Lidl planer

[Ramsman]

Available from 23 March.

Has anyone ever bought one of these? Are they any good?

[The Medway Handyman]

It looks identical to the B&D one I've had for years - which is surprisingly good.

[Dave Liquorice]

Thanks for the heads up, though wether I'll ever ba passing a Lidl after that date is debateable.

I'd check that it takes standard, and thus easy to obtain, blades. Having a look at the blade replacement and setup prodceedure might indicate how easy (or not) that is.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Looks like the one I bought from them years ago.

If so, it's OK. Replaced my burnt out B&D, and can't really say it's any better or worse.

They're not the easiest of tools to use, I've found. Whether this is down to me or the design, I dunno.

But it's the usual excellent Lidl power tool value for money.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Same here for my old Bosch. The Bosch has an exhaust which can be directed to either side, which is useful to direct it away from you, and can also be coupled to a vacuum cleaner. I can't see that in the picture of this one.

One thing that is critical on these is that the axis of the cutter is perfectly parallel to the base, as any discrepency accumulates each time you run the plane over the surface, gradually creating a slanting cut. You can cancel out such an error by alternating the direction of the plane each time, but that's not always convenient.

Someone else mentioned availability of cutting blades which is also important. There is a sort of standard (I can use non-Bosch blades in mine). Curved-end blades are useful for planing something which is wider than the plane, without getting lines left by the standard square-end blades, but they're harder to find.

[Ramsman]

Thanks for the input everybody.

According to the Kompernass website, it appears to be a PEH 30 A1, but I can't tell from the manual whether the blades are standard or not.

So far I've always been very satisfied with tools and gadgets from Lidl. I even have some cycling clothing. Everything they sell is good quality and inexpensive, especially my favourite 74% chocolate.

[Mark]

Generally Aldi/Lidl tools are good value for money

but in this case i would check you can get spare blades and drive belt

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[alan_m]

I've had a B&D for years and it works well BUT it was somewhat transformed by throwing away the soft as cheese blades it came with and replacing them a lot better.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

IIRC, the blades are Bosch, same as their jigsaws. Dunno about the drive belt.

[Mark]

the drive belt failed on my Argos £5.99 clearance ?Direct Power? planer after 9 years which would have rendered it scrap. Luckily i found a belt from a old model Makita was a direct replacement.

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[David]

Just to add that I bought an extra battery for my 18V drill from Kompernass and my credit card company charged me a foreign currency fee - bastards!

As far as I can remember the price was displayed in UKP as well.

Will remember to use the "no charge" one instead of the "cash back" one next time.

Cheers

Dave R

[Mark]