Rockwell Soni Crafter

[cabinetman]

I did a search and found a thread on HF multi task tools. I saw an ad for the Rockwell Soni Crafter, and was impressed. Does anyone have one of these, and if so are they any good? Not as big a ticket as the Fein.

Also as a general question, for those that have used oscillating tools what's your comments?
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[WoodTherapist]

I considered the Fein, Sonicrafter, Dremel and HF and finally settled on the Sonicrafter as the best combination of quality and price. I have only used it a couple of times so far, but am very pleased with it. It seems to be well built and it handles well. I did splurge for the variable speed model and think it is worth the extra $$.

[Crash2510]

I currently own the bosch and am very happy with my purchase. It works great and has made many jobs easier. Sometimes I invent new things for it to do. That being said I have spoke to many people about them and have found that the sonicrafter to be a nearly identical replica of the fein. They have even copied the armiture and everything. All in all I would say you couldn't go wrong with any of these units for limited use.

[vaking]

I have a HF version. This tools is usefull for some specialized tasks, such as cutting door trim without removing it completely. It comes in handy for example if you want to put new floor and don't want to redo all trim in the house. If you do such tasks regularly - you want a high quality tool. If you do this type of job infrequently - then HF will do an occasional job. For furniture making and real woodworking I would say the tool is useless.

[atgcpaul]

Did the patent on this thing just run out? I always considered the Fein the
first one and now I am seeing a bunch of clones.

[Crash2510]

Did the patent on this thing just run out? I always considered the Fein the
first one and now I am seeing a bunch of clones.

yep patent ran out

[BigguyZ]

The Sonicrafter was tops in a shootout I saw recently.

I will say this about the HF unit- it's much sturdier-feeling than I expected. I've run it a few times to test it, and I've used the Dremel version at HD displays, and I think the HF version is better. For $35 or whatever it was, I think it's by far the bbest "bang for the buck" if you're using it occasionally. If you're using it every day- then the Sonicrafter is said to be much sturdier.

As far as using ANY of them for heavy-duty WWing, what applications (other than sanding) would you use this sort of tool for? Carpentry I see, but making furniture and the like, I don't.

[ragswl4]

I picked up the HF model on sale and it paid for itself the first time I used it. I had to cut some copper water pipes that were right up against studs and the tool cut them easily and it took little sanding on the pipe to solder a new fitting on the pipes. Longevity is the only question as with any HF electrical tool. Certainly not a contractor grade tool by any means but for around $40, acceptable.