Festool pro-5

[Brewster]

Well I've been using the new sander for a few weeks and I have to say, Festool makes some nice stuff! There prices still scare the leather off of my wallet, but the "little" things this sander does puts the rich Corinthian leather back into my old pick-em-up truck!

I've used a Porter Cable 333VS 5" ROS for many years. I like it, but most annoying is waiting for the thing to stop after switching it off. The pro-5 stops nearly instantly (a slight lag on startup that is slightly off putting, but I'll deal with it).

The vibration, or really lack there of is also a very nice change. The sample pack of the light blue Garnet paper seems to live up to it's reputation. Nice big power switch, comfy grip, what's not to love?

The ROS one of my most used power hand tools, I think this was $200 well spent. At least I have a year to decide if/what the $50 voucher will be used on (probably for "system" accessories that no Festool user would be seen without 8^).

-BR

[Leon]

I used the PC right angle for almost 20 years and replaced it with the Rotex. And I replaced my PC Speedbloc at almost the same time with the RTS 400. Both of these sanders well out performed the PC's. In the last 3-5 months I added to my collection, I was strongly considering the ETS125 ROS but compared it the the ETS EC125/3 and opted to go with the later. The one I turned down is the more expensive but less features brother to the Pro-5. It was a close call but the ETS EC125/3 is almost as powerful as the Rotex but extremely easy to control as I am sure the Pro-5 continues to be over the ETS125.

Lovely eh? LOL. I find that true to with the one I bought, I can lay it upside down in my lap and sand small parts with great ease. The vibration is so little that I don't turn the sander off, when in my lap, when I do a touch of manual hand sanding on those small parts.

Be careful with the name of that sand paper, the light blue paper is not Garnet, it is Granat. The Granat paper literally lasts 10 times longer than the Rubin paper that I used to use. And the Rubin was better than I had precious used.

$200?

[krw]

I believe the "voucher" has to be used on another power tool, not accessories.

[DerbyDad03]

One of the features of that tool is listed as "soft-start", which eliminates the high torque at startup. Is that what you are referring to as the "slight lag on startup"?

I don't have a ROS. Do they typically have a high startup torque?

My PC router doesn't have soft-start but my Rocky 30 trim router does. I like it.

[Brewster]

Doh! I was spelling from memory, "Granat" is correct.

Heh, CRS disease! I was thinking $199 (regular price), I paid the $99 "Intro" price. Still more expensive at this price point than the other

5" ROSs, but it's a cut above in so many ways. I've been itching for a right angle 6" to augment my belt sander for the rough hogging out of slabs and the Rotex would seem to fill in the gap between the belt sander and the 5" ROS with its multiple "modes"

-BR

[Brewster]

Correct, I've been considering portable dust collection, AKA small vacuum as an accessory, though $50 amounts to little more than a 10-15% discount (basically FesToolBait).

-BR

[Brewster]

No, this is a lot like the delayed start that some LED lights have. You flip the switch and there is a short (fraction of a second) delay before the sander begins to spin up. I have no issued with starting/stopping the sander while in contact with the wood whereas my older ROS would leave nasty swirl scratches if I did that.

I'm sure they all act differently, but my PC would hit full speed the moment the power was switched. I got used to this but the spin down time was getting old. The Festool spins down to a stop very quickly. I'm guessing that this sander is brushless so a more advanced breaking circuit is possible.

My PC router has the soft start which is nice, but this model apparently has failures in that circuit. I'm dreading the day mine fails. My Miluakee and Bosch Colt also do that, I can't imaging using a multi-HP router and big bit without that feature.

-BR

>

[Leon]

Since getting the Rotex, about 7 years ago, I have not once used my portable belt sander. I bought the 5" version and have been very happy with that size, even more so now that my new ROS uses 5" paper. I use The Rotex mostly on glued up joints now.

[Leon]

LOL, I think the Pro5 is Festool Bait. Well worth double but an excellent way to get those sitting on the fence, wondering if the brand is worth the extra money, to take the plunge.

[krw]

I used mine on the new sheetrock screw gun. I have a *lot* of sheetrock to hang over the next years. Again, it was only

10%.

