Should I buy the ETS125 or 150/3?

[cgmojoco]

In hindsight, I wish I had purchased a square sander before I invested so heavily in 3 sanders and paper of the circular and triangle type.  (RO150, RO90 for triangle to get corners on refinishing projects, 150/3 for fine work).

A BIG square sander can do 99% of all the needs you should come across.... and means you don't have to switch between circular RO pads and triangle pads (and have to have all that paper for both).  Top of that, you can micro flatten much better with the square...like table tops in the field (if you don't have a wide belt platen or can't take the project to one).

Also the square pad gives you option to try any abrasive you want (with the hole punch thingy)...

My 2 cents on sanders...it does depend on what you will be working on most a little...overhead vs. heavy removal (almost always best done with chemicals anyway---unless an external boating project where its illegal to use chems) etc.  There are special applications that warrant different sanders...but I'm going to come out and say it....which sander was originally developed for wood in the first place? (hint its not the RO90 nor the 150/3...and it begins with RS).

Sorry Festool, you already got my money though so stand down

Christopher

 

[Handyman Mike]

I use my RO125 a lot in both the aggressive and RO modes, but it really isn't suited for fine finishing in my experience. It's a bit too aggressive and I can't get it to do that floating thing that Bob talked about above, so it gets a bit tiring after a while compared to my DTS400, which does the magic floating trick very nicely.

Another point: only the round sanders are random orbital as opposed to just orbital, though I'm not sure how much of a difference that really makes.

--Mike

 

[Timtool]

In hindsight, I wish I had purchased a square sander before I invested so heavily in 3 sanders and paper of the circular and triangle type.  (RO150, RO90 for triangle to get corners on refinishing projects, 150/3 for fine work).

A BIG square sander can do 99% of all the needs you should come across.... and means you don't have to switch between circular RO pads and triangle pads (and have to have all that paper for both).  Top of that, you can micro flatten much better with the square...like table tops in the field (if you don't have a wide belt platen or can't take the project to one).

Also the square pad gives you option to try any abrasive you want (with the hole punch thingy)...

My 2 cents on sanders...it does depend on what you will be working on most a little...overhead vs. heavy removal (almost always best done with chemicals anyway---unless an external boating project where its illegal to use chems) etc.  There are special applications that warrant different sanders...but I'm going to come out and say it....which sander was originally developed for wood in the first place? (hint its not the RO90 nor the 150/3...and it begins with RS).

Sorry Festool, you already got my money though so stand down

Christopher

The random orbital sander is a later invention (by Festo by the way!) designed to do away with the drawbacks of square orbital sanders, it's a superior design and if corners didn't exist then it could have killed off the orbital sander completely. It eliminates the need to move with the wood grain direction, it spreads wear over the paper, it clog's up less rapidly and doesn't require you to be in constant movement if you don't want to leave swirls.
The RO sanders you mention are a side branch and do not represent true random orbitals. So many people seem to pick the wrong sander, but for the right reasons.
I have nothing against the RO sanders as long as people do not see them as random orbitals, because compared to true random orbitals from the ETS series, they are pretty bad.

Starting with an RO sander model is like buying a military hummer as a first or only car, it's cool and can do lots of things others can't. But for the vast majority of users it will just not be practical.

 

[cgmojoco]

Good point on the random orbital!

Didn't think about that RS200 not being random orbital.  Not sure how much that effects things like someone else said. I haven't had the pleasure of working with it (to invested in 150 and 90 papers/sanders now to go back) and only heard good things by a couple of pros, so admittedly going off others word.

RS200 also doesn't have the fast disconnect cord plug-it thingy which is probably going to be a pain when working with the Festool system (much like the OF2200 is for me).

Alas, I'd like to apologize for my previous ranting and grumpiness and any confusion I might have caused by throwing the RS into the mix for the OP.

To OP, here is my revised recommendation.

Vote 150/3.

It's a damn fine sander all else aside....though I'm learning that hand sanding blocks with vac hookups (made by Mirka) are what I go to for fine sanding on the most delicate projects (anything where swirls, even the slightest CANNOT be made).

Then again I'm fond of Shellac french polishing or oil sand ins for some of the stuff I've worked on...a lot of elbow grease (some might argue unnecessarily) as I feel it connects me better to the work (and keeps my arms strong).

RO's are good for heavy lifting but how much heavy lifting should you be doing with a sander on wood?  (probably shouldn't be doing much else you messed up somewhere!)

Christopher

 

[jacko9]

Mike,

I bought the EST 125 first but returned it two weeks later and purchased the 150/3.  I bought the 125 when they had the refurbished tool sale but, I never use it since the 150/3 is such a pleasure to use.

Jack

 

[Scott B.]

Between the two, for the disciplines they both work in, I would probably take the 150/3. Kind of a no lose situation though.