Ohio Power Tool has sold many thousands of grinders over the last 35+ years in business, really too many to count. We’ve also serviced/repaired many more thousands being a warranty service center for most major brands. Historically Metabo Grinders have really seemed to hold up the best under heavy use, fab shops using dozens of them relentlessly 16+ hours a day, a standard new grinder can be beat down and completely destroyed in a matter of weeks. Typically these Green Grinders are also a little more expensive which is why they haven’t totally taken over. You can always be better right? So Metabo is Powering Up their Grinder Game, upgrading their German Made 9 amps to 11 amps and 10.5 amps to 12 amps!

Metabo POWER UP Grinders

Their most popular models in 4.5” and 6” are getting a Power Upgrade, actually streamlined into few options, the guard for 4.5” & 5” are all just 5” guards now and they all come with the quick nut, which eliminates the need for a spanner wrench to tighten and loosen accessories. Thank you on both accounts! These new models are built on the same German assembly line to incredibly high specs but have managed to squeak more AMPS and power into same compact packages. These new grinder models sacrifice nothing on performance or durability and in many cases add some additional safety features. Below is an older teardown video on the entry level models that are receiving the power upgrade, really highlights some of the elements that have made these units perform better.

Breaking Down the Secret Code

It’s not really a secret figuring out the what the model numbers are all about WPB 13-125, Almost all the grinders Start with letter W, any other letter is just additional options P = paddle, B = Brake, E = Electronics, V = Variable Speed. The one exception is the new T grinders, this means built for High Demand Applications where there are some additional steps to deal with heat on the spindle. From there 11, 13, 17 give the input watt ratings 11 = 1100, 13 = 1300 and finally -125, -150 is guard size in mm, so 125 = 5” and 150 = 6”.  

W 11-125 (11 Amp) WPB 13-125 (12 Amp, Paddle, Brake) T 13-125 (12 Amp, High Demand)    

Metabo’s Economical Grinders

Take cost out of the equation, Metabo’s German Made grinders are arguably the best built grinders in the world, truly impressive to see their attention to detail, they smelt aluminum, machine their own parts and do it all right there inhouse for the best possible finished product. While these are not ridiculously more expensive there is a good bit of difference between them and other pro brands from Yellow, Red, Blue and others who make their grinders on lower cost assembly lines in Asia. What’s the solution, if you can’t beat them join them, so Metabo now also has several options for lower cost grinders that are still designed to their high standards but built at lower cost in Asia. These are easy to spot in the SKUs they appear to use the watt input completely so 1100 = 1100 but just from knowing this for new models you can determine which are German vs Asian.

W 750-115 (7 Amp) W 1100-125 (11 Amp) WP 1100-125 (11 Amp Paddle)

Which Grinder is Right for You?

Might as well as someone what food is right for you, it all depends on your appetite and taste, just like grinders. In larger companies we work with they’ll have a variety of corded grinders, piles of inexpensive options for certain field jobs where they are basically throwaways when the job is complete, then high performance INOX Metabo variable speed grinders like WEV 17-125 for certain shop applications. Not all grinders are right for every job, Metabo now has one of the larger lineups of corded grinders we know of from price point very specialized. Then of course now everything is going cordless including larger grinders, where other brands are hoping their more popular battery platforms will give them an advantage of the Metabo 18V Cordless platform.

Of course, Ohio Power Tool is here to help you find the right tool for the job, corded grinder or cordless grinder, just give us a call 800-242-4424. We are always happy to help.