German engineering is renowned for innovation. Take a look at BMW, Porsche, and even Mercedes Benz before the Chrysler days they are all quality products that are the front runners in their industry. We have some upcoming welding projects, and recently I was at the welding store. They had a host of grinders from all the major manufacturers and a they also had Metabo. I asked the guy who worked there what he thought of Metabo. He said for grinders nothing compares, they last forever and his customers preferred Metabo. A few weeks back I received an email from our colleagues across the pond toolstop.co.uk, they had just attended a Metabo event and were blown away. I had to get my hands on one of these tools and see what the hype was all about.
I contacted Metabo and they sent out a W18 LTX 18 Volt 4-1/2 Inch Cordless Angle Grinder. The tool arrived in a nice hard case, included the tool , a charger and 2 18v Lithium Ion batteries. Metabo’s theme is “Work. Don’t Play” Make no mistake this is a professional tool and the overall quality is outstanding. Metabo backs this tool by a 3 year warranty.
Lets go over some of the features of this tool. First it is ergonomic and feels good in your hands. Since all work conditions are different the battery pack swivels, this provides you with different configurations and also adjusts the tools center of gravity depending on your work conditions. The motor is a wear resistant 4 pole design, produces 8,000 rpm and has a host of electronics that monitor and protect the tool from overload and heat. The soft start feature allows for the unit to be turned on without jarring. It includes a no-volt feature that will not allow the tool to start if you accidentally left the switch on when replacing battery packs, this is also indicated by a LED at the base of the tool. The handle can be attached on either side of the tool and the guard is easily adjusted with no tools, you just pull a tab and it rotates into positive lock positions. The spindle lock is at the top and an included wrench is used to remove the spindle nut from the 5/8″ spindle. It weighs around 5.3 lbs with the battery installed.
The brushes are easily replaceable thanks to its 2 access panels on the body of the unit that are removed with just a phillips screwdriver. The 30 min charger has a fan that moves air and keeps the unit cool during charging the entire unit uses air cooled technology. The battery packs have a built in fuel gauge which is always a plus. Another added feature is a clip on filter that wraps around the air vents of the unit to protect the motor from dirt and debris. If the unit overheats you can remove this to let the tool breath better. For our tests we did some grinding and made a few cuts, the tool performed flawlessly and did not let us down. I honestly could not tell the difference between this and a corded grinder except for the freedom of no cord, it has a lot of power. ANd was easy to work with.
To wrap it up, the Metabo W18 LTX 18 Volt 4-1/2 Inch Cordless Angle Grinder is one of the finest cordless angle grinders on the market. Metabo really is taking the US tool market by storm and we cannot wait to see what else comes from the German tool maker.
Great to hear that you love Metabo Power Tools. Excellent in-depth review. One thing I don’t think was mentioned is that the 3 year warranty covers everything, even the batteries. I tested this against the Bosch and Makita equivalents. It was much more powerful than the Makita and similar to the Bosch. The Makita just cut out with minimum pressure applied when grinding away some weld but the Bosch took more pressure as did the Metabo. The difference was the Metabo safety feature kicked in so you had to restart it whilst the Bosch started automatically when the pressure was taken off. Great Machine, well done.
I would like to see a review of the hilti brushless grinder
I would like to see a review of the hilti brushless grinder , all the cordless grinders beats the makita grander , noting aganst makita but there grinder is weak
Certainly a decent grinder – are you more of a fan of cordless or corded though?