German power tool company Fein recently announced the introduction of new oscillating mulitools and accessories featuring a newly designed mount called Starlock. This new Starlock mount is said to offer better power transfer from the tool to the accessory and also features quick tool less blade changing design with blades changes as quick as under 3 seconds. This new oscillating tool mount will be featured on Fein’s latest mulitools including corded and corded versions of their popular MultiTalent, MultiMaster, and SuperCut mulitools along with the Starlock labelled multitool accessories. According to Fein the new Starlock offers 100% power transfer between the tool and accessory and say that the new MultiMaster and MultiTalent with Starlock will work up to 35% faster and the SuperCut with Starlock will work up to 45% faster than previous models.
Unlike the previous Fein multitool models that used a removable pin to hold accessories in place, the new Starlock mount uses a system very similar to what Bosch used on their MX30E multitool in which center pieces spread apart from each other to grip the center of accessories and move together to remove accessories. I very much preferred this type of tool mount over Fein’s previous design, and it is nice to see the Starlock mount system is very similar to Bosch’s design. In fact, the new Starlock mount was co-developed by both German companies Bosch and Fein so it is no surprise that this new mount is similar to Bosch’s previous design. To separate the Starlock mount design from the one used in the Bosch MX30E, the new mount also incorporates extra grip in the form of a 12 pointed star design towards the outer section of the mount. This 12 pointed star design is where I assume the Starlock mount gets it’s name from and it adds extra grip to the accessories which I believe is where the extra power transfer comes from, meaning you get power transferred between the center section and the outer star section.
The new Starlock tool mount comes in 3 different flavors which include Starlock, Starlock Plus, and Starlock Max. The naming structure is very similar to SDS rotary hammers where you have SDS, SDS+, and SDS Max. The Starlock mounts are all very similar with each other. On accessories, the basic Starlock mount is backwards compatible with non Starlock oscillating power tools making it a universal tool mount, while the Starlock Plus accessories can only be mounted on Bosch and Fein oscillating multitools featuring Starlock and Starlock Plus. The Starlock Max is the most basic looking mount of the 3 and can only be mounted on Fein SuperCut and Bosch models.
There will be a total of 6 new Fein oscillating multitools featuring the Starlock mount including the corded MultiTalent and cordless 12V MultiTalent, the corded MultiMaster and cordless 18V MultiMaster, and the corded SuperCut and cordless 18V SuperCut. All MultiTalent and MultiMaster models will feature the Starlock Plus mount that is compatible with Starlock and Starlock Plus accessories, while the SuperCut models will feature the Starlock Max mount and will be compatible with only Starlock Max accessories. The new Fein Starlock oscillating power tools and accessories will be available in April 2016.
https://youtu.be/DRjZ26qqTDw
Check out the review for the new Fein FMM 350 QSL with Starlock mount by clicking here.
I believe it should be noted that there seems to be a new anti-vibration technology introduced with the new Fein starlock Supercut and Multi-master. If you look, it appears the head and body are somewhat seperated, as oppose to other variations by Fein or other companies.
I happened to be given one of these Multi-Masters, and it is head and shoulders better than my Festool Vecturo (even though it is modeled after the supercut, but this was before the new anti-vibration technology). It is my opinion, that the new anti-vibration technology gives the head more flex. And just as a bat with some flex can help a hitter hit a home run, the flex with these new tools offer a more effective cut.
Maybe I am wrong, but this is certainly my observation.
What you’re talking about is the suspended motor design and that was introduced back in 2014 with the original FMM 350 Q. It’s the best so far in terms of vibration reduction. The new models with starlock are basically the same unit as the one that came out in 2014 but with the new star lock mount.
Check out my review on the original model here: https://youtu.be/T9N01a-HI0k
and check out my review on the updated model with starlock here: https://youtu.be/T0w2mKs4N7A