Anyone heard of the “Festool Experience “

[Thompmd]

I went to a Hardwood festival in Lebanon In and Festool had a booth. They mentioned this and it sounded pretty interesting. They had one coming u in Indianapolis and another in Ft Wayne Indiana but I’ll be out of town.

Thought I’d go to one

 

[Muttley000]

I’m planning on hitting the one in Fort Wayne at Oak Tree Supply if upcoming surgery doesn’t interfere.  A festool rep will be there with demos, some kind of giveaway going on, answering questions.  I don’t know who is coming, but Amanda told me it wasn’t Sedge.

 

[Thompmd]

Is their a site that shows dates/times.

He said it was basically the same shows using the domino, RO150, dust extraction and one other I believe.

 

[Cheese]

https://www.festoolusa.com/company/festool-experience#Central

 

[afish]

yep,

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Kiem Lumber is fairly close to me and I have always wanted to go there anyway. I hear it's a pretty cool experience in itself. It's at the end of the month 9/30

 

[Imemiter]

Is that the one where you email a question to FUSA CS and never hear back from them???

 

[Thompmd]

Kiem Lumber is fairly close to me and I have always wanted to go there anyway. I hear it's a pretty cool experience in itself. It's at the end of the month 9/30

Would really like your thoughts once you return

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Kiem Lumber is fairly close to me and I have always wanted to go there anyway. I hear it's a pretty cool experience in itself. It's at the end of the month 9/30

Would really like your thoughts once you return

Definitely. There is another one 30 days later, right here in town. I will probably go to that one too, but it is in a place I have been many many times. They know me by name in there.
Keim Lumber is actually a vendor for the place where I work, but I have never been to their place.

 

[festal]

Went to the one in NJ. Got to demo conturo and domino. Got a goodie bag with hat, micro systainer and domino joinery book

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[RyanChildress]

I went to the one in San Diego and no one was there pretty much by default my wife won a top Rock so it was a good day but the experience was disappointing to say the least. No demo just a domino and a few sanders sitting on a table and a lady who lets just say it would surprise me if she know the difference in a plugit connection and a dust collector port.

 

[Adamsse]

I was at that same San Diego event (TH&H) right before it started.  Once the rep knew I own a lot of Festool tools already, she was frank that it was really more of an intro event.  I appreciated her being clear about that.  I did get a swag bag and put my name in the hat for the TopRock.  So your wife had SOME competition

 

[RyanChildress]

Yeah it was just strange. I figured that San Diego was a big enough city that it would be a bigger event.

 

[slalom]

I went to the one in Ottawa. Give away was a micro-systainer. No hats, stickers or joinery books lol.
They were set up for a demonstration, but instead did individual Q&A, unless you were close there was no way to hear what was being said.
Sedge was at Charlie Brown College in Toronto doing Festool Live at the same time.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I attended the demo this morning. This review is going to be more about the location than the demo though.
I was not particularly impressed by the demo itself. I was kind of hoping to learn something, but the "demo" was not much more than a display with some "hands-on" for anyone who wanted to.
I could get that at my local dealer, any day of the week, but that's the advantage of living in a big city.
Keim Lumber however, was fantastic. The place is huge, I was told that it was, but I wasn't ready for that level of huge. It is in the absolute middle of nowhere, but still draws quite the crowd. Since it's in northeast Ohio, right in the center of the Amish community, there were plenty of horse/buggies and bicycles along the way. The pics of the side of the building show the covered area where the employees park them....hundreds of them.
It is way more than a simple woodworking store. I think that's how it started though, many years ago. The tool department is front and center, right in the doors, but there is a lot more. It is also very much like a typical "home center" You can get everything from yard equipment to windows, doors, and everything in between. They do the whole kitchen estimate thing too. Then there is the wood supply and the workshop (demo room)
There is also a restaurant in the upper floor, where the offices are located. I took some pics from there, since it's an open balcony/mezzanine.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Wow what an incredible building! That's a company that takes their business very seriously!

 

[mike_aa]

So, did you get a goodie bag or win the Top Rock?  I need to go there one of these days.  This place looks even bigger than Hartville.  Thanks for posting the pictures.

Mike A.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

So, did you get a goodie bag or win the Top Rock?  I need to go there one of these days.  This place looks even bigger than Hartville.  Thanks for posting the pictures.

Mike A.

I did indeed get the goodie bag. It was a hat, sticker, and one of those cute micro Systainers, oh and the Bag itself. I don't know about the Top Rock? I suppose if I won, I would know by now?
I talked to a flooring guy, who was there from Cleveland. I mentioned going to Hartville, while I was up that far, but it would have been another 50 miles in the wrong direction from home. He said that I should, that I would be impressed.
In hindsight, maybe I should have, but I really wasn't up for any more of that hilly, blind-cornered driving than I had to. That place is literally in the middle of nowhere.
As huge and amazing as the whole store is though, their Festool area is pretty weak. DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, all had much more space. In one of the pics I posted, from the balcony, you can see the aisles of those other brands. Well, Festool is in there too, but you can't tell. It's the next row further away from Makita.
Woodwerks, one of the dealers near me, has a much larger dedicated space.
While Keim had more CTs than I do, and multiple units of things like RO150 and DF500, I have a greater variety of Festool equipment than they do. (at least on the floor, where you can see it)
There were only to guide rails on the shelves a single FS800 and a FS1400.
I may make a trip to Hartville on its own though. I'm sure that it can be done in a much more highway driven fashion.

Wow what an incredible building. That's a company that takes their business very seriously!

Yes they do, the place is impressive. That's only the retail showroom and sales offices, there are more buildings in that same compound. There are "working" buildings, where they do the milling of finished goods and warehousing spaces, plus acres of lumber out back. It is filled with custom moldings and inlays, all of the workstations, etc. which were made on-site, by the people who work there.

 

[fraz]

I went to the one in Ottawa. Give away was a micro-systainer. No hats, stickers or joinery books lol.
They were set up for a demonstration, but instead did individual Q&A, unless you were close there was no way to hear what was being said.
Sedge was at Charlie Brown College in Toronto doing Festool Live at the same time.

Charlie Brown College?  I sure hope Sedge didn’t go under the guise of a football scholarship… that won’t end well [emoji2]

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[jeffinsgf]

I may make a trip to Hartville on its own though. I'm sure that it can be done in a much more highway driven fashion.

Barely. It's less "Amish-y" but still very rural. You won't get stuck behind as many buggies, but you can't get there without several miles of 2-lane blacktop, no matter where you start from. I feel blessed to live within 40 miles of both of them. Hartville carries more power tool inventory (particularly Festool) and is a little faster to get to, but Keim's lumber selection, quality and price draw me in more often.

Get on Hartville's e-mail list. Sometime in early November they have a power tool demo weekend. It's quite an event and the specials are very good. Sedge is usually there. When I was repping Robert Sorby, I demo-ed there every year.