BigYin

Yeah I thought the Protool stuff was supposed to be really heavy duty site worthy tools. Festool for the workshop, Protool for site with the inevitable drops of ladders etc. Would've loved to buy Protool but crazy expensive, almost £500 for one cordless drill I think (with all the attachments)! Would love one though, I've read reviews with people saying it's hands down the best drill made to date. Love all the attachments too. Metabo seem to be the only ones offering something similar, just not as refined. Not made me mind up on Metabo yet. Came across a terrible review of the drill on Ultimatehandyman forum, really slated it, and the customer service seems not to be the best. I'm now debating whether to go Panasonic or Metabo. Panasonic are supposed to be amazing drills. The idea of the dust and water protection sounds good too. Anyone have any experience? Panasonic or Metabo, which is best? Last year I had a shot of a mates Panasonic 15.6 Nimh drill, loved it, felt real top quality, nice to use all day. Wish I'd bought one actually, a local cash and carry warehouse place was selling them for £80 with 2 batts charger and case.

Hello there Wayne, wow that's fantastic feedback cheers, you sure you don't work for Metabo (wink wink)!! Only kidding, great to get some 'real world' views on how they fair for trade work. Been getting the feeling they are a bit special, looking at the specs and videos and the few sparse reviews I could find, but nowhere to have a look. I tend to think pretty much any reasonable drill feels fine for DIY (no offense to any DIY people reading, no snobbery here, I know a couple of DIY guys who are better than some tradesmen I know) but good balance and feel make one heck of a difference when you're using one for hours every day. So these Metabo's sound the biz. I'm amazed how light they are on the specs actually for having 100nm torque, usually only get near to that with Hilti's which are bloody heavy frankly, even the new lithium's (perfect balance though). Not sure I'm convinced they can be that strong at that weight but I wait to be proved wrong. Very pleased to hear about no chuck wobble, seen so many new drills from 'trade' brands with a silly amount of wobble. Even looked at the new Hilti lithium combi's recently and even a few of them weren't great, not terrible by any means but not what I expect from a £400 drill, maybe standards slipping?! my trusty old boat-anchor Hilti ni-mh cordless is absolutely perfect. You know what you're on about with the tiny drills in accurate work thing, that and when running long lags is when the wobble really pees me off. Dewalt is the worst for it that I've seen, crazy amount of runout. Thanks for the heads-up what you say about the 18v Impact for carpentry, I do quite a lot of first-fix so be good for that and get the wee one for the finishing. Been on the verge of forking out for a six or seven piece Metabo kit for a while now, in light of your glowing praise I think I'm gonna take the plunge and hope for the best. Only other option was Hilti really but they're crazy money and not convinced their cordless stuff is amazing enough to justify the price. Don't like Dewalt. Makita good but dubious batteries. Bosch good stuff but doesn't really grab me. Hope Metabo fits the bill. Bit worried about their after sales service, their customer service line person was completely hopeless the other week, but I'll take a chance, Hitler took a chance and it didn't do him any harm! Cheers Wayne, big help, will maybe post a follow-up once I've used the tools for a while (if it's not too cheeky to resurrect the thread). Oh yeah and the no belt hook thing, that's been putting me off a bit. I've got a holster but they're a bit shit compared to hooks. I just found out about 'Monster Hook' tool holders, google it, gotta be worth a shot, look perfect for a drill without a belt hook. Dan.

(Shamefully jumping into an old topic for my first post here)... Been perving over the Metabo LTX drills and impacts, found it hard to find many discussions/impartial reviews, and non of the lads I work with or anyone I meet on jobs know anything about them, really small market share in the UK it seems. I is in the trades an'that, messing about with cordless drills day-in day-out, looking for a new kit to hold up to a wee bit abuse. Wayne, if you're still there, do you have any experience of Hilti drills to compare Metabos to? I've always held Hilti up as the best but these Metabos look very tasty indeed, but nowhere stocks them so I can't have a look before buying. Main thing that winds me up about the quality of most cordless drills now is the amount of runout (wobble) on the chuck. I expect an expensive drill to be pretty much spot-on. Any feedback on how the Metabo LTX drills fair in this department? And how are they in terms of ergonomics and balance, do they feel nice in the hand for long usage? Little bit skeptical of the pistol-like handle instead of the more common T-handle. Comfortable feel obviously important for extended use every day. (And hello forummers, nice forum)