New Oscilating Tool - Dremel Multi-Max

[Maine Sail]

For those who have been swooning over a Fein Multi-Master there may now be a less expensive alternative. While not many tools can equal the quality & durability of a Fein tool this product looks to be fairly well built and about 75% less money than the Fein Multi-Master.

It is made by Dremel, called the Multi-Max, and is a knock off of the Fein Multi-Master being that it is a oscilating tool.

Everything about the Multi-Max is less expensive including accessories, blades, sandpaper etc. etc.. Lowes had a full kit for $99.99. I've been meaning to buy a Milti-Master for a while but just had not yet done it. I will now probably try the Dremel Multi-Max instead seeing as my other Dremel product has been used and abused and still keeps ticking.

Just thought I'd pass on this new option for an oscilating tool.

Dremel Multi-Max (LINK)


UPDATE: This is a decent low cost option. The bades last nowhere near as long as the Fein, and it is nowhere near the quality, but this is reflected in the savings..

 

[Frers 33]

Another cheap option...

I just noticed our local Harbor Freight has, or will have around Thanksgiving, a cheap knock off of the Fein for $40. Should work for limited usage, or any jobs you can get done under their warranty period. (If I had only waited 12 years I could have saved $160!)

 

[sailingdog]

Very cool. It's on my Christmas list now.

 

[Ross]

Re: Cool new tool

I always seem to demand more from a dremel tool than it can deliver. I have distroyed two and have gone to a Dewalt high speed rotary tool. I have a Fein sander and it is wonderful for its intended use.

 

[CharlieCobra]

Re: Cool new tool

Yeah, I'm on my second one and I expect to burn it up too.

 

[Franklin]

Re: Cool new tool

Us live-aboards can't have a lot of tools so we try to make tools multi-purpose. I finally broke down and got a 110 volt drill about a year ago. Since then I've been getting attachments for it to use it in many ways that most would buy a special tool like this one and have had wonderful results. Like the grinder attachment I got for my fiberglass work; it takes the place of a grinder. I've been using that attachment for all kinds of stuff like taking rust off my tools. I got a metal cutting attachment for it and just cut a bracket off a propain tank I found after the storm so now I have two tanks in the locker. I love my plain ole 110 volt drill and my generator so I can run it without power plug (did just get power back this weekend though so it's a little quieter around the marina).

 

[Maine Sail]

Yeah, I'm on my second one and I expect to burn it up too.

How did you go through two already? The press release for the product launch was dated Sept 22, 2008 and they only began shipping them a few weeks ago? Either way if you burned two out in just a few weeks they would certainly be under a warranty or a return policy? Did they replace them and were they good to deal with?

 

[SamLust]

Re: Cool new tool

I saw the display while on a work related shopping spree at Lowes on Monday. They had no replacement "bits" available at that time. When the replacement accessories hit the display board the Multi-Max WILL be in my power tool bin. It's amperage rating is low indicating it's probably not a high poiwer solution, but if you let the tool do the work as we were trained it should be fein. Or fine.

 

[Steve Christensen]

Another cool tool - the Rigid SeeSnake

As long as we're talking cool tools.......I don't own one of these (yet...) but I just saw a write up in the paper this weekend about a new tool called the Ridgid SeeSnake. It's a small handheld display unit with a 2.5" color LCD screen and a camera on the end of a 3 foot flexible wand with two high intensity LED lights, that allows you to peek into and see areas that you normally couldn't. The "real" world applications include looking inside ducts and wall cavities. But when I saw the description I immediately thought of dozens of times aboard my boat when I would have killed for one of these (behind the stove, the backside of the engine, inside the steering pedestal, behind bulkheads, and many more).

The price is supposed to be $239, which I will admit isn't cheap. But if I still owned my boat I have no doubt that I would have found a way to justify the cost.

 

[Allan Frey]

Re: Cool new tool

What you might find more useful is a color security camera that is less than a cubic inch in size (about $50) and connect it to a dvd player screen or tv, a simple thing to do. I find it useful.

I'm thinking of getting an underwater security camera with built in lights and similarly connecting it for use underwater outside of the boat. It costs about $200.

Allan