Festool RO 125 or 150?

[Will Blick]

has many ww had experience with these Air Advantage Sanders?
Some how, they have flown under my Radar...
Pros n Cons?
Great tip on converting the EC125 to 150...will be doing that upgrade!

[Dave Sabo]

has many ww had experience with these Air Advantage Sanders?
Some how, they have flown under my Radar...
Pros n Cons?
Great tip on converting the EC125 to 150...will be doing that upgrade!

pros:
well made sanders
smooth and low vibration
takes regular sanding discs available everywhere
lightweight
works great
relatively quiet

cons:
no dealers where you can actually try one on for size
expensive
two step turn on function
powering down electronic before unplugging is advised - takes time -
dust port is stoopid design that doesn’t work with premium vacuum hoses. Must buy an adapter that’s hard to use and changes the center of gravity.
some people don’t like the paddle switch

[Michael Drew]

I did not realize I needed a vac adapter when I ordered the AV sander. I bought the 2nd generation that's 120V. Does that model have this two step turn on function???

[Michael Drew]

I'll answer my own questions....... Yah, this thing will need a hose adapter of some sort. It apears to be configured with left hand internal threads to screw a hose into. My Festool hose will not fit into this sander as it comes from the supplier. The two step power function is not accurate. It does have a button that turns it on, but so does every other sander I have. I like it, because without it, you'd have to unplug the thing to change sand paper. Speaking of paper, it comes with a five hole H/L pad. And of cource, my numerous boxes of paper are all 8 hole...... I can't get more than two holes to line up.

Other than those two gripes, I like the sander. I bought the 3/16" orbit. It does not vibrate as much as my Bosch sander. I love the lower profile and how it fits in my hand. I can see why this type of sander has such a big fan base.

I need to look into finding a hose adapter. And maybe a different pad.....

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[Dave Sabo]

Michael, every sander you have has a master power button and another switch to turn on the sander ? What other sanders do you have ?

AV should sell the vac adapter. If not, they’re available from SurfPrep.

Shouldn’t be too difficult to find a generic backer pad with 8 holes. I believe it’s a 5/16 x 24 thread. Check with the auto supply houses or big river. The Mirka deros 5” should work too , it has the 8 hole pattern. But after the cost is factored in , perhaps you should return the AV and just get the Mirka ? If the AV didn’t come with a wrench, you’re prob. gonna need on to change the pad.

[Michael Drew]

Good point on the switch. Technically you are totally correct. With this sander, however, it's kinda hard not to engage the paddle after you put your hand on it, so it's not like other sanders where you grip them, then toggle a switch of sorts. The paddle, at least in my mind doesn't really seem like a hard switch?

Thanks for the vac adapter suggestions. I did search on AV's web site for one, and also a different pad, but they had neither listed.

It came with a wrench. This sander was roughly $350 from the amazon store. I think a Mirka is over $500? I'll get the other pad if I can find one.

[Dave Sabo]

The discs can be swapped without turning off the global power if you hold the unit by the tail. There’s a flat spot your palm can rest on over the global power/ speed switches and not engage the lever.

I’m certain you can find an 8 hole backer pad to fit. I thought AV had raised their prices the $500 level recently, still a good deal at $350 + the new pad.

[Michael Drew]

I have an 8 hole pad and the adapter both on order. Thanks for the tips.

Apparently, I do not possess your disk changing skills. I'll just hit the little button before swapping them. It's not like it's a PITA to do that.

I used the sander quite a bit yesterday. I just used the universal repair method (duct tape) and got the sander hooked up to my vacuum. Even with only about 2 1/2 holes unobstructed, the dust collection was equally as good as my Bosch sander.

I really like this sander...... Thanks to everyone who helped me through this process of analysis paralysis.

[Mark Bolton]

Good lord... I am so sorry for suppliers....

I have never read such foolishness? Global power? Turning off power to change paper? What pray tell is the world coming to? We have been using these electric dynabrade envelope sanders for years and I have never in my life heard of anything so neurotic as to having to turn off the power to change the paper or a concern with regards to having two switches? What in holy heck is wrong with people.

