Metabo 36v rotary hammer Drill for bolting work

Hey folks,

 Just wanted to leave a few notes for the world if anyone has interest in this drill. I picked one up of CPO outlets for a very reasonable price (compared to bulldog option) around $350. You can find the details online with the actual performance numbers and such. 

Let's go straight to some bullets here.

Pros: 

• Price- I think the cost was very fair
• Power - This thing can drill holes like butter
• Battery - multi-volt battery is cool if you have other Metabo tools. It's 4.0 amp hours at 36v or 8.0 amp hours at 18v. Lots of holes with that and I have found the batteries to last well. So far, I have not been able to drain 2 batteries in a single day of work.
• Smooth drilling, impact and use. Just easy to use. Has all three functions for rotary, rotary/hammer and straight hammer.

Cons:

• Heavy- Got some weight at 8 pounds, plus the batteries are big. If you carry 2 to the crag it adds up. Also when it hangs off your shoulder, you notice. It's a larger drill for sure. You notice it.
• Spinning - The drill has a pretty easy to activate safe guard to protect itself as well as your wrist when it gets held up. This may make it hard to get bolts to spin that are stubborn without extra care. I find the safeguard kicks in with little restriction. Once the auto safety stops the drill and you have to either give it a few or toggle the direction switch to re-set it. I find this a little annoying for use, but it probably keeps things safe. I have been able to spin every bolt so far, I just have to be a little more specific about getting them started and have found myself having to play with it a bit. I think many newer drills have this functionality. 

Overall, I like the drill for the most of my work. For development at a local crag, it's a monster. I have been drilling 1/2" holes without any issue into a variety of stone leaving the day with plenty of power. For rebolting, it's been good as well. A little funny on the spinning of bolts auto clutch protector, but otherwise fits the need. I wish it was 2 pounds lighter overall, I probably wont carry it to many far away places, opting for something smaller when appropriate. 

Cheers,

-Jon 

Thanks for this review. I hope you get years of use out of the drill.

My opinion is that using your drill to loosten wedge bolts to spin them can be very hard on your drill and batteries. 

I always use a ratchet wrench to break the bolt free and get it to turn easilly. Then i connect the drill. 

I start out with the coupler loose on the SDS adapter. I bottom the wedge bolt against the SDS adapter with the coupler not jammed onto the SDS adapter. I find this makes seperating the coupler from the wedge bolt and the SDS adapter much less hassel.

Wanted to post another update on this drill. Been a couple years and many bolts later.

• Its still a monster, my original batteries are still charging and holding up very well for outings. I can't say how many cycles they have at this time, but I have yet to notice any decrease in the performance of them.
• With a bit of my own process efficiency I don't have any trouble spinning bolts. 
• This drill doesn't work very well with core drilling. It likes to make bits explode. I believe that even in rotary mode the torque or slight vibration that the tool gives doesn't jive. I blew up a decent number of core bits and have decided that in this application my regular old 12v garage use drill works way better and I didn't destroy bits anymore. (Kinda annoying, but so be it)
• It hasn't lost weight despite putting it on a diet.

-Jon