Wood Whisperer moving away from Festool

[temoore55]

Just watched Marc's new video and he said he is replacing his Festools with more "accessable tools".  Any idea why? or what does "accessable tools" mean?

 

[Holzhacker]

Means easier on the wallet
Means he's got a new sponsor and needs to show off their tools
Means he's planning on playing to the mass market lowest common denominator crowd
Means someone made him an offer he didn't want to refuse, cha-ching

 

[copcarcollector]

http://festoolownersgroup.com/ask-festool/marc-spagnolo-the-wood-whisperer/msg421196/#msg421196

 

[copcarcollector]

http://www.woodtalkonline.com/topic/20015-no-modsadministration-allowed-thread/?page=3#comment-218379

A response from Marc on his forum
Sorry to interrupt this academic analysis of Amazon's Reviews and How They Impact Their Business Model, but I wanted to chime in "officially" to let folks know what's going on with Festool. And believe me, it's really not that interesting.

Festool has not been a sponsor of the show since 2009-ish. I've had a good working relationship with them and they continued buying advertising on our site. I really enjoyed using their tools and because of the great relationship I had with several of their employees, it just didn't feel right pulling their tools from the show or even seeking out an alternative sponsor. It was one of those, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" sort of things. I did this, knowing full well that my show would actually benefit from using more accessible tooling. I'm glad was able to turn so many people on to Festool and what their tools can do, but ultimately my goal is to encourage woodworking, not tool purchasing. A woodworking show will appeal to more people if the tools used are less expensive and more accessible. And when I say things like, "You don't need a Festool router to do this. All routers spin bits and cut wood!" it's a lot more believable if I'm using one of those other less expensive brands.

Recently, after a bit of an internal reorganization including the departure of my primary connection to the company, Festool backed out of a year-long advertising agreement suddenly and without notice. Business is business so I don't take this stuff personally. But it did allow me the opportunity to reflect upon my tool choices and the brands I use. While Festool makes great tools, there are certain tool categories I feel I'd be just as happy with if they were yellow, green, blue or whatever. And coming from a Festool experience, I feel there's a real opportunity in evaluating some of these other tools and reporting back on how my supposed "downgrade" is going.

So that's the deal. I'm getting rid of much of my Festool gear and replacing it with more accessible brands. I'm picking the brands I think would be good contenders (Milwaukee, PC, DeWalt, Makita, Bosch, etc), using them over the next year, and either selling or giving away the ones I choose not to keep. So what's staying? ETS and Rotex sanders, TS55 and MFT, a couple CT Vacs, and the Dominos. These are what I consider to be game-changer tools so they aren't going anywhere. Well, the TS saw isn't quite as game-changing as it used to be with so many track saw options on the market today, but I'm already so invested in the tracks and MFT that replacing it would be a huge headache. And this isn't meant to be Festool mass exodus. It's paring down to what i consider to be Festool essentials. I still love the brand.

So there's no ill-will here, no fun story of vengeance or rallying against corporate greed, and certainly no reason to question my integrity (which I always find amusing). Just trying to make lemonade from a few lemons.

 

[Locks14]

So basically he's voting with his feet. Saying what I've always said, that certain Festool's are unique and excellent tools, the Domino specifically springs to mind, I love both my 500 & 700, but a lot of Festool products are just simply equal performers among their peers, no better, just more expensive.

I think it speaks volumes that such a prominent woodworker admits that in the absence of sponsorship to grease the wheels, a lot of Festool's products often don't offer any tangible benefits over more affordable, but still quality brands. 

Too many people fall for the marketing frenzy of anything not Festool is inferior and sub standard. I really do applaud this decision to evaluate each tool on its individual merits and only keep the ones that truly offer tangible benefits.

 

[Cheese]

Saying what I've always said, that certain Festool's are unique and excellent tools, the Domino specifically springs to mind, I love both my 500 & 700, but a lot of Festool products are just simply equal performers among their peers, no better, just more expensive.

I wouldn't necessarily consider him a hero and consequently, ask the pope to consider him for sainthood, in my mind he's just putting on his marketing hat now...Festool hung him out to dry and he's responding in the appropriate way, although it is in a self serving manner. He will probably increase his marketing presence by just changing over to using yellow, red and blue tools. Not everyone can afford the green kool-aid so he's just increasing his market penetration. That's okay...he's no different than anyone else, he has a service to sell so that he can provide his wife and children with clothes on their backs and food on the table.

He's a realist and not some form of divine spirit that wants to reinvent the world and repriortize it's values.