Its not uncommon to go through an entire box of paper in a day on some work (50 sheets +), you simply roll the sander over in your palm with no pressure on the paddle and swap the sheet, seconds, and back to work. Its lightning fast compared to a toggle/slide type switch. Utter nonsense. While I could understand the manufacturer having some protocol for powering down a separate transformer and sander (the Gen1 or Ceros) in years ist never been a concern. Its not uncommon for the power supply to get its cord kicked an unplugged, you just plug back in. About the only time we power down the sander itself is if it has a chance of getting flopped over moving something and the weight of the sander upside town with trip the paddle.

The paddle is no different than a dynabrade? Are commercial shops unclipping the air to their dynabrades every time they change paper? Uhhhhhh.....

As to the hose and the adapter... ALL of these sanders, Mirka, surfprep, whoever, come with a STANDARD left hand adapter on the tool that simply threads onto a STANDARD 1 1/4" left hand spiral corrugated vac hose. We have 20 year old porter cable angle grinder body random orbit sander/polishers with the exact same adapter on them. If you are using a NON-STANDARD (read Festool) hose, thats on you for needing an adapter to a supplier that opts for a NON-STANDARD hose system. Everyone else is shipping their tools to meet the STANDARD corrugated hose (which we have several of).

Holes/pads/paper, we have the RO pads with the million holes in them, the abranet type pads, so the amount of holes in the paper is really irrelevant. 5 hole paper equals a bit more abrasive and a bit less pickup, 9 hole paper equals a bit more pickup and a bit less abrasive. We run the million hole pads on all the sanders so what hole paper doesnt matter but we run the 9 hole to keep the shop as clean as possible.

Happy you made a smart choice on a sander,.. your body, and your work, will thank you. Dont let the neurotics get inside your head.... :-)

[Dave Sabo]

Prob. is Mark that 1-1/4” bare hose end that your shop uses doesn’t really fit or attach onto most other woodworking tools’ vac ports without an adapter. So , you’re gonna be fiddling at some point if you don’t have a dedicated vac for your sander.

Or have two hoses you can swap.

Might be ok in a commercial shop. But a mobile finisher or carpenter isn’t going to give up the space for redundant systems.


The crux is really that what you claim as non- standard has sorta become the standard. Especially in the world where individuals are shelling out 500 bucks for a sander. Festool’s hose end fits all their tools without an adapter. And guess what ? It also fits all of Bosch and Metabo’s sanders, as well as porter cable and DeWalt ones too. Ditto for Bosch’s vac hose. And Fein’s. And a slew of other premium vac/dust extractors.

The fact of the matter is these sander marketers are missing a big opportunity to access a market predisposed to expensive sanders, while at the same time passing off early adopters. It’s a real shame because the manufacture already has a part in their catalog that allows direct connection to those festool ends. It’s just none of the ignorant, thick headed marketers will place the order.

[Randy Heinemann]

I have too many sanders, but, in my use, I found that each has a task that it excels at. I own an ETS150 and ETS125. If I were buying today I'd only buy the 125 (mainly because the edge sanding attachment is available). However, I do use the 250 with a hard pad for finish sanding larger flat surfaces and it seems to do a better job than the 125 for that work. However, the 125 is amazing when the surfaces are smaller and now, with the edge sanding attachment, great for edge sanding. I also own an Rotex 90 because I was doing a little carving and that was good for sanding curved surfaces with a soft pad. Unfortunately I own a Rotex 125 also; not something I use a lot but I have used it for a recent slab table I made to help flatten get the slab's top sanded smooth. As I said, if I were to start over I wouldn't buy all of those for sure, but they all seem to have something they excel at. What you buy depends on what you will mostly do with the sanders but it isn't always obvious what a sander's strong points are until you use it.

[Mark Bolton]

Prob. is Mark that 1-1/4” bare hose end that your shop uses doesn’t really fit or attach onto most other woodworking tools’ vac ports without an adapter. So , you’re gonna be fiddling at some point if you don’t have a dedicated vac for your sander.

Or have two hoses you can swap.

Might be ok in a commercial shop. But a mobile finisher or carpenter isn’t going to give up the space for redundant systems.


