Are the Current Trions Made Differently?

[deepcreek]

There's a fellow on another woodworking forum selling a FS-300 EQ Plus jigsaw.  

He claims it is an older model and "does not have the shortcuts Festool has put into the newer and current models to sell at a lower price point."  He goes on to say "the motor is not the same on the newer saws.  The original motor was of superior quality and is substantially more expensive such that Festool could not sell it for US$250.00. So they changed to a less expensive motor and reduced the price."

I'm not in the market for another Trion as I already have one and love it.  I just wanted to find out if there was any truth to his claims.  My guess is he is misinformed.

 

[mouppe]

Total rubbish. The Trion is cheaper now than before because the price was lowered in anticipation of the release of the Carvex- good news for latecomers to the Festool jigsaw party (like me!).

 

[Vindingo]

There's a fellow on another woodworking forum selling a FS-300 EQ Plus jigsaw.  

He claims it is an older model and "does not have the shortcuts Festool has put into the newer and current models to sell at a lower price point."  He goes on to say "the motor is not the same on the newer saws.  The original motor was of superior quality and is substantially more expensive such that Festool could not sell it for US$250.00. So they changed to a less expensive motor and reduced the price."

I'm not in the market for another Trion as I already have one and love it.  I just wanted to find out if there was any truth to his claims.  My guess is he is misinformed.

He doesn't happen to be from NJ?  I saw an ad. on CL claiming the same thing.  Asking $330, because "This is an OLDER unit that does not have the shortcuts Festool has put into the newer model to sell at a lower price point."

 

[VictorL]

Same guy.  Same saw. He had to say something to clarify price tag. The highest selling price was $310, then Festool introduced Carvex AND dropped prices for Trion.
If you read some ads, you'll see that some people selling OF-2000 routers for $450 "because price is $850 new",  MFT-800 tables for $400 and so on. Some people claiming that TS-55 without rail was bought for $900 new.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Let me make it official, not true. The PS/PSB 300 models have not change in any way from a feature, functionality or design standpoint.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Don't believe a word this guy is saying. He is either very misinformed or he's lying his shiny hiney off.

After reading this most peculiar claim here I became curious and had to sleuth around a bit. Found the ads on Woodnet and CL.

First thing that strikes me is how new the saw looks like. While the guy says he's the 2nd owner already. I find that very hard to believe. I've had quite a couple of used Festools in my hand now, because I buy them, refurbish them and resell them, and not one Festool I ever had my hands on looked this good after being owned and used by no less than 2 different people. The saw looks like it has never been used or perhaps made one or two cuts at most.

Then I checked Ekat to see if there actually is any difference in motors. On the American Ekat there's only mention of 1 motor, #491852. If there ever was another motor I think it would have been mentioned there because Festool assures delivery of spare parts for at least 7 years after they stopped production of a tool. And the Trion isn't even 7 years old, let alone that it's 7 years after they stopped producing it. So if the other motor existed, it should be there, after all, people with the older type should also be able to repair their jigsaw, right?       

When I checked Ekat UK, the other 110v country, then I saw two types of motors. One with #491851 and one with #491852. The 491852 isn't sold anymore in the UK, they use the 491851, while the USA uses the 491852. When you look at the price, 53 pound vs $79, they're about the same. Nothing that would warrant a big price difference between the two of them.

And then I tried to distinguish the item catalogue number on the systainer on the picture provided with the Woodnet ad. It is too low res to make it out completely, but I can recognize some digits. After googling around it turns out to be #561097, as mentioned on productpage or Paul Marcel's video review of it.

Funny thing is that Festool only started to use product numbers in the 5xxxxx range somewhere around 2010 or 2011. So this saw is actually a brand new model, probably the latest before they introduced T-locs. No way that this particular saw could be one of the older models even if they existed. 
 
I would treat this ad as very suspicious and keep my hands off it.

Hm, I should apply for a job at Snopes. Or Pinkerton.  [wink]

 

[deepcreek]

Thanks for the clarification.  I'm a big fan of Festool and hate to see this kind of misinformation.

 

[Alan m]

Don't believe a word this guy is saying. He is either very misinformed or he's lying his shiny hiney off.

After reading this most peculiar claim here I became curious and had to sleuth around a bit. Found the ads on Woodnet and CL.

First thing that strikes me is how new the saw looks like. While the guy says he's the 2nd owner already. I find that very hard to believe. I've had quite a couple of used Festools in my hand now, because I buy them, refurbish them and resell them, and not one Festool I ever had my hands on looked this good after being owned and used by no less than 2 different people. The saw looks like it has never been used or perhaps made one or two cuts at most.

