Iam in the market for a new sander and I am looking at the festool dts 400 or the mirka deos. The mirka does have a hefty price tag but I like that its more low profile. I like the festool for the price and I really like it has an option for a safety guard around the head. The con I dont like is its very high at around 6". I wish they would come out with a more compact version like the ets/ec 125 that a recently aquired. Any thoughts on either or another option. Thanks !
Delta head sanders
- Thread starter mike9
- Start date
AlexThePalex
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- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
- Messages
- 7,808
Been using the DTS for years, best sander I've ever used. Not sure if smaller is better. I don't have baby hands, I need something to grab. Sometimes the sander doesn't fit in a spot due to its height, but that's very rare.
I was always curious about the Mirka sanders because people here speak a lot about them. But you don't see them often around here. So I travelled 2 hours a few weeks ago to a dealer demonstration day for Mirka. Well, I am cured forever from my curiosity towards Mirka. I sincerely Dislike their paddle switches with a capital D. The way I work on houses, I need to be able to turn the switch on and not be obligated to keep my hand on the one spot of a dead man's switch. I don't know what they're thinking with that switch. Wasn't so much impressed with the power of their sanders either.
So I'm sticking with Festool for my sanders.
I was always curious about the Mirka sanders because people here speak a lot about them. But you don't see them often around here. So I travelled 2 hours a few weeks ago to a dealer demonstration day for Mirka. Well, I am cured forever from my curiosity towards Mirka. I sincerely Dislike their paddle switches with a capital D. The way I work on houses, I need to be able to turn the switch on and not be obligated to keep my hand on the one spot of a dead man's switch. I don't know what they're thinking with that switch. Wasn't so much impressed with the power of their sanders either.
So I'm sticking with Festool for my sanders.
I love my DTS, it is a great sander. I bought it for a specific project but then I was so impressed with it that I kept using it (much more than anticipated). I have never had the height become an issue. Occasionally the angle at the point is too great to sneak into every (less than 45 degree) corner but that’s just the way it goes. If you do buy a DTS I would recommend buying a second pad. Keep one dedicated to only use in hard to reach applications. On those you will pick it up and lever that little point into all kinds of hard to reach spots which will damage the pad at (or near) the point. If you have one pad dedicated to that and the other that you don’t abuse in that way you will be happy.
The deadman switch on the Mirka Sanders & their clones can be a bit of a PITA. Extended sanding sessions can become tiresome when you need to manipulate the sander into a variety of positions. Sanding window frames in situ for example. It can also be a bit of a nasty surprise when you invert the tool for abrasive exchange & inadvertently depress the switch. I overcome this with a 6" length of electrician's tape over the switch: easily removed & replaced in a trice, & lasts a whole day at least, & allowing a whole variety of different grip positions.
I now have 4 Mirkas (2 DEROS & 2 DEOS, plus the DEOS Delta in cloned Dutch Delmeq livery). They're all significantly & noticeably lighter than the Festo/ol equivalents. Being significantly smoother running they're much less tiring to use for long periods too.
Efficiency is much higher than Festo/ol's equivalents. They all sand significantly faster, due I suspect to their core design for mesh abrasives (which also seems to capture dust better) & in the DEOS versions to a 20% larger sanding stroke. I occasionally use paper abrasives too (usually Klingspor), but generally much prefer the cleanliness, superior performance & longer life of Mirka & Sia mesh. The ceramic grades seem to work best of all.
Unlike Festool's requirement for (in many cases) their own brand of OEM abrasives with their own proprietary hole pattern , the Mirkas & clones will happily use abrasives (with even the weirdest hole patterns) from just about any Manufacturer, Festool included.
These new Mirkas & their badge-engineered clones have pretty efficient & powerful EC motors that seem much less prone to bog down over the brushed direct driven equivalents from other sander manufacturers, whilst consuming about half the electricity used by their competitors.
I still use smaller, much older delta sanders on occasion for fine & less accessible work. I eventually ditched my Festo Deltex in favour of an older Bosch model as F/tool abrasives (different hole pattern) are not so easily sourced. Standard pattern abrasives, in both mesh & paper varieties, are available just about everywhere. The Bosch also has a unique variety of fixed, angled & profiled sanding bases & fingers that makes it extremely useful & versatile for detail & reno tasks.
But the Mirkas aren't perfect either. I don't like the fact that Mirka (& Festool & Metabo) use those stupid "Plug-It" cables. I much prefer the reliability of fixed cables such as their Delmeq, Carshine, Indesit et. al. clones use.
