6" Sander, Bosch Vs Festool

duburban

is there anything that makes the festool that much better than the bosch between these? they seem virtually the same...

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/T...x?pid=1250DEVS

http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog...de-sander.html

bob14-0

Many times they are the same tool. I'd save money and go for the Bosch. Here's a tool test on ROS, but 5"
http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/indus...icleID=1200315

ApgarNJ

yeah but with the Festool you get a systainer worth about 100 bucks! lol

bosch looks very similar. festool is great too, just pricey. worth it for some tools, not for others.

BCConstruction

Like most stuff festools sells there are other companys make stuff that works just the same but cost far less. I guess it's like buying a Ford or an Audi. They both get you from A-B but you know what you would rather really own. If you can afford the Festool it's a no brainer after buying some of their kit my self im pretty impressed but the bosch does look like a nice sander also.

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Rustbucket

If you have a vac, the Festool sanders are amazing! Virtually nothing left behind. Very smooth, and almost no vibration. Once you go green..... Warner, take it away!

ApgarNJ

i see that rigid has a dual mode one also. 120 bucks. lifetime part/service, 1/8 mod and 1/4 in mode for aggressive. i am not buying it but i saw it today. can't argue with their warranty. even their battery tools, which I own ZERO of, you can bring a battery back at any point it stops working and you get a new one free. i love the makitas and so far their batteries for lithium ions are holding up nicely.
it's all about the bottom line these days and how much money you actually keep in your pocket, and not wasting money on a tool that is nice but you can get the same results with something that costs 1/4 of the expensive one.

for 120 bucks and knowing if it ever breaks or whatever, you get it repaired for free with free parts. or they give you a new one, that is a good deal from rigid imo. i may consider that 6" one from them just to get my by and see how it goes. their 5" got great reviews as stated in another thread but the 6" dual mode seems nicer and a lot less expensive than the rotex 6"
i don't sand in a shop, nor do I build fine furniture or cabinets, so a sander to me is different than a sander for others.
my PC333VS has gotten me years and years of service and the sanding that I have done it's done a great job with no swirl marks.

WarnerConstInc.

I have heard good things about that bosch.
It looks like the old style rotex sander.

I would venture to guess the dust extraction on the festool was much better.

Notice the country of origin on the bosch?

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mwhafner

I had the Ridgid can't hold a candle to Festool Rotex. No comparison. I had one for about 6 months, and was never impressed with it. Didn't really do a good job for either aggressive or finish sanding.

I haven't tried the Bosch, but have read good reviews. There was a guy on another forum that had both the Bosch and the Rotex, and he really liked both. If memory serves, his only comment was that paper didn't load up and wear as quickly on the Festool.

Makita also makes a model that looks similar to the Bosch.

I have the RO150 and the ETS150/3. They make a great combination. You can get about the same results with the Rotex alone, but it isn't as well balanced or comfortable to use as the ETS.

My only Festool purchase that has been a disappointment is the ETS125. It really doesn't work any better than the Bosch, Makita, or PC 5" sanders. I have used the newer low-profile PC sander, and it is great. More aggressive than most of its counterparts, but extremely comfortable to use for extended periods.

duburban

work with a guy that has the ridgid you guys are talking about. its ok... we did a job where the owner had the 150 rotex sander and it simply kicked a$$. haven't tried the bosch yet but it is made in germany... i think its the one for me. i'm not at the point where dust extraction is worth the extra $200 or so. but having a sander this aggressive could have saved me days or weeks in sanding with a 5" 3 amp. recently did a job for an architect that was building his own house. he used a 1/4 sheet sander to do all his beams, didn't even know about a random orbit! poor guy.

i did read bad reviews on makitas tool. something about breaking and then the service was terrible. someones bad luck.

wheres the guy that owns the bosch and festool? give us the dirt!

Winchester

why do people even consider ridgid?

their stuff looks decent on the shelf but that's it.

as far as warranty, it's all BS. my drill set kicked it after 4 months and they wouldn't do anything about it.

everything I've bought from ridgid was **** except for my shopvac. they make a good vac for the price range they're in.

there's a good reason all they're stuff is cheaper than others. in fact, i still don't think they're worth what you pay for them.

RIDGID ARE DIY/WEEKEND WARRIOR TOOLS

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ApgarNJ

my roofer bought the rigid collated screw gun, just for when they reskin a roof with ply over roof boards and the rafter spacing is too great. he got the cordless rigid one with lithium ion batteries and for what he does with it, it holds up just great and works as good as my coorded senco gun.
i bought a senco because i needed it for one job and figured at 99 bucks it would burn up right away but it's still kicking and has saved me a ton of time. might not be top of the line but i don't use it everyday so that doesn't matter to me sometimes.
anyways. my roofer had an issue with the one battery right out of the box. took the battery back to the store, and they handed him a new battery right off the shelf, no questions asked. no receipt shown, no returns done.

some of their stuff is DIY and some stuff i see contractors use everyday. think about dewalt batteries and how much some guys spend on them each year. how many of the normal 18 volt dewalt batteries do you have that go bad?? if you had rigid and the battery that costs 80 bucks goes bad at any time during the life of the tool they give you a free battery.
why can't dewalt do that?? 120 bucks for a double pack of dewalt batteries adds up. that's why i hate dewalt for cordless.

so for something like a sander that costs 70 bucks, big deal if the 5" rigid sander, which gets a great reviews, only lasts a year or so. you take it back and they hand you a new one. or fix yours free.
i haven't bought it but for a little 5 inch backup sander, not a bad deal. i would never buy rigid circ saw, table saw, chop saw etc. but for little things like that, not a bad deal. they have been around a lot longer than just popping up in HD.

