Customer Reviews

Fein MultiMaster FMM 250Q Select Variable-Speed Sanding and Scraping/Cutting Tool

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Fein multimaster is a good, well made tool. Very powerful. I was surprised by how well it could cut into wood. The biggest problem, however, is the cost of the blades. These blades quickly wear out and have to be replaced. New blades are extremely expensive. Some people are making their own blades (do a web search) to try to avoid the cost. But there are some jobs that no other tool can do. It can plunge cut and it is great for precise woodworking.

This company makes first class made tools. There appear to be no short cuts on quality. This is the third generation of this tool that I am aware of - first tool 150watts - second 180w -- this and third 250w. This tool is very powerful and smooth. Still my favorite is the first 636-1. It is well powered, smaller and super smooth. This model has a wonderful blade change system ( non slip blade mount) like some of their higher priced tools. The usefulness and operation of this system have always been phenomenal! The newer tools are more powerful but the original tool has no trouble performing any job and causes a lot less body fatigue - that is why it is my favorite. I own the first and the latest generation of this tool.

This is a well-made product and the new star mount and quick-release blade change make it a worthwhile upgrade from the old Multimaster. I suggest purchasing the empty metal carrying case separately, which will run you about $55 online.

If you are reading this you already know that the Multimaster handles many tasks easily that are very difficult using other tools.

So I caved. The amount of work it saved paid for a good chunk of it. The amount of frustration it reduced saved me. Try cutting a small piece of melamime out from underneath a counter and behind a sink with 4" to the wall with anything else, I dare you. An extra long chisel, an olympic hammer arm in contortionist mode, and an eyeful of shavings might have sloppily done the job. I wasn't in the mood to overexert myself for sloppy (possibly unacceptable) work, so off to woodcraft. After I bought it, I quickly realized how many uses I had for it! So I saw some painted over epoxy from behind a backsplash, and scraped it away no problem. The scraper is perhaps my favorite feature. It's so frustrating to gouge at something with a putty knife or chisel or scraper and have the work come hard, slow, and mediocre. This thing adds precision and saves 70% of the time. Then I sanded some, edged some windowsills, casually cut a piece of PVC just to save me the trip for something else, and tomorrow I'm doing some metal cutting. I hate sanding, who wants to carry a sander around? So I'll avoid it as best as I can and have a back up plan just in case, and if worse comes to worse, I'll sand with my saw/scraper/metal cutting/grout remover, and complain about it a bit.

Build is top notch - solid and sturdy, even a bit heavy, more than most of even the best tools.

I'm going to avoid using the wood blades unless the job demands the Fein.

By the way, this thing is powerful! Cutting through the 1.5" glued mdf with this oscillating saw took some serious power. After I *nearly* bogged it down on maybe 1/3 or 1/2 power it jolted me a good bit, but the fein and I escaped unscathed, barely. So, I turned it up a good twist and it became quite an unpleasant tool to use. The thing oscillated itself and me at 30000+ or whatever RPM in a way that almost numbed the forearms. Although a bit shocking, the power wasn't unmanageable, and it got the job done. I have yet to top it out and can't forsee a situation that will demand it..

sometimes I end up nicknaming tools.. "Get me the fine" sounds like a sentence fragment, so the word "stout" comes to mind.

This tool eats cutters some of which cost $50-$100 to replace and didn't even last for one job. There are no generic replacements and original equipment is extremely over priced.

Usually, the more jobs that a tool will do, the more badly it does most of them. Not so in this case. The multimaster seems to do cutting, sanding, scraping with equal quality, satisfactory all around. It is, however, expensive, and the blades, etc., are more costly than they should be, and to buy the plastic box (purchased separately at $170 or so) you would have to be out of your mind.

Although the tool is too expensive there is quite nothing like it. put simply you can do things with this tool and fit it into places where no other tool would go. great for working on previouly existing stuff without destroying it such as moldings. I recenly added an additional front door to my house and managed to recover all of the old trim and was able to reuse it. warning save your cuts for those you really need to use with this tool (use another tool if access isn't an issue because the blades wear out super quick and are really expensive) having said all that I don'y know how I did without it all this time If you are a do it yourselfer and are easily frustrated by not having the right tool for the job at the moment, if this tool is near by I guarantee you you will use it

I am a professional handyman and was looking for an oscillating power tool primarily for trimming the bottom of door casings when installing new flooring. After reading a product comparison article in Handy Magazine and watching the Fein infomercial, I decided to get the FMM 250Q Select. I choose the MultiMaster because I have learned to not make decisions based on price. If you're making a living working with tools, you gotta have good ones. I also wanted the tool-less blade change feature. I picked the Select primarily because I do very little detail sanding and didn't need all the fancy sanding accessories. Since space is limited in my work van, I also toss most of the plastic cases that many tools come with, so didn't need to buy the Fein case. This saved me a little over $100.

So far, I have been very, very happy with the FMM. I've had it about 3 weeks and have used it much more than I thought I would. In addition to the door case trimming, I have found that I am using it for many tasks where I would normally use my DeWalt rotary saw and/or jig saw. As a handyman, I am constantly having to cut or trim wood in tight spaces to make repairs or adjustments and the FMM does really well at this. I can make much straighter free-hand cuts, and the kerf is very thin. I have used it to cut openings in plywood where I would have used my circular saw before because it doesn't throw dust all over the place. The cutting blades I think are overpriced. They work reasonably well though. I just threw away my first blade yesterday. It cut through a lot of wood and about a half dozen nails. I did not find the nails a problem as long as I slowed down and tried to let the blade cut through it at it's own pace. The tool-less blade change is an excellent feature. I found myself frequently using it just to change the orientation of the blade to get a better angle at the cut which would be a real hassle if I had to use a wrench. I have yet to try out the grout removal blade or scraper.

I've had this tool for over a year now and really like it. With over 35 years of construction experience, I am familiar with power tools and this one is a good one. It does the kind of work other tools can't.
The only down side is the high price of the blades and accessories.

My first Fein Multimaster was purchased in the late 1980's and lasted until 2006. It wasn't called a Multimaster at that time. This tool was used frequently and finally gave up after about 18 years. I had bought another Multimaster a year or 2 before my original passed away. Its still going strong and I expect that to be the case for many years to come. Because I am so impressed with the engineering and performance of this tool and because I'm a toolaholic, I have just purchased the newest version of this tool with the lever release instead of allen wrench. My business works on boats and this tool is mostly used as a saw. Fein may lose me as a Multimaster customer because I know, these 2 I've got, will outlive me. Fein doesn't get 5 stars, It gets 10.