Hi
I got delivery of my new RTS 400 REQ Set courtesy of Warren at Toolfest and I have just given it the once over - I thought someone might like a comparison with the old model.
My RTS 400 EQ was one of my first Festools (it says 2003 on the plate, so a lot ofwater money has passed under the bridge since then... It has been my favourite sander and, subject to one point*, has been flawless. I would not see a need to replace it if Festool had not gone and brought out the revised version - the RTS 400 REQ.
[* the one issue I had was that the switch got rather stiff to operate and that annoyed me thinking that it would need a new switch unit - however, having just checked it all over prior to on-selling, I took the top cover off to find that the rocker switch clicks over two pins - a quick clean off of the old grease and a tiny dab of new polyurethane grease means that it is operating better than new!]
Anyway, a comparison of the new and old units:
As can be seen, whilst the two share the same sanding platen (that is good as it means that I can swap over the existing delta base I have when needed to convert it into a DTS), the new unit is a fair bit bigger - taller, and larger handgrip. In use it feels quite a bit bigger - I suppose one will get used to it, but I am not sure it is an improvement.
The power specs are different - 250w vs 200w - 12,000rpm vs 13,000rpm (the figure of 16,000 refers to the uncontrolled speed should the electronic control fail) but the stroke is the same at a 2.0mm orbit. In practice it feels quite different - quieter (which is not just due to the lower speed as far as I can tell) but it feels skippier, which I put down to the higher power - it sands effectively, but again I am not sure it feels better (although the reduced noise is good, if not previously considered a problem). Maybe the larger grip was considered necessary to control the higher power, I don't know.
The dust extraction connection is a trailed new feature and it came supplied with a new hose connector with the new bayonet fitting (I bought an extra one as I needed two and at the time of ordering Warren was unsure whether the new machine would in fact have one):
I should say that I have never had an occasion when the hose has detached from the old sander spigot (it has pulled out from the TS75 before and a bayonet fitting for that would be worthwhile). The new connection is a tight fit onto the new sander spigot - you can just push it on and it will hold fine, but if you push it fully on and twist to lock, it is immensely secure (probably unnecessarily so). However, my little trial run identified a problem:
When using the fitting fully pushed home and locked on, the fitting appears to collect dust in the moulded recesses of the two mated fittings - this does not seem to happen if the hose connection is just pushed on halfway as i guess there is a bit of air intake that collects it into the hose. The amount of dust that is spilled from the two fittings when removing the connector is quite considerable and not very satisfactory in my view (rather inconsistent with Festool standards also).
My old sander came in a Classic Systainer I, but i converted all my tools to T-Loc a while ago; the new sander comes in a T-Loc Systainer II. I store a selection of sandpaper in both rectangular and Delta pattern, plus the Delta platen, also the hand sanding block that takes the same size rectangular paper. Here are the two layouts (bear in mind that the old insert was the old Classic one, modified a bit to get it in the T-Loc Systainer):
The new insert is designed for other sanders as well as this one, and there is quite alot of wasted space - with the old layout, I had to keep the dust bag elsewhere to fit everything in, whereas the new layout can accommodate everything including the new dust bag, but then it is the much larger Systainer II.
I never used the dustbag on the original machine, only using vac extraction. The new trailed reusable dustbag seems to be made of the same material as the reusable bag I have in the CT26 - this is going strong after many uses so I would expect the new sander bag to last well. It might be something I will use - it will certainly make for quieter sanding without the vac and possibly more manoeuvrable in some situations.
Overall, I am surprised by my initial assessment here - I am really not sure that this is a great step forward. On the plus side is the additional power (if that was needed) and quieter operation; against that are the more unwieldy dimensions, skippy feel to the sanding action and some question marks over the bayonet hose fitting.
I was going to put the old sander straight on eBay, but I am just reconsidering that now.
Hope that is of interest to someone.
Cheers
Edit: I didn't mention the new clip-on edge guard that you can see sitting in the Systainer - I never felt a need for one on the old sander as it was very easy to control right up to a sensitive edge. Maybe the new sander is a bit more aggressive such that the guard will be useful, I don't know - to my mind it just makes it more bulky so is more likely to get in the way.
