Thread: what is the most overpriced tool?

So what do you use bannanas in the workshop for if they are an overpriced tool :confused:

for paying the monkeys

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Now what about the bananas that are grown here?
Why are the Kiwis able to buy Oz bananas at 1/6th the price that we currently have to pay? :confused:

This is just a guess, but maybe there was a trade agreement in place that guaranteed pricing over a fixed term and no-one factored in a cyclone to the costings.

Edit: Come to think of it, this doesn't sound right. If you could sell your bananas for 6 times the price in Oz, why aren't they shipping them back again and making a killing?

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

As someone who makes a living using their tools my definition of expensive or overpriced is any tool that doesn't pay its way. My most expensive single purchase to date has been an edgebander @ $5k + freight. I've owned it for about a year now and it's already paid for itself in a year of part time work. Similarly my first (half-size) panel saw paid for itself in the year that I owned it, after which I sold it for about 80% of what I paid for it. The full size saw that replaced it paid for itself in about six months.

I bought an old monster spindle moulder a few years ago for $200. I still haven't used it, but it doesn't worry me, as I know it will probably pay for itself in a week or two when I do finally run it. I also own a DeWalt RAS that I bought more than fifteen years ago. It hasn't paid for itself and is unlikely to ever do so. It was definitely overpriced.

Now to the Festoo Domino that so many people like to hold up as an example of "overpriced".
Is it expensive? Undoubtably.
Does its price reflect its manufacturing cost? Probably not.
Does its price reflect its R & D costs? Probably, in part at least.
Is it overpriced? Depends on who you are and what you're doing. I had a play with one at a trade supplier and was quite impressed. Threw out my plan of getting a horizontal slot morticer (either free standing or attached to an over & under machine). One of these days I'll need one for a job and I'll buy it, knowing that it will pay for itself in a pretty short period of time.

Mick

Pretty solid arguments there Mick.

I imagine Festool are taking advantage of "first to market" wrt pricing; they are, after all, a commercial enterprise, not a woodies philanthropical foundation (more's the pity!)

Compared to many of the $800+ joinery jigs, I believe the Domino helps any woodworker raise their game hugely whilst simultaneously greatly reducing the time to make such joints. (Better don the armour-plated trousers at this point :eek: )

Originally Posted by Sturdee

More likely to be long term contracts that have to be honoured .....

Hadn't thought of that....

Originally Posted by Groggy

.... If you could sell your bananas for 6 times the price in Oz, why aren't they shipping them back again and making a killing?

Hadn't thought of that either... maybe there is money.....
Nah, AQIS wouldn't allow it.

Originally Posted by Clinton1

So, its a cheap tool, hey Steve, .

Hi Clinton,

Cheap - definitely not - but even for me it is value for money.

You know how some of the lesser brands of biscuit jointers wobble all over the place, and you can even feel the flex in the machine just by manipulating it with your hands?

Well Domi just isn't like that.

It really is a precision built tool, and every aspect of it shows this. Added to which is the remarkable accuracy one can achieve with joinery (even me!) pretty well straight out of the box, not to mention Festool's near-legendary longevity. One simple analogy: Ever tried to adjust an air vent on a mass-market car? Then done the same thing on a Bentley? This won't mean much if you haven't done both - but if you have, you'll know exactly what I mean.

I must admit that I was quietly amused by the fervour with which this tool was venerated - 'till I acquired one myself. One hours' use and I was utterly convinced of its worth.

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

One hours' use and I was utterly convinced of its worth.

What, one hour:confused: What took you so long

Steve, if it pays for itself on a couple of commissions it is a cheap tool, and if it continues to generate the cost saving that allowed it to pay for itself ... then you are on to a winner.
E.g. Any business that pays its cost price off quickly, is cheap. Regardless of the price.
A franchise that cost $1Million dollars is cheap, if it brings in $1 Million in profit, after costs, in one year. Thats the logic I'm using.



Has Festool replaced Triton as the love it / hate it company that gets everyone talking?

Originally Posted by Lignum

What, one hour:confused: What took you so long

Spent the first 40 minutes just admiring the lady - one has to be a gentlemen with such a mistress, n'est ce pas?

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

Spent the first 40 minutes just admiring the lady - one has to be a gentlemen with such a mistress, n'est ce pas?

'séducteur subtile'

Are there Australian bananas in NZ? YES sold over there for .99c kilo and grown here in WA in Carnarvon 700 clicks from Perth where they are selling for between $12 and $14 a kilo

Now to me the interesting thing with that aside from the rediculous price discrepancy is
1) the fruit HAS to go via Perth to get to anywhere else!
2) the cost of freight to NZ would have to be massively in exess of the cost of frieght to Perth

So it seems to me that for some weird reason we are subsidizing the Kiwis!!... the view seems to be that the Kiwis must eat more bananas than we do so we can pay more for them... or the implication is that we have a far better living than the Kiwis so we can afford to subsidize their banana passions

Personally if I was a Kiwi Id take damned issue with that... and be rightiously upset at being treated as the Aussies poor cousins and boycot the importation of Carnarvon Bananas!! :mad:

Im personally boycotting Carnarvon Bananas!! heck Im boycotting Carnarvon period!!... ahem and I come from Carnarvon!... sad state of affairs when a bloke cant even get a kilo of fruit from a town a 10 hour drive away when if I lived thousands of miles away I could enjoy unlimeted supply and cheep cost for the same friggin thing!

Simply put it doesnt make sence... even for the "foreign trade" as you described Clinton

Originally Posted by Clinton1

Has Festool replaced Triton as the love it / hate it company that gets everyone talking?

Not yet! The Triton work centre is probably over priced for what it is and so is the router stand.

Originally Posted by Dion N

Not yet! The Triton work centre is probably over priced for what it is and so is the router stand.

i think triton are slowly raising there prices But i just love there products

Originally Posted by Clinton1

Has Festool replaced Triton as the love it / hate it company that gets everyone talking?

It appears that way

Lime Green is the new Orange