Hmmm.... I wonder how much the market can stand.
I saw on the Festool website that they are going to raise prices once again . Obviously they are selling a lot of tools or they wouldn't be raising pr ices. Their quality is without doubt, as well is their engineering.
But I do have to think somewhere in the mix folks will say "enough". I tru ly believe that for someone like Leon that uses his Festool machines the wa y he does they are worth the price. Some of their tools aren't /that/ bad in their pricing, but they have long been out of range for the casual or pa rt time woodworker that is trying to build a shop and needs a lot of basic tools.
As a full time professional I have always spent a lot of money on tools if I thought they were worth it. Back in the mid 70s, I spent $95 on a Milwau kee corded drill when I could buy Porter Cable (when it was quality!), Diss ton, Stanley commercial, and a couple of other professional brands for $50 to $65. Similarly, I bought my Milwaukee circular saw, and my Porter Cable trim carpenter's circular saw. At a couple of bucks an hour, it took me a while to be able to afford them. But since I literally made a living with those tools and relied on them to perform everyday, I was encouraged (instr ucted?) to purchase tools that would perform reliably and last on the job s ite. OK, I got that. That first Milwaukee tool still works (!), the PC tr im circular saw still works(!), and I have a Milwaukee circular saw I bough t new about 35 years ago that still works. They have seen a few lifetimes of work and still perform, so they were worth double, triple and even four times the price of the competing products.
But what about Festool? How are they positioning themselves in the market? They are too expensive to take to a job site as they would surely sprout legs and be gone in a day on some sites. When considering all the rigors, hard duty, misuse, accidents, and all the other site conditions that exist on a daily basis, no contractors or subcontractors I know use Festool produ cts. Not even in their personal shops. Not a drill, not even a drill bit. So the folks I know that would get the most use out of them don't buy. W ith other contractors from other areas and even states, that is the case.
So I wonder, who is buying these tools? Is it the guy that likes driving a Maserati when a Ford will do? Is it the serious collector? And I would h ave to ask, does anyone know (even by internet acquaintance) besides Leon t hat use Festool products professionally, or even as a serious hobbyist that turns out a few projects a year?
I get pleasure from using really nice tools myself, but there has to be con sideration for the quality/utility equation. The Domino machine, I truly g et. There is no competitor, no machine on the market that does what it doe s. Kind of like when Lamello had the market on biscuit machines. But with it poised to most likely be over a $1000 now (and don't forget tax) who wi ll be buying it? Beats me.
Anyway, for those that are thinking of buying, at least they have extended the courtesy of letting folks know there is a price boost coming.
Robert