festool drills

[dirtydeeds]

reading between the lines on a number of topics in various areas of the site (and my own comments and feelings and usage of festool drills)

one thing that is becoming clear is that there are a number of BUTS

no impact drivers, no lithium ion batteries, no belt hooks (removable for some people) and no lights

another thing is clear, they have a number of very good points that are less well articulated by both the forum members and the trade, dealers and festool themselves

the good battery life beyond what most other manufactureres manage, inovative get into impossible positions, and the torque on them (the 15.6v in particularly) is awsome, it can rack your wrist

my wish is that festool would do two things with their drills.

one. market the benefits more strongly (european reticence in marketing doesnt help when the product is so good)

while they are doing this, bring forward the missing things listed above (as quickly as festool can manage)

i suppose the point im making is that drills are a good way of raising marketing awareness and maybe festool should look at this but not go down dewalts road of 30 plus models of drill

 

[dirtydeeds]

i also wouldnt want festool to spend vast sums of money on drills

id prefer more money was spent on inovative power tools, the domino is the finest example in the stable

 

[semenza]

my wish is that festool would do two things with their drills.

one. market the benefits more strongly (european reticence in marketing doesnt help when the product is so good)

while they are doing this, bring forward the missing things listed above (as quickly as festool can manage)

i suppose the point im making is that drills are a good way of raising marketing awareness and maybe festool should look at this but not go down dewalts road of 30 plus models of drill

    Good points.  Marketing wise- lots of people would buy an exceptional drill. With exceptional battery life. Those buyers would not need to be Festool addicts to go for an expensive drill. It just needs to beat the competition in every way (add light, hook, make other battery compatible tools, flash light, etc.) The Festool drills do beat the competition in many areas , but not in others. And those points all need to be made well known as dirtydeeds suggests.

Seth

 

[jonny round boy]

On a related note, last time I went to my dealers he said he'd heard rumours of a new drill coming out this year. He described it as a 14.4V version of the C12.

Maybe it'll be a Li-ion drill, hence the voltage (Li-ion cells have a native voltage of 3.6V, so a 12V pack isn't possible), and I read something a few weeks ago (may even have been on here) that due to new regulations, Ni-cad batteries aren't allowed to be sold in Germany anymore.

Maybe it'll have a belt-hook and LED too...

Still doubt there'll be an impact driver, though.

 

[dirtydeeds]

a dealer i know sent his guys on a jolly (sorry................. training session) to metabo in germany

they spent 2 hours "proving" you dont need impact drills, perhaps ALL german tool manufacturers think this way?

methinks the lady doth protest too much

 

[Eli]

I've gotten over the Li-ion thing, but a light and belt clip would be nice. I've been putting off a c12 purchase because I've heard rumours as well.

 

[Lancashire Fusilier]

With regards to the belt hook I have this item here, as I recently dropped my drill from height and thought this would be handy. Healy's in the UK seems to be the only place I could get it but it arrived promptly and is quite good. To summarise it has a removable ladder clip that you can fix to your ladder or scaffold, it has a belt clamp that you put on your belt and then these eleastic lanyards with a plastic bauble at the end connect into the clips.

Works well, comes with three lanyards and the two clips so can sort out 3 tools, don't even need to be Festool.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Festool-Tool...ageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m122

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Yeah, I suppose you wouldn't "need" an impact driver if all you ever did was drive brand new Torx and square drive bits, but when you're trying to bust loose 50 year old Phillips screws (which are deliberately designed to cam-out at high torque), a good impact driver will run circles around a geared drill. Impact drivers also have the added versatility of being able to drive not only screws for cabinet setting and smaller projects, but today I used my Makita LXT impact to driver approximately fiufty, 3 5/8" ledger lock lags into old, dried-out floor joists, try that with a 12v drill..... I still think Makita's Hybrid driver would be right up Festool's aisle, a combined Drill AND Impact Driver, it would especially well with their Centrotec Chuck system.......

 

[semenza]

Hi,

      I have found an impact driver to be easier on the wrist. You don't have to fight that torque especially with long screws.  For rough work it is very nice when just jamming in self drilling screws. Also since you don't have to put as much push into  it, an impact is great in awkward positions. A couple days ago I was putting in screws leaning over a railing holding the driver backwards to pull it towards me (NOT  in a way that I could screw myself  ). This would have been a real PIA with a drill/driver. 
      An impact is not needed but it sure makes some things easier.  I don't see why Festool wouldn't at least be thinking about one.  They found ways to make the drill innovative so why not an innovative impact?

Seth

 

[Christian A.]

Hi,

On a related note, last time I went to my dealers he said he'd heard rumours of a new drill coming out this year. He described it as a 14.4V version of the C12.

Festool's 2008 pricelist for Switzerland contains a Festool T 12 and a T 15 cordless drill. According to the pricelist, both tools will be offered with NiCd, NiMH and LI batteries.
This is all I know about these drills. More specifics are not available to me.

Regards,

Christian

 

[Ned]

Thanks, Christian.  I've been hoping that we'd have a T-handled choice with the latest internals.

Ned

 

[Dave Ronyak]

a dealer i know sent his guys on a jolly (sorry................. training session) to metabo in germany

they spent 2 hours "proving" you dont need impact drills, perhaps ALL german tool manufacturers think this way?

methinks the lady doth protest too much

Not so many years ago we didn't need battery powered tools, either, or keyless chucks, or air conditioning.  Ask those who need to drive a lot of larger threaded fasteners, e.g. decking, log homes, landscaping, structural, and they seem to strongly prefer impact drivers.  And eliminating most of the reaction torque on the human wrist, especially as the fastener bottoms out, is definitely a safety advantage in some circumstances and easier on the worker in all.  I'm a hobbyist, but when I was replacing a section of my deck, I found my wrists feeling the strain after driving a hundred screws or more in a few hours.

Dave R.