Hi all,
for starters: may i wish you all a very prosperous, healthy, accident-free and project-rich 2012 ?
The Ergomax in the bargain looks like the real thing all right. As for "Made in Germany"; that's a relative thing in this case. The T-Tec drill design was not from AEG in the first place, but a Milwaukee development. It was introduced on the market in Milwaukee-red, together with a similarly odd looking jig saw. By then AEG and Milwaukee were already owned by TechTronics Industries from Hong Kong, so many tool models were shared amongst these brands, with AEG Winnenden designs having a red Milwaukee appearance and vice versa. For instance, AEG Winnenden already carried a good quality battery tool program (which didn't look impressive and hence wasn't recognised as such), but the better part of the present AEG battery program consists of Milwaukee designs. Really evergreen AEG Winnenden designs like the large metal drills, some pneumatic hammers and some saws, are still made in Winnenden, including their red Milwaukee liveries. These are the only occasions where the imprint "Made in Germany" in Milwaukee tools is both present and justified.
About the Ergomax drill i'm not so sure. If Winnenden ever had anything to do with it at all, i think the AEG badged version has merely been assembled there, from imported dark blue parts made by Milwaukee plants, or - in a later stage- from orange parts made by TTI's own Chinese production facilities. I suspect that the orange version has been made and assembled in China entirely. It is widely known that TTI chose to replace the famous AEG-blue for the present orange livery, because this is also the colour they use for Ridgid-products. Ridgid is another brand that was scooped up by TTI. By using the same colour, there is yet more low-cost model-swapping possible, between the joined product portfolios of AEG, Milwaukee and Ridgid.
Suspecting Chinese products to have less quality is still valid in many cases, but where European and American A-brands have mingled to such extent as in this case, i think the same suspicion is no longer justified. Even Metabo has joined in and has more and more of its products made by TTI's facilities. In this forum TTI-'s belt sander, as sold in AEG, Metabo and Ridgid colours, has been a vivid topic of discussion. As Chinese power tools go, it wasn't half bad and many users know this for a fact. So for this money, the orange Ergomax above should be a reasonable investment. This model is also on sale in AEG's home country Germany itself, as this Ebay Germany link will testify:
aeg ergomax | eBay
Compare the pictures; i think the offer introduced in this post is the real thing al right.
greetings
gerhard