Metabo came out with some new brushless cordless drills last year, and I figured now was a good time to see if anything new has come out since.
Not much has happened in the Metabo drill/driver world, but I did spot some new offerings. Most are simply updated kits that include the latest and highest capacity battery packs, but I did spot a new Metabo 18V drill kit. What’s special about this drill is that it’s available at a lower price point than I recall ever seeing Metabo drills sell for.
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Metabo came out with a reasonably powered and compact 1/2″ 3/8″ drill driver, and it comes with their Quick removable drill chuck, which attaches to the drill’s built-in quick-change 1/4″ hex bit holder. No-load speeds are 0-450 and 0-1600 RPM, and max torque is 425 in-lbs.
The kit comes with (2) 2.0Ah Li-ion batteries, an air-cooled fast charger, case, and a belt hook.
And somehow, it’s still just $149. If there’s a catch, I’m just not seeing it.
Buy Now(Kit via Amazon)
Metabo’s previous compact drill kit, BS18 LT, is a lot more expensive – $271 at Amazon – and has a fixed drill chuck. It does come with higher capacity 5.2Ah batteries, as the kit with similarly sized compact batteries doesn’t seem to be carried by any of the Metabo dealers I checked.
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Want an impact driver too? There’s also a new Metabo 18V compact drill and driver combo, for $249. This combo comes with a Metabo BS18Q drill/driver and SSD18 LTX 200 impact driver.
The impact driver looks pretty decent too, and offers 3 electronic speed and torque settings. It can deliver max torque of 1330 in-lbs, which isn’t impressive by modern standards. However, that’s still a very respectable torque rating, and the 3 speed settings raise this impact higher than competing single-speed models.
The only product description I could find for this SKU, US602217196, says that the BS18Q features a 3/8″ chuck. The product images for the BS18 drill and BS18Q drill in this combo are the same, which I checked by overlaying one over the other in Photoshop.
So either the drill is the same and one of the two product descriptions are wrong, or the BS18 does come with a 1/2″ chuck and the BS18Q in this combo comes with a 3/8″ chuck. If so, that’s disappointing. I’ll see if Metabo can clear this up for us.
Buy Now(Combo kit via Amazon)
Diplomatic Immunity
Would love to see Metabo come out with a few more products for their cordless lineup in the US. A cordless bandsaw, cordless oscilating tool (I believe they sell one in Europe already), and an updated cordless circular saw, would all help to get people to latch onto their system. I know as a smaller company this isn’t always feasible to do.
Ok Stuey… now for some Hilti reviews. 🙂
Stuart
This isn’t a review, just a hands-off preview. I don’t think I’ve ever used a Metabo tool, but I’d be open to it. They’ve come out with some very interesting technologies in recent years.
As for Hilti, we’ll see about that. My only contact with Hilti came recently, when I had to ask one of their regional managers to stop spamming the comments section.
I’ve got nothing against either brand, but to post about a tool I often need information, insight, and experience. Ideally, I’d have all 3, but 2/3 of those things is usually enough.
I posted about Hilti once – https://toolguyd.com/hilti-hollow-hammer-drill-bits/
And here’s my previous Metabo coverage: https://toolguyd.com/brand/metabo/
Dave L.
I worked with a guy who had a Metabo cordless drill some years ago. I was impressed with the power and quality.
Jason
I think Metabo is trying another push to be a player in the USA cordless tool market. They tried a few years ago, but were stopped by high prices and limited distribution, I don’t know why Lowes won’t pick them up as a premium powertool brand. All the Home Depots by me are doing massive expansions to the tool crib. They are adding a ton more sku’s
Hayden
I use Metabo corded angle grinders at work we call them bows. Very tough tools great for stainless carbon fiber fiberglass and wood. I have seen them used as hammers and dropped from 20 ft and they keep spinning. Bosch for cordless because we are heavily invested and you can buy them at lowes.
T
Want. Have used and abused a couple metabo angle grinders for years, only issue has been a noisy bearing on one. Lusted after their cordless lineup when the 5Ah batteries were introduced, etc… Used a Met hammer drill a few years ago to punch thru 3ft of brick. Too bad there is almost no support, even my fav store as a dealer only carries a few grinders and consumables . Top notch stuff, hopefully these new lower priced units are on par with Metabo’s Euro made and expensive lineup.
Frank
Lowes just started getting shipments of Metabo in stores starting today! The lowes website is showing Metabo for sale, but quantities have not been updated yet.
http://www.lowes.com/Search=metabo?storeId=10151&langId=-1&catalogId=10051&N=0&newSearch=true&Ntt=metabo#!
Jay
Looks good but the 3/8″ chuck is a deal killer.
Klaus
In Germany, Metabo is a brand best-known to every craftsman. The who can afford it, buys it. You simply cannot go wrong with it. Hands down, its german quality tools at their very best. In our workshop we have two Metabo cable drills and two cordless drills in hard use every day. And none of them ever failed even once.