CMS Router Table Officially Discontinued in US Market

[Chip S.]

Festool has informed us of the discontinuation of the router table to the US market, effective immediately.  We do have a small quantity remaining in stock.

 

[rocky100370]

Hi Chip thanks for the info. Do we know how much of a drop in cost yet?

 

[Stone Message]

If the UK market is anything to go by I would grab one of these as soon as you can as they just do not appear on ebay any more or they get sold very quickly.

Peter

 

[DynaGlide]

What's confusing to me with this is Festool announced a price increase on the CMS-GE Jan 1st 2022

Festool CMS-GE Router Table Set (203158)
Now $1760

Jan. 1st $1850

From US Tool and Fastener e-mail the other day.

 

[Cheese]

I'm surprised it's taken Festool this long to confirm the discontinuation of this item. There must have been a large supply of these either in the US or somewhere in the supply chain.

I'd heard/read that this item was being discontinued in July 2019 so I ordered/purchased mine in Aug. 2019 for $1820. Then it never disappeared but just soldiered on at the reduced price of $1760. And so finally, 28 months later it's official.

If the history of the MFS...RAS...and RS 2 tells us anything, the remaining supply of CMS units will dry up fast.

 

[squall_line]

Hi Chip thanks for the info. Do we know how much of a drop in cost yet?

See the response from [member=44099]Cheese[/member] below; they "dropped" the price by $60 about 2 years ago.  I wouldn't anticipate any sort of price drop on this item; Festool rarely does that, they usually just quietly discontinue an item and wait for it to all sell through at its last given MSRP.

 

[Peter_C]

See the response from [member=44099]Cheese[/member] below; they "dropped" the price by $60 about 2 years ago.  I wouldn't anticipate any sort of price drop on this item; Festool rarely does that, they usually just quietly discontinue an item and wait for it to all sell through at its last given MSRP.

Hmmm...I often see prices drop substantially when a Festool product is discontinued. OF2000 router was about $320. RAS 115 was selling for around $200. Lots of accessories are also sold at blow out prices. Although this is one of the few times I doubt there will be a price drop, and I too would expect the CMS to sell out quickly.

Although I really like mine for portability, a full size unit will always be superior. What other table saw can you pickup and carry one handed though? Now that I have a Unisaw, no longer do I have a need for a Bosch 4100 as my portable saw so it will be getting sold.

 

[squall_line]

What other table saw can you pickup and carry one handed though? Now that I have a Unisaw, no longer do I have a need for a Bosch 4100 as my portable saw so it will be getting sold.

I'm confused.  I thought this was about a Router table?

 

[Peter_C]

I'm confused.  I thought this was about a Router table?

That is just the starting point...the table saw insert comes next. I can pickup the router table in it with one hand too. Depends on the job of the day. If portability is important, the unit works awesome! Unless space is an issue, which for most it probably is, full size equipment will always be superior.

 

[squall_line]

The table saw insert was discontinued two years ago because of EU rules, and I don't believe it was ever available in the US, so it's somewhat a moot point.

Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to see a discount on the CMS router table; it's on my short list along with a TS 75 for some projects I have coming up.  I don't know that it's prudent to wait and see if a price decrease happens if I truly want one, though.

 

[FestitaMakool]

Well, I think you better hurry, as Peter Parfitt mentioned, stock vanished fast in Europe right after the tell of the discontinued CMS system. I had a look to UK stockists, and their stock didn’t last long. I was fairly new to Festool back then, and had eyeballed some CMS units and bits to go.. I didn’t realise until it was almost too late to find something. I visited Sweden and managed to grab from a sparse stock from a large dealer there.

I noticed that the OP with Chip S at Festool Nirvana have already sold out..

Once a desired, but expensive product suddenly goes obsolete, there’s a lot of thinkers that are on the fence that makes the decision to buy fast.. including me.. [eek]

 

[Stan Tillinghast]

I just ordered a CMS-GE from Hartville/Amazon (Tool Nut and Nirvana were out of stock). I have a Jessem table on order but of course delivery backed up.
I will leave the order standing with Jessem and see how I like the Festool table.
I have the Kapex UHG and extensions. Do they fasten to the CMS table?

 

[squall_line]

I have the Kapex UHG and extensions. Do they fasten to the CMS table?

Yes, the UG wings/extensions fasten to the CMS table and are the same height.  They can be used as infeed/outfeed for narrow stock.  There's a short, 33-second Youtube video where Sedge shows this and breaks character at the end.

I believe the MW-1000 extension table also hooks to the CMS (the profile isn't 100% the same as the MFT) for wider stock, aside from the stock outfeed table that comes with the GE-Set.

I can only imagine trying to keep a straight face working with him...

 

[Don_hoosier_handmade]

I heard this at woodcraft in Indianapolis this past weekend. The gentleman said it was due to some new UK requirement for the switch.

 

[Chip S.]

As has been mentioned, we did sell out of our stock quickly. I imagine other dealers will also and wouldn't suggest waiting too long if you're wanting one.

Appreciate the orders from those of you who purchased the router table from us.

 

[Cheese]

I heard this at woodcraft in Indianapolis this past weekend. The gentleman said it was due to some new UK requirement for the switch.

First off  [welcome] to the FOG.

Here's a more detailed read on the CMS situation from back in 2019.
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/festool-cms-discontinued/60/

 

[squall_line]

Thanks to this thread, for the first time in a long time, I made a retail purchase of a major Festool product.  The last time was when I grabbed a CXS from my local Acme because I was tired of waiting on Recon.  (of course, now CXS's sit on Recon once a month or so)

 

[FestitaMakool]

Thanks to this thread, for the first time in a long time, I made a retail purchase of a major Festool product.  The last time was when I grabbed a CXS from my local Acme because I was tired of waiting on Recon.  (of course, now CXS's sit on Recon once a month or so)

Congratulations on the big buy! [big grin]
And yes why should you have more luck than the rest of us [big grin] It’s always like that when I’m looking for something special, until I have gotten it, it’s like it is suddenly a great amount of offerings straight after my purchase. Then it goes quiet again..

Pre-owned prices of the router package is highly likely to rise a bit in the not so long future too.

 

[squall_line]

Thanks to this thread, for the first time in a long time, I made a retail purchase of a major Festool product.  The last time was when I grabbed a CXS from my local Acme because I was tired of waiting on Recon.  (of course, now CXS's sit on Recon once a month or so)

Congratulations on the big buy! [big grin]
And yes why should you have more luck than the rest of us [big grin] It’s always like that when I’m looking for something special, until I have gotten it, it’s like it is suddenly a great amount of offerings straight after my purchase. Then it goes quiet again..

Pre-owned prices of the router package is highly likely to rise a bit in the not so long future too.

Thanks!  And yes, isn't that Recon thing always the case?  [wink]

I've been looking at buying a CMS GE used for the past few months.  I missed out on an eBay listing where one went for about 200 under list, including shipping (I was busy when the listing ended and prefer to bid snipe), but other local listings have all been for right around full retail already.  As you said, I doubt that will improve.  The only place I tend to find low prices on big items like this are estate sales, but with the internet even the most remote estate sale will have market pricing on Festool equipment.

 

[Stan Tillinghast]

Hartville has shipped my unit. Last I looked they had 2 units left.