Festool T15+3 Review

[jmbfestool]

HELLO AGAIN!

Now just a quick recap on whats gone on with this new drill!

I bought the Festool T15+3 when it came out in the UK  it broke on me within 1 week stopped working completly when I was screwing 4inch screw into timber. I took it straight back to the shop 3 days later I got it back working but soon as I got home I noticed the torgue setting switch on the back of the drill was not put back into place properly so it would not turn! I tryed to turn it and it moved sliglty and rubbed of the numbers of the turn switch. I then returned the drill back to the shop again they said thats not very good and send it back to festool. 1 Week later I got the drill back! this time I thought I would check everythin very thoroughly befor I left the shop. At first glance the drill was fine untill I noticed the back of the drill was smashed in I and a large piece of plastic was broken off on the rear of the drill. I was not very pleased seen as I only used the drill for one week it had to go back in 3 times one after another. The shop keeper was very angry by festools service and so was I. He took the drill with him to the rear of the shop and went onto the phone to festool rep. As I was waiting I also notice my box was all broken and cracked on every corner of the box I notified the shop keeper. He told the rep about the drill and the box the rep said the box was broken due to the courier so festool will claim from them. The shop keeper told me the rep will be coming over in 30 mins so asked me the wait. I waited the festool rep arived he was very angry with the repair service kept on appologizing and said he will deal with the person who repaired the drill and went and got me a brand new drill and for compensation he gave me two festool fleeces.  I have had the new drill for 1 week now and touch wood which i do everyday any way everything is all well so I am happy at the moment.   

I hope i was the only person with this problem and I hope i do not have any further problems with festool like this. So i dont have to put any more comments on here any more

 

[Frank-Jan]

I'm happy for you it turned out well in the end.

I don't see the point in opening a new forum thread for every single update though, it saves yourself time to summarize events if you just add to the first thread, which will be kicked up by the new post, so everyone can see there has been a new post.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

What is a Festool fleece?

Dave R.

 

[bobbobbob]

What is a Festool fleece?

Dave R.

Hey Dave,
The Festool fleece is a fleece 'sweatshirt' of sorts.  They're giving one away this month at Wood Whisperer Fescool giveaway.  It's also in the new catalog, but the image wasn't great so I didn't scan it...

 

[Troll]

A thought, if your box (systainer?) was "all cracked and broken on every corner" then why didn't the shopkeeper notice it before he returned the drill back to you, surely with damage like this he couldn't fail to notice it?  And presumably then he should have inspected the contents and noticed the "large piece of plastic" broken off the drill.  Knowing how tough the systainer is I can only presume it fell off a moving vehicle at speed to damage the box and contents like this.

I'm no Festool diehard, but I do not see how damage in transit can be the fault of Festool.  Seems to me that you had a faulty drill, then one repair that unfortunately was not done correctly (shouldn't happen agreed, but it's a human world).  Is this a drama made out of a crisis?

Anyway, as stated by another, hopefully your problems are now over!

Troll

 

[Ken Slemmer]

JMB,

Off topic. How is the Festool Fleece...?  Nice or don't bother...?

 

[MCASE]

Why doesn't this company get with it.   The complaints on this board all have one theme.  The customer gets a bad tool from a top end company.   Instead of taking care of  the customer who bought  their  tool  for twice the money  of other quality brands,  they play this ship and repair game.    I could understand (but not approve of) this policy for a big item, but for a drill? - you have got to be kidding!  And what happens in the end?  After multiple tries and inexcusable frustration for the customer they finally do the simple thing they should have done in the first place that is replace the defective tool    I would really,  really,   like to buy a Kapex for my shop, but I've heard too many of these stories about plates for the kapex  and shipping things out for repair and multiple repairs.  And now I see what the customer has to go through over a drill!   Its not the money, I spend plenty on tools,  I just won't risk the frustration. 

 

[Warrior]

Its not the company. Its the dealer. If the tool is not suitable or breaks within the first 30 days then they should give out a replacement first and then deal with festool about the broken tool themselves.

That is how my dealer treats me, and I assume their other customers as well. I have even returned/exchanged tools past the 30 day mark. They are on top of it when it comes to respecting their customer's time. They know that we buy the tools to make us money and when we have to spend time chasing down repairs that means we are making less money that we could have spent with them on more tools. This is deffinately not Festools fault here. I place all the blame on that ^%$$#$%@ dealer for wasting his customer's time.

