The vagueness he refers to is “I couldn’t get on with it”. It doesn’t elaborate on the reasons why he didn’t like it. Then we have added that nobody else on jobsites uses it. Again, why? Is the platform of tools insufficient, is the support poor in some way, do the tools fail, do they lack in ergonomics, do the batteries take too long to charge, does the color clash with your trousers? Obviously there are specific reasons, but if we fail to bring them to light, how is anyone supposed to parse out those shortcomings and decide what is or isn’t important for their intended use?
So if there are specific observations you would like to add, great, let’s hear them. Otherwise let’s not keep adding to the noise here.
Ok, I like to be fair, and reasonable, so I'll elaborate a little more on the drill.
At the time of being presented with the drill/driver I was a user of mainly Makita tools both corded and cordless, and a fair bit of Elu, routers, table and mitre saws etc.
So, we had plenty of Makita cordless drill drivers. The supplier was a Metabo stockist, and was constantly trying to covert me to the brand.
When he gave me the drill, although brand new, it looked old and outdated in design, and did not have the ergonomics of my drills or any other current brand offerings.
It is still in the skip outside of the workshop, if I can find an old Makita of the time, I'll post pics up of both, so that everybody can see what I'm talking about.
The drill reverse switch, was a flimsy plastic paddle that protruded out between the top of the trigger and the casing, looked like it would last about 5 minutes. The tool was not balanced or comfortable, lacked power, had terrible battery life, and also a lengthy battery charge time.
It was a world away from the Makitas of the time, or anything else. It resembled a cheap DIY centre tool, or an occasional use tool for a handy man.
Four or five of us tried it out, for the working week but, nobody liked it, nobody had anything good to say about it. As I said, I couldn't give it away.
Not my own experiences but, I have friends and colleagues that have owned various Metabo tools, and the feedback hasn't been great, or mediocre at best. I know somebody that had untold problems with a Metabo planer thicknesser, another with a mitre saw that was replaced three times before a refund. They have had major issues with grinders too.
Whenever I see anything German manufactured, it nearly always means quality, precision engineering and design, and as a consequence great durability.
The Germans build everything to a very high standard. Houses, cars, guns, tools and just about everything else. I don't now, or have never seen this quality with Metabo, and the fact they were bought by a Japanese company tells me they weren't very successful?
There are almost certainly firm fans of Metabo out there, and I would imagine if that's true, the majority of them are hobbyist or DIY users where products aren't worked so hard, or so frequent as in a professional environment, as I mentioned earlier, I see very little Metabo tools being used on building sites of all types and sizes.
My own experience, and the others that used the drill, was more or less how I expected it to be, after seeing various Metabo tools, and inspecting them, not very innovative in my opinion.
Most of the sites I'm on you'll see mainly, Makita, De walt, Milwaukee, Festool, Fein, Mafell. Sometimes some Panasonic, and some Hitachi, and a fair bit of Erbauer (Screwfix own brand) and some other cheap and cheerful tools but, I really don'y come across much Metabo. Maybe the odd drill etc but, not much at all.
It's not one of the popular brands here, at least professionally. There's probably a reason for that?
