C-Beast quick thoughts!

Dr Oldz

Dr Oldz

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So I finally got a C-Beast. After using and loving the PiXiE rather heavily, I knew I needed to go the cordless route.

First thing is the freedom of no cord. Those that have one can understand. Those that don’t, all I can say is that it is soooo much less taxing and fatiguing.

BATTERY will be the biggest question. It’s not an issue. The 2 provided in the kit are all you need. They give a great amount of realistic polish time. By realistic, I mean you must stop to wipe off, change pads, apply more product to pads and generally reposition yourself to work on a new section. The second battery is always fully charged by the time the first is empty!!!

POWER is rather impressive and more than I thought. Granted this is a forced rotation DA but still it has the torque for most jobs. This isn’t the tool I would grab to remove 2000 grit sanding marks as I would grab the corded version for heavy compounding.

SMOOTHNESS. Smoother than the 3401 but a touch less power also to take into consideration.

NOISE. I found it rather quiet and not at all annoying.

FEEL. This had me worried after watching some videos as people were grabbing the battery. Truth is one hand on the head of the polisher and the other on the battery came second nature and perfectly balanced the tool.

PADS. Mike Phillips suggest to me that Buff and Shine URO Tech 6 inch pads work really nice. He was spot on as they are the perfect balance of size and comfort. They also fit the included backing plate. I played around with a bunch of pads. The LC 5.5 inch by 1 1/4 inch hydro tech pads were really nice also but those pads being a closed cell really don’t last long on forced rotation DA machines.

NEGATIVES. My only issue is that the speed control could have a more positive clicking feature. It’s a bit easy to turn. I have bumped it a few times and the speed has changed in operation. Something hopefully I can get used to.


OVERALL I love this machine and will use it as much as possible.

Now another Flex cordless is in the future... will it be the C-Spin or the C-Fin????

Thanks for reading and hopefully this may help someone. Feel free to ask questions or comment!

Jim
 
Nice review Jim.

The freedom of no cord is nice.

While it doesn't have the same power of the corded BEAST or Supa BEAST, because it is gear-driven, you'll never experience pad stalling like you will with any corded or cordless free spin polisher and that's a plus for correction work.

About the speed dial, I too wish FLEX and all tool makers would design the tool so when you adjust the speed, the dial >clicks< into place with some type of semi-locking design so it's less likely to move when using the tool.

What I do is grab some 3M Blue Vinyl tape, but any tape would do, and when it's Go Time, I turn the speed dial up to the 6 setting, (full speed), and then wrap some tape around the body of the tool to lock the speed dial into place.

Probably have some pictures somewhere in a write-up that shows this.

:)
 
Too add: One thing I find very cool is that the included battery charger also charges the 12 volt batteries for the PiXiE and visa versa. Pretty awesome that you can charge 12V and 18V batteries from one charger. Well done Flex!
 
Thanks for the review! These tools have been in my sights for a while now!
 
Same here....it will be a while before I pick one up, though.

Thanks for the review, Oldz
 
thanks for the review- sure did answer some things I was wondering about
 
Mike Phillips said:
About the speed dial, I too wish FLEX and all tool makers would design the tool so when you adjust the speed, the dial >clicks< into place with some type of semi-locking design so it's less likely to move when using the tool.

What I do is grab some 3M Blue Vinyl tape, but any tape would do, and when it's Go Time, I turn the speed dial up to the 6 setting, (full speed), and then wrap some tape around the body of the tool to lock the speed dial into place.

Probably have some pictures somewhere in a write-up that shows this.
Click to expand...


And while answering a question about machine polishing graphics here,

Vinyl/stickers polishing



I found the picture I was thinking about here,

How long does the battery last? 40 minutes - Cordless FLEX XC 3401 aka the CBEAST

1971Char_RT_000.JPG






And - any type of tape would work, even black electrical tape.



:)
 
Really got some time behind this machine now. I use it way more than I thought. Cordless is just sooooo much easier. Machine doesn’t miss a beat. I love it.

I still grab the Beast OG or a rotary for heavy compounding as those machines pack more power necessary to get thru the toughest projects.

If you are considering a cordless polisher, The C-Beast certainly won’t disappoint!

I think the C-Fin is my next tool purchase for some cordless finishing action. (When AG gets them back in stock)
 
Now that I found someone to make an adapter for me, I'll be picking up a cordless flex and run me some bosch core and procore batteries
 
Dereksdtail said:
I sold almost all my corded polishers to help fund these and no regrets!


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
Click to expand...
I was thinking of similar. Starting with the small Griots 3" and the Flex Pe8

I did pick up cordless Dewalt random orbital. Comparable to a BOSS G15.

I have some Dewalt batteries, so it made sense, and I picked up the tool only for less than 300.

Have only used it for a door. Still need to make time to really use it

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
JustJesus said:
I was thinking of similar. Starting with the small Griots 3" and the Flex Pe8

I did pick up cordless Dewalt random orbital. Comparable to a BOSS G15.

I have some Dewalt batteries, so it made sense, and I picked up the tool only for less than 300.

Have only used it for a door. Still need to make time to really use it
Click to expand...

I've been eyeing the Dewalt cordless rotary and dual action polishers since they came out. You might have to put a thread up for that one!
 
Should also be able to get a flex adapter now
But the Makita,dewalt and milwauke cordless are easy to get adapters for
 
Loach said:
I've been eyeing the Dewalt cordless rotary and dual action polishers since they came out. You might have to put a thread up for that one!
Click to expand...

Give me a couple of weeks. Haven't had any solid blocks of time for polishing. I'm likely going to have to polish during my lunch breaks!



Mike@ShineStruck said:
Any idea what cell size they use?
The typical 18650 cell size?
Or 21700? Like M18 fuel 9/12 ah and Bosch core
Click to expand...

No clue. Judging only from pics, the DeWalts look very similar to the Flex. Like, VERY similar. Haven't put them side by side in person, as I don't own any Flex ones. :(
 
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