Does anyone have experience with the new HEPA extractor that Mirka recently introduced? I have several Festool HEPA extractors and need to add a couple more units, so I was curious about what was new in the market. I noticed that the Mirka unit looks identical to the Milwaukee unit - with the exception of color - so I am suspicious that the Mirka unit is not made by them, or Mirka is making it for Milwaukee??? Thoughts...comments appreciated.
Mirka Extractor vs. Festool
- Thread starter toolguy4
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jimmy wood shop
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I saw the Mirka unit recently at a flooring show. Talking to the Mirk people at their booth, I was told that Mirka does not make the unit. It is made for them by Nilfisk - who also makes it for Milwaukee. So if you do decide on the unit, you have tha ability do shop price, if that is important to you! Festool makes all of their own tools, including the extractors, which I personally find important for support, warranty, etc. I compared performance of the Mirka and Festool unit and the Festool wins handsomely.
Units with clean/empty bags: Festool 17% higher CFM
Dirty/partially full bags: Festool CFM drops 40%, Mirka CFM drops 59%
Mirka duty cycle rating is 600 hrs for their motor, so that is only 2.5 hrs per day in a typical 250 working day year. Not a lot. If you put a dual operator kit on the unit, the use goes to half or 1.2 hours per day for each operator. That is a pretty light duty cycle for the price they are asking.
Warranty: Festool is a full 3 years, Mirka is 2+1 only if you register your unit.
I always consider after warranty service and parts availabliity. I never worry about Festool, because they make their own products. I get a little concerned with Mirka when you see their track record with tools like CEROS. That thing went to recall and disappeared off the face of the earth. I was told that they had similar issues with the DEROS.
Units with clean/empty bags: Festool 17% higher CFM
Dirty/partially full bags: Festool CFM drops 40%, Mirka CFM drops 59%
Mirka duty cycle rating is 600 hrs for their motor, so that is only 2.5 hrs per day in a typical 250 working day year. Not a lot. If you put a dual operator kit on the unit, the use goes to half or 1.2 hours per day for each operator. That is a pretty light duty cycle for the price they are asking.
Warranty: Festool is a full 3 years, Mirka is 2+1 only if you register your unit.
I always consider after warranty service and parts availabliity. I never worry about Festool, because they make their own products. I get a little concerned with Mirka when you see their track record with tools like CEROS. That thing went to recall and disappeared off the face of the earth. I was told that they had similar issues with the DEROS.
Tom the Remodeler
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The Nilfisk Attix vacs are nice units. Having the HEPA filter protected by a primary filter seems to help performance a bit. Ultimately, my opinion is that the rebadged (Mafell, Metabo, Rokamat, etc....) Starmix iPulse vacs are the best on the market at the moment, particularly for extracting cementitious dust.
Just to revive this:jimmy wood shop said:
This must be the MV-912, not the 1230, which is what they sell now.
I'm not sure if anyone OEM's the 1230 for them.
However, the 1230 has a higher vacuum and CFM rating than the festool (I have both).
CT26/36 E - 138 CFM (3900 l/min) at 96" static water lift (24000pa = 240 mbar)
Mirka 1230 - 158 CFM (4500 l/min) at 100" static water lift (250 mbar).
The US version of the 1230 is a little lower than these (to keep it at 15 amps while still allowing wattage for tooling AFAICT). The spec page they have is wrong. I believe it's 4200 l/min and 240 mbar. I can double check if anyone cares
I also use pneumatic auto-start, which was a pain to find and get installed on the festool, and often didn't work properly (it would keep going after airflow shut off).
The mirka, it's integrated the same way the case holder is, gets in the way of nothing, and works all the time. The only annoyance is that it has a real plug, rather than a hidden relay like the festool. It would have been much nicer than the festool if they had done the relay thing and gotten rid of the plug.
The IAS/LEX related stuff that can attach to the back of the festool is a clear afterthought (and interferes with things). I actually went down the IAS/LEX rabbit hole for a few years and just recently changed back to Mirka after getting tired of the needless specialness of the festool way (it took me all of 20 minutes to make a nicely sleeved coaxial vac + airhose that doesn't require special connectors, etc)
I certainly won't claim using it with air sanding is common use.
However, overall i'm honestly a lot happier with the mirka than i was with the festool.
I still use festool hoses though
Jiggy Joiner
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Yes Nilfisk do make very good extractors, and pressure washers amongst other things. They do indeed make the Mirka and Milwaulkee extractors too, so these branded ones are also very good.
Fein make very good extractors too but, don’t overlook Makita, I’ve had a few of their extractors, and never been disappointed. Hilti if you have the budget, make superb extractors but, they are (in my opinion) a little over priced.
I still think generally, the Festool extractors are very good, my most recent extractor purchase was a pair of CTM 26 AC, one in 110v one in 240v. This particular model is so versatile, and they have proved to be a very good purchase.
Fein make very good extractors too but, don’t overlook Makita, I’ve had a few of their extractors, and never been disappointed. Hilti if you have the budget, make superb extractors but, they are (in my opinion) a little over priced.
I still think generally, the Festool extractors are very good, my most recent extractor purchase was a pair of CTM 26 AC, one in 110v one in 240v. This particular model is so versatile, and they have proved to be a very good purchase.
Just to followup, i believe the newer 1230's are OEM versions of the attix 33.
They match up spec wise.
They match up spec wise.
DannyB said:Just to revive this:jimmy wood shop said:
This must be the MV-912, not the 1230, which is what they sell now.
I'm not sure if anyone OEM's the 1230 for them.
However, the 1230 has a higher vacuum and CFM rating than the festool (I have both).
CT26/36 E - 138 CFM (3900 l/min) at 96" static water lift (24000pa = 240 mbar)
Mirka 1230 - 158 CFM (4500 l/min) at 100" static water lift (250 mbar).
The US version of the 1230 is a little lower than these (to keep it at 15 amps while still allowing wattage for tooling AFAICT). The spec page they have is wrong. I believe it's 4200 l/min and 240 mbar. I can double check if anyone cares
I also use pneumatic auto-start, which was a pain to find and get installed on the festool, and often didn't work properly (it would keep going after airflow shut off).
The mirka, it's integrated the same way the case holder is, gets in the way of nothing, and works all the time. The only annoyance is that it has a real plug, rather than a hidden relay like the festool. It would have been much nicer than the festool if they had done the relay thing and gotten rid of the plug.
The IAS/LEX related stuff that can attach to the back of the festool is a clear afterthought (and interferes with things). I actually went down the IAS/LEX rabbit hole for a few years and just recently changed back to Mirka after getting tired of the needless specialness of the festool way (it took me all of 20 minutes to make a nicely sleeved coaxial vac + airhose that doesn't require special connectors, etc)
I certainly won't claim using it with air sanding is common use.
However, overall i'm honestly a lot happier with the mirka than i was with the festool.
I still use festool hoses though
