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Thanks for the feedback. Great to hear it's a good one! (I've now bumped it up 5 places on my wish list ).

How is it? I would love to be able to do light duty grinding with that. Are grinding discs available or just cut-off?

As the wife says it, Metta-boo

Not seeing a lot here due to the time zone difference down under. +1 for the winter Olympics, it's practically the Xngames now .

Ok, I finally got a chance to go cutting today. Before you read on, I'm not very experienced or knowledgeable about chainsaws. However, it seems great! Lots of power and I really noticed how lightweight it is after using it for a while (~4.2kg). Revs well and starting seems easy. The tool free chain tensioner is adjustable with gloves on, so it's great to have. I am using Echo power blend oil and castrol bar oil and I believe I was cutting Iron Bark. It also comes with an Oregon chain.

I only just realised that this drill is a completely different drill to the one I've been considering (which is highly discounted here atm). I was looking at the BS 18 LTX BL (which is 90nm and has the red button at the top to quickly switch from clutch to drill). The BS 18 LTX BL I is not even available here yet. Nice, I'll keep waiting now that I know that's on the horizon. It seems they are discounting the models that must have a new brushless version coming out soon (which is pretty much everything including the circular saw). Bad that I just got a recip saw and the 200 wrench, but good that I haven't got anything else yet.

That's great, looks perfect!

We're only a month away from spring down under so camping season will be here soon. Does anyone have any of the 18V Metabo LED offerings? The things I am looking to find out is the output levels/modes or any other helpful features. The Metabo website doesn't show much info for their lighting. I am particularly interested in the 18V (SLA 14.4-18 LED) inspection lamp, and whether it has multiple output levels. I very much do not want to have to buy into Milwaukee

I wish the brushed version had a belt clip. I'm nearly prepared to make a custom one for it.

I still haven't had time to fire this thing up yet .

Thanks for this info Craig, it's literally the only feedback I have heard about the circular saw. I couldn't find anything online.

I use it quite a lot so for me it's worth it. I only paid $108 AUD. Very handy tool and so many uses for it. As @The.Handyman said it's pretty much the same as the other blowers. I haven't used the Makita but I have held it in a store. You also have to look out for the angle at which the handle is relative to the rest of the tool if you use it for clearing the ground. With the makita, it is the only one that is straight/perpendicular, which means you have to lift your arm out in front of you at an angle to get the blower at a good angle to blow the ground in front of you. The others have their handles angled, so you can simply relax your arm straight down beside you and the blower will already be at a nice angle because of its natural angle. i think the Milwaukee and Dewalt have the highest of all of them. The Metabo feels about right but perhaps a bit more would have helped. One benefit of the having to hold the makita forward out in front of you would be that you don't get your shirt sucked into it!

@pancing and @JimboS1ice, I definitely don't use a nut with a wire cup but I can see how it might have looked like that. I blended two different things in a poorly and too quickly written sentence before ducking out to lunch. Basically I mean that changing wheels/brushes is always a pain (especially brushes), and, a quick nut doesn't really make it much better (when using one).

Nice! I really hate that too. Did they come with the quick nut for tool free disc changes? Mine did, but it's still annoying, especially wire cups (they always stab you through your gloves ). I really can't wait until the Ultra charger comes out in Australia (I think only Europe has it so far). I need it to keep up with the grinder. I get about 10-15 minutes of runtime on a 6.2 LiHD but then I have to wait 90 minutes until its charged. @wayneburgess, do you have the brushless model? What's the runtime you get on that?

Or the 200?

It looks like Thermarest have some new models out since I last looked. You might like the new 10cm thick Mondoking 3D: http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/mattresses/camp-and-comfort/mondoking-3d/product Lightweight 6cm Neoair xlite: http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/mattresses/fast-and-light/neoair-xlite/product

I only have a cheap 3cm self inflatable sleeping pad but I've done some research. Thermarest and Sea to Summit make some comfortable sleeping pads that use multi cells. Thermarest neoair is a very lightweight inflatable model and they have a few variations of it. I don't own one yet but I hope to get a sea to summit comfort plus insulated sleeping pad.

Same as pancing, I've never tripped it on the brushed 18v either. Great grinder. I wish I had of waited and saved for the brushless to have an even better grinder. I do a lot of grinding and the W18ltx was the reason I started with the Metabo line.

Very nice! Great to hear it's German made. Great stuff. Keep the photos coming. We really should start a Metabo tool porn thread like the Milwaukee section.

That's really good to hear as I'm starting to question if Metabo quality is somewhat hyped. I just noticed my new reciprocating saw also doesn't line up towards the bottom (so that makes 3 out of 4 tools with the issue). I'm sending the blower back to claim under warranty. It's extremely uncomfortable, especially for long periods. I can live with the others having the issue but envy the perfect over mold on the other brands (seriously Metabo, why can't you achieve the same precise over mold?).

I'm in Australia. I think they released only very recently here. I bought this from Gasweld for $310 AUD delivered. It looks like they're available pretty much everywhere here.

Makita EA3201SR 32cc chainsaw

It finally arrived, my new Makita EA3201SR 32cc chainsaw. $310 AUD delivered. I could have gotten a teal version for an extra $29 at another dealer. The teal model is EA3201S.

Nice price! I recently got the recip saw ($208 AUD). I haven't used any other 18V saw but the Metabo has been amazing so far. I really like the sound of it for some reason. It's hard to describe, but it's kind of like a turbine whistle sound. I'd be very interested to hear your opinions on both, especially the circ saw. I can't find anything at all online about it and I'm thinking of getting one. A comparison to the Dewalts for both would be great to hear too.