I've used Dremel tools for over 15 years now. I've mainly stuck with the corded ones, as the battery-powered versions tended to run out of charge quickly, had less RPM, were generally heavier and usually had a lot less torque.The lithium version has none of these drawbacks. Because there's no cord it's more comfortable to hold (and much more convenient to use!), about the same weight as a corded model, and has plenty of RPMs and torque. Battery lifetimes are very good, and the "fuel gauge" seems to be reasonably accurate. (Exactly how long a charge will last depends greatly on what you're using it for--working on balsa wood uses a lot less power than, say, grinding metal.)Battery charge times are quite short, about three hours to charge a completely empty battery. (But thanks to a "smart charger" it should only take a few minutes to charge it after a typical job.) An added bonus is that lithium batteries hold their charges practically forever, so there's no need to "trickle charge" them; just charge it back up after you're done with it and put it away, and it'll be ready to use the next time you need it.The only nit I've found so far is the need to remove the battery to charge it. (This is probably for safety's sake.) It'd be slightly more convenient to just put the whole unit in the charger after use, but since it doesn't need charging that often this is really minor.I'd consider this to be an entirely practical replacement for a corded Dremel. For everything I use my Dremel for (mostly small models plus the occasional home repair task) this one seems more than adequate. It's a sturdy unit that should last a long time.My one concern about lifetime is how long the lithium battery will last; only time will tell. Dremel 8000-03 10.8-Volt Lithium Ion Cordless Rotary Tool
I've been using Dremels for a long time and always wanted a decent cordless. With the advent of decent cordless power tools (the first one that I had that was actually useful for something was an 18 volt DeWalt drill that went right through stuff my corded drills wouldn't touch, but that's another story) I've been waiting for Dremel to come out with a good cordless.I've been hesitant about the earlier cordless Dremels but this one looks like "it".So far it's done everything I've asked it to do but I haven't asked it to do much--I got it specifically to deal with a piece of acrylic that my cordless Rotozip melted instead of cutting--I figured the adjustable speed on the Dremel would take care of that and was right.Just an aside about stalling--if you're stalling a Dremel then it's time to take a good hard look at a Rotozip, which, if you've never played with one, is kind of a Dremel on steroids--Dremel has an equivalent, the "Advantage", but only the one model and not cordless.The lack of a provision to charge the battery with the tool attached is just carrying through the current practice with cordless tools--it's assumed that one will have two batteries, one on the tool and one on charge if this is an issue. There's space in the case for a second battery.A "gotcha" to be aware of with the lithium ion batteries, always store them charged--if they self-discharge below a certain point a protective circuit kicks in and they disable themselves--this is a safety issue--trying to recharge a lithium ion battery that is discharged below a certain point can result in an explosion (I'm not talking about a little spill--exploding lithium batteries in emergency-locator transmitters have brought down light aircraft).The bundled accessories are, near as I can figure it:Aluminum oxide stone #932 and #8193Silicon carbide stone #84922Aluminum oxide abrasive wheel #5412 rubber polishing wheels #4253 Large felt polishing wheels #4295 Small felt polishing wheels #4141 cutter, looks like a #1811 drill bit, #1501 Mandrel #401 (for felt pads etc)1 Mandrel #402 (for sanding disks, cutoff wheels etc)Sanding cylinder mandrels 1/4" and 1/2"4 80 grit 1/2" sanding cylinders3 120 grit 1/2" sanding cylinders4 80 grit 1/4" sanding cylinders3 120 grit 1/4" sanding cylinders11 sanding disks17 cutoff wheels, 3 are thicker than the others, the others are in two containers of 10 and 4 but can't tell any difference between them.1 wrench with screwdriver tip that fits screws on mandrels1 case with a good deal of unused storage even after all the accessories are stored.
Mine is utilized for robotics projects--it finds a lot of uses with metal. I also bought the press accessory with it. This little accessory helps me make straight cuts and drill holes.I'm telling you, I use this thing constantly and it works like a champ! It is powerful enough for me to cut all my brass and aluminum with the precision of that of a doctor. For as handy as this tool is--I'd pay twice as much to get one if need be. I've had mine for 5 months too.One HUGE word of advice. WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES! I know this may sound lame, but it saved my @ss!!! When cutting some tubing, my disk exploded at full RPM's and the shrapnel hit me in the goggles. (Of course I had my fat head over top of it while I was cutting) Just be careful. The tool is A+, but the little thing could be dangerous if you slack on the safety.
I bought one of these at a local brick & mortar store for a project I'm working on. I am impressed with the power of the device and it is a really neat tool, but unfortunatley I've already had to return two of them for a defective speed control. While using it, the first one all of a sudden just jumped up to full speed and stayed there regardless of where the speed control was set. In other words, it was no longer variable. The second one did the same thing. Since I saw replacement brushes available for their tools (and therefore they must consider it somewhat user serviceable) I decided to open it up and see what it looked like inside. One of the transistors on the circuit board had gotten warm enough to melt the solder and shorted out two of the pins on the transistor. I'm on my third one now (just returned them at the store) and I first bought one about 2-1/2 weeks ago. Great tool but Dremel needs to work on their quality control. - Multitool - Lithium-ion - Cordless Rotary Tools - Cordless'
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