New Metabo Sliding compound mitre saw

[Jak147]

Wow looks like some Festool patents may have expired!!

I'm afraid I have to agree with lemwise on this one. While metabo are no way in the black and decker category of tools, I don't think they are trade rated either. Certainly not site rated the way dewalt or Makita are and the kit lacks the fineness of Festool.

I have very little actual hands on experience with them so could be completely wrong but it's just not a brand that I would consider if looking for a new toy.

 

[bobfog]

What line of work are you in? Metabo are professional power tools by any measure, ergo if they're not considered pro quality in your line of work, your line of work must not require professional power tools!

I'm a joiner and I've worked on shipyards for the past 16 years. I work with wood and power tools every single day. Pro enough for you?

I wasn't actually questioning your profession, it was a thinly veiled dig at the fact you're opinion of Metabo is clearly erroneous. But you obviously missed that.

I have in my tool collection Festool, Makita, Hitachi, Dewalt, Milwaukee, AEG, Metabo, Bosch, Mafell, Fein and more. Metabo is absolutely far nearer the top in terms of quality than the bottom.

 

[ajones]

I had no idea they were german, I had not given it any thought, I did think the router they used to sell of808? was made by another company.

 

[rizzoa13]

Yea I'll have to agree. Metabo is some serious kit in these woods. Most metabo stuff in the US is for metal working pros. I've got some of the woodworking stuff and it's much more solidly built than a certain brand.

 

[Brandon]

I'd like to get my hands on that here in the US. I've been looking to replace my Kapex in a fear of a second motor failure. I have a Bosch also but it is getter older and also weighs a half a million pounds.
And, I agree with others that Metabo can produce top quality tools. I have had to replace both my top and bottom trim routers in my Holzher edgebander and both came direct from Holzher and they are Metabo. $1,200 a piece though so they'd better be good.

 

[Brandon]

That is such rediculously perfect timing. Im going to look into importing that thing right now.

If you find a way to import one please let me know

 

[ajones]

What did bowl me over was learning a few days ago that mafell drills are made by metabo

 

[bobfog]

What did bowl me over was learning a few days ago that mafell drills are made by metabo

Exactly. It's a big statement when a company like Mafell, whose quality/reputation is the yardstick for power tools across the world, trust Metabo enough to put their name on their drills. Not bad for a company who apparently aren't considered "pro", well at least not in shipyards...

 

[rizzoa13]

I have the metabo version of those drills and they're the best drills I've ever touched.

 

[Lemwise]

I have the metabo version of those drills and they're the best drills I've ever touched.

That could also mean you haven't touched a lot of drills [tongue]

 

[#Tee]

very cool! the dust shroud looks like it can benefit from a wider larger shoot. by the looks of it right now it appears as tho dust just flies right past it.

 

[Stephen B]

Another image -

[attachimg=1]

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

As Far as what is considered a "pro" or "industrial" tool and what isn't it's somerimes hard to judge. When a lot of the imported European power tool brands started becoming more popular in rhe USA one of the US woodworking magazines did an article on some of the brands. I remember thr article mentioned Fein and Lamello as being listed as "Industrially" rated whereas Festool and Metabo supposedly weren't. I don't know why those brands where considered Industrially rated.

Fein built safety electronics into most of the tools at the time so I figured this might have had something to do with it.  Metabo manufactures/manufactured some lighter built tools that seem more geared towards non professional rather than professional use, similar to the green Bosch tools, although I'm sure some professionals also use them.

Black and Decker used to make heavy duty industrial tools under there own name up until maybe ten or fifteen years ago. Many of the same models are still manufactured by them under the Dewalt brand.

When I started out in woodworking I thought of Makita as a slightly cheaper off brand, yet at the same time Makita was manufacturing heavy all metal tools for industrial use, as well as other tools aimed at a similar market to Mafell. Even now, Makita manufacyures more robust tools for professional use, many of which are made in Japan, europe, or possibly the USA, along with lower cost tools for Home Depot that tend to be made in China, and then they have their Maktec line of tools that I think are supposed to compete with Harbor Freight.

 

[Stephen B]

 

[Holmz]

I have the metabo version of those drills and they're the best drills I've ever touched.

That could also mean you haven't touched a lot of drills [tongue]

I've touched that drill a bit.

 

[DB10]

Metabo isn't really thought of as pro gear in The Netherlands and when I need a tool it certainly isn't a brand that I would consider. For some reason it has a very distinct DIY image. This saw however looks very nice indeed.

That's your opinion and your entitled to it.
My opinion which i'm also entitled to is from my own experience.
And I'd have to say that Metabo are in the same league as Makita and Dewalt, which makes them very popular with trade pros.
I used to use Metabo tools 10 - 15 years ago in the UK and they were very highly thought of tools within the carpentry business, they just didn't have the same range of cordless tools as Makita back then, things have changed now and Metabo have made massive in roads down here in Australia especially with their cordless range.
Due to Festools ever increasing prices and their recent decision to alienate Australian customers, we started to look for alterniteves and now evaluate Metabo's equivalent tools and stand alone tools before any new purchase is made.
In the last year I have made five new Metabo purchases and am pleased with each one especially their cordless 216 mitre saw, which now gets as much use or more than the Kapex due to it's portability.

 

[Kev]

Metabo are very highly respected in the metal finishing industry and have a growing reputation in timber construction.

One thing that hasn't served them well is the green tool body that confuses a lot of people when they think of green Bosch.

That SCMS is the evolution of their current crop of budget SCMS's that seem to mostly come out of China. A lot of the design detail is evident in the little (and absolutely excellent) cordless Metabo SCMS I acquired late last year.

That new fence mechanism looks quite nice - it's yet to be determined if it is highly accurate .. though it certainly looks promising.

The video showed the with/without DC - it won't be the KAPEX grade DC the dual vac port higher end Metabo SCMS's offer, but I still think it'll be pretty good.

Metabo is leading cordless too battery tech with their LIHD development and the "merge" with Hitachi could be the beginning of some very interesting disruption in the power tool industry.

 

[MGB]

Interesting

The bi-fold fence to me seems like an ok idea if you're doing alot of furniture/joinery perhaps. You wouldn't want to cut anything longer than 2' unsupported like that. Also seems like a good way to complicate having an accurate tool.

It does look quite gimicky/diy oriented, with the crapload of plastic knobs.

Still, I'd like to try one. Seems like a decent design, I've never handled a metabo anything so I have no idea what they're all about.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I have my doubts about the long term performance of the adjustable fence though. When you have a lot of moving parts they tend to get wobbly and imprecise after a while. You'd need a very robust mechanism to counter that.

I've seen how it works on the Festool Symmetric saw, which is a far less complicated saw than this Metabo. And Festool only markets it as a plinth saw, not a general saw for the more precise and complicated joinery jobs.

 

[mrboult]

Wowza!! This saw looks like it could be awesome.

What's the price and where/when can we get one?