Ha, Peter, that is a brilliant method you've sleuthed. 

DavidCBaker-- you've gotta get some labels going on.  I know you have your little text labels on your Sysport brigade, but without some front graphics we all can't properly salivate. 

If I had already made the decision to buy Festool, and just wasn't sure which tool in a class was right, the forum would affect my decision greatly.  For instance, I wanted to buy a sander to help me remove a bunch of paint, knew I wanted good dust collection, wasn't sure which sander would fit the bill best, posted a question here, and ended up with an RAS115.

However, if I was considering other brands, I don't think the group would affect my decision much.  This is because it seems like - and I do not want to offend - a lot of users here seem to be blindly in love with the name on the tool instead of how well a particular tool does its job. Some opinions here comparing Festool to other brands are objective, but some are clearly not.

Festool makes some great tools and I really enjoy using the ones I have, but come on ! I was talking to my Festool dealer the other day and even he said sometimes he thought some of the posts here looked almost cult-ish.

This could be a very interesting "contest" -- who on this forum owns the most Festools???  My understanding is that David hasn't been in the game very long at all so I would put my money on him at some point in the not too distant future... 

Sounds like a peeing contest for kids.  
I guess most people just buy what they need or think they need. And sometimes the purchase is not what it should be. It is under-performing, the seller did not show some negative deal breakers or you were just expecting too much of the poor tool.
But thanks to this forum with its well informed members, you will be better prepared when you are exchanging the green stuff for the green tools.

In my eyes there are three types of Festool purchasers: The Collector, hobbyist and the Money Maker.

The collector buys the tools whether the tool is need or not.  This person will buy the tools to complete the collection or because it is a cool tool and maybe some day I will use it.

The Money maker buys the tools that are need to get the job done and make some money.

The Hobbyist buys what he can get past the finance committee (your spouse).

I happen to also know that there are people that post on this Forum that, not only have pretty much every Festool AINA, but more than one of many.

I applaud their commitment to quality and having the wherewithal to pursue a path to success in their business or avocation without allowing the less informed to persuade them. Too often, people succumb to those around them, who will make statements of value without thoroughly examining the value proposition. There is always someone who will ask, "how much it costs", as opposed to asking, "how much it's worth".

I try to break everything into 3 similarly important aspects. I think it helps to keep things simple and balanced. To me, with tools in general, there are 3 things that will cause me to consider a tool purchase, or consider discussing it with a potential buyer:

• cost - over the life of the tool
• utility of the tool - effort of use is included in this assessment
• quality of the results and the tool itself, which also leads into the first point

Those things have always been my criteria for buying tools and as I grow older, I realize why my Dad and Uncles bought good tools - They pay off.


Tom

I use FOg as a resource. Let me know when and new tools are coing out. Before i buy a tool I will come here and reearch it to see if it does what I need it for or if anyone has had problems with it setting it up using it etc.

Before I was given the URL for The FOG, I already owned virtually all of the Festools sold in the USA.

The FOG gave me a community, informs me about the way others use Festools and approach woodworking.