Makita GA5020Y 5" SJS Angle Grinder, with AC/Dc Switch, Blue

Works very well just as expected. Not too heavy at all. The electric brake slows the disc down in about 3 seconds. It doesn't seem too loud either. I'm comparing it to dewalt grinders which is all that's used at my job. Dewalt makes great stuff but I'm happy that I went with this 1 instead. I would recommend this to anyone in the market for an angle grinder.

I always thought that I hated using angle grinders. Little did I know that I merely hate using the stubby fat bodied grinders, this rat tail design is 1000x better! I feel like I actually have control of the machine. True, it's less compact, but for my needs that's irrelevant. The build quality seems good, it's a Makita after all. I find the trigger lock to be a bit annoying, but once you get used to pressing the small button before pulling the trigger, it's not that bad. It's got good power, and the electric brake is nice, I'm not leaving grinder marks all over the place from having to slow it down myself. I fully expect to get my money's worth out of this machine many times over in the coming years.

So pros and cons first: Pros: - Nice easy start. I had no idea how much I wanted soft start until I had it on this grinder - Externally accessible brushes (lots of other grinders require access panels and such) - shape and handle is perfect for me even tho I am used to smaller grinders - shroud is easy to manipulate without tools - plenty of power Cons - trigger Lock-off. I hate this feature. The lock off is only accessible in the right hand when you hold it disc face down. It is not ambidextrous and spring is WAY too heavy making it awkward when I am trying to bolt it to my vice disc up. I am gonna end up removing it - no trigger lock (I am using a zip tie for now) - Arbor nut is poorly designed because the holes are too small and close together to use any wrench but the one that comes with it. I ended up switching to my dewalt nut because I fabricated a nice wrench that has pins on one end and real wrench on the other. This makes it where I can use the same wrench to lock/unlock the nut and the other end to remove wire wheels, cups etc - Arbor nut wrench has no open end so that it can remove standard wheels and cups that thread on without the nut - grinder gets a little hot. Doesn't seem to be outside operating limits but I was surprised that such an otherwise manageable tool would heat up with light use. Bottom line: This is a great grinder but I am gonna look for makita replacement parts to add a trigger lock . There are alternate models that that dont' have these trigger problems

Whatever this thing touches, it gets rid of. Don't daydream. I had only a couple of uses in mind for this before I bought it, but now that I see what it's capable of, I realize it's much more valuable than I originally thought. I had no idea it was going to be this powerful. Wow!

Normally a Makita is a great tool but this time it lasted 1 month before it broke, the trigger or something to do with the on/off has gone bad, I plug it on and it starts turning

I bought this by mistake. I thought the extra $ from the GA5020 added a lock ON switch. It doesn't -- it's a lock OFF switch that is difficult to operate while wearing gloves. Unless your commercial shop equipment is required to have such by some nanny-state regulation, you do not want this GA5020Y, you want the GA5020. Makita does not sell this particular style of angle grinder with a lock on switch.

I've had this grinder for 5 years and although I don't use it heavily or abuse it, it has been good to me. It's got old school features like brushes and a cord but it's well made for the price and of course the soft start and stop is very nice.

We have always used Makita. The older 5" grinders had a smaller gauge wire that after a long while they would burn up at the switch. THIS NEW DESIGN has a larger gauge cord, nicer hub locking pin, and the brake feature for less kickbacks. ITS EXCELLENT all the way around. Buying another one now too