Hmmm…
I was originally planning to go pick up either a TS 55 or TS 75 tomorrow, but decided to visit the dealer tonight instead. I'd heard good things about this place, so I was also going to check them out. Spent an hour or so wandering the isles. Pretty good selection of stuff. Better than most when it comes to the kinds of things they stock. (They're also in farm country, so there's some unique items in inventory.)
Finally it was time to visit the Festool display and figure out which TS to get. Not much of a display, just two facing endcaps. One side has a MFT/3 set up with a TS 55 on it. It had obviously been used for demos, but there was no power cord and no connected CT. The other display had most of the sanders, a domino, a T15 and a T12, MFK 700, OF 1010, OF 1400, the two jigsaw versions, and one or two other items. That was about it. (They did have a Kapex in another part of the store.) A nearby shelf held a decent number of 50 packs of various RO sandpaper, and a few others. A smattering of other accessories hung by the side of the MFT display and a handful of Festool products in boxes rounded out the Festool presence on the floor.
It took me a while to get someone's attention, long enough to consider leaving. But eventually I was able to talk to someone who had good enthusiasm, a willingness to help, an admiration for the Festool line, but sadly, less knowledgeable than me.
After he helped me figure out which TS I wanted (mostly by letting me handle the TS 75 and 55 side by side), I got down to the business of trying to buy what I wanted.
First question, "can I swap the standard rail with the equivalent LR-32 version?" I messed up in remembering the exact designation, but he wasn't familiar with it even after I explained what it was. Then he told me that he didn't have the authority to do that. I would have to talk to the (as in one and only) Festool specialist. Even worse, when we checked, he found out that the only LR-32 rail they had was the long one. He also wasn't sure they would be willing to do a trade once I took the standard rail home; which is what I assumed. So that's that for buying the TS 55. Not happening tonight.
Second question, "Do you have the 800 mm rail?" My current project needs some cuts that would be much more difficult with the 1400 mm rail, so I want the short one. Result of the computer search, "Sorry, we don't have that one either."
Third question, "Do you have the rail accessory kit?" Yes. "Success!" But only in the classic systainer. "Ohhhh…" I'm a recent enough convert to Festool that I only have T-Loc's, and I would like to keep it that way. (Note, the TS 75 they had was in a classic systainer, but the TS 55 was in a T-Loc. They said they sell about 10 55's for every 75 they sell.)
Total strikeout tonight.
To be fair to them, he did mention that they've only been carrying Festool for about a year, and they're hoping to improve what they carry. The guy I talked to was genuinely trying to be helpful, and the store is generally quite good.
So tomorrow I'll try another dealer. (Both are a half-hour drive, but the second dealer is a longer distance.)