Eiji

 

[MCASE]

Hi Eiji,

I agree that good dealers will take back defective tools without argument.  However, the  problem here  is Festool.   When a dealer  takes another brand's tool back  they do not have to take the loss.  They tell the distributor its a no-go tool and they are sent a replacement.   Festool won't let this happen.    The  reason dealers don't just swap defective Festool products as they do with other brands is because Festool has a rigid  repair policy and won't accept the returns.  Yes, if you have super leverage you might get a dealer to eat one, but that is not fair to the dealer and it won't happen often.    Perhaps larger dealers should start standing  up to Festool.  Festool's policies are  pissing off a lot of their customers and its the customers after all that generate the cash flow.

 

[jmbfestool]

Hi Eiji,

I agree that good dealers will take back defective tools without argument.  However, the  problem here  is Festool.   When a dealer  takes another brand's tool back  they do not have to take the loss.  They tell the distributor its a no-go tool and they are sent a replacement.   Festool won't let this happen.    The  reason dealers don't just swap defective Festool products as they do with other brands is because Festool has a rigid  repair policy and won't accept the returns.  Yes, if you have super leverage you might get a dealer to eat one, but that is not fair to the dealer and it won't happen often.    Perhaps larger dealers should start standing  up to Festool.  Festool's policies are  pissing off a lot of their customers and its the customers after all that generate the cash flow.

Yes, but thats the problem festool well in the uk any way it always seems to be small to medium size dealers not large wide spread dealers cus festool pick the dealers who can sell their product and the dealers are not aloud to sell festool at a lower cost than what festool have told the dealers to sell it if the dealers are cuaght selling it cheaper than the price it should be sold at then they will not be aloud to sell festool products. I dont know if thats how its in america but thats how it works in England.

 

[jmbfestool]

As you mite know from my old posts I was unfortunate to get a faulty drill but befor it broke i noticed when changing speed  from 1 to 2 it some times wouldnt click into 2nd gear so u would have to return it to 1st gear den start the drill and then try again and it would go into 2nd gear but its so small that you sometimes dont realise it has not go into second gear this means then wen you drill or try and drive a screw in it would grind the gears. Now i thought becuase the drill was faulty I dismissed it. But festool have given me a brand new! crossed fingers! its still working! BUT!!!!  The drill is doing the same thing as befor and I have to make sure i have it in gear properly. Really it aint that big of a deal but i personally think it shouldnt be like that.  The rest of the drill is Brilliant its sooooooooo small its like the smallest dril you can get in length and has amazing amount of power for its size. The extra bits to it are very handy.

 

[Johnbarbershopper]

Has the drill got as much power as Festool say it has, for example how many 3 inch mortise locks could you fit on one battery charge? Will it drill a 1 inch diameter hole in hard wood?

 

[jmbfestool]

Has the drill got as much power as Festool say it has, for example how many 3 inch mortise locks could you fit on one battery charge? Will it drill a 1 inch diameter hole in hard wood?

The actual size of the drill with no centronic on because you can use the drill with nothing on is only about 6inch long which is small! So with a PZ 2 bit in its 6 3/4 inch long.

Yes it will I have made a video  not a very good one its my first video i have done but i start of drilling a 32mm bit into oak! I first start of on second gear and it wont do it but on first gear it does it. I then go along to smaller size one then smaller till it will drill a bit in second gear.  Untill i got to the second to last one which is a 18mm bit it will drill it in second gear.  So 20 22 25 32 mm bits are to large to be drilled in second gear in OAK but in first gear it does it fine. They will dril in soft wood in second gear and the 16 and 18 mm bits will drill in oak in second gear.

To the other part of your question how many mortise locks could I fit with one charge I could not tell you because I aint had it that long and at the moment im making and fitting wardrobes and radiator covers so I aint done many mortise locks with the drill. As far as I can tell the batterie last a decent amount of time. I aint thought at any point on the job dam the drill has run out of batterie again. Well put it this way I always have a ready charged batterie ready so the batterie chargers quicker than you can run one flat.

