Beta pneumatic tools?

[drummerdimitri]

I'm looking to buy some pneumatic tools for my shop and since there aren't tons of options locally, I found a Beta dealer in my area and wanted to hear your opinions/experiences with them.

Looking to buy die grinders, random orbital sanders, angle grinders, impact wrench, air hammer etc. from them and was wondering if they were heavy duty enough for professional use every day.

 

[Dave455]

As far as I am aware, Beta air tools are all made in Taiwan.

My advice, where any of these Taiwanese air tools are concerned, has always been to buy the cheapest, irrespective of the brand name, as the tools are usually all the same, at least internally.

I recently bought an air saw for one job. The price varied between just over £20, to well over £100, for exactly the same tool. You got no better for paying more.

You will find varying views on these Taiwanese air tools. My own experiences are that provided you get them cheap enough, they are good value. They usually do what they are supposed to do, and are surprisingly rugged

The downside to the Taiwanese stuff, is that it is often not as nice to use as better stuff, and of course is not as durable. There is no getting around that. You simply cannot get a £50 Taiwanese die grinder, and expect it to work like a Desoutter or Dotco costing 10 times the price.

It all comes down to how much you are likely to use a tool. If you are in the motor trade, and you use a die grinder most days, but maybe just for one quick job, it will last an awfully long time. If you are making moulds or press tooling with it, and using it all day, then you will soon want something better!

 

[drummerdimitri]

Thanks for the clarification.

My Beta dealer also sells Kuani air tools which are also Taiwanese so will compare the specs and prices of the respective pneumatic tools and decide on which one to go for assuming like you said, they are of equal quality.

If the price difference is no greater than 30%, I will still go the Beta root as I really dig the black and orange color scheme.

 

[Dave455]

If the price difference is no greater than 30%, I will still go the Beta root as I really dig the black and orange color scheme.

The other thing to think about, if you are using a tool a lot, is spares availability. If you have a Beta dealer, it should be an easy matter to get a spare part for a Beta branded tool, should you need one!

 

[drummerdimitri]

Yes of course, that is the main reason why I decided to buy locally and not online as I would have purchased some IR tools but since there isn't a dealer for their tools where I live, it would be a hassle to keep ordering spare parts from an online dealer.

Just checked their website and apparently they also sell Shinano pneumatic tools which are Japanese and should in theory be better quality than the Taiwanese stuff.

So now I guess it's a matter of deciding between Beta and Shinano and my priority would be to go for the latter if their prices are similar.

 

[Mr_B]

Not all air tools from taiwan are the same even when look same on outside .
Have good innovation and quality if choose with care.
I got no experience with Beta air tools but most of their tools can be overpriced and nothing that special .
Kuani does some good air tools and price pretty reasonable generally, I have Kuani Sumake and ACT which all taiwan and they all very well made with higher end performance .

 

[Dave455]

Just checked their website and apparently they also sell Shinano pneumatic tools which are Japanese and should in theory be better quality than the Taiwanese stuff.

I haven’t used Shinano, but I have used Kuken. Their better tools are Japanese made and superb. Their lower priced tools are generic Taiwanese.

The Japanese Kuken tools are beautifully smooth and quiet. If the Shinano are at least competitive, I suspect they will be a noticeable notch up on the Taiwanese Beta! If you do go that route, perhaps you can let us know what you think?

Edit - I did a bit of research into Shinano. Looks like they specialise in small, lightweight tools, but also smooth and quiet as suspected. I still haven’t seen any for real but I’d like to, and I would suspect waaay better than Beta.

 

[Jack84]

I got no experience with Beta air tools but most of their tools can be overpriced and nothing that special .

That’s my experience with Beta too.




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[drummerdimitri]

That’s my experience with Beta too.




Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

In that case, I think I will go with Shinano.

They are a pneumatic tool company after all and they have an industrial line of tools which are made in Japan and I have a soft spot for Japanese quality.

Plus, their line is much wider than the Beta offerings so would make more sense to go that route.

That being said, most of their tools are offered in two options: Standard switch or rotary twist switch for less hand fatigue.

I like the latter but I'm wondering if it's the better choice. Can you even modulate a standard switch for more power? If not, seem like the rotary switch is the better option. Saves drawer space too!

 

[matt_i]

Depending on what you are doing you can save a lot of electricity $$ with an electric tool...

Just saying it takes a 5hp air compressor to barely keep up with an air tool doing the same job as one with a 1/2hp electric motor.

For a few short bursts, whatever, but if you are using this for hours on end its worth a 2nd look.