I had long admired the German made Fein Multi-Master, but could not justify it's very high price for my casual use. I had envisioned only using it once or twice per year to do a vertical cut on baseboards and then having it sit idle for a long time. When I finally bought the cordless Bosch I was amazed at how many times I use it every day in my shop. Because it is cordless I grab it frequently for a quick sanding job. The triangular pads are great for getting into the corners and it does almost as good a sanding job as my Dewalt orbital sander. It has also seen lots of action cutting baseboard and door trim when installing new marble floor tiles. I also made great use of it when I installed our new oak kitchen cabinets in the basement. It makes a very clean and quick cut in tight spaces that no other tool can match very often.
Bosch PS-50 Multi-X Cordless Tool
Bosch Multi-X PS-50 Cordless Tool is invaluable to me now!
I purchased this tool in a kit along with 2 batteries, a 12 volt drill and a flashlight on a 20% off weekend sale at Home Depot. It turned out to be one of the best purchases I had made in a long time due to how much use I have got from all 3 tools in the kit. It was a very pleasant surprise to find out how often I use the Multi-X tool. Some examples of the tasks I do with it that I had not really fully anticipated: - cutting out select strips of drywall on some of my renovation jobs. It follows an edge guide very straight and easy. - Cutting out small square pieces on a sheet of plywood for an electrical plug. - Trimming the bottom of numerous door frames' trim to accomodate new marble tiles we laid in our foyer. - quick sanding jobs when I am doing various shop projects. Because of it's cordless feature I can have the job completed before I can have my Dewalt orbital sander even plugged in. - Cutting off nails and copper pipes quickly in awkward situations. Some tightly spaced scenarios make other cutting tools either difficult to use or impossible.
The small high frequency oscillation angle of about 1 to 2 degrees is what allows this flexible tool to work in tight corners without damaging adjacent materials. This tool has a variable speed adjustment that has been very helpful at times also. The battery level indicator is also a bonus so that the battery can be swapped near the end.
The 12 volt batteries charge up very quickly but do run down fast on the tough jobs like sanding, so I now have a total of 4 batteries to keep it going on the bigger jobs. Still beats the heck out of dragging around cords in the shop and job site. The batteries cost about $50 each, so I found a good value solution. I bought the Bosch right angle drill for about $138 which included 2 batteries, so that made the drill seem like a $38 purchase. It is also a very useful drill in those tight corners.
Bosch Quality: I have really grown to admire the very high quality and excellent design of Bosch products. I now have their jig saw blades in a kit and really admire their "Xtra clean for Wood" model of jig saw blades that cut super clean even on plywood! I own 5 of their 12 volt tools and they are all excellent. The new Bosch glider miter saw that has the amazing hinged joints that will be much more durable than all the miter saws that run on long intrusive tubes. This type of Bosch innovation is going to clean up in the miter saw market.
Compatibility with Fein and Dremel The Dremel multi-tool is very similar because Dremel is owned by Bosch. The Dremel accessories' packaging even notes that they fit the Bosch PS-50. However I have discoverd that the sanding sheets are too small for the Bosch triangular pad with it's velcro grip. So stick with the Bosch branded ones that are a bit harder to find in fewer stores. The Fein dealers take great delight in telling you that their accessories will only fit their very expensive and superior Fein multi-master. However what they usually don't know or don't want you to know is that there is a small adapter plate supplied in the Bosch kit that will let you use ALL of the Fein accessories. I have bought several Fein accessories such as their contour sanding pads and they work fine. You just have to fiddle a bit with the centering during attachment. Having them a tiny bit off center does not matter because the tool oscillates, not rotates. High speed rotation with a bit of off center mounting would be dangerous and give a lot of vibration, but not true with a 1 to 2 degree oscillation action.
