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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disposable but comes with batteries, December 29, 2002
By A Customer
I actually use this thing ALL the time. It's super light-weight and handy for all sorts of SMALL projects. So why only 2 stars? First, the manufacturer claims that you can scroll cut 1-inch and cut up to 2-inch wood. They have got to be kidding. About the most I would recommend would be 3/8" wood. 1/8" to 1/4" is more its comfort zone. The batteries wouldn't even last through cutting a single 2-by-4 (which is only 1-1/2" on a side) assuming you had the patience. Yes, I have a big recip saw. Cutting anything large you will run into its first serious flaw. If you break a blade off, most likely, you cannot remove the broken-off part. Trust me, I took the entire thing apart, cut, pounded, and filed before I realized this. Thus, my first one went in the trash after about 3 uses. Lesson: You have to be especially sensitive to blade dimensions. For example, the DeWalt blades (ironically = Black and Decker) are a few thousandth's thicker and won't ever come out if you break them off. This leaves you with trying to find blades on the small side. Starting with my second one of these tools, I have been especially careful about blades, but I have not found a good manufacturer of undersized shank blades. As a result, I go through blades like crazy. The next major flaw with this tool is that the gearbox is a simple worm gear with a peg in it. Sawdust and especially drywall dust will mix in with the grease in the gear and jam it up. Then it's take-apart time, again. Another weakness is that the safety is much more difficult to press than the trigger. It's also in an awkward position which causes a lot of fatigue and sore hands. I remove the trigger on mine which is significantly more dangerous, but significantly less difficult to use. Finally, like all the VersaPak tools, the batteries do have memory and only last a few years. As a result, after using several of these for several years, I give it 2 stars. It is an incredibly handy tool, but unfortunately, no one makes a quality "micro-SawZall" which is what this really is. The saving point for this otherwise poor product is that it comes with 2 batteries which are worth about twenty bucks, so the real cost of this tool is also about twenty bucks which is a little more consistent with its durability.
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