[attachimg=#]

 

[jmbfestool]

Has the drill got as much power as Festool say it has, for example how many 3 inch mortise locks could you fit on one battery charge? Will it drill a 1 inch diameter hole in hard wood?

Here you can see a video i have done and uploaded for you onto youtube demonstrating a 1'' 1/4  ( 32mm)  drill bit through oak but just like to add that auger bits do require more power to drill into wood than a flat bit so it would be easier to drill 32mm with a flat bit. On the video is used Irwin Blue Groove 6x Wood Bit Sets

Here is the link for the Video:

[attachimg=#]

 

[Frank-Jan]

Those are the exact same drills I used when testing my new protool drill last september. (I had a bit of a d?j? vue experience when the block cracked )
I never really liked those drillbits before, the threaded tip pulls them in pretty agressively, and they don't give good depth control if you don't want to drill all the way through something. But at least with the new drill I can use the bigger ones aswell, without the drill bogging down (my 12V dewalt couldn't handle them).
I don't have any scrap blocks of oak handy, if I did I could check at what speed it can run the 32mm (the 18V protool has quite a bit more torque than the festool drill, the side handle does come in handy sometimes). (I might have a block of bankirai though, might try that tomorrow...)

Nice video BTW!

I always tighten drillbits by hand, that way they don't come loose. (Open the chuck so they just fit in, then insert bit and tighten by hand, yes, it's slower, but it doesn't make burrs on the bits, and they don't come loose till I want them to)

 

[jmbfestool]

Those are the exact same drills I used when testing my new protool drill last september. (I had a bit of a d?j? vue experience when the block cracked )
I never really liked those drillbits before, the threaded tip pulls them in pretty agressively, and they don't give good depth control if you don't want to drill all the way through something. But at least with the new drill I can use the bigger ones aswell, without the drill bogging down (my 12V dewalt couldn't handle them).
I don't have any scrap blocks of oak handy, if I did I could check at what speed it can run the 32mm (the 18V protool has quite a bit more torque than the festool drill, the side handle does come in handy sometimes). (I might have a block of bankirai though, might try that tomorrow...)

Do a video people like to see videos is best way for people to judge for them selfs to see how the tools perform. Yeah protool is festool aint it just festool is for workshop and protool is for site. Unfortunatly protool aint sold in the UK I also think protool dont look as good but it aint really about the looks to be fair. The protools look larger than the festool drills. Must admit tho the T15 festool is strong for its size. Ill put another photo on this topic.

Yeah  the irwin bit they are agressive and make it more difficult for drills with less power but if your drill has alot of power they do fly thruw very quickly.

As you can see on the video i did have little trouble with the gears as i started drilling with the second bit when i flicked it into first gear and started drilling it stoped it does happen sometimes its when the gears dont click in properly you gotta take it out of gear again turn the drill on and try again other whise the gears grind its a fualt the T15+3 have have a look on the video you see it happen on the 25mm bit at the start. Its a fualt I hope festool will sort.

 

[jmbfestool]

Those are the exact same drills I used when testing my new protool drill last september. (I had a bit of a d?j? vue experience when the block cracked )
I never really liked those drillbits before, the threaded tip pulls them in pretty agressively, and they don't give good depth control if you don't want to drill all the way through something. But at least with the new drill I can use the bigger ones aswell, without the drill bogging down (my 12V dewalt couldn't handle them).
I don't have any scrap blocks of oak handy, if I did I could check at what speed it can run the 32mm (the 18V protool has quite a bit more torque than the festool drill, the side handle does come in handy sometimes). (I might have a block of bankirai though, might try that tomorrow...)

Nice video BTW!

I always tighten drillbits by hand, that way they don't come loose. (Open the chuck so they just fit in, then insert bit and tighten by hand, yes, it's slower, but it doesn't make burrs on the bits, and they don't come loose till I want them to)

Yeah i do find the festool chuck aint that brilliant you do have to make sure your really tighten the chuck other whise the bits fall out like you have seen on the video. I have an old bosch drill and when you tighten the chuck your hear little clicks and that keeps the bit it perfect i never had it come loose on me once i find chucks like that are the best. The silent type of chuck like the festool one dont seem to stay tight unless you really tighten it.

Thanks I mite do some more videos!

