• Lithium-ion battery holds charge while in storage for two years so light is always ready when you need it

• Includes 40 genuine Dremel accessories

• Variable speed from 5,000 to 35,000 rpm to match the proper speed required

• High capacity 10.8V Lithium-ion battery for longer run times

• Comfort grip housing for easier handling and better tool control

Remember how cool we all thought that first Dremel was? We're reliving the feeling with this one: lighter, faster, smarter, better, and stronger. The main improvement over the last generation is the battery source: lithium-ion. There are so many reasons to applaud. Lithium holds its charge up to six times longer in storage than nickel-cadmium batteries, so it's ready when you are. Remember the disappointment when you were ready and your battery was low? That won't happen with this one. It's got a battery fuel gauge that tells you how much life is left before a recharge, so you won't be caught without your Dremel, and if you choose to keep it on its charger, you won't cause memory and shorten the charge capacity. It's small, it's light, it's comfortable and maneuverable; it's everything the corded models are, but without the cord. We love it.--Kris Jensen-Van Heste

The lithium version has none of these drawbacks. Because there's no cord it's more comfortable to hold (and much more convenient to use!), about the same weight as a corded model, and has plenty of RPMs and torque. Battery lifetimes are very good, and the "fuel gauge" seems to be reasonably accurate. (Exactly how long a charge will last depends greatly on what you're using it for--working on balsa wood uses a lot less power than, say, grinding metal.)

Battery charge times are quite short, about three hours to charge a completely empty battery. (But thanks to a "smart charger" it should only take a few minutes to charge it after a typical job.) An added bonus is that lithium batteries hold their charges practically forever, so there's no need to "trickle charge" them; just charge it back up after you're done with it and put it away, and it'll be ready to use the next time you need it.

The only nit I've found so far is the need to remove the battery to charge it. (This is probably for safety's sake.) It'd be slightly more convenient to just put the whole unit in the charger after use, but since it doesn't need charging that often this is really minor.

I'd consider this to be an entirely practical replacement for a corded Dremel. For everything I use my Dremel for (mostly small models plus the occasional home repair task) this one seems more than adequate. It's a sturdy unit that should last a long time.

My one concern about lifetime is how long the lithium battery will last; only time will tell.

255 of 261 found the following review helpful:


This is a first look  Apr 15, 2004 By J. Clarke
I've been using Dremels for a long time and always wanted a decent cordless. With the advent of decent cordless power tools (the first one that I had that was actually useful for something was an 18 volt DeWalt drill that went right through stuff my corded drills wouldn't touch, but that's another story) I've been waiting for Dremel to come out with a good cordless.

I've been hesitant about the earlier cordless Dremels but this one looks like "it".

So far it's done everything I've asked it to do but I haven't asked it to do much--I got it specifically to deal with a piece of acrylic that my cordless Rotozip melted instead of cutting--I figured the adjustable speed on the Dremel would take care of that and was right.

Just an aside about stalling--if you're stalling a Dremel then it's time to take a good hard look at a Rotozip, which, if you've never played with one, is kind of a Dremel on steroids--Dremel has an equivalent, the "Advantage", but only the one model and not cordless.

The lack of a provision to charge the battery with the tool attached is just carrying through the current practice with cordless tools--it's assumed that one will have two batteries, one on the tool and one on charge if this is an issue. There's space in the case for a second battery.

A "gotcha" to be aware of with the lithium ion batteries, always store them charged--if they self-discharge below a certain point a protective circuit kicks in and they disable themselves--this is a safety issue--trying to recharge a lithium ion battery that is discharged below a certain point can result in an explosion (I'm not talking about a little spill--exploding lithium batteries in emergency-locator transmitters have brought down light aircraft).

