Rotex choice

[Dave Ronyak]

Your dealer's strategy sounds much like a derivative of one that impressed me and my parents >40 years ago.  They were shopping for a car, and wanted something relatively luxurious, but didn't want something as large as the Cadillacs and Lincolns of that time (1962).  They happened to stop in a dealer who had recently began to market Mercedes-Benz.  He gave us a ride in his personal vehicle, then offered my parents the use of the car over a weekend.  My mother warned him that she had planned to drive from Pittsburgh, PA to Cleveland, OH that weekend to visit her brother.  The dealer immediately replied that was fine by him, and predicted that the more my parents tried out that car, the more likely they would buy it.  The dealer was right.  And my parents drove that M-B for the next 11 years, and it was still running well when they sold it.  Quality and performance speak loudly and long.  Too bad you could not have taken both an RO 125 and an RO 150 for side-by-side comparison.  Beware the Festool slippery slope!

Dave R.

 

[jonny round boy]

Your dealer's strategy sounds much like a derivative of one that impressed me and my parents >40 years ago.  They were shopping for a car, and wanted something relatively luxurious, but didn't want something as large as the Cadillacs and Lincolns of that time (1962).  They happened to stop in a dealer who had recently began to market Mercedes-Benz.  He gave us a ride in his personal vehicle, then offered my parents the use of the car over a weekend.  My mother warned him that she had planned to drive from Pittsburgh, PA to Cleveland, OH that weekend to visit her brother.  The dealer immediately replied that was fine by him, and predicted that the more my parents tried out that car, the more likely they would buy it.  The dealer was right.  And my parents drove that M-B for the next 11 years, and it was still running well when they sold it.  Quality and performance speak loudly and long.   Too bad you could not have taken both an RO 125 and an RO 150 for side-by-side comparison.  Beware the Festool slippery slope!

Dave R.

That's the problem - I didn't go in there wanting a sander, but now I've got one to try, I doubt I'll be able to hand it back and say 'no'.

I said to him as I was leaving "you're only letting me borrow it 'cos you know I'll then HAVE to buy one", and he just grinned at me and nodded ;D

 

[Norm St.Onge]

That's the problem - I didn't go in there wanting a sander, but now I've got one to try, I doubt I'll be able to hand it back and say 'no'.

I said to him as I was leaving "you're only letting me borrow it 'cos you know I'll then HAVE to buy one", and he just grinned at me and nodded ;D

ahhh, the same thing happend to me - only with a John Deere tractor. That was $30k "try it out". The last payment is in two short months! And to think I could've bought one Festool per month for the last 36 months instead.

-Norm

 

[pteubel]

This is all called the "puppy dog close". A sure way to close a deal.

 

[jonny round boy]

Well, guess what's sitting on my desk at the moment....

[attachthumb=1]

I went to my Festool dealer earlier today. He had a Rotex set up, as he'd been demo'ing it this morning. He reckoned it took about 30 seconds from the potential customer switching it on to him making a purchase!!!

I said I'd heard some good things about it (from this site!), and that I wouldn't mind having a go. "Sorry" he said. "I don't have time to show you today, I'm going out to do a show later & still have loads to sort out. Here - take it home for a few days & try it out".

So I left with a RO125 & a selection of about a dozen sanding disks of various grades - completely gratis, at least for a day or two!!! ;D ;D ;D

I haven't tried it yet, but my initial thoughts are that it's quite a bit heavier than I expected, but it feels good to hold. It feels extremely solid & well made (no surprises there!), and the balance is good. Can't wait to fire it up, but I'm gonna have to leave it 'til tomorrow. 

OK, tried the Rotex. It's very good, but it's not quite good enough to justify buying it at the moment (since I already have a ROS that I'm reasonably happy with). I'm not going to write a big review of it, basically because I'm not a writer - if I was, I wouldn't be fitting kitchens for a living!!!

Or, more correctly, if I was a writer I wouldn't be fitting kitchens to feed my Festool habit...

 

[jonny round boy]

Took the 125 back today  .

Picked up the 150, and found that is was a lot lighter than I thought - for some reason I expected it to be considerably heavier, but it wasn't. Weight-wise there's really not much in it, or didn't seem to be for me.

If I were to purchase one of them, I'd personally go for the 150. But I'll wait a bit before I do - probably until the autumn promo kicks in!

