R.I.P Dremel Stylus

[Gerald Ross]

A couple of years ago I bought one for my wife. I inherited after she lost interest in the hobby it was for. Now it is dead. Opened it up and it had two non-standard lithium cells hardwired in. I took it to the battery place and he declined, saying he was trained in replacing lithium batteries but the company would not let him do it because of insurance issues. Sounded like I had brought in an IED.

Dremel would not give a price for replacing the batteries. I would have to ship it along with the charger to them insured, then wait for the dreaded phone call telling me where to leave the money in small, unmarked bills.

My other options were to trash it, call the bomb squad or bury it beside the road at night. Trashed it.

[cm]

Dremels are a rip off in general.

1. There is almost always a better tool for the job.

1. Electric hand held chain saw sharpener is the same thing including variable speed for .00 +/- at Lowe's or HD.

cm

[Phisherman]

The battery-operated ones die faster than the corded ones. I have a variable speed Dremmel, about $60, and it is going on its 7th year of low-level abuse. My brother burns them up in less than a year, he prefers to hang the Dremmel up and use the pen powered by the cable. I guess it depends on how it is used. Very handy useful versatile tool.

[Matt]

I too have found that Dremel lacks a customer service attitude, so I choose to use a different brand. I make the assumption that their customer service will continue with any of the their product releases, so I ignore them. I only buy that brand at clearance sales where no warranty no service is implied.

Lately, there have been clones sold by Canadian Tire for $10 - corded variable speed.

[J. Clarke]

He should get a compressor and a die grinder.