Just used mine this afternoon for the first time and loosening the nut was a PITA and had to place on rubber mat on floor and put full body weight into it. Never had one before but it works great and I really appreciate your video as it explained the function and assembly of the parts better than the manual. A+ subscribed.
Its amazing how battery tools have evolved and the convenience of using them over a corded model or dragging an air hose into awkward locations. Guys who repair big rig trucks love the portable tools to work up on top or in the back where its a real pita to drag a cord around or even have power available.
I wasn't too surprised by the amount of work the cut-off wheels achieved, but I was impressed on how much mortar you were able to get thru on a single charge. Looks as if Makita put together a very nice brushless grinder. Great review and demonstration.
Really enjoy these in depth tool review and tests. One heck of a lot of work for you but really gives us the real capabilities of these tools. Great review. Thank you.
+DC Rickerson Thanks DC! I am glad you liked it....this one is longer than usual, but there are so many ways to use an angle grinder, I actually feel it was too short! :) haha
Dude, love the reviews. Real world, real guy, real results. Only suggestion would be a lav mic rather than camera audio. It's a small thing but would take your videos to a new level.
Wow man! That run time per battery, and cuts per charged battery is just insane! I'll definitely be picking one of these bad boys up to go with my Makita 5 pc. kit that I already have. I've got everything I want in the kit besides an angle and a die grinder and one of the new super HD 1/2" impact gun then Ill be totally set with cordless power tools. Although I do think I might pick up one of their string trimmers, aka weedeaters for the minimal work I need to do during the summertime, those seem like they'd be really convenient as well.
I'm going to end up grabbing one of these eventually.... I have the older non brushless one and it only fits my 3.0 AH batteries since it doesn't have the "star" rating which is pretty annoying.
+ EXTREME REAL TOOL REVIEWS - Buddy I'll tell you what that was awesome , sure would like to see a discount brand take on the makita . Do you ever get the dollar store power tool manufactures send you their stuff to do an extreme review on. Sure would like to see how they blow up. LOL
+Steve Rob Haha thanks Steve :) I try and focus on the top-quality tools out there....not the cheap junk and/or gimmicks that flood the stores ;) The good thing about the junk tools though....the runtime testing wouldnt take nearly as long!!
Great review. I just picked one of these up and gave it a run today. Great tool, but I'm wondering is it normal to for the motor to make a kind of "clanking" sound when it spins down after turning it off?
Just purchased a XAG04Z. The kit has two guards: a clip-on cutoff wheel guard and a grinding wheel guard. Not sure why or when I'd use one over the other. Anyone care to elaborate?
+Scarry Polpetta Oh I definitely could have kept using them......once they started to not cut as well as new, I swapped them out. A couple discs on the rebar got out-of-round very quickly due to the rebar vibrating....but once I pulled it in closer to the vise that was almost eliminated. In the "real world", I would say that most people would use the cutoff wheel until it would not cut...I was going to consistent results for the runtime test. Thanks for pointing that out!
+Real Tool Reviews yes, i could understand that but i know some people throwing away discs with more than 3 1/2" still on, i' one of those guys Who cut until the flange touches the workpiece ;)
great review. I love these grinders. I had one of the old brushed ones and barely ever used it. when these came out I got one. tried it and loved it that I bought another and don't even keep my corded 4 1/2" grinders in my trailer anymore. these do plenty. what is the part number on that tuck pointing attachment?
+NERemodeling Thanks! The Tuck Point attachment is part # 196846-1 .... Here you go ---> www.amazon.com/Makita-196846-1-Extracting-Tuckpointing-Guard/dp/B012BUM4NC?_encoding=UTF8&tag=reatoorev-20
i just bought the XAG03. I can turn the wheel in either direction by hand and it clunk clunk clunks. Is that normal? Also, when I run it and turn it off it comes to a stop with a clunk clunk clunk.. Is that normal?
Good review, thanks! May I ask what the average runtime was cutting trough the rebar and the concreat? I looking at buying one, but I am a bit afraid for short runtime. I know it depends on what you cut trough, and the disks I use, but I am going to use it for a bit of everyting, but mostly for cutting trough steel and grinding steel clean, to weld it.
How much longer does it last over the brushed version? I've never seen any run-time tests done on the brushed versions to compare this info to. I have an older 18V DeWalt cordless grinder and in my opinion it spins too slow and the batteries die too fast to make it useful for me. The combination of Li-Ion and brushless seems like they could start to replace corded grinders for medium duty use now.
+Randy Slodysko Compare the brushless design to an alternator where the brushes fail often. I would think the battery would fail before the motor brushes or the tool would just be worn out and need replacement.. Brush-Less sounds like a marketing term to increase sales with new technology that evolved from automotive applications. Its possible this new design may be more efficient with the battery consumption.