5/31/2008 RTS 400 Orbital Sander $195.00 Today $260.00
4/19/2010 TS75 Track Saw $562.50 Today $780.00
I have other Festool tools, Dust Extractor, Drill, MTF work Table.
The Dust Extractor has been replaced by a model that is approximately
50% more expensive.
The work Table and Drill kit are pretty much the same price that they were 4~5 years ago.
Would I buy any of the above again? In a heart beat. All of these tools have increased my production significantly not to mention controlling the dust with out loosing my hearing. ;~)
They evidently know their customers. Not only that, this way they can probably afford to have a "big sale", increase sales, and probably improve the bottom line. The price increases only add to the exclusivity of their products. I trust them to know what they are doing. I know you make good use of your tools--I am working on it.
I have a big feeling that the price increase is mostly due to the government debt. Our dollars keep losing value.
BUT as you point out, the tools that seem to be the most popular and or exclusive are the ones that increase in cost the most.
I was a bit suprised that their drills have pretty much stayed the same over the last 4~5 years or actually gone down in price.
Festool batteries are/were quite expensive. $100+ each in the 15 volt range. They are about half that now. Swingman and I went to a Festool traveling show. When you registered to view the display they were giving away caps, t-shirts, or batteries. Guess which one I took.
I know you like their drills but I don't see anything special about them. I think you've hit the nail squarely, though. The tools that there is a percieved (or real) value to the Festool brand, have been getting more expensive. Others, not as much.
The technology behind batteries has been getting cheaper.
The thing that I like with the Festool drill is that it had heavy duty swapable attachments. And I really like the "electronic" clutch. The drill shuts off when the predetermined torque is reached, none of that rattling noise of a slipping clutch, and therefore smoother.
And I do not really know if this is true with all modern drills or not but I used to have a 12 volt Makita drill/driver and an impact driver. I use the impact driver more than the drill/driver. I have not used that impact driver since getting the Festool drill, T15, just a touch higher voltage. The power is smooth and controlled.
I think you've hit the nail squarely, though. The tools that
My, my. We have someone on the hook who hasn't been laid in a decade, it seems. You should fix that problem. There's probably a knothole in the back yard somewhere.
I hear you but I'm unconvinced. I rather like the operation of an impact driver. I find it helps keep the bit from camming out. I can pull a buggered screw with the impact driver that there is no way to get out with a driver/drill.
On occasion I use my Bosch impact. For the same reasons you mention, especially when removing. Or if I am mounting slides and predrillng with a Vix bit. I use the impact as a drill in that circumstance no the Festool drill to drive.
I have had to take the impact drivers out of the hands of some of my guys. They LOVE the compact size, but they continually overdrive screws with the m. Passage door hinges, mounting screws, and on an on that simply need to be snug are drawn up to the point of distorting the attachment materials. W ith a regular drill/driver you can feel the screw tension and hear the soun ds without all the chatter of the impact driver.
Just as bad, they like to use the impact driver to drill holes. The hex bo died drill bits are rarely concentric, and the chucks on the impact drivers certainly aren't. So you get inaccurate holes sizes, which especially when doing metal work is unacceptable. Nothing like drilling a hole that won't hold a screw correctly.
I have noticed that a lot of tool prices have actually gone down. Certainl y not Festool, but different tools from DeWalt, Bosch, Milwaukee, etc. that have comparable specs to yesteryear are about the same price. I had a gre at talk with the local DeWalt rep and he was able to supply a great deal of info on the subject.
- parts made overseas in factories that make just a few parts, not whole to ols. So for example there is a plant that makes drive belts in Thailand, a plant in Indonesia that makes switches, a plant in one part of China that makes the plastic housings, bearings that come from India, and the parts ar e assembled in China or Mexico
- computer driven design takes a huge consideration towards manufacturing e ase and efficiency. It also creates designs that can automate the producti on as much as possible
- certain parts aren't made the same way they were years ago. His example was the die cast gears in most DeWalt drills/drivers/saws compared to 25 ye ars ago when their better drills/saws had machine cut gears
- whole tools assembled in specialty assembly factories that use outsourced parts
- commonality of parts. Triggers, speed control boards, motors, etc. may b e used in several different models and brands if owned by the same parent c ompany
The trade off certainly is the lack of quality. My boys that like their ye llow tools are completely unhappy with most of the DeWalt line now as they lack the durability and reliability. Likewise the Makita tools that are fr om that zebra striped line. What I see most going to these days is Ridgid. Not for superior performance or ease of use, but because they are reliabl e and they have a great warranty. I have used the warranty twice and both t imes they were speedy and didn't argue with me.
I have thought for a few years now that we are just as much in the warranty buying business as we are tool buying business.
Or built on "factory ships" that travel the PacRim picking up the required parts, then deliver the assembled goods to North America
But even the best warranty in the world doesn't change the fact that you areinconvenienced by the failure, and working with crappy tools is not fun. Virtually all of my "heavy use" tools are well over 15 years old and some well over 30) and LONG out of warranty. They will likely still be useable when inherited by my sons-in-law.
But, you can't buy new 15~30 year old tools any more. ;~)
I suspect that Festool will be in that category. I showed a neighbor my Domino a couple of weeks ago. He is 3~4 years into woodworking and on his own has discovered Festool, he owns 3~4 Festools. He commented on how the Domino looked brand new after cutting ten's of thousands of mortises over the past 10 years.
And speaking of the Domino.. The neighbor pointed out his thoughts on which Domino to buy, the original or the XL. He thinks the XL because he might want to build a door one day adding that you can buy an adapter to use smaller bits with it.
I pointed out that this is true but do you want to use an oversized tool when 98% of the time the smaller much lighter weight version probably has more advantages. I can tell you from experience that even the small Domino gets heavy after a hundred or so mortises. I reminded him that is much better to buy the tool that is better suited to a commonly repeated task than one that can be adapted to do the small stuff too but is intended for the big stuff.
I actually hadn't thought about puting the Vix bits in the impact driver. No real reason to, though. No, I wouldn't use an impact driver to drive that sort of screw either. I have plain drivers for that.
I use the impact because it is handy and simply spins with no load. and I do not have to swap bits. I seldom use the impact for any other reason. FWIW I used the Makita impact a lot before I got the Festool drill. The Bosch impact just showed up on my front porch one day, addressed to me. Still a mystery as to who sent it, it came directly from Bosch.
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