Oscillating Multi-tools: What do you have? What's good? What's bad?

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I've had Fein Milwaukee and Ridgid. All worked equally well.

[Bob Cooper]

Just bought the dewalt cordless. Really like it

[Mike Kees]

I have a Dewalt corded one that I picked up in a pawnshop in as new condition. My experience is completely the opposite of Mark Bolton's post. I constantly use this tool for fine finish cuts doing high end finish work and cabinets. I find it extremely accurate .It also gets used to cut all kinds of stuff in tight spots in renovation work etc.

[Joe Jensen]

I have a Festool. Agree on not needing for the shop, but for remodeling and install it's been fantastic. Love the tool-less change...joe

[Warren Lake]

Fein, Lamello etc. Id rather stick with people who invented stuff than people who knock them off.

Needed on a roof and facia rebuild to cut stuff hard to get at. Forget I have it in the shop and so far havent needed it, always a number of ways to do things in a shop.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

After to struggle with myself for years I got Makita multitool. It is a brave little tool, not so much used but afforded some abuse and long continuous use.

It isn't tool less but it is fast and simple to change blades and I never needed a lot of changes for any job so it isn't a nuisance.

Recommended.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

We've had pretty much all of them at various times within the company. We're carpenters, lots of remodeling, and they get heavy use. Some don't last long (craftsman, HF, porter cable), some are clumsy to use (milwaukee), and two are very good (makita and dewalt cordless). We all like the cordless for obvious reasons, and the Makita and Dewalt both have good variable speed triggers and are well balanced. Dewalt is better than the Makita because the blade change is better and the batteries are superior. For us, everyone has switched or is waiting for theirs to die to upgrade to the Dewalt cordless.

Some blades are better than others, we exclusively use Imperial. They are cheaper and last longer than the others locally available (tool brands generally). As one of the posters said, let the dust get out of the cut and they last a long time.

As a sidebar, I thought I'd never use one of the stupid things for anything serious, until I had a good oscillator around. Sure is a heck of a lot safer than some of the ridiculous stunts I used to do with a utility knife.

[Alan Lightstone]

I have the Fein. No complaints at all.

+1, but I use it once in a blue moon.

[John Powers]

Got the Bosch corded. No complaints. I’m heavily invested in hitachi batteries so I’m looking at the Metabo. Feels big in the hand but still tempting. Sometimes it’s the only tool for some jobs.

[Patrick Fleuret]

I have the Bosch corded. Really like the no-tool blade change. Never any issues and lots of blades available.

[Jack Frederick]

I’ve had the Fein for quite a long time. I call it the “tool I can’t afford to use” due to blade cost. I am buying HF blades for it now. It has been excellent and I have done some close exposed work with it that turned out well. When we rebuilt the house my GC had the HF. I used it regularly. When one craps out he spends short money on another. If my fine craps out, I’ll go HF or possible Milwaukee cordless.

[Michael J Evans]

Another vote for the DeWalt cordless, it's the only one I've had but blade change is super easy, variable speed trigger is nice and overall it seems like a well built tool.

[Richard Mellor]

I use mine on a regular basis installing cabinets for a living. I have 2 Feins, a cordless Bosch, and now a cordless festool. Yes the festool is ridiculously expensive but I wouldn't think twice about having to buy it again. Its a joy to use, powerful, handles well and most importantly very much quieter than the others, a real bonus when using it in peoples homes.

[John Goodin]

You might ought to look at HF and your Lowe’s for the type of attachments they stock and work back from there. It is not a tool that you plan on using so much as to solve a unexpected problem you come across. Having to wait for Amazon to ship the right attachment to fit your tool would be frustrating.

[Ken Kortge]

Consider if the model you buy will take common blades. I a the corded Bosch, but in hind sight I think I should have purchased a cordless version (I'm pretty much locked into the Bosch cordless world).

If it helps, here is some information I found online about the STARLOCK system of blades. I gather that the system was developed by Fein & Bosch.

The Starlock mounting system will come out in three variations for reasons of backwards compatibility:

STARLOCK - fits a majority of the corded or cordless oscillating multi-tools on the market (including the Bosch MX30E multi-toolor any Bosch OIS-compatible tools). Fit ALL multi-cutters. This includes Bosch, Fein, Makita, Metabo, Hitachi, Milwaukee, AEG, Einhell, Ryobi and Skil. DeWalt multi-tools require an adapter. (OIS = Oscillating Interface System)

STARLOCK PLUS - fits the Fein MultiMaster FMM 350 Q. Fit ALL Fein multi-cutters, ALL new Bosch Starlock multi-tools and some old Bosch oscillating tools with OIS interface. This includes the Bosch GOP 280 CE SL, GOP 300, GOP 250, GOP 350 CES, GOP 350 CE SL, PMF 350 CES, and GOP 18 V-LI SL. Other brands require an adapter. GOP 280 CE SL

STARLOCK MAX - reserved for heavy duty tools and accessories. Fit ALL new Bosch Starlock Max multi-cutters and ALL new Fein Starlock Max multi-tools. Other brands require an adapter.

All three are trademarked by Fein.

Noticeably absent are any solutions that will work with tools requiring a slotted accessory, such as the Dremel Multi-Max, Porter-Cable PC250MTK, or DeWalt’s newest oscillating multi-tool.