New FLEX Tools Introduced at SEMA!

[fightnews]

Yeah I'm pretty bad about doing talk to text a lot of times it comes up screwed up

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You have to actually say period, question mark, ect ect with talk and text.

[Cruzscarwash]

You have to actually say period, question mark, ect ect with talk and text.

Oh, well crap.. thanks for the heads up man

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[Setec Astronomy]

Man, this is like politics...hard to believe some of the opposite opinions on cordless tools. I have to wonder if some of these opinions are based on experiences from some time ago before lithium batteries were the norm. I thought I saw in one of these threads that these polishers are lighter than the corded versions, which must be courtesy of the brushless motor technology, as mentioned above. Brushless motors are usually more efficient, which will likely address many of the concerns that some of you have expressed.

Battery-operated hand tools have become the norm, used by professionals with few complaints, and I expect it will become that way with polishers. I'm surprised Flex beat Rupes to market on this, since Rupes started the cordless war with the Nano two years before these Flex tools will be available.

[Deviant Detail]

Brushless makes for a potent tool. Good to know and thanks for posting the pic.

[Ronin47]

Man, this is like politics...hard to believe some of the opposite opinions on cordless tools. I have to wonder if some of these opinions are based on experiences from some time ago before lithium batteries were the norm. I thought I saw in one of these threads that these polishers are lighter than the corded versions, which must be courtesy of the brushless motor technology, as mentioned above. Brushless motors are usually more efficient, which will likely address many of the concerns that some of you have expressed.

Battery-operated hand tools have become the norm, used by professionals with few complaints, and I expect it will become that way with polishers. I'm surprised Flex beat Rupes to market on this, since Rupes started the cordless war with the Nano two years before these Flex tools will be available.

I see cordless brushless polishers being sold alongside traditional corded polishers going ahead.

[kkritsilas]

Cordless Polishers have their place, and bring some real advantages om situations where there are no outlets to plug into. Bringing a few battery packs beats haulting a generator any day.

However, in the rust to go cordless, remember that there are disadvantages to cordless tools as well. In a professional shop, where polishers are used all day, the problem is charge cycles. How many charge cycles can the battery pack go through until the performance falls off to the point that the battery pack must be replaced? In a shop that runs polishers for 6 hours a day. that is 4 recharge cycles per day, per polisher, for each battery pack. Assuming 300 recharge cycles as a lifespan, that means that the battery packs must be replaced every 75 working days, 15 weeks if the shop is running 5 days a week. That is BOTH battery packs. The numbers are obviously subject to modification: Maybe the shop runs the polishers for longer than 6 hours, or less than 6 hours. Maybe that battery packs can have more charge cycles. Point is, that in a production shop, there are going to be a lot of battery packs required to be replaced. This is also makes an assumption that the battery packs are used optimally. Running the lithium packs until dead flat will reduce the charge cycles. Pushing the machines hard will mean that the batteries will not last the full 45 minutes.

For a home user, the problem is the opposite. Because the polishers would not be used regularly, the battery packs will be sitting unused for periods of time. This is also bad for the battery packs.

This isn't politics. or opinion; it is how lithium battery packs behave, whether they are in cell phones, laptops, or even cars. There is a wear-out mechanism that cannot be escaped. Some battery packs can have 300 charge cycles (most), a few can have 1000. I don't know which the Flex battery packs Flex uses, or their charge cycle ratings. They will wear out, eventually.

[Mike@ShineStruck]

It comes with 2 and they last 45 mins and take 45 mins to charge so 2 MIGHT work

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Up to 45 minutes..you dont know how they
Acquired that number either
Full speed? Free aired till it died
Dry buffed with pad till it died..
Ive heard in various flex videos 30 to 40 mins and one at 45

Sounds like they dont even know .

When i got suckered into an rbl cordless it was state 80 mins

Dried buffed each battery and got 29mins each time per batt ..2x on each battery

On a positive note, glad someone came out with a cordless unit that actually has correction power
Awesome,e for isolated repairs or test spots

[Mike@ShineStruck]

So what 2 models come out in March of 2018?

Xfe7-15 cordless and pe14 cordless
They mentioned a 3401 cordless but didnt actualy state an eta
Im curious why theyd do a 3401 cordless and not an XCE.

[brettS4]

Cordless is new. That makes a bigger PR splash. Doesn't matter if it's actually better. Personally, I think a refined 3401/XCE would still be their bread and butter.

I'm much more interested in that than the cordless toys. But if it's not in the AGO store by next March it won't matter. That's my personal drop-dead date for new polishers to be available (as opposed to announced and not delivered for 3 months).

[Setec Astronomy]

Cordless Polishers have their place, and bring some real advantages om situations where there are no outlets to plug into. Bringing a few battery packs beats haulting a generator any day.

However, in the rust to go cordless, remember that there are disadvantages to cordless tools as well. In a professional shop, where polishers are used all day, the problem is charge cycles. How many charge cycles can the battery pack go through until the performance falls off to the point that the battery pack must be replaced? In a shop that runs polishers for 6 hours a day. that is 4 recharge cycles per day, per polisher, for each battery pack. Assuming 300 recharge cycles as a lifespan, that means that the battery packs must be replaced every 75 working days, 15 weeks if the shop is running 5 days a week. That is BOTH battery packs. The numbers are obviously subject to modification: Maybe the shop runs the polishers for longer than 6 hours, or less than 6 hours. Maybe that battery packs can have more charge cycles. Point is, that in a production shop, there are going to be a lot of battery packs required to be replaced. This is also makes an assumption that the battery packs are used optimally. Running the lithium packs until dead flat will reduce the charge cycles. Pushing the machines hard will mean that the batteries will not last the full 45 minutes.

For a home user, the problem is the opposite. Because the polishers would not be used regularly, the battery packs will be sitting unused for periods of time. This is also bad for the battery packs.

This isn't politics. or opinion; it is how lithium battery packs behave, whether they are in cell phones, laptops, or even cars. There is a wear-out mechanism that cannot be escaped. Some battery packs can have 300 charge cycles (most), a few can have 1000. I don't know which the Flex battery packs Flex uses, or their charge cycle ratings. They will wear out, eventually.

Some of those are very good points...I'd have to push back against (most) cell phone batteries having a life of 300 charges...and also that a (charged) lithium battery sitting unused for periods of time in the case of a home user would be detrimental to the battery. But you bring up a good point about battery-powered tools in a production environment; perhaps Flex should provide a line-voltage attachment as Rupes does for the Nano. As an aside, I'd be curious if we have any contractors here, and what their experience is of battery wear-out during day-in, day-out use.