New Mafell 18V and 10,8V drill

It isn't as bad as it looks (denial speech to follow).

I have the Festool BHC 18. It is very good. I use it at home only though. Which means next to never.

I sold the older Metabo KHA 18, it is a solid machine, a little dated design but great machine and mixed grout and cement like a champ! Maybe I should have kept it, mixing was something the shape lent itself well to.

I also have the itty-bitty 18V sub compact Makita, which is new to the stable, got it as part of a kit. I have a few niche machines in Makita (the router, the pin nailer, the heavy duty stapler). I use the router all the time but the pin nailer and stapler are sometimes used a lot only to lay dormant for months. But I digress. The Makita 18V subcompact is super-cute and takes up virtually no space and is happy to ride along other tools in a shared sys.

However, it is a little on the weak side. It does a good job but it takes noticeably more time to drill concrete at sizes around 8 or 10mm holes. As I did a demo for a Makita-infected colleague we broke out the KHA 24 for comparison and to be honest the Metabo is not that much bigger in foot print (!). I can honestly say the comparison made me feel like I could have opted out the Makita but some jobs are Makita jobs and the sub compact Makita hammer drill makes a few types of jobs within the one battery platform so I think I might hold on to it.

Like with the Bosch 18V I had a few years back it feels a little weak in use. Not bad, but not reassuring either. It feels like a battery machine in use. The Metabo feels like a powerful corded in use.

As for the Metabo 24, it is a fenomenal drill. Haven't done any chiseling or tile removal with it yet though. But as far as performance goes it is superb. It comes with the futuro fast chuck system and a quality drill chuck too.
As with the other Metabo drills you can't check the battery gauge on the machine (...) but apart from that it drills like a champ and feels very ergonomic. It is a keeper for sure.

I would rank the Metabo at the very top. All the others I could do without. The Festool is the domestic machine and I keep it around just for that. But if I would choose just the one hammer drill it would be the Metabo. And that means against any other on the market! Surely there might be a better one out there but I doubt it would be significantly better when it comes to:

Weight, runtime, sheer performance, vibration control, ergonomics etc. I am sure it makes top three on that market in the 18V segment. Hitachi looks a lot like it (no surprise) and there are others in the same mold but I find Milwaukee a bit heavy and I have never tried a really good Makita so I am not venturing there for larger machines. Hilti gets good reviews but I prefer to stay in larger established platforms.

As a SOLO unit the Metabo is good bang for the buck. I am sure the new Bosch is a pretty darn good machine too - if you are into that platform. Both can be fitted with a vac. I am also sure the Makita DHR 243 (?) is a pretty good machine too, but it felt a bit heavier than the Metabo.

After using Makita and Metabo 18V side by side for a little while I have come to appreciate Metabo a little more than I did before. I don't see them as "refined" machines, but pretty robust and reliable. Now that I have run jigsaws, multicutters, hammer drills, angle grinder and mitre saws against one another I was a little surprised that I did prefer Metabo in each and every case. Longer runtimes (admittedly 4 and 5 ah on Makita against 5,5 LiHD on Metabo) and seemingly more efficient in cutting. (Metabo KGS 216 (18V) mitre saw is a lot better in use than the Makita DLS713 18V, and almost half the price over here).

I was considering a soft transition for some tools over to Makita since I have a few keeper machines in that platform but considering price and performance I have now realized there is no point in leaving Metabo. Part of that is the fact that the precision cutting is handled by the Mafell gear but also because Metabo fills out the voids of the Mafell line very well for general carpentry.

While on the topic of drilling I have landed a few service jobs which require a fair amount of light drilling (hence the Makita subcompact which I got with the Makita DVC 350 small 18V vac and nozzle attachment for the drill). Since I am a little undecided on the Makita it will be put through its paces tomorrow drilling 6-8mm all day fitting acoustic panels to hard concrete. If it doesn't impress I will sell it off to my colleague with the vac.

I have the new Metabo systainer vac ( AS 18 PC L )  on order. I sold off my Festool SYS Vac and got paid just as much as the Metabo costs new. And I kept the new Festool hose.

The Metabo makes sense, pretty large bag, good size, great for drilling and small jobs and I have a 7 Ah battery.

Henrik is legend.

