It was on my doorstep when I got home last night.
I haven't gotten to use it for anything yet, I'm hoping to get some play time this weekend to put it through its paces so here's the open the box impressions
The unit comes in a sys3 just like the ETS 150 does. Opening the box I found the following:
The RO150 unit
Plug it cord
Screw in side handle
Edge Protector
Manual
Granat sandpaper assortment (1 each of 80, 180 and 280)
The cord is very long. I have to measure it against the one that came with my ETS 150 but it looks longer then that one even. Very nice for use on larger pieces. The edge protector is a nice touch, now I am sort of wondering why they don't make one for the ETS. The side handle sort of reminds me of a grinder handle, as aggressive as this one is supposed to be that may be appropriate, I am still thinking about the auxiliary front handle though, Well see how usage turns out. The manual is standard Festool fare, I think the english section is around 5 pages long and pretty much explains the obvious. Took me a little bit to figure out how to remove the pad, it was very tight on there and I was afraid I was doing something wrong and didn't want to break it, a little better explanation in the manual would have been nice. I fell back on the Internet to figure out how to do it...
Now for the sandpaper assortment, always a touchy point. I like that I finally get to try out some Granat, it would have been nice to get a 120 and 220 (or whatever Granat grits come close to those) in the pack as well so I could do a complete step up sanding without missing grits to really try them out. I can't really complain about free stuff though...
Now for the unit itself. This thing has some heft, I can see why you wouldn't want to do ceilings with it. It does feel very well built though and I like the rubberized front grip. This is definitely a two handed tool. Turning it on was an interesting thing. It was set at the factory to 6 so it came on in rotex mode at 6 meaning is sounds like a jet engine. My circular saw is quieter. Rolling it down to 1 quiets it down a little but you can hear the rollers then, I suspect the roller noise will quiet down after a few hours of use when everything breaks in a little. Switching to random orbit it quiets down a little more but still feels aggressive.
Looking at the pad you can really see the rotation difference between rotex and random orbit modes. It's actually kind of hypnotizing if you watch it a while
So far I am liking the tool, other then the noise
. I'm usually more of a finish sander kind of guy but this does open up a whole lot of options that I haven't really thought much about before like polishing wood to a high gloss. Usually I stick with simple poly finishes, paint or hand rubbed oil. I guess I have a whole lot of finishes to learn now
Overall it seems to be a very solid piece of machinery and should last years. I'll try and get some in-use pics over the weekend and put them up. I have some rough dimensioned cherry that I can test this out with.
Thanks
-Jim
