Festool owners and non-owners

[Van Huskey]

To the Festool owners:

Lets assume a armed militia came to take all but one of your Festools (they will let you keep your vacuum as well) lets further assume you and yours LOST the conflict. They explain you can keep 1 Festool and that Festool is outlawed and all others in the entire world will be destroyed (don't cry its a hypothetical!) except the one you choose to keep but you are fortunate enough to be able to buy accessories and repair for this one tool for life, which one would you keep?

To the non-owners:

If you were offered one Festool (the only one you could ever own and could not sell it) along with a vacuum, which one would you choose.


This question comes as I ponder my first Festool purchase. I like a lot of their tools, some however just don't seem worth the premium for me to replace a tool I already have. After much thought, watching demos and playing with them I have arrived at the Domino as "the" Festool, I see it as the tool in their line that offers the most innovative solution and the greatest leap over other tools and techniques that serve the same basic function. Just curous what others think in this regard.

[Bill Jepson]

The VAcuum being a given, I would probably keep the Guided saw. I think it is a close thing with the 5" sander though.
Bill

[Bill Borchardt]

Domino.

Billbo
Smyrna, GA

[Cliff Holmes]

I only have the T15 Drill and the Domino. I'd have to go with the drill, but just barely.

[Van Huskey]

I only have the T15 Drill and the Domino. I'd have to go with the drill, but just barely.

Wow, now that one surprises me, I know it is a very good drill and I suppose if you regularly use one or more of the specialty chucks it could be hard to replace but the last one I expected to see kept was the drill...

[Cliff Holmes]

Wow, now that one surprises me

Probably beecause you don't use one. It's hard to describe exactly why it's so good, but it was a real eye-opener for me. I tried one out at my local dealer and wasn't particularly impressed and told him I just didn't see how it could be worth $450. He told me to give it an extended try, I could always return it within 30 days. That first few days, I was sure I would be returning it. But then, over the course of a couple weeks, I began to really love it. The electronic clutch, the intelligent speed control, great torque, good balance, it's a ton of little things that are very good with no drawbacks. It's super well-made. The specialty chucks are really cool. The accessories are smartly designed and rugged, albeit expensive. I literally tried a dozen different drills over a few months and didn't completely like any of them, but the Festool's a keeper.

[Tony Shea]

I'm in the second situation, don't own any festool products but would really love to. But out of all their line of tools I think that the first I would buy would def. be the Domino. What a great design in a tool. This thing would make my life a whole lot easier by reducing my time at the bench producing small moritise and tenons.

Although the track saw is right up there on the list of things to get, but have been contemplating the purchase of the Dewalt version. Still, neither of them fit my budget at the moment.

[Steve Rowe]

I think the answer to your question will become moot once you get your first Festool because as I discovered - bet you can't get just one. But given the choice, I would keep the ETS-150/3 sander with the vacuum. I do have a number of other Festool products including some routers, other sanders, Domino, guided saw (older model) and drill (older model).

[Mike Goetzke]

I would never have bought any Festool tools had it not been for a once in a lifetime deal on e-bay when MS cashback was 30% and e-bay added 10%. I bought the CT33, Domino w/kit, and 6" Rotex. Later I found a private ad on e-bay for ETS150-3. I use the CT33 a lot especially with my non-Festool track saw system with a pre-seperator. I haven't had many times I needed the Domino - but will soon. I have had times the Rotex came in real handy, but, I must say my favorite Festool is the ETS150-3. It is light weight, has good dust collection, low vibration, and the paper lasts forever.

Mike

[Joe Leigh]

The cost of Festool being what it is, made me pause for quite a while before making my first purchase. They make a lot of sexy tools so I asked myself which tool would I get the most use from? The one tool I use on most every project is the sander. That's why if I had to give them all up except one I would keep the sander.

[Bill Borchardt]

Although I already answered on what single Festool I'd keep if I could only have one (Domino), I'll add to the positive remarks on Festool sanders and drills. (Expensive, but great.)

BTW here’s how I'd rank my Festools:
1. Domino - Makes joinery fast and accurate
2. C-12 drill and accessories (ditto on what previous poster said)
3. 5" Rotex Sander - Great sander with two modes - great dust collection and minimal tiring vibration)
4. ATF 55 Plunge Saw - Fast, accurate and safe for breaking down sheet goods
5. 6" 150/3 Sander - Use it for finish sanding, superior dust collection and not tiring
6. Jigsaw - Good jigsaw but for the little bit better dust collection I'm not sure it's worth extra $$ over a Bosch
7. MFT Folding Worktable - Handy, well engineered, but probably would not buy it again - would build my own specialty folding work table.

Note: Although I have a Festool vacuum (and it's great) other less expensive vacuums are almost as good and a lot less $$.


Billbo
Smyrna, GA

[Clifford Mescher]

I think the answer to your question will become moot once you get your first Festool because as I discovered - bet you can't get just one. But given the choice, I would keep the ETS-150/3 sander with the vacuum. I do have a number of other Festool products including some routers, other sanders, Domino, guided saw (older model) and drill (older model).

+1 . Clifford.

[Bob Haskett]

Just watched the video on the domino....WOW...I want one, but 825 bucks??? Almost more than my table saw, jointer, and soon to be planer combined....

[Bruce Page]

Since I only have one Festool tool – the ETS-150/3 sander, I guess I’ll keep it.

[Rob Wright]

That's a hard one but I think the TS-55 for me