 

[Frank-Jan]

The keyless chucks for the new protool drills are the clicking kind, and they fit the festool drills aswell (but they do have a little orange line on them. link
They also have an all metal version, but the standard one is pretty heavy duty as is, and I think the metal one will make the ballance of the drill akward.

I got the protool drill a few weeks before the festools came out. The drills themselves are pretty compact, but the batteries are a bit more bulky, and the batteries have a protective rubber rim around the bottom.

I mostly do construction work, and for me the protool drills have significant advantages over the festool drills. I like the belthook (altough I don't put it on my belt, but in my pant-pocket), the 4 speed (metal) gearbox (the highest rpm is 3800 , and that really comes in handy when drilling with watercooled diamant drills (for hard tiles or natural stone), or smaller drills in steel (I tried up to 7mm sofar with success). They came in a cool systainer with room for bits and stuff in the lid (those systainers are soon to be released for festool aswell). They also come in 18V versions, and hammerdrill and impact driver versions. (I have the hammerdrill, the hammerdrill function is nicer than that on most other brands, you don't have to push through the travel of the hammermechanism when driving screws or drilling in steel for example)

But there are also advantages the festool drills have over the protool: switching to drill mode independant of torque setting, way more torque settings, (the protool drills only have 12, off which the lower ones are too strong for tiny screws); the excenter and drywall chucks only work with the festool drills (but the protool drills have a heavier duty right angle chuck, and an extra chuck for wrench sockets)

I'll give the video thing a try soon, I don't have a camera, but I think it will work using my laptop's webcam.

 

[jmbfestool]

The keyless chucks for the new protool drills are the clicking kind, and they fit the festool drills aswell (but they do have a little orange line on them. link
They also have an all metal version, but the standard one is pretty heavy duty as is, and I think the metal one will make the ballance of the drill akward.

I got the protool drill a few weeks before the festools came out. The drills themselves are pretty compact, but the batteries are a bit more bulky, and the batteries have a protective rubber rim around the bottom.

I mostly do construction work, and for me the protool drills have significant advantages over the festool drills. I like the belthook (altough I don't put it on my belt, but in my pant-pocket), the 4 speed (metal) gearbox (the highest rpm is 3800 , and that really comes in handy when drilling with watercooled diamant drills (for hard tiles or natural stone), or smaller drills in steel (I tried up to 7mm sofar with success). They came in a cool systainer with room for bits and stuff in the lid (those systainers are soon to be released for festool aswell). They also come in 18V versions, and hammerdrill and impact driver versions. (I have the hammerdrill, the hammerdrill function is nicer than that on most other brands, you don't have to push through the travel of the hammermechanism when driving screws or drilling in steel for example)

But there are also advantages the festool drills have over the protool: switching to drill mode independant of torque setting, way more torque settings, (the protool drills only have 12, off which the lower ones are too strong for tiny screws); the excenter and drywall chucks only work with the festool drills (but the protool drills have a heavier duty right angle chuck, and an extra chuck for wrench sockets)

I'll give the video thing a try soon, I don't have a camera, but I think it will work using my laptop's webcam.

Yeah cheers would be nice! I mite do some more videos of some other festools mainly videos I can not find on festool and i think should be out there! Dont think there is many protool is there.

I have looked as some protool tools and noticed very similiar to the festool like i said befor tho I can not buy it in the UK so only option I have is Festool, Milwuake, Fein and Makita really they are the only best tools left. I find bosch is just okay and Dewalt is shit.

Looking forward to your demo video of your protool. Im goin do another video I think but with the Irwin Flat bits see what speed setting it can drill with.

Iv just looked at your link of the protool chuck it does look more solid as well just dont know where I could get on from really. I mite go to my local dealer and see if he can get hold of it for me i like it when the chuck goes click click click click lol cheers

 

[jmbfestool]

Bosch 10.8v  V-LI Proffesional size comparision against the Festool T15+3

Photo
[attachimg=#]

Later I will make a video comparing strength with the bosch V-li proffesional and festool T15+3 and also the New makita 10.8v 2piece  kit black and white version.(testing the impact driver one) 

Reason for comparing these 3 drills is because they are very small drills in length which is handy for kitchen fitting and gettin in other small areas but you also want power at the same time.