The crux is really that what you claim as non- standard has sorta become the standard. Especially in the world where individuals are shelling out 500 bucks for a sander. Festool’s hose end fits all their tools without an adapter. And guess what ? It also fits all of Bosch and Metabo’s sanders, as well as porter cable and DeWalt ones too. Ditto for Bosch’s vac hose. And Fein’s. And a slew of other premium vac/dust extractors.

The fact of the matter is these sander marketers are missing a big opportunity to access a market predisposed to expensive sanders, while at the same time passing off early adopters. It’s a real shame because the manufacture already has a part in their catalog that allows direct connection to those festool ends. It’s just none of the ignorant, thick headed marketers will place the order.

The Festool is not, and likley will never be, "a standard". They are a proprietary company doing a masterful job of trying to become a standard but they are not.

My mirka Ceros sanders all use the left hand adapter that comes as "standard". Its most definitely a pain to swap having to thread/unthread which we do not do by simply having a dedicated hose on any tool that simply clips to any vac. Its less than perfect but when you have a tool with a dedicated power cord attached to a hose its actually easier to just pickup the tool, hose/cord and your vac and power connection are mutually at the end of the vac hose (similar to the insanely priced cord/hose kit).

In the end, cumbersome or not, they all beat the standard slip-on connections that constantly fall off and get loose of the days of old.

Inevitably someone will come out with advances/adapters over time but it will be hard to beat the budget shopper hose for 30 bucks and then tout the festool CTS/hose. You cant have your cake an eat it to. This foolishness starts with an argument that a 350 sander is "too pricey" then ends with attaching it to a foolishly pricey vac hose.

I despise the home centers but several of our sanders run through $99 ridgid shop vacs behind a dust deputy. Its hard to beat $260 bucks and you can sand til your blue in the face with a $30 hose. But I guess at this point I cant figure out if the argument is the sander is too expensive but a $500 vac is the standard or a $100 vac and a $350 sander that saves you from the wrist surgeon is better..

Again.. all foolishness.

[George Yetka]

Ive only been using rotex up to 120 then switching to standard at 120 then progressing. I recently picked up a mirka 5/6 combo but havent put the festool power adapter on it yet so havent tried it out yet.

[Dave Sabo]

The Festool is not, and likely will never be, "a standard". They are a proprietary company doing a masterful job of trying to become a standard but they are not.

You're forcing your self centered view on a comment I made to suit your own biases. I never said Festool was the "standard" May have inferred that, but it wasn't my intention. What I am saying is that their hose end fits into the standard size adopted by pretty much anyone in the premium tool / vac market. Their rubber hose end is pretty much the same size as Fein, Bosch, Metabo, and a slew of others. And they all fit each other's tool dust ports.

All the vacs in this test (except one - the Mericun brand) have hoses with a rubber end that natively fit the vast majority of vac ports on each other's tools. It's about as standard as it gets without a governing body declaring this is the standard , now adhere to it.

In the end, cumbersome or not, they all beat the standard slip-on connections that constantly fall off and get loose of the days of old.

Maybe for you. Not for many others. Me included. And in twenty plus years of using them I haven't had an issue with the end coming off of tools. There has been one exception - a makita sander which for some reason uses a very small diameter dust port. It required an adapter - until it was mothballed when I go a Rotex.

Inevitably someone will come out with advances/adapters over time

That time is here.
Rockler has their adapter kit and interestingly enough, Festool's latest rubber connector has a locking mechanism in it to mate to their new locking ports. It's not an improvement, for me anyway. But it addresses the slippage issue for guys that have them like you. And guess what ? It's backwards and forward compatible. The locking ends work on non locking ports and vice versa. They also work with other brands.

How's that for proprietary, non-standard , standard ? ? ?

Again.. all foolishness.

For sure. But you're perpetuating it by using Mirka or other high $$ sanders. These companies are simply filling a need. Otherwise they'd disappear.

[Mark Bolton]

For sure. But you're perpetuating it by using Mirka or other high $$ sanders. These companies are simply filling a need. Otherwise they'd disappear.

Pfft... good lord man. I feel for you. Sad,... good luck.