BravoRomeo
Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 25
First post to FOG! 
So I have all of you to thank for the dent in my wallet. My Panasonic EY6431 dill/driver is ready to move onto a nice, quiet retirement life. It put in many years of duty in projects around the house and woodworking shop. While it was top-of-the-line for its time, made in the USA, and cost a pretty penny (as I recall, somewhere around $500 including two batteries, charger, case, and a rarely used trim saw), it now needs new batteries and perhaps soon, a motor rebuild... it smells of toasted machine oil when run. With 3Ah 15.6V NiMH batteries and a 1/2" chuck, she's a beast. Not exactly a ballet dancer when it comes to finnese at the low and high ends of the speed controller, but it's been a brute, and it has the battle scars to tell stories of snaking drain pipes, drilling through old growth fir framing, building fences, etc.
At first, I thought I'd try a couple of those new-fangled LiIon drills, around the 10.8V range. First, for grins, was a Rockwell 3rill hybrid drill/driver/impact. Second, is a Festool CXS. Apart from the green accents, they are worlds apart, of course. The 3rill is an average Made-in-China branded uner a once-renowned name. It can drill small holes, drive screws, and has a switchable impact function on the gear selector (hmm, Festool should look at that for the TI15). In non-impact mode, the 3rill has less torque than the Festool CXS, despite the same voltage. Festool's motor and controller must be pretty special, even though the CXS is brushed DC.
The CXS... whoa! Here's a little drill/driver with great ambitions. It's still not quite a match for my Panasonic, but the CXS has a truly surprising amount of power coupled with real finesse and superb ergonomics. The extra chucks add real utility, and the Systainer is a pretty neat concept.
Still needing something more powerful for the rewiring project I'm working on, I picked up a brand new Festool C15 Li set from Woodcraft. Like the Panasonic, it was not inexpensive. Instead of a bundled trim saw, it includes some very useful chucks and starter bits. Now, we're talking! This drill has gobs of power, and just as much finesse, if not more, than the CXS. I'm amazed at the torque available at all speed ranges, largely due in part to that BLDC motor and controller. Quiet, strong, cool, and collected. I think I found my new drill.
Now, that little CXS is very nice, and I'd like to keep it, but I can see with having just the C15 as my go-to drill. It is surprisingly compact and lighter than the Panasonic. We'll see if I make use of both over the coming month, or gravitate towards one.
One thing lead to another, and now I have two Syslites as well. I gave up on halogens years ago, sparing just one 300W unit; otherwise my go-to trouble light has been a square compact fluorescent unit that plugs in. I supplement that with an LED headlamp. What I don't like about the fluorescent unit is the glare from the side and size... it's hard to aim the light so it isn't casting glare at you. The Syslites on the other hand are so darn compact and convenient - just grab and go. One is great for working inside a cabinet... having two allows setting up a shadow-free work area, or sharing with a helper (fighting over who gets the Syslite wastes valuable time!). Price may bother people on these, until you start looking at comparable solutions which give up one of: cordless, quality LEDs, robustness, or compactness. You'd have to manufacture these in China and use lesser quality LEDs to get them down to $100 or less, but that's not Festool, then. You get what you pay for holds true, yet again.
So... on with some test results.
Syslites, built-in battery, HI: 90 minutes, then 30 seconds of Low as a warning, then out
Syslites, built-in battery, LOW: 4 hours, then out
Syslites, 15V LiIon 3Ah pack, LOW: 10.5 hours, plus another 4 hours on built-in (great for emergency/camping use)
Drills... 1" self-feed auger bit through old growth fir, 3.5" thick. Admittedly a tough test, but one that is applicable to my current project.
Panasonic: all the way through, laboring just a bit as the battery winds down
Rockwell 3rill: gets about 1" into it and shuts off - just too much for it
Festool CXS: all the way through, but slowly and probably not happy about it (clearing compacted chips from the flutes helped)
Festool C15: all the way through, doesn't even break a sweat
The CXS is a clever "gateway drug" to the rest of the Festool lineup. It really hits a bunch of sweet spots all at once and probably could handle 70-80% of my missions. However, CXS really isn't up to regularly boring through this old house for wire runs (that it can do it in a pinch is impressive, though). There, the C15 is showing promise. In fact, I'd say the C15 was every bit as torquey as the "20V" LiIon Craftsman Pro we had the job. The latter is a huge brute of a drill, and sadly, discontinued. The owner says it is the best drill he ever had. Hope I can say as much, if not more, for the Festool.
So, thanks for all the analytical chit-chat, reviews, and videos here!