I'd suggest you try the Mirka DEOS Delta for yourself. I consider it to be just "a better mousetrap", esp. with a roll of insulation tape on hand.
I now have 4 Mirkas (2 DEROS & 2 DEOS, plus the DEOS Delta in cloned Dutch Delmeq livery). They're all significantly & noticeably lighter than the Festo/ol equivalents. Being significantly smoother running they're much less tiring to use for long periods too.
Efficiency is much higher than Festo/ol's equivalents. They all sand significantly faster, due I suspect to their core design for mesh abrasives (which also seems to capture dust better) & in the DEOS versions to a 20% larger sanding stroke. I occasionally use paper abrasives too (usually Klingspor), but generally much prefer the cleanliness, superior performance & longer life of Mirka & Sia mesh. The ceramic grades seem to work best of all.
Unlike Festool's requirement for (in many cases) their own brand of OEM abrasives with their own proprietary hole pattern , the Mirkas & clones will happily use abrasives (with even the weirdest hole patterns) from just about any Manufacturer, Festool included.
These new Mirkas & their badge-engineered clones have pretty efficient & powerful EC motors that seem much less prone to bog down over the brushed direct driven equivalents from other sander manufacturers, whilst consuming about half the electricity used by their competitors.
I still use smaller, much older delta sanders on occasion for fine & less accessible work. I eventually ditched my Festo Deltex in favour of an older Bosch model as F/tool abrasives (different hole pattern) are not so easily sourced. Standard pattern abrasives, in both mesh & paper varieties, are available just about everywhere. The Bosch also has a unique variety of fixed, angled & profiled sanding bases & fingers that makes it extremely useful & versatile for detail & reno tasks.
But the Mirkas aren't perfect either. I don't like the fact that Mirka (& Festool & Metabo) use those stupid "Plug-It" cables. I much prefer the reliability of fixed cables such as their Delmeq, Carshine, Indesit et. al. clones use.
I'd suggest you try the Mirka DEOS Delta for yourself. I consider it to be just "a better mousetrap", esp. with a roll of insulation tape on hand.
Cheese
Member
mike9 said:
I just secured a DTS 400 ETSC cordless from Festool recon. It's pretty sweet, it's the full Monty including the 120V optional power adapter. I pulled the pin because I already owned the ETSC 125 sander and I love that unit for fine sanding. It's now sharing equal sanding time with the ETS EC 125 which says a lot.
Maestronus
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- Joined
- Nov 17, 2019
- Messages
- 29
I’m currently in a similar situation, looking at both the Festool and Mirka delta sanders for use on stairs and window frames. For me, one major advantage of the Festool is the dust bag as I do not already have a vac. At the same time I wonder whether it works well enough without a vac. The Mirka seems to be a bit better on a technical level and slightly more expensive (€300 vs €400 or so for me). Ergonomics are definitely different, but which one is better in that regard will be very personal.
Maestronus said:
Mirkas are useless without proper extraction. With, they're pretty well dustless, especially when used with mesh abrasives, but as with most sanders, it's designed to be used with vacuum extraction. Other sanders may very well have dustbags, but won't remove dust & swarf nearly as well.
Just finished a door project that used deltas and I used all 3 of mine. It just depended on my mood, and feeling that day and how I wanted to hold them. They all did their job.
I used the Fein multimaster with sanding triangle, my RO90 with it's delta head and the DTS400. The RO90 is prob. what I reached for most. I can say that the RO90 had the WORST dust collection of the troika, but I think I preferred holding it the way I did so as to manage the cord/hose situation.
This is so subjective in that ten people will probably have 8 different answers for what they like.
I used the Fein multimaster with sanding triangle, my RO90 with it's delta head and the DTS400. The RO90 is prob. what I reached for most. I can say that the RO90 had the WORST dust collection of the troika, but I think I preferred holding it the way I did so as to manage the cord/hose situation.
This is so subjective in that ten people will probably have 8 different answers for what they like.
usernumber1
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- Joined
- Aug 7, 2018
- Messages
- 428
maybe try going to a store if they ever have mirka reps or festool roadshow, that way you can try every single model in your own hands
i know i had to hold them in my hand to figure out what i liked and which i prefered - it was pretty obvious then
i know i had to hold them in my hand to figure out what i liked and which i prefered - it was pretty obvious then
