Kapex life span

[jmbfestool]

I wish (for my sake) that this thread could have just died out and run its lifespan. Alas my 3 year 8 month old kapex just gave up the ghost this weekend. Same symptoms and a heck of a smell to it. So kind of it to wait until it's out of warranty to do this.

Im pretty aggravated at this point and feel kind of helpless as a consumer. It seems a large amount of these saws have this much life expectancy and it's s little disheartening. Maybe this particular tool should come with a longer warranty for it's ticket price? Maybe the manufacturer should take the time to find the issue and fix it. Not feeling like a loyal customer at this point and quickly loosing my trust in the company. That has nothing to do with customer service or how my situation gets handled but everything tk do with the fact that there hasn't been any changes to this saw to prevent premature motor failure.

An industry leading warranty is great but there are other manufactured who's saws don't break. I just wish they were as good as the kapex when it does work.

Welcome to my world!

Mine did the same burnt out not so long after the warrenty.

I repaired it and just thought I was unlucky and I never posted it on FOG. Second time I kinda thought this aint right the world needs to know hence this thread!

Im suprised how much of a hit this thread has become and I hope it has affected festool enough so they stop ignoring the problem and do something about it. 

Kinda wish I named the Thread Kapex review or Kapex life span or anything with  having the kapex in it would have given it a better google hit for when people might google info  about kapex.

This would hopefully have brought more  people from outside of Fog.

 

[Brice Burrell]

I always thought you could edit the thread title, have you tired?

 

[jmbfestool]

I always thought you could edit the thread title, have you tired?

Yeah you can but when I did it to a thread years ago it doesnt truly change it just sticks the new title ontop if you know what i mean.  Its still linked under the old title.

It might have been a clitch at the time ill try it now see if it still does it.

 

[jmbfestool]

I always thought you could edit the thread title, have you tired?

Comes as Kapex life span but everyones post still says the life span and the Url still has the life span.  So its just a sticker really over the top so google search will still require the life span no?
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tool-problems/the-life-span/

 

[peter halle]

This might be one of those situations where I can help.  I have changed the title of the thread and it has changed the title on each post.  Obviously Google isn't going to work instantaneously, but it will in time.

Peter Halle - Moderator

 

[jimbouk]

Just heard from my mate. It's happened to his 240v kapex. Got to pay to fix it. It's only ever stayed in his workshop and had an easy life. As soon as it's fixed he's flogging it and will stick with his old makita. It's older than the kapex and still going strong!

His a big festool advocate but really unhappy with this. Even saying he will never buy another tool off them.

 

[jmbfestool]

This might be one of those situations where I can help.  I have changed the title of the thread and it has changed the title on each post.  Obviously Google isn't going to work instantaneously, but it will in time.

Peter Halle - Moderator

Thank you!

Think its more appropriate now with having kapex in it
[big grin]

 

[jmbfestool]

Crap saw,and festool don't give a stuff. or they would repair at cost, all this  crap ends up in landfill

And instead of having stupid £5000 giveaways why not repair a few hundred kapex

Thats what I thought its such a shame because my kapex still had everything working fine so the motor has just made the entire thing useless.

My dealer has a couple of broken 110v kapex's with burnt out motors so he dropped the new 240v off at mine the other day and he brought a broken 110v which I can use the parts for.  Saved me paying festool to have my old one sent back to me. 

 

[rizzoa13]

Price is going up $25 even though they keep breaking. Genius!

 

[Kev]

Price is going up $25 even though they keep breaking. Genius!

But now it comes with a bonus of threw two week holidays you get to take any time in the first 3 years of KAPEX life during your repair windows. Holidays are no longer valid after your warranty expires!!

 

[mwahaha]

An industry leading warranty is great but there are other manufactured who's saws don't break. I just wish they were as good as the kapex when it does work.

3 year warranty is hardly industry leading. A few of my tools from other manufacturers have 3 years. I believe industry leading would go to AEG powertools, they offer 6 years on the tool and 3 on the battery. I haven't seen any warranty that long anywhere else.

 

[Harvey]

Just heard from my mate. It's happened to his 240v kapex. Got to pay to fix it. It's only ever stayed in his workshop and had an easy life. As soon as it's fixed he's flogging it and will stick with his old makita. It's older than the kapex and still going strong!

His a big festool advocate but really unhappy with this. Even saying he will never buy another tool off them.

I've pretty much decided the Kapex will be my last Festool purchase. After my recent experience I didn't feel my dealer nor Festool gave me the support I deserved. 

 

[Sal C.]

