Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Angle Grinders: paddle or switch

whats your favorite brand/model?
got fed up with the stone grinding bit in the drill went cruising to check out a few after reading "the 8 best angle grinders of 2021"
it was informative about features and made me want to go put my hands on a few before I pull the trigger.

Which ever brand you can fit in your lunchbox. 😃

Union IBEW, carry the large Playmate. Rated for 60lbs of copper too.

i have a switch but when this one burns up i'm going with a paddle.

Had a dewalt 4.5 that I used the schit out of for 7-8 years. Finally went tit's up and I've been limping on with a harbor freight. I'll be getting another dewalt here soon.

Edit to add I prefer a switch

Metabo with a paddle if I’m choosing.

Hitachi, as The Kid said Metabo now.

Old 7.5” Sears with trigger switch and 4.5” De Walt paddle switch.

Switch

Paddle, 4.5", 11 amp Milwaukee. Whatever you buy, check the amps, you want one with the most, so it has some balls.

^^^The Kid knows^^^ probably makes his living in the trade.

Trigger

My dewalt still going strong.
Havent used it for 2 yrs.
I dont thrash Jeeps offroad anymore, so rare a job comes along I need it

Snap-On 4.5”, paddle, been using it since the early 80’s. Quality paid off on that one.

I do not know which one is the best at this moment.
They all have their ups and downs
I started using grinders way back 11inch Black Cat.
They took those away from us and we went to the 9 inch Black Cat
workers got lazy so we went down to a 7 inch pneumatic grinders (gutless dangerous pieces of garbage)
Now everyone uses the 4 1/2" and they take all day to do a 15 minute job.
My current favorite Grinders are my 9 inch Dewalt for the big heavy jobs when I need to get things done quick.
& my (2) 5 inch Dewalts foe all my other grinding I can put a 7 inch zippy blade (cut off wheel) in them with no trouble
they are 15 amp grinders
I purchased (2) Makita 4 1/2 inch grinders on a sale they work great for 1 handed work or for zippy blades.
My Dewalts are are not new Dewalts they have some real age on them but they have held up to my abuse

Dewalt 4.5" - hang on when you hit the paddle - it'll try (hard) to spin in your hands!

Once upon a time I liked a switch. But you only need a 6” to catch your shirttail once and climb up your front to make a believer out of you.

Paddle. I’ve had/have corded makita, dewalt, Bosch, Milwaukee and hitachi. Cordless in dewalt and Milwaukee. I like the makitas but they don’t last. Milwaukee has a square nut so you don’t need a special wrench to change blades which is nice. Look for one with tool less guard adjustment/removal.

I have both but prefer the paddle. If it gets away from you it does not dance around nearly as long.

My preference is #1 Metabo #2 Makita. In a 7 inch I prefer a paddle, you only hold it one way and if something does go wrong it stops. In a a 4 1/2 inch I prefer a switch because, with the smaller grinder, you're sometimes liable to get into odd places and hold it one handed or in a way you can't hit the paddle.

I think it hard to go wrong with a paddle. Metabo’s seem to last s long time. we have been having issues with milwaukee’s in our maint dept. even the new ones seem to burn up fairly fast. I have a dewalt cordless 20 V with paddle in my tool box. Nice but they cordless ones sure have a short battery life even with 5.0 & 6,0’Ah batteries