Then I checked Ekat to see if there actually is any difference in motors. On the American Ekat there's only mention of 1 motor, #491852. If there ever was another motor I think it would have been mentioned there because Festool assures delivery of spare parts for at least 7 years after they stopped production of a tool. And the Trion isn't even 7 years old, let alone that it's 7 years after they stopped producing it. So if the other motor existed, it should be there, after all, people with the older type should also be able to repair their jigsaw, right?       

When I checked Ekat UK, the other 110v country, then I saw two types of motors. One with #491851 and one with #491852. The 491852 isn't sold anymore in the UK, they use the 491851, while the USA uses the 491852. When you look at the price, 53 pound vs $79, they're about the same. Nothing that would warrant a big price difference between the two of them.

And then I tried to distinguish the item catalogue number on the systainer on the picture provided with the Woodnet ad. It is too low res to make it out completely, but I can recognize some digits. After googling around it turns out to be #561097, as mentioned on productpage or Paul Marcel's video review of it.

Funny thing is that Festool only started to use product numbers in the 5xxxxx range somewhere around 2010 or 2011. So this saw is actually a brand new model, probably the latest before they introduced T-locs. No way that this particular saw could be one of the older models even if they existed. 
 
I would treat this ad as very suspicious and keep my hands off it.

Hm, I should apply for a job at Snopes. Or Pinkerton.  [wink]

laex thats amazing . you should be a ditective.

 

[Kev]

Don't believe a word this guy is saying. He is either very misinformed or he's lying his shiny hiney off.

After reading this most peculiar claim here I became curious and had to sleuth around a bit. Found the ads on Woodnet and CL.

First thing that strikes me is how new the saw looks like. While the guy says he's the 2nd owner already. I find that very hard to believe. I've had quite a couple of used Festools in my hand now, because I buy them, refurbish them and resell them, and not one Festool I ever had my hands on looked this good after being owned and used by no less than 2 different people. The saw looks like it has never been used or perhaps made one or two cuts at most.

Then I checked Ekat to see if there actually is any difference in motors. On the American Ekat there's only mention of 1 motor, #491852. If there ever was another motor I think it would have been mentioned there because Festool assures delivery of spare parts for at least 7 years after they stopped production of a tool. And the Trion isn't even 7 years old, let alone that it's 7 years after they stopped producing it. So if the other motor existed, it should be there, after all, people with the older type should also be able to repair their jigsaw, right?       

When I checked Ekat UK, the other 110v country, then I saw two types of motors. One with #491851 and one with #491852. The 491852 isn't sold anymore in the UK, they use the 491851, while the USA uses the 491852. When you look at the price, 53 pound vs $79, they're about the same. Nothing that would warrant a big price difference between the two of them.

And then I tried to distinguish the item catalogue number on the systainer on the picture provided with the Woodnet ad. It is too low res to make it out completely, but I can recognize some digits. After googling around it turns out to be #561097, as mentioned on productpage or Paul Marcel's video review of it.

Funny thing is that Festool only started to use product numbers in the 5xxxxx range somewhere around 2010 or 2011. So this saw is actually a brand new model, probably the latest before they introduced T-locs. No way that this particular saw could be one of the older models even if they existed. 
 
I would treat this ad as very suspicious and keep my hands off it.

Hm, I should apply for a job at Snopes. Or Pinkerton.  [wink]

laex thats amazing . you should be a ditective.

From your casual miss spelling of Alex's name I can deduce that you're a 5'11", 212ib male in your mid 40's with size 11 feet. You also like to bathe in a tub full of low fat yogurt.

 

[PeterR]

Alex, one minor comment.  UK is 240V not 110V.

 

[VictorL]

Alex, one minor comment.  UK is 240V not 110V.

They use actually both. Festool UK sells most of the tools in two flavors: 240V and 110V

 

[mastercabman]

Don't believe a word this guy is saying. He is either very misinformed or he's lying his shiny hiney off.

After reading this most peculiar claim here I became curious and had to sleuth around a bit. Found the ads on Woodnet and CL.

First thing that strikes me is how new the saw looks like. While the guy says he's the 2nd owner already. I find that very hard to believe. I've had quite a couple of used Festools in my hand now, because I buy them, refurbish them and resell them, and not one Festool I ever had my hands on looked this good after being owned and used by no less than 2 different people. The saw looks like it has never been used or perhaps made one or two cuts at most.

Then I checked Ekat to see if there actually is any difference in motors. On the American Ekat there's only mention of 1 motor, #491852. If there ever was another motor I think it would have been mentioned there because Festool assures delivery of spare parts for at least 7 years after they stopped production of a tool. And the Trion isn't even 7 years old, let alone that it's 7 years after they stopped producing it. So if the other motor existed, it should be there, after all, people with the older type should also be able to repair their jigsaw, right?       

When I checked Ekat UK, the other 110v country, then I saw two types of motors. One with #491851 and one with #491852. The 491852 isn't sold anymore in the UK, they use the 491851, while the USA uses the 491852. When you look at the price, 53 pound vs $79, they're about the same. Nothing that would warrant a big price difference between the two of them.

