Domino DF 500, which one?

[budmont]

Hi everyone, new to the forum and my first post.  I recently purchased my first Festool, the miter saw and dust extractor.  I?m very happy with the quality of these tool.  I?m  thinking about getting the Domino DF 500 and I noticed on the web site they have a DF 500 listed as a closeout.  According to Festool the discontinued model has registration pins while the newer model has hinged paddles.  I?ve tried a search but haven?t come up with any info on pros or cons of either one.   

Anyone have opinions on which one I should consider?

Thanks, Bud 

 

[Brice Burrell]

Welcome to the FOG Bud. We've talked about this before, no clear consensus has come from our discussions. Check out this thread.

 

[woodguy7]

Welcome Bud,
I have the old style with the pins & the general consensus is that this is the better system.  Having never used the new "paddle" models, i cant comment on them.  I am sure you will be very impressed with the domino whichever model you go for, an awesome piece of kit.

Woodguy

 

[tbellemare]

Bud:

I have both.

The differences that I see are:

The old pins are spring loaded but allow you to reference the edge of the work piece and a new mortise off the previous mortise.
The new paddles will stay retracted but only allow referencing the edge of the work piece.

The old pin adjustment is variable.
The new paddle adjustment is in increments.

Aside from those observations, I'm told that there were minor design changes made based on customer feedback that are not perceptible to the end user.

The old fence assembly and the new fence assembly are interchangeable on the motor unit and that is how mine is now set up.

Tom

 

[peter halle]

Bud,

At our training class we were informed that one of the reasons the new style was designed with the retractable paddles versus the pins that would reference into mortises cut by the domino was that most people were not using the tool that way.  The resulting spacing was too close and wasted dominos.  Additionally, there had been complaints regarding the learning curve of getting used to the spring loaded pins when cutting a new mortise close to an existing one and the pin trying to creep into the first mortise.

Peter

 

[budmont]

Welcome to the FOG Bud. We've talked about this before, no clear consensus has come from our discussions. Check out this thread.

Thanks to all for the warm welcome.  After reading the posts, to the suggested thread, I can see why you said there is no clear consensus on the matter.  Most seem to like which ever model they have with the exception of two users who are familiar with both models and their verdict appears to be split.  Although the discontinued model is cheaper I think I'll opt for the new model since I can't miss what I never had!  Again, thanks to all for your input

All the best, Bud