. It makes for a frustrating blade change & tightening sequence.
yetihunter
Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2013
- Messages
- 786
I’ve owned many Metabo tools and still do.
Quality range is from complete rubbish to great but with many quibbles.
Their good stuff lasts forever though.
Quality range is from complete rubbish to great but with many quibbles.
Their good stuff lasts forever though.
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