The Syslite is a new offering from Festool for this autumn, apparently in short supply due to its popularity in Germany. I have had it for a day on site so any observations are short term. Apologies for the lack of inline images, hopefully you can view the attached pictures.

Firstly it comes in a nice bag which is made out of the latest (thinner) festool material, the same stuff as the new/latest rail bags. I hadn't expected a protective bag and it looks like it would survive well in a glove compartment or footwell.

The unit can be charged by mains or car charger (both supplied), another nod to the auto side of Festool.

The back has a sliding cover with a flexible hook attached, you have to remove this to clip on an exterior battery. The hook is very large and the connection is a ball joint so it's very flexible. There's a connector for a camera tripod in the base.

It can be powered by the BPC or BPS series batteries, which slide onto the back. I've tried it with my NiMh BPC packs from the c12 and one fully charged gave a couple of hours 100% light. The batteries do not charge the internal battery and only the external battery powers the light whilst it is attached.

It's a very powerful and white/neutral light, in fact it's quite unpleasant to look at or get caught in the corner of your eye, because of this I found it useful to put it on top of a pile of systainers pointing towards the ceiling, and it's powerful enough to lighten a gloomy room in that position. You can see from the attached photo the quality and quantity of light this gives off, it's very powerful.

I liked having it on the whole time but the batteries will not last a whole day, probably not what it is for anyway but it certainly helps in the grey English light, I'm hoping that after a full (2 hour charge) it will last a bit longer tomorrow. It's as usual a better product than I had envisaged but still it needs to be given the price. I've included 2 photos showing the difference it can make to an unlit cupboard.

I've included one last picture of it hanging from the workstation where it can easily blind you if you accidentally look at it.

I'm sure a lot of people will be picking these up in case they ever need it, and it will come in very handy if you ever need to look under the bonnet on a winter evening. It does have an auto leaning in design and I can see it being a perfect product for mechanics as you get a lot of light and very little heat, the 30% output function could come in useful to protect your eyesight if you use this as an inspection lamp.

Thanks for the review.

I like the idea of the camera tripod mount. That means I can throw one of these on it.

http://www.amazon.com/Joby-GP2-D1EN-Gorillapod-Flexible-Digital/dp/B001QVUEFI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1318548111&sr=8-4



Now we just need to wait til 2012

I love the Syslite. We have been using it a TON. It is more than a work light. It is also a very cool flashlight and general purpose light. I even took it to hunting camp last weekend so that we wouldnt have to run the generator all night for light. Love it.

I love the lights nice an bright!   Down side!   I wish they made a better plug!  It comes with a transformer like thing and you clip on the 3 prongs of a plug (earth,live,neutral)   

The problem is its one of those top heavy plugs!  Which annoy me because when you stick them in an extension lead instead of using up one socket it will use up 2 or even 3!  On my extension lead it takes up 3 sockets AND my leads are all GERMAN so they should of known!  Make it worse my extension leads only has 3 so I have to get two leads out to power two Festool systlites!  CRAZY!   

So I would like festool to design the plug like all other normal plugs!

Also they should of some how made it possible to unhook the hook so you could clip it onto the syslite its self so when you stick a battery on you can still hang it up. 


I have ordered two camera tripods to stick the syslites on!


JMB

I've been lucky enough to be able to try this one out.

At first I thought, "hey, this is kind of cool", not "I gotta have that!!"

I'm sure we've all bought something that we thought is going to be great and the reality is its has sat collecting dust somewhere. The true test on whether I 'actually' like something is if I drag it along in the morning. I'm in Winnipeg and its cold so I bring all my tools with batteries indoors where its warm each day. The Syslite comes back out with me daily.

I hate those halogens and initially thought this isn't as bright. BUT the 'pros' of being wireless, light, compact, go on my camera tripod far far out weigh the comparison. In fact, that comparison shouldn't be made. My bad.

Great handy light.

I'm new to this forum and not sure how personal pics are appreciated or shared, but I'll add this here.

We have a tradition that every night we move an ornamental pickle around the tree. Each morning our 5 year old comes down and finds it. He has gotten into the habit of using the Syslite to find the pickle. Smart kid!

Just got back from Germany. Picked one up there. Also picked up some Surfix stuff to try out.
Shane if you are listening ... if the Surfix gets distributed here will the Sys package come in both 6" and 5"? I was going to buy the complete T-lock sys will all the stuff but it only came with 6" round pads. I don't have a 6" sander and have no intention of buying one. Couldn't talk the dealer into swapping out the 6" for 5" stuff. This may end up being another one of those, "I wish Festool would give us the option" kind of things. Also, transporting the Sys was going to be a pain. I bought Surfix pad, extra pads and refill bottles, no round buffer disks.

I have some feedback on mine, i think i have one of the oldest ones here, 4-5 months which i got for free in a festool contest.
It's a great piece of equipment, it frequently came in handy, but rarely in woodworking related activities. Like blast sanding and repainting the underside of my truck. One problem that i have with it now is that i need to press the ON button several times before it wants to turn on, kind of annoying. Maybe others are having this problem as well?