Got a RO125, what detail sander next RO90 or DTS400?

[Ed Bray]

As above, I've got an RO125 should I get a RO90 or a DTS400 for my detail sanding.

I realise that the RO90 is £100 more expensive, but then I get the rotary part and smaller circular ROS than just the detail sander.

Advice helpful as I would like to get it right first time.

TIA

 

[AlexThePalex]

Tough choice, because you can't go wrong with either of them. But if I had to, I would get rid of my RO90 before the DTS400. I'm never parting with my DTS400, it's a great sander for just about everything excluding large surfaces. That's where the bigger Rotexes come in.

That said, the RO90 is also a very fine sander and very useful for lots of tasks in and around the house and furniture making.

Which one would really suit you best depends on the kind of projects you want to do. They have a certain overlap in functionality, but I would say the RO90 is better at removing paint while the DTS is quite a bit better at finish sanding. But both could be used for either task if you want. 

 

[Ed Bray]

Thanks for your thoughts Alex.

 

[Cheese]

I have all three, but I found that after purchasing the RO 90, I now tend to use the DTS 400 far less often than I previously did. Don't get me wrong, the DTS 400 is fantastic, it's just not as versatile. Interestingly enough, the 2 RO's and their Systainers of paper are clipped together to form a 4-stack. While the DTS and its paper Systainer are hooked together as a 2-stack, but they sit off to the side behind some other tools.

 

[NERemodeling]

i have both the RO90 and the DTS400..  i would highly recommend the DTS over the RO90..  I love my DTS, i think it is one of Festools better, more useful sanders.    i would hand over my RO90 any day before you could ever pry my DTS out of my hands     imo it will make for a much nicer compliment to your RO125

 

[PA floor guy]

Have every festool sander, I use the RO125 and dts400 the most. Hands down. I'm a floor refinisher though, I have 6-400s, they get alot of work out

 

[rst]

Like Pa Floor Guy, I too have a complete line of sanders.  Each one excels in different areas.  I probably use my 90 the most and the only 6" sander I have is the 150/5 which I bought on Ebay used.  I am in the process of refinishing my Adirondack chairs and since the bottom slats were narrow, I bought an extra pad for my LS130 and reduced the width by cutting it down with my bandsaw to work the bottoms of the slats.

 

[adugas]

Hi guys,
I'm on fence also and have read a few post on this. I have a RO 150 and ETS150/3,  I was thinking the RO 90 and delta attachment has its benifits but I'm sure DTS 400. What are the pros and cons? If never used either 90  or 400. Your insight and advise would be awesome.

Cheers

 

[itchy]

It's difficult to say without knowing what you're sanding. I have the RO90 and have never used to DTS400, however in my experience the RO90 is a very good detail sander and an excellent 3.5" finish sander/aggressive sander. The RO is more versatile.

 

[Ed Bray]

Thanks all for your replies, it is helpful when people have experience of more than one Festool sander too.

My use will be pretty much restricted to wood and predominantly furniture type projects although I may on occasions stray from this.

 

[Ed Bray]

Thanks all for your thoughts, I ended up with more than I though so I decided to go with the Kapex and the DTS400 at the moment. I have a little left over so might squeeze out either a CT Midi or a CT 26.

 

[greg mann]

The DTS is just about the perfect detail sander. It is very ergonomic and forgiving. You will get better results detail sanding with it without paying as much attention to it than you would using the Delta funtion on the RO90. It is very hard to make a mistake with the DTS.

That said, the RO90 has a tremendous range of application and I love having it in my arsenal. Last Sunday I needed to remove the finish on an interior door frame. My RO150 blew the finish away on the sides. In fact, on one side the surface was concave and the other side convex so the 150 pad surface took down the high spots and flattened as it went as it covered full width. Doing the top upside-down was just brutal and it took me about 45 seconds to decide to break out the RO90 for the top. It is so much lighter. Since my RO150 is an older model without the edge guard I also used the RO90 ith its edge guard to remove the finish right up against the adjoining surfaces without gouging them. The painter wanted to know how I did that so cleanly. [big grin] I could have done that with a DTS as well but it would be less aggressive. Of course sometimes less aggressive is exactly what you want.

I find that I can often increase sander function overlap if I have a good selectio of abrasives. As an example, in the thread on flattening end-grain butcher blocks an RTS2E was recommended. This is generally considered a 'finish' sander but put some really coarse abrasive on it and you can remove high spots in very short order. I think you can go down to 60 grit but if you think of it as only a finish sander you might only buy down to 120 or even 150. IMO this limits your options. The plus is that you are concurrently flattening the surface with the right tool as well. The only thing faster at combining material removal and flattening at the same time would be a belt sander in a frame but NAINA. It can be almost as aggressive as an RO but will flatten better. But I digress.....

 

[rst]

The DTS is a great choice and not to worry...you will own the 90 eventually, it fits lots of places others will not fit.