We recently installed a 16' x 20' thin (

Ok, over the past 20 years, I've cut 10's of miles of fabric - 66" at a time. I've used many, if not most of the heat knifes on the market to cut panel and upholstery fabric, so I'm familiar with what makes a great knife. I've also put 350 yards over the blade of THIS knife, so here goes -

Pros: unit is well balanced and easy to maneuver without fatigue. Being air cooled, the knife body never reaches the point where it gets too hot to hold. The temperature adjustment let's you dial in the appropriate temperature for a given fabric, preventing burns, flame ups and excessive smoke.

Cons: None to date. Well, the case was missing one of the little orange closure clips.

Suggestions for improvement: The long cord tends to tangle, a swivel at the knife body would be helpful, as would LEDs that light the cutting area. The tangs on the cutting guide could be several mm longer to allow the mounting screw to grip better.

Product is as advertised

Some reviews knock the adjustment wheel on this but I found it to be fine. I paid NO attention to the numbers on the wheel and simply adjusted the knob upward until the cutting blade started to glow red. I set the adjustment to a dull red glow on the blade and sliced thru a bunch of outdoor fabric (like Sunbrella) with a perfectly melted edge on the fabric and it was very easy to "cut" in a straight line. The tool heats up in just a few seconds so there is really no wait time at all.

Now the downside: As others have pointed out, the foam padding in the case is cut for the disassembled tool. After you use the cutter once it would be great to put it back in the case easily but no, you have to take the cutter off and if used, take the cutter base off as well. Not the end of the world but a simple design to allow storage in either configuration would have been a HUGE win for the manufacture at little to no cost. The hard plastic case is cheap and doesn't hold it's shape well. And like others, the plastic locks the lock the case shut sometimes fall off and do not fit well. In either situation, the case isn't designed to accommodate the power cord (which nicely, is quite long, a good thing) so you have to simply STUFF it into the case.

A quality case and better designed internal padding would be a night and day improvement for this product. A 3-inch velcro strap to replace the cheap tie-wrap on the power cord would be nice as well.

You are close RoMech. Your cutter blade could use some upgrading as well. Granted it works just fine - let's say that again, it works just fine - but it looks like it was fabricated by junior high school shop class welder wannabe!

The media could not be loaded. Find it a must for outdoor furniture covers and boat covers.
A little practice on scraps is a must.
Once you get the hang of using it makes work easier. I'm sure it would work on rope and other materials like that just as good.

Only complaint is that the case will not allow you to store the unit with the blade attached. You have to remove the blade and foot to fit back in the case.
It would definitely be a 5 star if the case was bigger but the knife itself is awesome.