I have used expensive and I have used cheap. To me grinders are like gloves if they don`t fit your hands you will not use them at least i won`t.

To be true the cheap Harbor freight ones I thought $20.00 I can`t go wrong if it fries I just throw it away. I now have 5 of them.

It comes down to how you use them and what brand grinding discs and zip discs you use.

Let the tool do the work if you need to grind a lot of welds and slag go to a 7" for serious grinding.

The 4.5" grinder I use are all for one hand operation and I never put those little handles on perhaps that is why you burn these things up to much pressure which will cause it to heat up in a very short time.

 

I have a Makita 4 inch that i have abused for about 10 years. No issues except the cord is going to need replacement soon. I have a cheaper Northern Tool 4 1/2 grinder. It takes the abuse and it too has a cord that is needs to be repalced. I guess they do not like to be hung from the peg board by its cord. One thing I notice on the HF cheapy grinder is that button that you press to lock the wheel when you change wheels, it snapped off one at work, and the second one we got jsut seems jsut as weak. That is my biggest complaint about the cheapie ones.

 

x3 for the cheapo ryobi grinder. Used it for 6 years or so and it keeps spinning. At only 20 bucks i purchased it when i was in the middle of a job with the intention of pitching it when it broke. That day has yet to come.

 

I have a Craftsman and a HF, both get the job done just the same.

IMHO, unless you're going with the Metabo (which has a nice clutch feature to eliminate kickback) or the HellCat (assuming it's in the same class, first I've heard of it), they're all the same. Quite literally in most cases (Black & Decker, DeWalt, and Porter Cable are all made in the same plant, with interchangeable parts in many instances, for example)

 

hrsgs

 

we use dewalts at work both the older style and the new ones both hold up great ive had one of each for the past 2 years and i somtimes get them hot enough that i need my welding gloves to hold them and no problems so far. Some people use air grinders because there tired of burning the electric ones up so how you use it has alot to do with how long it lasts. I also have an ancient black and decker wich is the same thing as older dewalts and a newer hitachi wich works good as well i just dont like the on/off switch as much as the paddle on the dewalt. You get what you pay for i would personally go with a dewalt but and good band would work just spend the extra money on the industial models not the cheapest ones they sell at lows or whereever.

 

I picked up a pair of dewalt 5" grinders from Home depot a few years back for $100, they work great. And I like having one for cutting and the other for grinding, a lot less time spent changing wheels. Also gives one time to cool down when I switch to the other.

 

i have a milwaukee grinder / drill and a buffer all are about 20 years old i beat on them like they owe me money, work great every day

 

I absolutely love my 5" DeWalt. Even the little 4.5 DeWalts are a durable little grinder. We put on through hell at work and it took a 3" thick safe to actually burn it out.