Thread: If you had to have only one Festool Sander?

If you rarely need to take a lot of material, the 150/3 is the best finishing sander I've ever run across. But for general purpose use, the Rotex wins by virtue of its versatility.

As for the vac, I have the CT22 and love it. The mini doesn't have the guts or capacity and unless you need to carry it to job sites I would not bother. The midi seems to get good reviews. I like the 22 for the HEPA filters and the larger capacity.

HTH

I went for the ETS150/3 and love it. I bought the CT33 instead of the CT22 the price is only about $80 more but it spends most of it's time on the Kapex

I agree with Bob. The RO150 is hard to beat as a general sanding choice. That said, for an exceptional finish, the ETS150/3 is the bees knees.
I feel I get a better result using the RO150 for the first stages, then switch over to the ETS for the higher grits.
I have a CT22 for dust extraction.

Regards,

Rob

IAW Bob and LGS. I would add that I use a $90 vacuum from Aldi and it performs very well with the two sanders. In fact, the only difference is the quality of air from the exhaust, (there is no Hepa filter).

Hi there. I only have the Rotex and absolutely love it. Serves all my purposes quite well, especially for one sander.

I have a Protool vac (cheaper than the Festool ones but I believe their made in the same factory). Fits all the Festool gear, etc. Only thing is you can't clip the Systainer on top but that hasn't worried me so far.

Enjoy,
Af.

Originally Posted by Honorary Bloke

If you rarely need to take a lot of material, the 150/3 is the best finishing sander I've ever run across. But for general purpose use, the Rotex wins by virtue of its versatility.

As for the vac, I have the CT22 and love it. The mini doesn't have the guts or capacity and unless you need to carry it to job sites I would not bother. The midi seems to get good reviews. I like the 22 for the HEPA filters and the larger capacity.

HTH

Ditto

cheers

Same again, Rotex and CT22, among other things, but if I was saying one only or buy this one first, it'd be the Rotex.

Originally Posted by Eli

Same again, Rotex and CT22, among other things, but if I was saying one only or buy this one first, it'd be the Rotex.

+1. I have the rotex and 150/3. I had the half sheet sander for a year or so and sold it to get the 150/3. Rotex gets you from rough to finished. Plus you can polish your car/boat/furniture/dog with it.

Rotex & a CT22. If finances allow, substitute a 5m hose for the 3.5m standard one (great for touching up eaves & barge-boards) , and get a set of longlife filters and a reuseable filter bag. They'll pay for themselves in no time, if you're a regular user. If you prefer disposable bags a smaller and cheaper vac. (any quality brand) would suffice at a pinch.

Here's a tip on the CT-22 bags: If you have a dust extractor, vacuum out the bags into the dusty then use them again. I am ashamed to admit that, cheap as I am, I am still on my first Festool bag in three years of light use.

Greg

I just bought a rotex 150 yesterday to replace a crappy old black and decker. Am planning to use it as my single sander from seat pan sculpting to finish sanding table tops. Have only done course sanding so far and it's good...and a beast that can get away from you in course mode with a course grit! Will see in a couple of weeks how the finish sanding goes, but after a quick test I don't expect any issues.

The only advantage a ETS150 might have when finish sanding is it'd be lighter and easier to handle, especially for extended use. I reckon the final material finish quality would be indistinguishable between each sander.

For some reason I got what I think is a good price on mine...$769 (no haggle at all even). Most places are selling them for $870 ish, maybe a little less. My box had approx 50 sheets of festool sand paper as well which was sweet!

One thing though...I think it's one ugly looking machine. I'm glad it comes with a good box so I don't need to look at it when I'm not using it. Other festool gear is sexy, but the rotex is certainly the butt ugly, albeit effective, german frauline. And drinking lots of beer before using it is probably not a safe idea. There I said it

Cheers

Greg

Originally Posted by chocwheaton

The only advantage a ETS150 might have when finish sanding is it'd be lighter and easier to handle, especially for extended use. I reckon the final material finish quality would be indistinguishable between each sander.
Cheers

Greg

As one who held off buying an ETS150/3 for 12 months on the same premise, I am here to tell you that there is a significant difference in finish. But it depends on what work you put into the sanding. The difference is notable when using grits over and above 400g and particularly at grits of 1200 or more. The clarity and depth that the ETS brings to a grain at these grits is remarkable.

Regards,

Rob

Originally Posted by LGS

As one who held off buying an ETS150/3 for 12 months on the same premise, I am here to tell you that there is a significant difference in finish. But it depends on what work you put into the sanding. The difference is notable when using grits over and above 400g and particularly at grits of 1200 or more. The clarity and depth that the ETS brings to a grain at these grits is remarkable.

Interesting...what kind of finishes are you using to show up this difference?

Hi Greg,
I usually use Wattyl Scandinavian oil as follows.

Sand using the Rotex or ETS150/3 (depending on the area to be finished) using 80,100,120,150,180,240 and 400g.
Saturate workpiece with oil then,
Use the ETS150/3 with the same 400g pad as above, followed by 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000 and 4000g. I do not remove the slurry between grits.
Wipe down with a dry cotton cloth, let the piece sit overnight (or longer) then finish with EEE cream followed by two or more coats of Trad wax. Use a Swansdown mop to finish and there you are.

Attached are two pics.
The first shows a Blackwood hall table finished with only the RO150 using the protocol described above.
The second is a Blackwood hall table done using both the RO150 and the ETS150/3.

Regards,

Rob