Recommendations for oscillating multi-tool

[Hoof Hearted]

As the title really.

As I'm getting older and more knackered I'm doing less and less DIY but still keeping my hand in, especially as we'll be moving to a new house soonish.

I need (well, ok then, I want) a cordless oscillating multi-tool but I don't want to spend a couple of hundred quid on it. Nor do I want to go to the other end of the scale and buy something less than 50 quid from Lidl or Aldi.

Maybe something around a hundred quid for the bare body tool itself and then plus battery and charger. I'm quite tempted by Ryobi. What say you folks?

[charles]

I have a number of Ryobi tools which all behave very well. I started with a simple drill and now have a whole range - including gardening tools.

[GB]

Do you need a battery tool, rather than mains? £50 will buy a good mains powered tool.

If you have any batteries already, that dictates which brand of multi tool you should buy. If you don't yet have any battery tools, deciding which system to buy into is a major decision.

[Hoof Hearted]

No, I don't have batteries yet but I definitely want a cordless tool rather than corded. And I know that I don't want Bosch because from what I've read, you have to use Bosch accessories/cutters etc.

[John Rumm]

If you have not already bought into a battery system, then think carefully which way you go, since it will generally dictate the choice of any future cordless tools.

The only ryobi kit I have tried were their petrol brush cutters[1], so can't really comment on the battery tools. They do have a good range of tools, although suppliers of body only kits are less common in the uk than for other brands.

Here is a comparison of some cordless multitools:

[1] They were really very poor alas!

[Theo]

From what people say, Ryobi is at the cheaper end, but that's in the US. Over here we have reasonably priced tools but expensive batteries. So it doesn't work out much cheaper than other brands, and bear in mind that batteries are the consumable here.

I'd look at which other tools in the system you might be able to use if you had the battery. For example, Makita and Ryobi do more garden stuff, while Dewalt not very much.

Theo

[Andy Burns]

Look for tool-less blade changing, and see if you can find reviews comparing hand vibration level, some can get quite tiring to hold.

[Rob Morley]

Don't they all use 18650s under the skin?

[Dave Plowman (News]

I've got a mains Fien. Wanting a cordless one too for the odd small job, I got one from Aldi. No complaints at all. Battery lasts long enough for the jobs where I can't be bothered getting the mains one out. Other thing is the small battery makes it no larger than the mains one - useful in tight spaces.

[John Walliker]

Yes, I had one of those. The crank case fell off the cylinder.

On the other hand I have an excellent mains Bosch multitool which seems to accept lots of different makes of cutters. It does need an allen key for tool changing. John

[John Rumm]

My first one seemed to ingest something - probably a bit of its own carb:

The replacement 4 stroke machine I bought on a spur of the moment as it was going cheap in Makro, and would fit the existing accessories. That turned out to be bad in other ways. Mostly because its tuning drifts continuously, and many of its key components (like cam shaft) were plastic. It would not run well, or at certain angles - no matter how much you adjusted it. In the end I lobbed it in a skip and bought a Stihl which can just about use the same attachments.

The Bosch was one of the first clones of the multimaster when the patents on it ran out. Quite a few people here bought them and liked them.

I still use my old mains multimaster. Same type of tool fixing though. The fixing is not as good as the modern replacements alas. Also the Fein does not have any index points on the tool post - so you get infinite variable position, but you can get the tool slipping, and you can't get it tight enough to cope with the the coarser teeth Japanese pattern blades you can get now.

[John Rumm]

If you go for any of the non starlink tools, then you get a good choice of compatible blades.

It could do with an update for modern tool posts, but:

[John Rumm]

For me, I found Makita was a good compromise - not as expensive as some, and a vast range of tools. All of the tools I have tried are at least "good enough". Loads of stuff available body only - and a wide range of tools from general building to garden, to specialist. They also do a fair amount of twin battery 36V kit for when you need extra power (which is preferable to buying into a separate 40V platform[1] IMHO)

Blue bosch kit is nice and they have some innovative stuff as well. Tends to be a bit more pricey.

[1] 40V and 36V are the same - just measuring the charge voltage in different parts of the curve. Many makers are now doing some higher volt ranges (Makita included). But that tends to mean lower capacity batteries due to the space constraint.

[alan_m]

Older Bosch multi-tools could accept third party blades but what you can buy now has a different Starlock fixing.

I buy blades from Saxton Blades and they have a universal fitting for:

note 1: not the Bosch and Fein starlock required for current models.

not 2: some other makes may require a manufacturers adapter - worth checking if the tool comes with this, or can be obtained cheaply, if you don't want to be tied to a manufacturer branded blade.

AEG

Aldi Workzone

Bosch (excludes Starlock)

Argos Challenge Extreme-(Battery) Argos Challenge Extreme-(Mains) + Adaptor B&Q Mac Allister (MMT108-LI) Batavia Clarke Duratool (D01962) Einhell Fein (excludes Starlock) Ferm Lidl Parkside Mac Allister- with Mac Allister adaptor Makita Milwaukee Renovator + Adaptor Ryobi-1plus-With Ryobi adaptor (Stored in battery compartment of Multitool) Silverline Skil Multitasker Terratek Tesco Tooltec Wolf Worx Sonicrafter + Adaptor

[The Natural Philosopher]

Bosch are mostly cheap German junk. Most of my Makita tools seem to cut the mustard, but the cordless ones are f****ng expensive as far as I can recall

[John Walliker]

In that case my Bosch SDS drill, bought around 25 years ago is an exception. It has seen very heavy and sustained use for drilling, chasing and demolition and is still working well. Although I bought it at B&Q it is blue. I also have some Makita mains tools which are excellent. Among the best are a wall chaser which I managed to get on a special offer and a right angle drill. Another excellent tool is a Skill power drill with two-speed gearbox and variable speed which was bought 50 years ago by my father. John

[RJH]

Pleased with the Makita TM30DZ - about 60 quid, but the batteries and charger are expensive. 10.8V fine for my purposes, and a 2Ah battery makes it quite light. Cut a load of notches out of 18mm softwood today - made short work of it.

[John Rumm]

IME the green Bosch (DIY range) are "ok" but variable. Some good tools, some nothing special. The blue Pro range stuff is usually pretty comparable to Makita.

[John Rumm]

Makita have some Starlock models as well as the older style mount:

[Theo]

Most of them do - although some are now 2170s and a few systems are starting to use pouch cells for extra current. But in general you can't buy the same quality of cells to recell a battery for less than you can buy the replacement battery. The best source would be to buy an Aldi battery and transplant, since those are fairly competitively priced.

Theo