On Jun 10, 11:44*am, Bryan Scholtes wrote:
Maybe it's the tool I bought, but whenever I use my new oscillating
tool I'm just not impressed with it.

Cutting wood takes too long. Cutting metal (cuting nails) takes much
too long versus a Dremel. And it's LOUD.

I bought a Menards-brand Li-Ion cordless model. Is there THAT much of
a difference versus the others? I can't find a review that implies
cheap oscillating tools are necessarily worse than, say, Rockwells.

I know that cheap power tools aren't as good as expensive power tools.
But when I buy Harbor Freight I get about 80% of the effectiveness and
ease-of-use.

I am pretty happy with my HF Multi-tool. The thing you should
remember is they are not capable of cutting like a full-up circular
saw. They might not be quite as effective as a vigorous hand scraping
for tiles, etc. A good power sander can possible out-sand them. But
they are hard to beat in tight or awkward areas where you need to do
that kind of work. It is often hard to get a hack saw into some areas
to cut off a nail.

I built a garden building last year and ended up needing to cut an
inch or less off of several 2x4 ends near my soffits. I stood and
scratched thinking about how hard it was going to be to get a hand saw
or saws-all into the close quarters when I remember the multi-tool.
It took a couple side entries for each 2x4 but the cut-offs were
sitting on the ground in less than one minute for each.

Mine spends a lot of time on the shelf, but when I need it, I love it.

RonB

RonB