Review of the Festool T-Loc Systainer

[Brice Burrell]

Okay, most people have seen these but here's a short review for those of you that haven't.

Text and photos copyright 2011, Brice Burrell
Festool T-Loc review is also on my site.

The New Festool T-Loc Systainer​

Festool just released their T-Loc Systainer here in North America. I'll go over all the changes in this greatly improved Systainer. So here it is the new T-Lock Open Connect Systainer.

In this video I'll give you an overview of how the T-Locs work.

The New Festool T-Loc Systainer

One of my favorite features of the new T-Locs is being able to open the Systainer while stacked. Check out the video below to see how well it works.

Opening a T-Loc Systainer while stacked

The T-Locs also have a very nice new handle, it's more rounded and doesn't have the ribs like the old style did. Much, much more comfortable!

Remember those annoying old labels that always fell off. Not a problem anymore. The T-Locs have four slots for labels/cards, two in the front and one on each side. In the pictures above and below you can see the custom cards I made for my RO90 abrasive Systainer. I used light weight business cards for my ink jet printer. The cards need to be trimmed slightly on the width to fit.

Here I'm dropping in my custom card and a clear protective sleeve in the side slot. Each Systainer comes with one protective sleeve. Festool sells ten packs of the these sleeves so I picked up a pack to protect all of my cards.

Compatibility with the old Style Systainer​

The T-Locs are compatible with the old style Systainer but there is a catch. The old style Systainers and Sortainers will only clip to the bottom of the T-Locs. The T-Locs work with Festool vacs and Sysports just fine.

Old Tool Inserts, New T-Locs​

I purchased several new T-Locs to replace some of my older classic Systainers. The plastic tool inserts from the old classic Systainers need to trimmed a little to fit into the new T-Locs. In the video below I talk about this.

Fitting old Festool tool inserts in the new T-Loc Systainers

I happen to think the new T-Locs are a big improvement over the old Systainers and I'm looking forward to putting them to good use.

 

[honeydoman]

nice review brice,  where did you chuck the old ones at?  lol !

 

[Brice Burrell]

nice review brice,  where did you chuck the old ones at?  lol !

Your list, I mean Craigslist. [big grin]

 

[Mac]

Excellent review as always, Brice  [thumbs up] [thanks]

 

[flair woodworks]

Brice,

In your last picture, it looks like the bottom of the T-Loc covers the tops of the old-style systainers.  How difficult is it to unlatch the bottom one?

 

[Brice Burrell]

Brice,

In your last picture, it looks like the bottom of the T-Loc covers the tops of the old-style systainers.  How difficult is it to unlatch the bottom one?

Chris, no the T-Loc doesn't cover the top of the lower Systainer.  Michael_MA talks about how to unlatch the lower Systainer from a T-Loc #1 since there isn't room to get a finger behind the latch.  It's fairly easy, unlatch the sides then pull upper T-Loc back out of the lower latches.  Check out Michael's video, around the 7:50 mark he cover this.
FESTOOL_T-LOC_INTRO_1_

 

[Ken Nagrod]

nice review brice,  where did you chuck the old ones at?  lol !

Your list, I mean Craigslist. [big grin]

Brice, think of all the people on here that would have been interested in buying your systainers.  Ok, so 2 of us, but still, come on.  Keep it in the family.  [big grin]

Also, what's been happening with your videos.  I know it's not on my end since someone else commented on it, but recently the audio is very low like your mic is far away.  Did your production team suffer economic cutbacks and now you're doing all of it?  [tongue]

 

[mntbighker]

I never really understood the appeal of the old systainers. There was of course the appeal of the uniformity and integration. But access to the contents of the stacked items and the clumsy latches never made much sense to me. Does anyone know if these are also made by Tanos and can be acquired direct? I don't have a massive number of original systainers and I'm not thrilled at the prospect of getting all the old inserts to fit in new T locks. But with my limited space the new system sure would work better for me. I have not read far enough to see if the T locks will slowly be phased in or of Festool plans to sell all the tools with the new style pretty quickly.

 

[Corwin]

...  Does anyone know if these are also made by Tanos and can be acquired direct? ...  I have not read far enough to see if the T locks will slowly be phased in or of Festool plans to sell all the tools with the new style pretty quickly.

Several outlets here in the US sell both the Tanos T-Loc and Classic (also called Basic) Systainers.  Maybe one of the vendors can tell you if they plan on phasing out the older style over time, but currently most carry both.  Festool has stated that their plans are to change over to the T-Locs for their product line.  And, since the inserts are available from the parts department, the old style inserts should be available for years to come.  So, no matter which style of Systainer you want to go with, I think you should be okay for some time.

Here's a couple of vendors:

My Systainer
Systainer World

 

[Brice Burrell]

I'll expand slightly on what Corwin posted.  Tanos makes the T-Loc Systainers and as Corwin posted there are several venders here in the US.  One advantage to Tanos branded Systainers is that you can sometimes find them discounted, although I've not seen the T-Loc discounted yet.  I've found several of my old Festool tool inserts are able to fit into the T-Loc with a little trimming.  However, I found my RO125 insert could be made to fit but the T-Loc lid didn't close. 

Festool has almost completely made the change over to T-Locs.  There is old stock out there still with the classic Systainers so be sure to check with your dealer if you want the T-Loc version.  It shouldn't be too hard to know if the tool is in a T-Loc or old classic since the part numbers have changed for the tools in the T-Loc.