And then I tried to distinguish the item catalogue number on the systainer on the picture provided with the Woodnet ad. It is too low res to make it out completely, but I can recognize some digits. After googling around it turns out to be #561097, as mentioned on productpage or Paul Marcel's video review of it.

Funny thing is that Festool only started to use product numbers in the 5xxxxx range somewhere around 2010 or 2011. So this saw is actually a brand new model, probably the latest before they introduced T-locs. No way that this particular saw could be one of the older models even if they existed. 
 
I would treat this ad as very suspicious and keep my hands off it.

Hm, I should apply for a job at Snopes. Or Pinkerton.  [wink]

Nice going there Sherlock!!! [laughing]

 

[PeterK]

I wonder if Alex has a sidekick that looks like Lucy Liu?????
(new Sherlock Holmes TV series coming this fall)

 

[Alan m]

Don't believe a word this guy is saying. He is either very misinformed or he's lying his shiny hiney off.

After reading this most peculiar claim here I became curious and had to sleuth around a bit. Found the ads on Woodnet and CL.

First thing that strikes me is how new the saw looks like. While the guy says he's the 2nd owner already. I find that very hard to believe. I've had quite a couple of used Festools in my hand now, because I buy them, refurbish them and resell them, and not one Festool I ever had my hands on looked this good after being owned and used by no less than 2 different people. The saw looks like it has never been used or perhaps made one or two cuts at most.

Then I checked Ekat to see if there actually is any difference in motors. On the American Ekat there's only mention of 1 motor, #491852. If there ever was another motor I think it would have been mentioned there because Festool assures delivery of spare parts for at least 7 years after they stopped production of a tool. And the Trion isn't even 7 years old, let alone that it's 7 years after they stopped producing it. So if the other motor existed, it should be there, after all, people with the older type should also be able to repair their jigsaw, right?       

When I checked Ekat UK, the other 110v country, then I saw two types of motors. One with #491851 and one with #491852. The 491852 isn't sold anymore in the UK, they use the 491851, while the USA uses the 491852. When you look at the price, 53 pound vs $79, they're about the same. Nothing that would warrant a big price difference between the two of them.

And then I tried to distinguish the item catalogue number on the systainer on the picture provided with the Woodnet ad. It is too low res to make it out completely, but I can recognize some digits. After googling around it turns out to be #561097, as mentioned on productpage or Paul Marcel's video review of it.

Funny thing is that Festool only started to use product numbers in the 5xxxxx range somewhere around 2010 or 2011. So this saw is actually a brand new model, probably the latest before they introduced T-locs. No way that this particular saw could be one of the older models even if they existed. 
 
I would treat this ad as very suspicious and keep my hands off it.

Hm, I should apply for a job at Snopes. Or Pinkerton.  [wink]

laex thats amazing . you should be a ditective.

From your casual miss spelling of Alex's name I can deduce that you're a 5'11", 212ib male in your mid 40's with size 11 feet. You also like to bathe in a tub full of low fat yogurt.

sorry im a bit dyslexic
5'12,26years,
not bad thow

 

[sancho57]

Alex,

The next time I find a screw lieing around Im calling you  ;D

edited to add:

Great info I was going to run out and buy a jig saw today.

This definately makes me feel more comfortable doing it.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I'm 4' 20" tall and from my understanding, the current Trions only manufactured on April 1, 2012 were made with extra TLC. After that date, they went back to the normal amount of love.

 

[sancho57]

I heard the ones made that date were pink and were special order.

 

[Michael Kellough]

There's a fellow on another woodworking forum selling a FS-300 EQ Plus jigsaw.  

He claims it is an older model and "does not have the shortcuts Festool has put into the newer and current models to sell at a lower price point."  He goes on to say "the motor is not the same on the newer saws.  The original motor was of superior quality and is substantially more expensive such that Festool could not sell it for US$250.00. So they changed to a less expensive motor and reduced the price."

I'm not in the market for another Trion as I already have one and love it.  I just wanted to find out if there was any truth to his claims.  My guess is he is misinformed.

He doesn't happen to be from NJ?  I saw an ad. on CL claiming the same thing.  Asking $330, because "This is an OLDER unit that does not have the shortcuts Festool has put into the newer model to sell at a lower price point."

He's down to $200 now. This could be a great deal for someone in the area despite his erroneous claims about changes in the manufacture.

 

[sancho57]

I'm 4' 20" tall and from my understanding, the current Trions only manufactured on April 1, 2012 were made with extra TLC. After that date, they went back to the normal amount of love.

Im about the size of mini me and just as good looking.

BTW I went out and bought the trion barrel grip j/s, love it even if it is the older model  [eek]