Quality, Safety, Precision, OR Value, Buy you last tool first?

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  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #16
    Originally posted by capncarl
    I think we are using the wrong image of buying your last saw first. Just because it is a high price or a premium brand doesn’t mean it should be your final choice. I definitely would not choose Festool sanders as my top choice as their backing pads, intermediate pads other expendables have a very short work life and are terribly expensive. They make great sanders but are overpriced and their expendables can easily cost as much as the sander after a year of use!
    One of my Festool sanders was the one in which they offered an introductory price of $99.
    See here: https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...uture-purchase
    It has a been well worth the $100 and my most used sander, but not on a daily basis.

    The first Festool sander (RO 150) in which I paid a handsome price and over priced was a 6 inch sander. As I mentioned once before, my mom who wanted me to re-do her tile walled bathroom in '96 but NO DUST, I bought the then high priced Fein Multi-tool, and it did a EXCELLENT JOB with little to no dust. IN the same demeanor, my wife told me she did nothing NOT want any dust when redoing several walls in this old house with lath and plaster walls. I did research on lowest dust and Festool came up several times. It is overpriced but it had the reputation of lowest dust with the 1 inch hose Festool Vac. I was not going to pay that much for a 1 inch hosed vac. The Fein vac has done excellent. The 6 inch Festool has done well and does excellent with dust control with the Fein.

    IF I had known then what I know now, I would probably have gone with a Bosch and the Fein, but like my mom, LOML was insistent on No DUST. Where were you when I needed your advice back then?
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

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    • capncarl
      capncarl commented
      Editing a comment
      I agree that Festool sanders are the right tool for the job when dust free sanding is required. Doing walls the back up and intermediate pads should last a long time. I use 2 ETS 5” 125 RO sanders, 1 is the $100 one you mentioned and the other is a brushless one. I bought it thinking that the intermediate pads would interchange, as the look identical. I was wrong, different mounting features, and at $44 each I went through 4 last year. The other soft pads were only in the $25 range and would swap out. The problem is the sorry Velcro on each pad just quit working. Looks ok but just doesn’t stick. I was using these sanders on a lot of contours making about 20 Tiny Tables a year. I’m all about not buying tools that use propitiatory expendables.

      Some of the sanders that I have used do not last long sanding drywall. Their bearings are not sealed very well as the dust is pulled through the bearing housings
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