My wife wants a Rotex.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Go figure.

We went to the Hartville Hardware big sale yesterday.
She watched the Festool RO 150 FEQ being demonstrated.
When the guy started talking about "belt sander mode", she was hooked and has to have one.

A bit of history - I made her help me sand down three decks a couple of years ago using belt sanders.
She's really dreading the two we have to do when the weather turns warm.

The only real question is:
5" or 6" ?
Which one should I get her?

[Scott T Smith]

Go figure.

We went to the Hartville Hardware big sale yesterday.
She watched the Festool RO 150 FEQ being demonstrated.
When the guy started talking about "belt sander mode", she was hooked and has to have one.

A bit of history - I made her help me sand down three decks a couple of years ago using belt sanders.
She's really dreading the two we have to do when the weather turns warm.

The only real question is:
5" or 6" ?
Which one should I get her?


Rich, I have the 6" unit, and the 6" ETS sander as well. There are two benefits to this - first I only have to buy one size of sandpaper, and second the 6" has something like 30% more sanding area than the 5", which equates into less overall time spent sanding.

[Ole Anderson]

A new tool is always a good thing, but you might consider renting one of those multi-head flooring RO sanders for a job as big as 2 decks. Horsepower baby!

[frank shic]

rent the big floor sander and get the 6" to do the edges... and to keep your wife happy! ;)

[Victor Robinson]

If thou dost not have other Festools, I warn thee of the green addiction.

[Sam Murdoch]

If the only goal is to do the decks I vote for the rental of a floor sander. If she's (you) just got to have the RO :D then I suggest that you try both the RO125 and the RO150 before you make the commitment. Festool will let you try any tool for 30 days with no questions asked. The ROs can be pretty aggressive sanders. It sounds like that is the feature that impressed your wife, but that 6" RO in full orbit can be a handful. I own the RO125 and the ETS150/3. They both are excellent tools. If I were to keep just one it would be the RO125 though because of its versatility. It can go from get 'er done to wow look at that beautiful finish mode like no other sanders (that I know of). A caution however, the RO is not a great finishing sander for soft woods unless you have lots of practice and lots of patience with changing one fine grit to the next. The ROs are good finishers for hardwoods but the ETS is the real finish sander. Have fun ;)

[Van Huskey]

Just remember although it may appear cheaper than if your wife wanted a Rolex, it actually may not be...

[Jim Becker]

Rotex is a very useful too. I recently used mine to do the initial sanding of a 14'x14' wide pine floor and have also used it when rebuilding/rejuvenating some tractor implements. It's also my go-to for cleaning up "live edge" stock for Nakashima inspired furniture. I have the 6" and because it's a "rough work" machine for me, that's the right size. I use a 150/3 for finish sanding...the Rotex is a "two hand" tool and that doesn't work for me for fine work.

[Alan Lightstone]

I use a 150/3 for finish sanding...the Rotex is a "two hand" tool and that doesn't work for me for fine work.
+1

The Rotex is good for loosening dental fillings too. But boy does it hog off wood.

[Michael Mayo]

Man are those some seriously expensive sanders! Do they have gold bearings or something? I have heard all about Festool and how people love them, you can't walk into a Woodcraft without being assaulted with Festool marketing but are they really THAT good? I mean $500+ for a sander? I saw the miter saw recently and it was over $1,000 why?

[Matt Meiser]

Yes they are. I got mine last fall and loved it for doing a large table top. It can be very agressive when desired and have much more finesse (but not as much as a regular ROS) when in random mode.

The key to smooth, non tiring use is to hold onto the back and kind of let the machine float. The first time I used mine, my arms were killing me the next day. A friend who has been to Festool dealer training showed me that trick and what a difference.

[Rich Engelhardt]

It sounds like that is the feature that impressed your wife, but that 6" RO in full orbit can be a handful
Sam,
Thanks! That's the kind of info I needed.
My wife is willing to give most tools a go, but, if it's too much for her and/or takes too long to get the hang of, she puts the kabash on using it.
I ran into that with her and a floor sander. It got away from her as soon as she started it and slammed into a wall.

[QUOTE][I have heard all about Festool and how people love them, you can't walk into a Woodcraft without being assaulted with Festool marketing but are they really THAT good? I mean $500+ for a sander? I saw the miter saw recently and it was over $1,000 why? /QUOTE]
+1 reason why Festool is so high priced is because it's never discounted - except the very rare 10% off sale they sometimes run.
If you compare the list price of other tools vs the list price of Festool, they aren't that far apart.

[Tom Ewell]

RO 90 through 150 here and all three have been beneficial for specific jobs. My first was the 150 E Plus , it has aged very well after 7 years of use and these sanders seem to acutally handle/perform better over time, assuming no "abuse" of course.

Handling the things can take some practice but as Matt points out, an under control light touch makes for best approach along with getting the feel for rotation, direction of movement and what edge of the work is being approached. This "practice" is primarily needed for the aggressive mode, in finish mode these sanders are very comfortable once you get used to working with the attached vacuum hose.

I was a little surprised at the difference in handling between my old 150 vs the newer 125 FEQ, design and familiarity apparently does make a difference.

The Festool price thing.

A short scenario (please bear in mind that I do use these tools to earn)... I was working a house refinish and figured that a sander able to get tight into corners would help in getting away from time consuming hand sanding and card picking. After perusing the various opinions online, I determined that many a folk were happy with that little Black and Decker mouse sander. A cheap solution for a "one time" tool led to justification for getting it. Picked one up at the local box along with a pack of mouse paper and put it to work.

I discovered that these "mice" have an assortment of footprints, the pack of paper contained one size fits all with perforations to tear away excess needed for the smaller footprints. The hole pattern was an ill fit for my model, making dust control less than optimal. It's light weight coupled with vibration made it a little difficult to control and the generic paper fit/quality made it really frustrating to use over the day. Finding a timely source for paper fit for my model was a pain and that alone forced me to ponder another solution.

I really mulled over the justifcation in picking up a Festool DTS for this job but I did know....that it would be the last purchase needed for this type of sander, where to get quality paper that actually fits, that dust control was a given and that performance would be top notch based on my experience with Festool.

Still, the dang thing cost 6 times more than that B&D, did it anyway.

The Festool, once in hand, no comparison, as it should be. The unit is heftier for sure but balance with a quantitative lack of vibration, excellent papers, better dust extraction with the filter bag and far superior performance with a more aggresive but finer finish made it (almost) a pleasure to do the work. To my surprise, my one time job use was incorrect, I do find it quite handy around the shop/site but I also wish I had purchased the Ro 90 first, could have "made do" just fine with it so far..... but that's another story.

The B&D is now in line to be gifted to a hobbyist friend who always likes when I upgrade my kit.