Rockwell Sonicrafter... Anyone try it

[John Hedges]

I saw the ad for this at Woodcraft for $119 and was wondering if anyone has tried it yet. A lot cheaper than the Multimaster.

[Thomas Williams]

I have not used the Rockwell. I am in the market for one of these tools as well. I read a review on-line (follow the links on Wood Werks http://www.woodwerks.com/ to the Dremel Multi-Max ) that rated the Rockwell better than the new Dremel. The review felt it was a bit more industrial and able to keep up on a job site. The same reviewer liked the Bosch rechargeable better than the Dremel, but ranked the Dremel higher due to the poor battery life of the Bosch.
By the way, Dremel is a subsidiary of the Robert Bosch Tool Company.

[Chuck Tringo]

Harbor Freight has their version on sale for $39 at the moment also for those of us who are....how shall I put this.....Cheaposv:D

[John Carlo]

I have the Multimaster. I absolutely love the job it does for me. I had to cut out the flooring in our kitchen right up to the edge of the base cabinets. This was right through flooring, adhesives, underlayment, and staples. I couldn't believe how easy this was.

When you see the price of the cutters you will need a good stiff drink but you won't be able to afford one! This new offering might bring some competition to the cutters market.

[John Gregory]

I bought the Rockwell at the last woodworking show in SLC Utah. I have used the finger sander and the wood saw and it worked well. The blades are less money than fein and available at Sears. I got the complete kit, at about 1/2 the price of the fein. Seems well built and very useful. So far I am very glad that I bought it.

[Bob Maynard]

I purchased the $179 Sonicrafter kit at the woodworking show in Timonium, MD earlier this month. After using my brother's Fein Multimaster about 10 months ago, I can honestly say that I can't see the difference other than price. I have used it for undercutting door frames, and I have used the carbide blade for removing grout. Works just like it was demonstrated at the show. Blades are much less expensive than Fein. The Rockwell has a very solid feel to it. Unlike so many other knockoffs from China, this has the feel of a well-made, quality tool.

[Matt Meiser]

I just bought the $120 20-piece Sonicrafter kit from Menards this week. We are getting new carpet in our family room and tore out a 1/2 wall that separated it from the dining room. There's engineered hardwood installed on top of underlayment that runs along side the family room and I needed to remove the first partial row of it and the underlayment because it was notched to fit around the wall. This tool made quick work of removing the underlayment because I could easily cut the underlayment right along the remaining hardwood. I could have done it with a chisel, 1" at a time for 10'. 10*12 = 120(+) times hammer a chisel through 1/4" underlayment. Hmm...

The round blade I used to do that seems to be no worse for the wear so I'd say they'll last a while under this type of use. I used the straight blade some too to remove some a partial piece of shoe molding and to cut some baseboard back. I need to pick up a scraper blade so I can try that out too. Haven't tried the sander yet. I suspect that's mostly duplicate to the Ryobi "cat" sander I already have (and rarely use.)

[Don Bullock]

I'm some baseboard molding work to do at our new house. Lowe's had the Dremel Multi-Max Oscillating Kit for $99, so I bought one of them. It's worked out well for my project and is similar to the Rockwell SoniCrafter.