Ahh, guys, you are too sweet.

Chippiegary: I sold of my CTL SYS Vac a little while back, I did not think it was a bad unit but it is one of those "nice to have" but too much "nearly there" for a compact vac. As a corded unit it made less sense, being compact but corded means limitations. Being up in an attic with limited power or no outlets makes it sometimes useless on site for those awkward places and tasks. It was really nice to have around for some jobs though.

The Metabo makes a lot more sense to me, it will do the same job as the CTL Sys - runs on batteries I have plenty of - and is considerably cheaper than the CTL Sys making the Metabo worthwhile even if I were to use it as sparingly as the CTL Sys Vac. I think I will use it more, it seems powerful enough and the new Festool hose I got for the Sys Vac (and kept) will probably fit inside the Metabo. Metabos 7.5 Litre bag is a good size so for quite few jobs it will replace the Festool MIDI for sure. In many cases I was torn between the CTL Sys or the MIDI and most of the time it was a toss up and sometimes the SYS Vac proved a little too small for the job.

The one and only wish would be to have it run both corded and battery. But battery only will suffice.

Back to the Makita Subcompact: I did some 25 holes yesterday in hard concrete with a vac attached to the nozzle. It was only 6mm holes around 50-60mm in depth. But the Makita did really well and the Makita Vac slung over the shoulder made for virtually zero clean up afterwards. The Makita DVC 350 was alright with the attachment but the bag itself would give out a few puffs of minor dust. No HEPA. But still ok, and the Makita DVC350 fits with the hose in a Systainer III... Probably would fit in a SYS IV with the drill too. That is great.

Though I was up on a step ladder I think I could have left the vac on the floor (hose with attachment is some 3,5m) but on/off at arms length is great of course. In this regard I think I would let the Metabo stay on the floor and simply activate it like they do in the Metabo video (stomp the on/off switch) and then when finished just step down and stomp it off again. Having the vac on the floor is arguably nicer than hanging it on my person up on a ladder.

Will prolly get the Metabo Vac next week and it will go straight into service so a mini review with pictures will follow.

Thanks henrun spot on info as always happy Easter .

The Metabo SSW400 (?) impact wrench is supposedly one of the strongest on the market. With some toes dipped in the Mafell red I would go for the Metabo if I was in the market for an impact wrench.

On a side note Metabo has gone 8Ah on LiHD and new style 5,5 LihD as well. Might snag 7Ah battery if prices come down. Except for the Vac I have a hard time seeing what I need 7 or 8 Ah for. Charging times become more of a nuisance that runtime in the end.

Hopefully Metabo will be able to step up their presence on the 'murican market now that they operate under another owner.

I would not say Metabo has a strong presence over here. Lack of marketing and a brand that used to be well known but hopefully things are picking up now that a few volume sellers have picked up the brand.

At the moment I can source Metabo from four-five reliable online vendors and one (soon two) reliable physical pusher nests close by. Since Metabo is still not a high volume seller there are plenty of sales on current products going on which is good!

As long as I can get the Metabo machine number I can order it from a few vendors that will have it shipped within a week provided Metabo has it in stock.

I don't foresee Metabo becoming much larger but at the moment they have a decent set up and reliable order management. Not like Makita that ship out from somewhere in Europe and have ceased stocking machines in Sweden (!) so orders can take quite a long time. Over two weeks for a battery and a machine which wasn't in stock is pretty poor, made me source it up from a vendor who had it in stock.

Speaking of Metabo, while rummaging through the cordless 1,000 inch pound drill/driver options, I discovered that their 3 speed is totally in that class.
Woohoo, I'll take the Metabo over mak, milw, dwlt, and hlti, any day of the week. After watching a bunch of OzToolTalk, Skillbuilder, ToolbuzzBox and etcetera;
I got all excited about the prospect of massively awesome but cheapo (in the USA, anyway) tools and drove to the store to check them out...... ok... erm...nevermind. :0

I also learned that all of the tool manufacturers are putting safety triggers on their cordless cutting machines (saws and saws and saws); but unlike Festool
and Mafell, they have mechanisms that totally suck and are awkward enough to be dangerous. wtf?

EDIT: I see that the KS 18 LTX 57 has a normal safety switch. Praise yeezus.