So I have all of you to thank for the dent in my wallet. My Panasonic EY6431 dill/driver is ready to move onto a nice, quiet retirement life. It put in many years of duty in projects around the house and woodworking shop. While it was top-of-the-line for its time, made in the USA, and cost a pretty penny (as I recall, somewhere around $500 including two batteries, charger, case, and a rarely used trim saw), it now needs new batteries and perhaps soon, a motor rebuild... it smells of toasted machine oil when run. With 3Ah 15.6V NiMH batteries and a 1/2" chuck, she's a beast. Not exactly a ballet dancer when it comes to finnese at the low and high ends of the speed controller, but it's been a brute, and it has the battle scars to tell stories of snaking drain pipes, drilling through old growth fir framing, building fences, etc.
At first, I thought I'd try a couple of those new-fangled LiIon drills, around the 10.8V range. First, for grins, was a Rockwell 3rill hybrid drill/driver/impact. Second, is a Festool CXS. Apart from the green accents, they are worlds apart, of course. The 3rill is an average Made-in-China branded uner a once-renowned name. It can drill small holes, drive screws, and has a switchable impact function on the gear selector (hmm, Festool should look at that for the TI15). In non-impact mode, the 3rill has less torque than the Festool CXS, despite the same voltage. Festool's motor and controller must be pretty special, even though the CXS is brushed DC.
The CXS... whoa! Here's a little drill/driver with great ambitions. It's still not quite a match for my Panasonic, but the CXS has a truly surprising amount of power coupled with real finesse and superb ergonomics. The extra chucks add real utility, and the Systainer is a pretty neat concept.
Still needing something more powerful for the rewiring project I'm working on, I picked up a brand new Festool C15 Li set from Woodcraft. Like the Panasonic, it was not inexpensive. Instead of a bundled trim saw, it includes some very useful chucks and starter bits. Now, we're talking! This drill has gobs of power, and just as much finesse, if not more, than the CXS. I'm amazed at the torque available at all speed ranges, largely due in part to that BLDC motor and controller. Quiet, strong, cool, and collected. I think I found my new drill.
Now, that little CXS is very nice, and I'd like to keep it, but I can see with having just the C15 as my go-to drill. It is surprisingly compact and lighter than the Panasonic. We'll see if I make use of both over the coming month, or gravitate towards one.
One thing lead to another, and now I have two Syslites as well. I gave up on halogens years ago, sparing just one 300W unit; otherwise my go-to trouble light has been a square compact fluorescent unit that plugs in. I supplement that with an LED headlamp. What I don't like about the fluorescent unit is the glare from the side and size... it's hard to aim the light so it isn't casting glare at you. The Syslites on the other hand are so darn compact and convenient - just grab and go. One is great for working inside a cabinet... having two allows setting up a shadow-free work area, or sharing with a helper (fighting over who gets the Syslite wastes valuable time!). Price may bother people on these, until you start looking at comparable solutions which give up one of: cordless, quality LEDs, robustness, or compactness. You'd have to manufacture these in China and use lesser quality LEDs to get them down to $100 or less, but that's not Festool, then. You get what you pay for holds true, yet again.
So... on with some test results.
Syslites, built-in battery, HI: 90 minutes, then 30 seconds of Low as a warning, then out
Syslites, built-in battery, LOW: 4 hours, then out
Syslites, 15V LiIon 3Ah pack, LOW: 10.5 hours, plus another 4 hours on built-in (great for emergency/camping use)
Drills... 1" self-feed auger bit through old growth fir, 3.5" thick. Admittedly a tough test, but one that is applicable to my current project.
Panasonic: all the way through, laboring just a bit as the battery winds down
Rockwell 3rill: gets about 1" into it and shuts off - just too much for it
Festool CXS: all the way through, but slowly and probably not happy about it (clearing compacted chips from the flutes helped)
Festool C15: all the way through, doesn't even break a sweat
The CXS is a clever "gateway drug" to the rest of the Festool lineup. It really hits a bunch of sweet spots all at once and probably could handle 70-80% of my missions. However, CXS really isn't up to regularly boring through this old house for wire runs (that it can do it in a pinch is impressive, though). There, the C15 is showing promise. In fact, I'd say the C15 was every bit as torquey as the "20V" LiIon Craftsman Pro we had the job. The latter is a huge brute of a drill, and sadly, discontinued. The owner says it is the best drill he ever had. Hope I can say as much, if not more, for the Festool.
So, thanks for all the analytical chit-chat, reviews, and videos here!
