Metabo or Record P/T?

[stuartpaul]

On the face of it this should be a no brainer given the price difference between the metabo 260 (£550 on offer) and the Record PT 206 (£800). I don’t believe they’re same factory different sticker machines (could be wrong?) but haven’t been able to find enough significant differences to justify the cost difference.

I’m happy to spend the extra if the difference is worth it so does anyone have any direct experience or knowledge of the two machines?

All help gratefully received!

 

[hog&bodge]

I bought a elektra beckum bas 315 BAS years ago, real work horse but not very good on accurate cuts
Whish I had held off for a bandsaw with a wider cut, it only cuts around 160mm did not think I would need more
but I was wrong.
What is the cutting depth on them both..?

 

[RichardG]

I went through the same choice a few years back and managed to see both machines before buying the Metabo. They looked to be the same core machine to me but the record has a few advantages but I didn't think it was worth the extra memory. From distant memory the advantages were.

Tables were coated with a none stick/ anti scratch material?
The anti kickback teeth were cast iron rather than steel?
The wheeled stand is a much better.
There was something different about the way the blades were held in but can't remember what...

I preferred the metabo planer blade guard but it does come off with the table when converting to thicknesser mode, the record stays on the machine. Not an issue either way.

I think remember that the record had a switch to go between modes but the metabo just did it via micro switches. Again not an issue either way.

If the Record was £75 more then I would have bought it, just for the 5 year guarantee but I managed to get a discount on the Metabo so it was closer to £500 which made it an easy choice.

Been happy with the Metabo, the only thing I would criticise is the fence which didn't always stay at 90 degrees. In the end I did a mod locking it 90 as I rarely use any other angle. Can't remember if there was any fence difference on the record.

Happy to answer any other questions if I can.

 

[stuartpaul]

Thanks Richard,

Really useful and helps with making my mind up. Really hard around here to get ‘hands on’ with both and directly compare.

 

[RichardG]

Yup, Shows were such a great way of viewing machinery in the flesh and having someone on hand who new the machine inside out, made choosing so much easier, although I did actually buy mine from FFX on one of eBays 15% sale days....