Anyone see a Flex XC 3401 VRG review yet?

Very nice! Now here is a question, what matters more, OPMs or amps? What is better, 10% difference in amps or 10% difference in OPMs, 3.6A 12000 OPM (Metabo SX E 425), or 4A 11000 OPMs mystery sander?



P.S. Do you happen to know specs of random orbit for it?
 
I have no idea, but I noticed I could get the paint pretty warm. It gives a very good look. I am going on vacation to the Seattle for a week the day after tomorrow, but when I come back I am going to pick up that sander and give it a shot. I think that the price is pretty good! I started playing with high speed orbitals a while back when Bence said they worked well on another forum.



What have you found with your high speed orbital besides a crisper finish? I think the gloss is ever a bit better than a rotary, but I have nothing scientific to prove it. Do you notice the extra warmth?
 
sneek said:
What have you found with your high speed orbital besides a crisper finish? I think the gloss is ever a bit better than a rotary, but I have nothing scientific to prove it. Do you notice the extra warmth?
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Yes, Yes, and Yes! Crispier, more reflective, more warm! It was changing in front of my eyes as pad was passing!



Now if I could only figure out is that one of yours 4A or it is actually 2A. Manufacturer says it is 500W. But they are in Australia, at 240V.
 
sneek said:
I have a plan B.
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Hmmm, 4A 6" 10000 OPM with dual orbit size. Doesn't sound bad. So I guess it will boil down to question what matters more, OPMs or torque. Plus pad size increase will "dampen" things too. It's anybody's guess. But I just might give a shot to two extremes, your plan B on one side and 3.3A 13000 OPM 5" pad Bosch 3107DVS on the other.
 
Sorry for the thread drift and "mystery". No, we are not talking Flex per se, we are talking about tools with similar approach like Flex (short throw high OPM), unlike PC/UDM kind (big throw low OPM). While ago I have started a thread on that as I was starting to experiment, there was not many contributors, Bence and AL-53 reported back results encouraging enough for me to continue interest, and it seems sneek has been doing that sneekingly too.
 
Hey, sneek, look what I brought back from lunch :D



An R2611... :D



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oohh!!! I thought you would get the R2610. :) It is older, but it is made in Germany and is supposed to be better. I am getting the other unit when I come back. hahaha Let me know how it goes. I will bring my macbook so i can check Autopia every so often.



Zoran, you have to run a detailing clinic in your garage one day. You have enough polishers for everyone hahahaha.
 
sneek said:
oohh!!! I thought you would get the R2610. :) It is older, but it is made in Germany and is supposed to be better.
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Until there is a proof of that I am willing to give Ridgid benefit of a doubt that they knew what they were doing when they were replacing old model with new one. Of course, newer is not a guarantee of better, and a Festool was also supposed to know what they were doing when they were switching from bolt to tool less design on RO 150 FEQ yet we all know that did not end up working as intended for me and few others.



BTW, little bit earlier I double-checked specs of Metabo SX E 450 Duo that R2610 is allegedly based on. It says 'rated input power 400W'. But it also says 'rated input current 3.8A'. For SX E 425 it also says 400W but rated input current at 3.6A. 400W is 3.33A in my world. Not 3.8. Not even close. Not even 3.6A. It is 3.33A. What's up with that?



sneek said:
Zoran, you have to run a detailing clinic in your garage one day. You have enough polishers for everyone hahahaha.
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"How to turn obsessive compulsive disorder into profitable business for dummies"? :rofl Now you know what :help: in my sig is referring to :rofl



Only thing I am missing is a garage though :lol
 
I really don't want to be the one to tell you this, but supposedly Rigid's new model is made in China to save money. I have been looking into 4A sanders for a while and they reviews say that people go through 3 or 4 11's but now have a 10 and are really happy.
 
sneek said:
I really don't want to be the one to tell you this, but supposedly Rigid's new model is made in China to save money. I have been looking into 4A sanders for a while and they reviews say that people go through 3 or 4 11's but now have a 10 and are really happy.
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Oh, I know about R2611 being made in China. Doesn't phase me too much. So is UDM and many other things. And they all do it to save money.



I did not come across reports of one vs other. Could you please share some pointers?



In the meantime, I will give it a shot and if 11 ends up eating the dust (LOL) I will just make Home Depot eat it.
 
I will paste the reviews here.

"If you can find a 2610 (made in Germany) it is a beast.

I could not get one in the HD store but I was able to order one from HD Canada via the 1-800 number.

The 2610 is fantastic. Agressive, heavy and a solid sander. It is the first RAS that I have had that I cannot hold against my skin or it will sand the skin down. Yikes!

I told my wife she now has competition. :)

Bottom line is that if you can find a 2610, grab it.

TC"
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"I'd recommend the model 2610 but not the current model 2611. One is made in Germany and appears to be a copy of the Metabo, the other is made in China and just looks bizarre.



It is not the smoothest 6" sander on the market. The orbital changing system is a pain. The dust collection is a joke.



On the plus side the cord is nice and long. It has a light when given power (great feature) and comes with a connector to connect your vacuum. Honestly this sander shouldn't be run without a vacuum, there's just too much dust. With the vacuum connected it becomes tolerable.

The two orbit feature (though a pain to change and be aware of what mode its set on) works fantastically. It will strip paint almost like a belt sander (I'm exaggerating a bit, but works extremely well) and the fine setting will give you a nice enough finish.



If you can't afford a belt sander and a random orbital sander buy this instead. It will do double duty. You'd still be better off buying one of each but if you can't afford it this is great compromise. The price is also fantastic, the next nearest 6" sander is 30% more expensive.



AVOID the newer 2611 model however. I bought and returned two before I simply bought the older 2610 sitting on the back of a shelf. Both of the 2611 didn't work out of the box. The plug light up but when the trigger was pulled nothing happened.



What are the odds that two different sanders from two different stores didn't work right off the bat? I don't know but I was very upset. Honestly I was upset with Ridgid and would've given up on them if it wasn't for the price and the warranty. I've heard terrible things about the warranty service though so I wouldn't make the warranty a consideration in deciding whether to buy it or not.



This is a compromise sander, it does 2 things OKAY, you're better off spending more and getting more but then again, Harry Homeowner isn't made of money to burn on tools. It is an ideal homeowner sander though I would definetly NOT call it professional.



ALSO AVOID THE MADE IN CHINA MODEL 2611."
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"I can only echo the sentiments of the second poster. This tool is a disaster. With a dedicated woodworking shop, I need tools I can count on and this isn't one of them. The price sounds good but the savings a buyer makes on buying the tool is spent on gas taking it back to the store. You get what you pay for and this one isn't worth it."
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"HI,

I got the sander for xmas. the first time I tried to ues it didn't work. Really sad quality control."
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"My sander quit after 1 hr of use ...

so much for Ridgid quality! The package of discs outlasted the sander!



Home Depot doesn't stock the same range of hook and sand abrasive disks for the 6" that they do for the 5". You can't get 40 grit paper."
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