I debated a couple of years about purchasing a tool like this. At first, Fein was the only option and just for home use it was too much money for me to justify purchasing. Now that there are reasonably priced choices, I purchased the 37 piece Rockwell kit and added some accessories. Honestly, I felt like it was a gamble. Many reviews say the blades don't last and they come loose all the time. I rolled the dice. I WON!!!
This is a solid tool. I love working with tools and I own a lot of professional quality tools. I put this in the same class as my Bosch, Dewalt, Porter Cable, Rigid, and Makita tools.
For $208 I bought the 37 piece kit and a diamond segment saw, a carbide triangle saw, and a blade cleaner. (the 37 piece kit is the cheapest with variable speed; the least expensive kit is not variable speed). The harder the material you work on, the higher the speed needs to be set. According to the manufacturer, it is running the tool on too low a speed that causes overheating and excessive blade wear. The tool and add on accessories cost me less than half as much as the equivalent from Fein would have.
I immediately went to work taking out thinset from an old tile job, probably 1/4 inch trowelled. I had tried hammer and chisel and hated that. I bought an angle grinder which worked but threw dust everywhere. That lasted about one minute before I had to quit because of the dust. Then I threw a rug over it. That was a couple of years ago.
This Sonicrafter with the diamond segment saw is the right tool for the job. It is powerful enough. I used it for an hour, it did not overheat or bog down. The blade shows no signs of wear. The blade never came loose. It did not throw dust everywhere. After an hour my hand was tired. Operating this tool feels very much like operating a random orbital sander. The gentle vibration over time is fatiguing.
Be careful when you mount the blade. Blades mount like a twelve point socket fits on a nut; but these blades and mount are thin like a hacksaw blade. Make sure the blade is seated on the nut before you tighten the mounting screw. If the blade is mounted correctly, it will not work loose. I have used three different types of blades and have never had a blade work loose. Just get it on there right to begin with.
I am more than satisfied with my choice of Sonicrafter over Multimaster. I used some of the money I saved to buy myself a new Stetson hat.
Update: I was digging a post hole in my back yard and ran into a one inch root about 18 inches deep into the hole. All progress stopped. I smiled a lot as I qucikly cut the root out with my Sonicrafter. Rockwell RK5102K SoniCrafter Deluxe 72-Piece Kit
OMG, the Rockewell SoniCrafter is great. I was looking for a corded oscillating tool and looked at the Fein Multitasker and blades, but it is just way too expensive to purchase for my needs. So I bought the Dremel and the Rockwell to compare side by side...
The $100 Dremel is lighter and a bit smaller but the buzz the motor makes compared to the Rockwell motor [a little bit heavier and slightly bigger] which humms smoothly is like comparing a Vespa scooter to a Victory street bike.
Since the basic Rockwell is only $20 more than the Dremel and the extra blades are about the same price, there was no question about going for the quality/durability of a Rockwell.
The only convenience problem that I can foresee is getting replacement blades:
Dremel is carried by big box hardware stores; hobbyists who do crafts on the spur of the moment and do not need to rip open walls, will appreciate the around-the-corner convenience.
Rockwell is carried by speciality woodworking stores or the internet; the Home Proj. kind of guys have to plan ahead before ripping into a wall for remodeling. So ordering parts in advance should be a no brainer.
I also really liked the Rockwell case, it is created with niches and screw-downs to hold lots of blades/attachments in place.
I looked at the Bosch 12v battery operated version, and that would have been a good choice but I do not want to have numerous 18v tool systems and chargers for the various power hand tools that I use. I read that the Bosch delivers 20 min of battery power and I might need more time than that between charges.
All four tools mentioned above have variable speeds pretty much the same: 10,000 - 21,000 opm. The Bosch details that I read boasted of 5,000 - 20,000 opm, but I do not know if I need to go that slow. If I did I would have researched more into the rare Praxon version of oscillating tool, which is reportedly underpowered and equivalent to size and weight of the Dremel.
I had looked at the Fein Multimaster, but couldn't justify the price. I bought the Sonicrafter specifically to sand between the rails of a baby crib I built for my daughter. This tool will see as much use as my random orbital sander! It's very well made, and does a superb job. A couple of experiential comments: 1. The tool is a fast worker, let IT do the work for you. 2. The dust collection attachment gets in the way, and is useless. 3. I haven't found a source for sanding pads that fit, except Rockwell, and they're relatively expensive.
I first came across the Fein Multitool on a TV infomercial. The price sort of stalled me on that one in spite of the fact that Fien makes top-drawer industrial tools w/typical ***** German engineering.
Several months later I stumbled onto a (brand NEW) Rockwell-Sonicrafter Ad and started searching for info. Didn't take long to find them on scores of websites including Amazon, from whom I'd bought before. Good outfit.
Reading (then) only a half dozen or so reviews on Amazon I knew I'd be more satisfied with the bigger, sturdier Rockwell over the other few light-weights around like the Dremel. I ordered the mid-range ($139.xx) Sonicrafter package.
Turned On or Off this tool has a solid feel, (and sound). It is smooth, quiet and strong. It's (comparatively) large 2.3 amp motor has plenty of muscle. My first need was when I had a 40gal. water heater hemorhage at 11 pm.
Next day I bought a tankless heater - which required a good bit of re-plumbing and cutting a hole larger under the "bottom" of a charged 3/4" PVC waterline in a nightmare place. An otherwise 2 hr. job draining and removing waterlines just to get back to the hole that needed lowering was surgically completed in about 5 minutes with the brand new Sonicrafter. As far as I am concerned this tool had just 'Paid' for itself first time out of the box.
A few tips. #1. Like most cutting tools including power drills, these new Multi tools (by whatever trade name) can not be "pushed" into cutting substantially faster. But, "Leaning" too hard on these tools 'will' do some things you're not going to like; Such as prematurely burning up or dulling cutter blades - overheating the motors - and, if you hear someone complain about the hub screw regularly loosening on a Sonicrafter you can bet that they are seriously 'dogging' down on that tool to make it happen.
The one I chose has the variable speed control - I expect the lower speeds might be handy only for 'sanding' stuff like 'less hard' finishes, aka old varnish. For hard, brittle material 'cutting' use a very high or highest speed... And no different than with any saw-type tool for cutting - your material must be held firmly 'still'. If not, you're just going to be "viberating" your work piece instead of cutting it.
I rate this tool as being a Real Winner among my 'manly' treasure chests of hand-&-power tools! ;-)
Whack on,
Gerry Harris - Multimaster - Oscillating Saw - Rockwell - Fein Multimaster'
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