Coen said:
Among the first world countries, the Americans are in a quite unique position that they can pretty much source and make everything in-country.
As for the NAINA stuff; DHL, UPS, FedEx all ship stuff over the Atlantic...
I've had a monitor, laptop, printer, batteries, chargers... all shipped over from the USA because NAIEU (or at ridiculous prices).
If only you had 230V 50 Hz as easily available [big grin]
But this is the problem, the US is big enough that it becomes an island, so when you want stuff not on the island it's a no go. You are also forced to go with the flow of what is here, so if you want to do something different, or more correctly, if you want to do something the way 96% of the world does it, you are out of luck because of the barriers put up. Shipping companies may ship around the world, but finding businesses that will sell and ship it to the US is almost impossible. I routinely find stuff made and sold in Europe, but no amount of trying will make it happen. Companies simply won't sell to you if you are in the US. This has got a bit better the last few years with Amazon, but even then it's hit and miss. Try buying something Festool from amazon.de, they might block you from the start, or they might even process the order and then later get told "out of stock" and that's the end of it. I have yet to cross the finish line of getting my latest purchase here after multiple foiled attempts, fingers crossed this time.
When you live in a smaller country you take for granted that you can buy stuff cross border thus basically be able to get anything you want. Also if in the EU you take for granted the simplicity of move stuff across borders. As a country you can import the best ideas/ways from around the world much more easily when small.
The US situation wouldn't be so bad if if participated with the world when it came to the every day stuff (units of measurement, electricity, etc), but since it operates anti-Netherlandian, it becomes very very frustrating for those who don't like to be isolated. This isn't to say the US isn't in the right on some of the differences.
On the 230V, as has been brought up in many threads, we have 230V power here, you can even buy tools with it. You can actually buy a lot of stuff in 230V, there are multiple websites that specialize in selling 230V appliances (basically they import the global versions). The problem is it's not the norm. Buildings are required to have 110V outlets, not 220V outlets. No general stores carry 110V stuff, so even if you wanted to wire up your home 220V only (which I would love to do), you would be both in violation of building code, and struggle to find every day stuff, thus have to buy everything from overseas, which then becomes a real pain and as mentioned means no warranty which isn't what people generally want. What would help is if both US companies, but especially globally companies come to accept that we have 220V outlets here for those who want them. While putting a NEMA 6-15 or 6-20 plug on the tool directly would be nice, we can buy plug adapters and move on. Some companies like Mafell get this, when you buy a 230V tool here (from the US retailer), it just comes with a Schuko. I think Festool should offer some of their stuff in 230V here, especially the dust extractors because people could use them with 230V tools they bought from other companies. Lots of products get redone to 110V and 15+ Amps just to run it on a 110V/15A outlet when a 110V/20A is readily available, and 230V/15A would be much better, but the mindset the US is 110V is hard to break.
I don't know where the NAINA is coming from on the SAWSTOP, the TK80 was previously listed showing a NA PN. Not that it means it's 100% going to happen. CMS hasn't been officially killed here yet, but the website is slowly dying for it. It's not like Festool is going to keep making it when they don't sell it anyplace else. I think it would be good for them to have it here, and I would think they need to make a 110V version for the UK jobsites anyway. I would expect it's just going to come 1 year later or some such.