BCConstruction

It's more to do with each store person than the warranty it's self. At my local Lowe's they would take stuff back from me that was out of warranty when they really shouldn't. But the Lowe's 2 miles further down the road wont even take back stuff thats under warranty and tell me to send it to the returns address on the warranty info.

They are exactly the same in HD, i asked a guy if they would price match the kitchen door handles to a price i see online which was 1/3rd they were selling them for. One guy said yes we can and he double check with the so called "expert" handle guy and he said yes but the woman at the customer desk said No she said that these 2 people didn't know what they was talking about and just as she said that they walked past and heard her. They got pissed of and Told her how to do it through the system. They said to her she does this 20 times a day for the last year so she should know how to do it by now.

Had exactly the same problem with the lumber also in HD. Exact same as above.

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Winchester

compare it side-by-side with a real tool and you wouldn't say the same thing.

they replaced a new/unused battery he just paid for that didn't work no questions asked? wow... amazing!

Some ridgid stuff I see contractors use every day as well. Usually though it's fairly new (which means it just hasn't fallen apart yet).

reviews are usually done on new tools anyway. the fact that they don't last long is proof they're made for DiY IMO. So if you or your roofer buy DiY tools to save money because you don't use that tool often, that's fine. Just don't kid yourself as to what kind of tool it is.

yeah, I hear they used to make decent plumbing tools.

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Ryan

jarhead0531

I'm guess you have had some bad experiences with Ridgid tools. Care to share winchester. I own serveral Ridgid power tools and have had zero problems with them, but none of them are daily users.

charimon

My adivse here is buy them both on credit card and use them hard for a couple weeks Factor EVERY thing in to your desision on which to keep and return the "looser" under the 30 TOTAL satisfaction warrenty......Festool USA actually encourages this practice (I am guessing they Win more heads up than they lose), so that the credit is on the same billing cycle..... take pics or a video and post your evaluation....
Craig

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ApgarNJ

my point is that if you bought a dewalt or any other type of cordless tool and had a problem with a battery a month or so after you bought it, you are SOL.

i'm not saying I love rigid. the only thing rigid i own is a 4 gallon shop vac because they work better than my shopvac brand one i have.

i never said rigid was the best nor did I say it was better than festool.

i own festool tools and love them. i wish i could afford to buy more.

and the reviews put the rigid 5 inch sander right up there with the festool 5" ETS 125. the rigid one is actually more expensive than the new porter cable 333. all of them are made in china anyways, probably with the same parts inside, with the exception of maybe bosch and festool not being from china.

you can come out and bash rigid all you want but some of their stuff isn't all that bad, some of it is crap.


also, the collated screw gun my roofer bought and the senco one i have are good enough for the amount of time I use mine and the amount of time he uses his. for me, i'm not always going to spend top dollar for something that doesn't get used on a daily or weekly basis. sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. my senco collated may not be the top dog but it's lasted several years and hasn't had a thing go wrong with it, for 99 bucks when it breaks, i throw it out. the days of tools lasting forever are over. it's a disposable era. i've spent 400 dollars on milwaukee cordles s only to have the batteries die in 6 months or the gears strip out on me too. and i felt i was buying a good drill then. not everyone can afford to buy every single tool in their box from festool.

Winchester

drill set was crap. they're batteries wouldn't charge if it was even slightly cool out. they crapped out after 4 months of very little use (they were a backup set) and Homo Depot nor the Ridgid guy wouldn't do anything about it. I gave the set to my carpenter and he bought the heavy as **** nicad batteries and uses the ridgid as a backup set for his cheap Mastercraft drill set. That's how crappy ridgid is.

I also have the MSUV that doesn't lock open anymore. if I have a long piece of wood on the right side of my saw the stand will drop down (pretty dangerous if you ask me). It's pretty cheaply made to begin with and the only part that takes any real beating is the extending arms which hardly work anymore.

I've got the 14" chop saw that I use once in a blue moon and it hasn't crapped out on me yet and does it's job.

i've also got a 1/2" corded drill that I rarely use that is still kicking.

They're all cheap, and I know not to expect much from them, they are what they are and for stuff I very rarely use I'd consider ridgid as well.

I'll never buy ridgid for anything over $100 ever again, though. The warranty thing is BS.

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Ryan

KennMacMoragh

Only difference I can see with the Festool is you can hook it up to their dust extractor, would be nice if you were working inside.

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WarnerConstInc.

The bosch hooks to a dust extractor as well.

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paulieryan

Festool has best accessories for dust collection....if this is important for you (for example for your worker protection insurance) then its best to go with Festool IMO

Makita Belt Sander 9031 is good and so too is Hitachi P50

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