 

[breedingjp]

I poured over the many reviews & user comments on this helpful website regarding the decision between a Rotex 125 & 150.  I tried out both models at my local Woodcraft store, and also at a Rockler store.  The salesfolk at both stores, while friendly, had obviously never taken the time to discern the pros and cons of each model.  Any question I had resulted in them looking up the specifications in a catalog, & telling me the decision should be based on whether or not I want to use 5 or 6 inch discs, and that the 150 model was almost a $100 more.   To me there was more to the story, as many of the posts on this site have attested to. 

In terms of intended application, I do some hobbiest workworking (building fly fishing tables, chest of drawers for my kids, endtables, etc) and also some refinishing projects where both paint and varnish need to be removed.   The ability to do some polishing/buffing also appealed to me.  I already own the 125 ets sander, my first festool purchase last year...which has been invaluable in smoothing out the bumps in vertical drywall for painting prep work, and occasional light finish jobs on woodworking flat surfaces.   So I wouldn't have to add  more sandpaper to my arsenal, I was hoping to walk away with the rotex 125.

So a few weeks ago, prior to the Festool price increase, I popped back into my local Woodcraft store, and played around with both sanders once again.   A local professional woodworker came in to the store, and saw me holding the Rotex 125; he told me he'd sell me his 125 Rotex for a good price.  He originally bought it to stay in the 5 inch zone, but had decided it wasn't as stable as the 6 inch model he recently purchased.   He suggested that if the surfaces were not flat, the Rotex 125 would feel less stable in your hands.  We tried the 125 Rotex together on an uneven test board at the store, and it did feel more prone to wobbling around.   Then I fired up the Rotex 150, same grit, and it was noticably more stable/smoother (but also a bit louder in both RO and straight Orbital modes).  I told him that I probably wouldn't have that much need to sand uneven boards.   We then tried both Rotex's on flat boards (both rough and smooth), and while both did an adequate job, the 150 continued to feel the more stable of the two.   To me, it came down to overall stability/feel; that local woodworker had helped me to make a more informed in-store comparison, with each side-by-side (too bad he didn't work for Woodcraft!).  I still plan to use the ETS 125's smaller footprint, but am glad I got the Rotex 150.  Have used it already a 1/2 dozen times, and am very comfortable with it.  At some point, I may take home the venerable 150/3 RO, since I now have a supply of 6" abasives...but so far I am comfortable with my combination.   

Many thanks to those of you who contributed reviews and articles regarding the Rotex decision.  In re-reading some of the posts recently, it does seem other woodworker's agree that the 150 tends to be more stable than the 125 (or at least feels that way in your hands).    I'm sure there are some happy 125 owners out there; I am certainly not trying to knock it, but for me the difference in both was well worth the extra $.

 

[Ned]

Welcome, breedingjp, and thanks for an informative first post.

Ned

 

[Aspiring FT Owner]

I had a similar dilemma, and don't do production construction work for a living anymore.  (Gasp I'm an Engineer/Manager now)

But, I always buy tools to fit specific jobs, and then fall back on them after these projects are finished.

Like a few others here, I had a bathroom remodel with lots of high and overhead work, and several decks 3000 SF+ that were painted that need to be stripped and re-stained when I came down to my choices.  Other than a 40 year old craftsman 1/2 sheet sander inherited from my Grandpa, I had no power sanders in my tool kit.

It came down to the side handle, and the 40% bigger pad area on the RO 150.  The dust collection was the biggest selling factor, as I have 2 small kids, and didn't know what type of paint I'd be getting into.  Better safe than sorry with developing brains around.  (that and my wife made me get the bigger one, she encourages tool purchases go figure )

After the bathroom job, I thought I had a defective sander, as it got very very warm (too hot to touch without gloves on) using it for about 2+ hours straight with minimal breaks.  Local woodcraft store took it back and exchanged it, but now I see that there may be a 10-20 hour use break in period.  Found out about this forum after that job was done.  Cleaning and waxing jobs have never gotten the new sander that warm, so it truly may have been defective, but Woodcraft was nothing but professional about the return.

Pad size wasn't a factor since I am starting from scratch amassing woodworking tools.  Looking back, aside from the big chunk of paycheck each one of these toys consumes, I'm glad to have waited 18 years to start collecting power tools to keep. 

Now to save for the materials/tools to build the Shed/Workshop, Outdoor Deck/BBQ area, Kids Treehouse, Custom Kitchen Remodel, etc......

