What Do You Folks Like About The T-Loc Systainers?

[onocoffee]

I'm pretty new to Festool - meaning pretty much all the Festool I have comes from the newer era of SYS3 Systainers. I don't really know anything but SYS3. Until now.

Over the weekend, I picked up a PS 300 Jigsaw that came in a T-Loc. Put it in my stack and have been using it - pulling it out and putting it in whenever I needed to handle my tool. And after only having used SYS3, I gotta say that I find T-Loc to be a little irritating. I like the front pulls on the SYS3 - makes it so much easier to pull out. And I know the snap-in top handle is a bit of a pain but the back-oriented top handle on the T-Loc is started to drive me mad. And I can't put it in the rails (but I get why that's not possible).

I'm now just curious why some of you seem to have a preference for T-Loc over SYS3?

 

[cpw]

For me the biggest thing is the heights.  It is really useful to be able to stack systainers at the same height to support things when you are on site or even to extend your MFT in the shop.

I also like having card slots for labels on the two sides not just the front.

What I like about the Sys3 is the new roller board and the L and XXL format.  The toolbox style are also better without the handle sticking up.  With the rack, you can actually integrate minis (SYS3 S 76) into a regular stack.

I mostly use sys-AZ drawers, so the front handle doesn't make much of a difference.

The organizer bins in gen 3 are more shared than they are in T-LOC between the org 89 and the sortainer.  I have a lot of SORTAINER IV's with bins so that they are no longer compatible means that I don't want to mix and match them since I can't swap drawers or bins.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

As [member=63643]cpw[/member] said, it's mostly about heights, for me anyway. The T-Loc was a System of incremental sizes, that fit within the 32mm hole spacing, which is how the Sysports were designed to function.
My cabinets fall in that same plan, but built-in, not mobile. With the thickness of the individual pull-outs included, they hold 5 T-loc 2 perfectly.
1 was the base "unit"
2 = 1.5 x
3 = 2 x
4 = 3 x
5 = 4 x
So long as they add up to the same value, the stacks will be equal.

The front handles are only marginally useful, and only in a few sizes. They overlap the locking mechanism of the Sys-Org 89, so when stacked, the handle has to be open. Then there are the "fake" ones in the taller sizes. Blah  [huh]

The snapping handles just suck, and the reversing thing is a result of the Bott racks. The snap is so they don't rattle in a van, the reversed handle is so they fold forward as they are pushed into the Bott racks.
This works against the Sys Az drawer design. The handles folding backward made them "dangle" closed when a T-Loc is opened, while sitting in an Az drawer.

Everything about the Sys3 is about the Bott rack/van storage, which very few people give half a damn about.  [mad]

[member=8955]Coen[/member] loves them as much as I do  [mad]

 

[Coen]

I'm pretty new to Festool - meaning pretty much all the Festool I have comes from the newer era of SYS3 Systainers. I don't really know anything but SYS3. Until now.

Welcome to a system that predates meaningless "improvement"

Over the weekend, I picked up a PS 300 Jigsaw that came in a T-Loc. Put it in my stack and have been using it - pulling it out and putting it in whenever I needed to handle my tool. And after only having used SYS3, I gotta say that I find T-Loc to be a little irritating. I like the front pulls on the SYS3 - makes it so much easier to pull out.

Front handles on T-Loc can be added separately. They are the real ones. See Tanos 80500045
But yes, front handles is one of the small real improvements. Although on the larger ones it's just a ridge to pull on, not a real handle.

And I know the snap-in top handle is a bit of a pain but the back-oriented top handle on the T-Loc is started to drive me mad. And I can't put it in the rails (but I get why that's not possible).

Sys3 has it's top handle the wrong way around. Whenever you put another systainer on top of it coming from the front as is needed for it's feet to hook, the handle will fight you. Also, when put down briefcase style, the top handle might fall out. The compensate that one error, they added another error and that is the insane amount of force needed that loudly results in the top handle being seated. That ridiculous amount of force will also risk the next systainer on top not seating right.

You need to keep in mind that Festool / Tanos basicly sold out the Systainer concept on the feet of Bott, who makes a racking system for vans. If you rack it, which almost nobody ever does, the Sys3 top handle is oriented the right way. For all other uses, the majority... the T-Loc handle is the right way.

The rails is also a moot point, as until very recently, they weren't sold separately in Europe, by far a bigger Systainer market than the US (well, I just took an educated guess). Now there is one seller (Tanos), which sells them at twice the US' Festool list price...
Also; the rails waste an insane amount of space. About 75mm of unused space behind the Systainer. Why? Well, because it was designed around the Bott racking system... which is build around stuff that is deeper.

I'm now just curious why some of you seem to have a preference for T-Loc over SYS3?

Because the heights are in a system. Every decent box system works with integer multiples of a fixed height. Like Bosch / Sortimo L-Boxxes; all are a integer multiple of 34mm. And Systainer T-Loc is a multiple of 52.5mm

However, Sys3 is a multiple of 50 and then PLUS 30mm, so the possibility of creating equal-height stacks out of a random collection of Systainers goes to near zero as you now not only need to match the multiples of 50, but also have to have the same count of 30's.

Systainer T-Loc can be stacked at the height of the MFT/3 / CMS / CS 50 / TKS 80 (900mm height) by any random combination that contains 17 times the 52.5mm (and of course 1 set of feet adding the last 7mm). With Sys3 you need one very specific combination to get at that specific height.

Systainer T-Loc also has a thinner bottom, resulting in more useable space. Almost every tool got put in a larger box. If I had all my stuff in Sys3 I would require space for about another ceiling-height stack...

The only exception to the height mess is the Sys3 M112, which matches the 2x52.5mm of the Sys T-Loc 1.

Do you know Lego? Their standard brick equals the height of three of their plates put on top of each other. Imagine Lego switching to a new size, where the standard brick is now 10% taller as before and the plates 18% taller than before. But oh, it will be more UV resistant now. You don't think people that have tons of the older Lego will be ticked?