[Leon]

Mine has a slight delayed start too. If yours has the feature that lets you prevent the sander from starting with out a dust collection hose attached this may be the delay. My sander has the option of defeating that feature if you want.

Again, on my sander, the spin down is almost instant, you can't set it down too fast. Festool uses a ceramic break instead of the typical rubber one that wears out relatively quickly. Your sander may have that feature too.

Routers with out soft start, especially the big ones, are something that gets your attention. I have an old Bosch 3+hp plunge router that is not VS and NOT soft start. YOU better be holding on when you hit the switch.

[Leon]

Do you have a Festool drill also?

[krw]

No, I like my Bosch drivers (I have a pile of them - tools are cheaper than batteries). The screw gun is my only cordless Festool. I'm looking at a Carvex but I still like my Bosch (corded).

[Leon]

I have had the T15-3 for about 4 years. That drill has replace my need for an impact driver, the Makita. I do have a Bosch impact that I got for free several years ago and I use it as a back up drill mostly. I do not know if it is common for todays Li-Ion brushless drills to have as much torque as my Festool drill but I am surprised that it eliminated the need for an impact 95% of the time. Let us know how that drywall driver works out.

The Carvex is pretty cool but like you I am fond of my Milwaukee jigsaw and I don't use it much except for rough cutting boards to length and a few other cuts that would be hard to perform with a BS or TS.

[J. Clarke]

I don't find that torque is the reason for an impact driver--I'm pretty sure my hammerdrill can provide as much torque as my impact driver. The difference is that the drill feeds the torque back into the handle, the impact driver doesn't.

[Leon]

Well from this stand point. The commonly matched set of driver and impact usually gives the torque advantage to the impact by a 3 to 1 margin. On my older 12 volt Makita driver and impact their we're always times that the driver simply could not drive a large screw or lag screw. The Festool 15 volt driver cab sink lag screws and long #10 deck screws with little effort. Anyway I can relatively quickly or slowly drive a large screw and stop mid way then resume at the previous speed or slower or faster. Most all of my other drill/ drivers including corded required me to back the screw up and have momentum going past that point. Or that required a full pull on the trigger to proceed often with more speed than desirable.

Concerning your hammer drill, i would venture to say that the hammer action is not adding torque so much as vibration. Some times if you tap on a stuck nut or bolt it will loosen the grip.

[J. Clarke]

When I drive screws with the hammer drill I turn the hammer off, silly.

And I have never had a drill that didn't try to twist out of my hand when the bit was firmly secured to a stuck screw. That's the real benefit of the impact driver.

[krw]

I never run out of torque on a driver. I like impact drivers because they don't tear up heads and will back out screws with buggered up heads.

I may get around to using it this weekend. I have some repair to do upstairs (electrician are holes in the kitchen to run "new" can lights and we had a leak on one bedroom.

Cordless is its big attraction. However, I really don't use a jigsaw very much. Mostly for inside cuts. I don't have a BS yet (sheetrock comes first), so it's the only thing I have to make curvy cuts, too.

[krw]

I have both 12V and 18V versions of the Bosch impact drivers and drills. The 12V are good for about 80% of the work I do and they're very light (easy to use over the head or under counters). The 18V takes care of the rest.

I think his point was that the hammer-drill is a beast, not that he's using the hammer feature for driving screws. OTOH, beasts are heavy.

One of the things I don't like about, at least some of, the Festool drills is that piece that comes down in front of the fingers. It would seem that it would constantly get in the way.

[Leon]

Well if you need to break a stuck screw loose the hammer action probably would help initially but after it breaks loose it probably offers nothing.

Yes by the nature of how the impact operates you get a lot less feed back through the handle but there is a significant increase in torque which will break screws/bolts loose that a common driver will not. So for you the advantage of no feed back is a valid point, for me the added torque is/was the advantage. But moving from that stand point, the impact noise is a disadvantage especially in confined spaces.

In my younger days and working in the automotive industry impact wrenches were an absolute necessity. I can't tell you how many times I used one. To the unknowing the 3/4" drive impacts that we used to remove 19 wheeler wheels was intimidating. It was often mentioned that you should hold on for your life. Weighing in at about 135lbs back then I joyed in using that impact over a 5' breaker bar.