I got delivery of my new RTS 400 REQ Set courtesy of Warren at Toolfest and I have just given it the once over - I thought someone might like a comparison with the old model.
My RTS 400 EQ was one of my first Festools (it says 2003 on the plate, so a lot of
[* the one issue I had was that the switch got rather stiff to operate and that annoyed me thinking that it would need a new switch unit - however, having just checked it all over prior to on-selling, I took the top cover off to find that the rocker switch clicks over two pins - a quick clean off of the old grease and a tiny dab of new polyurethane grease means that it is operating better than new!]
Anyway, a comparison of the new and old units:
As can be seen, whilst the two share the same sanding platen (that is good as it means that I can swap over the existing delta base I have when needed to convert it into a DTS), the new unit is a fair bit bigger - taller, and larger handgrip. In use it feels quite a bit bigger - I suppose one will get used to it, but I am not sure it is an improvement.
The power specs are different - 250w vs 200w - 12,000rpm vs 13,000rpm (the figure of 16,000 refers to the uncontrolled speed should the electronic control fail) but the stroke is the same at a 2.0mm orbit. In practice it feels quite different - quieter (which is not just due to the lower speed as far as I can tell) but it feels skippier, which I put down to the higher power - it sands effectively, but again I am not sure it feels better (although the reduced noise is good, if not previously considered a problem). Maybe the larger grip was considered necessary to control the higher power, I don't know.
The dust extraction connection is a trailed new feature and it came supplied with a new hose connector with the new bayonet fitting (I bought an extra one as I needed two and at the time of ordering Warren was unsure whether the new machine would in fact have one):
I should say that I have never had an occasion when the hose has detached from the old sander spigot (it has pulled out from the TS75 before and a bayonet fitting for that would be worthwhile). The new connection is a tight fit onto the new sander spigot - you can just push it on and it will hold fine, but if you push it fully on and twist to lock, it is immensely secure (probably unnecessarily so). However, my little trial run identified a problem:
When using the fitting fully pushed home and locked on, the fitting appears to collect dust in the moulded recesses of the two mated fittings - this does not seem to happen if the hose connection is just pushed on halfway as i guess there is a bit of air intake that collects it into the hose. The amount of dust that is spilled from the two fittings when removing the connector is quite considerable and not very satisfactory in my view (rather inconsistent with Festool standards also).
My old sander came in a Classic Systainer I, but i converted all my tools to T-Loc a while ago; the new sander comes in a T-Loc Systainer II. I store a selection of sandpaper in both rectangular and Delta pattern, plus the Delta platen, also the hand sanding block that takes the same size rectangular paper. Here are the two layouts (bear in mind that the old insert was the old Classic one, modified a bit to get it in the T-Loc Systainer):
The new insert is designed for other sanders as well as this one, and there is quite alot of wasted space - with the old layout, I had to keep the dust bag elsewhere to fit everything in, whereas the new layout can accommodate everything including the new dust bag, but then it is the much larger Systainer II.
I never used the dustbag on the original machine, only using vac extraction. The new trailed reusable dustbag seems to be made of the same material as the reusable bag I have in the CT26 - this is going strong after many uses so I would expect the new sander bag to last well. It might be something I will use - it will certainly make for quieter sanding without the vac and possibly more manoeuvrable in some situations.
Overall, I am surprised by my initial assessment here - I am really not sure that this is a great step forward. On the plus side is the additional power (if that was needed) and quieter operation; against that are the more unwieldy dimensions, skippy feel to the sanding action and some question marks over the bayonet hose fitting.
I was going to put the old sander straight on eBay, but I am just reconsidering that now.
Hope that is of interest to someone.
Cheers
Edit: I didn't mention the new clip-on edge guard that you can see sitting in the Systainer - I never felt a need for one on the old sander as it was very easy to control right up to a sensitive edge. Maybe the new sander is a bit more aggressive such that the guard will be useful, I don't know - to my mind it just makes it more bulky so is more likely to get in the way.
