Does Festool have package prices?

[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks for the help here Creeks. I got my answer and made my decision so what’s say we just kill this conversation before it turns into another manufacturer bashing.

[Dave Sabo]

have no problem with the replacement bags being considerably more expensive

really ?

Looks to me like the bags for that vac cost 10bucks each at the Depot. Same price as comparable sized Festool bags.

are fine with a three year vs. lifetime warranty

Have you tried to avail yourself of a warranty with ridgid vac ? Good luck. The FT is unconditional for 3 yrs - not defects. You’re gonna hit a wall of “normal wear and tear “ when you try and claim in five years on the Ridgid.

Ridgid are great vacs for the prices charged. They just aren’t in a league with premium vacs like festool , nilfisk, hilti, ect…. But not everyone needs/wants/can afford that level. Which is totally fine. There’s a product for everyone out there.

[Tim Ulmen]

Depending on your application, you might want to consider the Ridgid WD 7000 which is back in stock at Home Depot. It has 203 CFM vs. Festool's 130 CFM. It also runs about $325.00 vs Festool's much higher pricing. It comes complete with hose and accessories along with on board storage. I tried it to use on my Kapex and it has made the saw virtually dust free at a fraction of the price of any of the Festool Dust Extractors. And it comes with a lifetime warranty.

The festool pulls 96” of water column (Aka how hard it sucks).

The rigid doesn’t list this but typically cfm comes at a cost to static pressure.

For me static pressure (pull) is way more important because I’m using this kind of vac for sanders and routers…aka catching dust and chips.

For cleaning up the shop floor cfm is great (and I use an old Ridgid for that).

Just food for though.

[Paul Koenigs]

I'm looking to upgrade my dust extraction but before I order a vacuum extractor I thought I'd see if anyone knows of any Festool "packages" that might help spread the sticker shock a bit.
I'm leaning toward a CT 36 with a boom package and the Festool cyclone as an integrated vacuum system but If I could find the extractor packaged with a router or sander and package price maybe I'd go that route.

Also, do the Festool extractors work well as general shop/floor vacuums?

They used to have "deals".. where if you bought a domino and vac together, you'd get something like $50 off. I'm almost positive I got 50 off when I got mine.
Maybe they did it with the track saw and vac too.
It was nice, but it's not as if it was a huge savings.
This was probably well over 10 years ago.

I would buy a regular shop vac for regular shop vac use. Sure, you could use the festool vac, but one of the nicest thing about the festool vac is that it has these bags to catch the dust and help keep the air cleaner.
Those bags are pretty expensvie.. IF you just use the vac on your domino, saw, and tools, the bags last a long time.
If you vac up your shop with the festool vac, you probably could easily fill up an entire bag .
Note, I remember a festool guy saying you can run the vac without the bag if you don't want to pay for bags, but that kind of defeats the entire purpose of keeping your lungs safe , and I am guessing if you ran the vac without
a bag, the lifetime of the air filter would be severely compromised.

I have a Rigid shop vac that I use for general cleanup. They used to go on sale every father's day.. not sure if that is still the case or not.. but in any event not very expensive.
Using your festool vac for everything will cost you more money in the longterm.

[Greg Quenneville]

Seriously, look into the longlife resealable bags available for your Festool vacuums. There are even aftermarket versions on Amazon. Both replace about 300 of the normal bags. I have one in my CT22 and think the bag might outlast the vacuum (which is 21 years old). My vac supports all of my tools and does shop and car clean up.

Greg

[Justin Rapp]

you guys realize you are responding to a post that is almost a year old?

[Michael Burnside]

I found the post before yours useful so IMHO the thread resurrection was useful.

[Dave Sabo]

They used to have "deals"

they used to be cheaper too - the days for both have long since passed.

festool vac is that it has these bags to catch the dust and help keep the air cleaner.
Those bags are pretty expensvie..

vac bags have exsisted long before fetool came to these shores. With regard to cost, festool's are very close in price to a similar sized bag as the ones you'd buy at the depot of lowes for a reg. ol' shop vac. SOmetimes cheaper.

I remember a festool guy saying you can run the vac without the bag

You can run it without a bag but as you say, you $100+ filter(s) are at risk. DOn't buy a car you cannot afford to put gas in.

Seriously, look into the longlife resealable bags available for your Festool vacuums.

This is generally not great advice. That bag is designed for chips / large shavings not fine dust generated by sanding , ect..... Performance is affected when those bags are packed and caked with fine dust.

[Greg Quenneville]

Dave…I have emptied my resealable bag more than 100 times. I might tap it against the side of the trash bin occasionally, but I haven’t experienced the loss of suction problem. My vac sees as much fine sanding dust as saw dust.

Greg

[Dave Sabo]

Dave…I have emptied my resealable bag more than 100 times. I might tap it against the side of the trash bin occasionally, but I haven’t experienced the loss of suction problem. My vac sees as much fine sanding dust as saw dust.
Greg

How do you know ? Did you measure the values when the bag was new and compared them with now ? I can say with certainty your cfm is less than when the bag was new.

Of couse it works, so does using my screwdriver as prybar and running the wrong oil in my engines. But like the bag, that's not what the orig. design mandate was. Folks make decesions everyday about whether to follow directions or not. Bottom line is , FT did not intend for the LLB to be used for fine dust applications. And one can find all kinds of discussions on the merits/drawbacks of the LLB vs. reg. bags round here and other forums. I'm firmly in the camp using disposable bags. If you're really into the economy aspect (and have the volume / don't need portability) a cyclone in a better choice for fines and chips. Don't you also find it ironic that you capture a bagfull of dust only to re-distribute some of it into the air when you empty the bag and bang it it out ?

People are free to pay their coin and use their tools anyway they see fit.