The Kapex, its accuracy, dust collection, and many other attributes are appreciated by many. It does however have its issues; particularly as addressed in this post. From my perspective, a new release at this time can provide substantial improvement at the "margins" and get many to see greater value at its price point. I for one am not abandoning the make. Just waiting for an update.

 

[peter halle]

Just heard from my mate. It's happened to his 240v kapex. Got to pay to fix it. It's only ever stayed in his workshop and had an easy life. As soon as it's fixed he's flogging it and will stick with his old makita. It's older than the kapex and still going strong!

His a big festool advocate but really unhappy with this. Even saying he will never buy another tool off them.

I've pretty much decided the Kapex will be my last Festool purchase. After my recent experience I didn't feel my dealer nor Festool gave me the support I deserved.

While I understand your position after going back and reading your posts, your particular situation was not the same as what others have posted here.

Sorry to read about your decision.

Peter

 

[rizzoa13]

To me the lifespan of this saw is ~ 4 years and I haven't beaten it . That's infuriating and then to add salt to the wound the products price is going up.

The saw is amazing but it doesn't last. I would NOT recommend anyone buy a kapex as it does not hold up to even mild use. Don't make the mistake of thinking just because your a hobbyist that you'll be fine, it doesn't last.

Truthfully there is an issue with the motor of these saws and just because it's not a safety issue doesn't mean Festool couldn't initiate a recall. Car companies do it all the time when they feel something doesn't meet their quality control. Toyota has sent me multiple letters to take my trucks in through the years, that's what I call service all inclusive.

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

An industry leading warranty is great but there are other manufactured who's saws don't break. I just wish they were as good as the kapex when it does work.

3 year warranty is hardly industry leading. A few of my tools from other manufacturers have 3 years. I believe industry leading would go to AEG powertools, they offer 6 years on the tool and 3 on the battery. I haven't seen any warranty that long anywhere else.

3 years may not be an industry leading warranty, but there are plenty of industrial tool brands that actually offer far less. I believe Lamello only offers a 1 year warranty, and the same for Mafell as well as Virutex. Trumpf also used to only offer a 1 year warranty on their metalworking hand tools, and some of those make Festool look cheap. Trumpf seems to have extended their warranty to 5 years recently, and Mafell looks to have extended theirs to 3, at least for the German or European market.

Some companies get around the lower warranty period by offering a fixed repair cost with a warranty afterwards.

 

[oldie]

Mafell offer 3-year warranty, so long as registered within 30 days. 
http://www.mafell.de/en/products/extra-services.html 
(Not sure if applicable outside EU.) 

Richard (UK)

[Edit: removed one word.]

 

[KRKWW]

I recently talked with the folks at Mafell (USA) about their one year warranty. They said the saw was so good it did not need a longer warranty like Festool. I respectfully disagreed with them and said the one year warranty did not give me the confidence that Mafell had any confidence in their product. If they did, they would put their money where their mouth is. Their logic was backwards to me and made no sense.

 

[Holmz]

I recently talked with the folks at Mafell (USA) about their one year warranty. They said the saw was so good it did not need a longer warranty like Festool. I respectfully disagreed with them and said the one year warranty did not give me the confidence that Mafell had any confidence in their product. If they did, they would put their money where their mouth is. Their logic was backwards to me and made no sense.

Once a tool gets a reputation for giving up its smoke, then it becomes a matter of "when it will fail", rather than "If it will fail".

Buying a tool with a reputation for usually failing, even with a warranty makes questionable sense.

The Mafell tools I have, do feel like quality tools, and they do not have a reputation for failing... So I feel the risk is low.

 

[Kev]

I recently talked with the folks at Mafell (USA) about their one year warranty. They said the saw was so good it did not need a longer warranty like Festool. I respectfully disagreed with them and said the one year warranty did not give me the confidence that Mafell had any confidence in their product. If they did, they would put their money where their mouth is. Their logic was backwards to me and made no sense.

Once a tool gets a reputation for giving up its smoke, then it becomes a matter of "when it will fail", rather than "If it will fail".

Buying a tool with a reputation for usually failing, even with a warranty makes questionable sense.

The Mafell tools I have, do feel like quality tools, and they do not have a reputation for failing... So I feel the risk is low.

That won't get a person over the first buy hump.

Regardless of tool quality (because the hump is in the way for me) I've found Mafell quite arrogant as a company.

Going a bit off topic .. I like to pick up and play with the tools I intend to buy - another reason why I've spend $0 on Mafell, yet have been delighted with the Festool buying experience locally.