The bundled accessories are, near as I can figure it:

Aluminum oxide stone #932 and #8193
Silicon carbide stone #84922
Aluminum oxide abrasive wheel #541
2 rubber polishing wheels #425
3 Large felt polishing wheels #429
5 Small felt polishing wheels #414
1 cutter, looks like a #181
1 drill bit, #150
1 Mandrel #401 (for felt pads etc)
1 Mandrel #402 (for sanding disks, cutoff wheels etc)
Sanding cylinder mandrels 1/4" and 1/2"
4 80 grit 1/2" sanding cylinders
3 120 grit 1/2" sanding cylinders
4 80 grit 1/4" sanding cylinders
3 120 grit 1/4" sanding cylinders
11 sanding disks
17 cutoff wheels, 3 are thicker than the others, the others are in two containers of 10 and 4 but can't tell any difference between them.
1 wrench with screwdriver tip that fits screws on mandrels
1 case with a good deal of unused storage even after all the accessories are stored.

137 of 138 found the following review helpful:


I love this Dremel !!!  Apr 22, 2004 By Nicholas Cherney "Nick Cherney"
Mine is utilized for robotics projects--it finds a lot of uses with metal. I also bought the press accessory with it. This little accessory helps me make straight cuts and drill holes.

I'm telling you, I use this thing constantly and it works like a champ! It is powerful enough for me to cut all my brass and aluminum with the precision of that of a doctor. For as handy as this tool is--I'd pay twice as much to get one if need be. I've had mine for 5 months too.

One HUGE word of advice. WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES! I know this may sound lame, but it saved my @ss!!! When cutting some tubing, my disk exploded at full RPM's and the shrapnel hit me in the goggles. (Of course I had my fat head over top of it while I was cutting) Just be careful. The tool is A+, but the little thing could be dangerous if you slack on the safety.

122 of 126 found the following review helpful:


Nice but underdesigned  May 14, 2004
I bought one of these at a local brick & mortar store for a project I'm working on. I am impressed with the power of the device and it is a really neat tool, but unfortunatley I've already had to return two of them for a defective speed control. While using it, the first one all of a sudden just jumped up to full speed and stayed there regardless of where the speed control was set. In other words, it was no longer variable. The second one did the same thing. Since I saw replacement brushes available for their tools (and therefore they must consider it somewhat user serviceable) I decided to open it up and see what it looked like inside. One of the transistors on the circuit board had gotten warm enough to melt the solder and shorted out two of the pins on the transistor. I'm on my third one now (just returned them at the store) and I first bought one about 2-1/2 weeks ago. Great tool but Dremel needs to work on their quality control.

92 of 96 found the following review helpful:


Speed controller burned out after 2 months of moderate use - UPDATED 11/2008.  May 11, 2007 By B. Nebab "BN Modder"
I've been using Dremel tools for about 10 years in my model making hobby/crafts, working mostly with soft plastic resin and soft and hard woods. I never had a problem with the corded tools and currently own 2 corded models (the pro with the digital speed control and the newer XPR after my 395 model was stolen). I thought I'd give going cordless a try, particularly since this tool didn't seem to be lacking in power. The speed controller burned out after 2 months of moderate use (sanding, cutting soft resin). I don't know if it was a lemon since it was working fine for two months. It now is only a two-speed, on and off. I'm sending it back to Dremel for service since it's obviously still under warranty but to pay for shipping myself and not even have an RMA to feel secure about sending it in with doesn't strike me as good customer service. At least they're not charging me (as far as I know) to ship it back after they're done fixing it. As a long time Dremel customer, I'm disappointed both with the product and the lack of customer support.

UPDATE: I only think it's fair to follow up from my first negative review with the results of my return. I got around to sending the unit off for repair about a month after my review. I got it back from Dremel about 10 days after sending it (by First Class USPS). It came back by UPS. I can't tell if they fixed my old unit since it was fairly new when I sent it in, but what I got back was in like-new condition, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't someone else's refurbed unit, anyway. This one is still fine after over a year of use, so much so that the battery is starting to lose its ability to hold a charge--the way a well-used cordless tool should work. Yay, Dremel. They also sent me a flap-wheel attachment for my trouble. It's still in the package--I haven't found a use for it yet, but it's the thought that counts, I guess. If I could change my rating based on my experience with the repair, I would--to 4 stars. It's a good tool with good power. No cord means more mobility and in fact I've used it outside on my car or up on a ladder plenty of times, but battery is also less power.

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