I can see this is a long expensive road I'm headed down, but nothing beats doing the work yourself to get what you want.

Thanks for all the advice so far everyone.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Phil (breedingjp),

I've heard the same comments from several other users and at least one Festool representative - that the RO 150 is more stable than the RO 125.  I chose the RO 125 because at the time of my purchase, I was having to do mostly wall and ceiling work, and trim around doors and windows.  The RO 125 was then a new model, and the RO 150 was the old model and definitely heavier.  Since I have the RO 125 and lots of sanding supplies I recently added an ETS 125.  Most of the same issues and arguments can be made in comparing the ETS 125 to the ETS 150/3.  If the user is just starting his Festool sanders collection, the 150 mm diameter sanders seem to be preferable over the long run (probably a lifetime for most buyers) due to greater stability, more area covered per unit of time and a greater variety of sanding and polishing supplies being available.  But if weight, size (due to types of work expected to occur most frequently), and initial tool price are important, then the 125 mm diameter sanders appear to be a better choice.  Most of my projects will involve smaller surfaces to sand, and you cannot fit a 150 mm diameter sander in a space that will only fit a 125 mm diameter sander.  When removing old varnish from trim work, a 125mm sander is easier for me to control than a 150mm sander.  Had I known about it at the time of purchase, I might have chosen Metabo's even smaller disk sander for sanding the trim work.

The good news is there are no wrong choices here, only preferences based on a best fit to each person's intended uses.

Dave R.

 

[semenza]

Hi, breedingjp

  Welcome to the forum.      Your first post has definitely added some great info to the ever growing stack  on the Rotex.  I think that your post and experience in particular will be helpful for other users making that same decision.  There have been a lot of people coming to this site for that exact choice problem.
    In regards to  having two sizes of abrasives . Look at it this way - 

                                      If you had the RO125 / ETS125 combo and used one disk  for each you would have used two disks.  ( Yeah, duh. But I am making a point so humor me )

                                      If you have the RO150 / ETS125 combo and use one disk for each you still have used two disks.

          Eventually you will need to buy more anyway. The up front cost is more with two sizes but you won't run out as soon either.  I have never thought that having the same size abrasive is a particularly good reason to  base  a sander purchase on.  Unless storing two sizes is really a problem.  Even the initial purchase cost of two sizes of abrasive can be kept down with careful selection.  I think you made the right move in choosing the sander that was right for you regardless of the abrasive size.  Had you picked the 125 as being right for you, then the abrasive size would have been a little bonus. Not a deciding factor.

Seth

 

[breedingjp]

Dave and Seth,

Yes, I am hopeful my experience in the Rotex camp will shed a little more light on a few of the deciding factors between each Rotex model.  There are certainly valid cases for each sander.   I completely agree with your comments, Dave, that there is a place for the 125mm disc size, especially if the user needs to do smaller vertical/trim prep.  That is one of the reasons why I got an ETS 125 last year; its light weight one-handed operation is why I plan to keep it.   Since my planned applications did not require a heavy duty vertical sander, for me the deciding factor was stability on flat/horizontal surfaces.  The bulk of what I plan to do now is more on the woodworking scene, in addition to the occasional refinishing job when my wife brings home an old piece of furniture for me to restore.   Having the luxury of both 5" and 6" disc sanders now enables me to do both large and smaller surfaces with ease.   My little ETS 125 will still get a workout, especially when sanding dovetail glueups on small drawers, where the Rotex 150 would be overkill. 

Given the fact that I overpaid the government last year, my tax rebate enabled a bit more flexibility in what I brought home to the shop.   I could have saved over $250 by going with the Rotex 125 (factoring in the added expense of adding 6" discs).  Seth is right, that I'd likely go through 125mm discs a bit faster if I had purchased the Rotex 125, but nevertheless on the short term front, that's a difference at the cash register of $250.  Putting that into perspective, that's a lot of $1 value meals at McDonalds...but since my cholesterol has been rising, the added cash required to take home the Rotex 150 has dissuaded me from stopping by the local fast food chain - so ultimately it will also be good for my health. 

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Grinding One]

I bought the 150 Rotex ,put on the sandpaper and started sanding a board....stopped and look to see if I was getting anywhere?? The darn thing was working so well and no dust anywhere I didn`t think it was doing anything.To my surprise I was done?? Where was this thing years ago?/