After much deliberation and admitting to myself that its what I really wanted in the first place, I returned my Dowelmax Monday morning and placed an order with Uncle Bob.
The Dowelmax was a good tool, extremely well made, and the test joints I assembled seemed plenty strong. I had a variety of reasons for changing my mind, but compared to the Domino it was a messier operation and I felt the Domino would be quicker and easier to use if I ever want to do some of the more unusual angled joints etc. I also felt that I would be limited from using the Dowelmax on some smaller pieces if I ever wanted to build a mission piece. I emailed Dowelmax on Saturday morning asking about the return process and no questions asked they gave me the information I needed so kudos to them for being gracious. Maybe they are in shock because it sounds like I'm the first person to ever return a Dowelmax based on the great, and well-deserved reviews it gets.
This was my first order from Bob Marino. My other Festool equipment was purchased locally, but Bob has answered questions for me more than once before and I thought it was time to give him some business too. Buying from him was even easier than locally, and shipping from NJ to MI is lightning quick--the brown truck brought these yesterday. Other than opening everything up and fondling it, I haven't had time to try it out. Hopefully tonight as I have an additional project for my parent's bathroom that will be a perfect application to try it out.