Bessey Revo KR vs new KRE

[Tammy]

Bessey has redesigned the Revo clamp,  but has remained silent about this.

I’m sure they’re hoping to sell off their OLD style clamps at full price...  but this seems like unscrupulous business practice to me.
New version is KRE3.5__ and there are some great improvements
Bew[attachimg=1]are when buying these,  and hopefully Bessey will either pull their old stock, or put them on clearance.

 

[Tammy]

Heres what the NEW Revo clamps look like

 

[Tammy]

Improvements on back of tag:

 

[bertv]

It is not like Bessey sells these on commission. Retailers buy in bulk, keep them in stock, and that is probably the reason there is not much ado about the new Revo's — any discounts will depress their bottomline.

 

[Tammy]

Now you know, and you can choose:

Old style. vs new improved

Home Depot stores have mixed inventory & are selling both old style & new style Revo clamps under same stock number/at same price.

If you’ve recently purchased Bessey Revos since first of April 2018,  I hope you rec’d NEW style Revos,  but if not,  I hope you do as I did & exchange/return the “obsolete” models

 

[jpmeunier]

Great, now I have $500 worth of clamps that I have to throw away!

8)

 

[Tammy]

I spent an entire day & tank of fuel running around to every HD store in my area; to exchange 13 of the old style Revos I just received (out of 30, 13  were KR & 17 were the nice new KRE’s)
In doing this,  I can confirm, with complete confidence,  that Home Depot is definitely hiring the handicapped
JP,  if you dont mind my asking,  what day is tradh pickup on your street, & where do you put your trash bin?! 

 

[GoingMyWay]

Wow 30 is a lot of clamps!  Are the new ones that much of an improvement over the older ones?

I keep checking my local Home Depot for more Bessey F Clamps.  This particular store stopped stocking a lot of Bessey clamps for some reason so they were selling them with a very nice discount.

 

[ChuckM]

I spent an entire day & tank of fuel running around to every HD store in my area; to exchange 13 of the old style Revos I just received (out of 30, 13  were KR & 17 were the nice new KRE’s)
In doing this,  I can confirm, with complete confidence,  that Home Depot is definitely hiring the handicapped
JP,  if you dont mind my asking,  what day is tradh pickup on your street, & where do you put your trash bin?!

I can feel your pain.

Since it is improved and new, why did not they assign a new product no. so old and new stocks were separated?

 

[ear3]

BTW, my local HD recently cleared their stock of Bessey clamps and is now only selling Dewalt clamps.  Not sure if this is just a thing at my store, if there are more HDs doing this.

 

[GoingMyWay]

That's what my local Home Depot also replaced the Bessey Parallel Clamps with.  They still have the Bessey Tradesman F Clamps however.

Larger Home Depots that are a little further away from the closest one to me still stock Bessey clamps.

 

[TinyShop]

More on the Revolution clamps can be found elsewhere on this forum, both here and here.

 

[sancho57]

I dunno, I got the old style bessey K Body clamps and ya know what?

They clamp just fine.

Certainly good enough to not drive all over town swapping newer clamps then what I have for newer clamps that well clamp....

I do need a couple more 24" clamps. When Im ready, Ill buy the new clamps unless someone is selling the old clamps cheap

 

[TinyShop]

Also, I heard back earlier today from Bessey N.A.'s VP of Marketing regarding what I am considering to be the rather odd roll-out of the new Revolution clamps. I'd been in touch with Bessey several times over the last few months in regards to wanting more info about where the new clamps were going to be manufactured and when and how they would be made available. The original release date was supposed to be on March 1st. Then it was delayed until April 1st. The second date stuck but retailers have been slow to make the product available and/or provide info about (or even know about) the updated clamps. From my own research, none of the retailers that have the new clamps (HD and Amazon are the only outlets I've found so far) are discounting the older version. It's as if the plan by retailers (at least those that are aware that new clamps are available) has been to wait until all of their old stock is gone and then quietly update their websites to reflect the improved clamps while keeping consumers in the dark about the entire thing. The last time I checked HD's site they actually had both the new and old fixed-head clamps available at the same time and for the same price (which corroborates [member=67964]Tammy[/member]'s experience).

The email from Bessey did indicate that they are trying to light a fire under retailers to make the transition faster. But, that said, Bessey still hasn't updated its own website to reflect the changeover to the new clamp version. Their main site still only details the older version while the special website they created to feature the new version is already outdated in that it doesn't include any details about where to buy the new clamps.

On a related note, back in the middle of March, when I online-chatted with reps from Woodcraft & Rockler to request info about when the new clamps would be available, none of the reps I spoke with had any idea what I was talking about.

To be clear, I am personally interested solely in the Vario (moveable head) version of the new k-body clamps. To that end, and since at present no one in N.A. (in terms of online retailers) overtly offers the KREV Vario version, Bessey actually offered to process a direct order with me just so I can get my hands on them. This, more than a month after the official roll-out. So, there have obviously been some hiccups in the process. 

 

[Tammy]

MyWay,  30 more clamps might seem like alot,  but in a commercial/industrial  shop setting its probably 20 less than I should have bought...
Jobsworth,  I have to agree,  old original K-Body’s are GREAT clamps.  We have plenty of each iteration, & all are GREAT. Clamps,  But if given a choice,  and for the same price,  which would you want?  Oldest original K body’s?  KR Revo’s. Or the latest KRE  Revos?

I believe its up to the manufacturer to announce their new products,  and at least have the decency to offer a choice,  but it’s pretty easy to figure out, that any informed consumer will want the most /best for their $$$.
So???  Is Bessey screwing their dealers, the end user or???

It seems a company with the reputation, market share and otherwise “size” would plan something like a major product redesign/release much better than this.

Bessey clamps are superior to anything else.
Even comparing to full on industrial clamps like Doucet, JLT/Taylor & Black Bros,  Bessey parallel clamps hold their own.

I’ll probably keep buying Besseys,  but Ive certainly lost respect & trust over their handling of this product revamp

 

[semenza]

I take it that you ordered the clamps and had them delivered?  So you got them sight unseen?

Seth

 

[Mario Turcot]

Is that just me  [scared]

Last year I bought the Ehoma parallel clamps from LeeValley. At the time The Bessey K-body clamps were like 20% more expensive. I can't recall how much I payed but I don't believe LeeValley price change since. Now I see the Bessey cheaper then Ehoma. Do Bessey reduce their prices?

Mario

 

[ben_r_]

Dang, now all future K Body clamps I buy arent going to match my existing. Lame. And they arent discounting the "older" style you say? Double lame.

 

[Bigdaddy65]

I ordered 2 of the 50” from homedepot.com and they were drop shippe from Bessey and they are the new ones.

 

[yetihunter]

I dunno mang, I knew about them a while ago. 
And they've been at Home Depot's near me for about a month or so.
I can't relate to the op.
The new features are a response to a certain company in Tawain that really cramps  their style.  Relatively minor, imho.  But maybe a big deal to others, I suppose.