 

[Scorpion]

If I could have a justification like his I'd welcome the opportunity to try out all brands and keep the favorites.  In my 20+ years in the garage I've found some tools I just prefer even after attempting to replace them.  I get it.

Note:  it would be even better if someone paid me to do it.

 

[charley1968]

Square and honest answer, can't fault the bloke..

 

[mouppe]

So after seeing all the stuff he is keeping, it seems like he is getting rid of a router, a jigsaw and a drill?!

Hardly revolutionary, and I am sure most people would agree that those are the categories where the Festool difference is smallest.

But I am surprised that Marc has chosen to focus on price over value, even after using the tools for so many years.

 

[Locks14]

So after seeing all the stuff he is keeping, it seems like he is getting rid of a router, a jigsaw and a drill?!

Hardly revolutionary, and I am sure most people would agree that those are the categories where the Festool difference is smallest.

But I am surprised that Marc has chosen to focus on price over value, even after using the tools for so many years.

I think that's probably because in a lot of cases there is no added value in a lot of the tools.

Marc is being honest and saying that in the absence of sponsorship he can't justify using such expensive tools that potentially alienate his viewers, because whilst good, Festool is not always better than other brands; as such he can't justify recommending them over cheaper tools that provide equal or better value in terms of end results.

To a lot of people the Festool "system",  systainers and the "ooh the lovely black and green" mentality isn't justifiable, when $1200 for an OF2200 could buy a seriously high-spec router from another brand and have change for two more power tools!

Marc seems to be doing exactly what a lot of sensible people do. If Fedtool offer a tool that's tangibly better, then buy it. If you can get the same quality/spec elsewhere for less cash, it's sensible to do so.

It's like BMW/Mercedes/Audi, years ago they were the pinnacle of reliability and engineering greatness. These days you buy them for the badge appeal, kudos  and luxury extras. You don't buy them becaus they're actually more reliable or more capable, because we all know that these days a $/£30,000 Toyota will do the same fundemtal job of safely transporting you as a $/£100,000 Mercedes-Benz!

 

[Timtool]

What he says is true, that there are some game changers in the Festool line and others who are comparable to other brands. But his revenue comes partly from advertising and apparently festool dropped him. So regardless of what he thinks of the tools he has to use tools from others brands if he wants their ad money. You don't have to look much further. It would be a world first if someone did away with tools he got for free because they are too expensive.

 

[#Tee]

basically it all came down to money, i think if he really wanted to use normal avg tools to attract more woodworking (instead of selling tools) then he would of done so 5 years ago. it must of killed him to do m/t joinery the old fashion way as he was really big on the domino on his podcast. so it all makes sense now..money money money, which is fine by me.

 

[Kevin McConville]

Marc is being honest ......

It would be good if everyone was, it would make life so much easier

 

[peter halle]

Marc provides an educational service to his viewers.  He needs money coming in.  Without the constant inflow of funds his business end related to the education goes away.  Of course he will switch to get a new inflow avenue.  Maybe their tools won't be used for all aspects of his demonstrations, but they will be front and center to justify and satisfy his sponsors no matter who they are.

Marc is a smart guy and knows what he is doing.  I applaude his frankness.

Peter

 

[waho6o9]

May Marc have good fortune in the years ahead.

 

[mouppe]

@locks14 I respect what Marc does and what he offers to the WW community. But I watched his podcast and when he was discussing which tools he was replacing and why, I found that I couldn't agree with him. For example, he said that his Bosch mitre saw had 25% of the dust gathering of the Kapex, and the Bosch router whilst good, had poor dust extraction and the parallel guide was hard to set etc etc.

And those additional specs are why we pay more for the tools in the first place. If they are not important to you, then obviously you'd buy a regular drill or router from the start. It's sort of a circular argument which has been rehashed over and over again.

And whilst not wanting to criticize Marc because I like what he does, clearly price did not inform his purchasing decisions when you look around the rest of his workshop.

 

[Brice Burrell]

What he says is true, that there are some game changers in the Festool line and others who are comparable to other brands. But his revenue comes partly from advertising and apparently festool dropped him. So regardless of what he thinks of the tools he has to use tools from others brands if he wants their ad money. You don't have to look much further. It would be a world first if someone did away with tools he got for free because they are too expensive.

Tim nailed it here.  This is all about helping to open the door for new sponsorship.  I'm not sure why he's getting praise for his honesty since he is misleading his audience behind this switch.  I don't think it's wrong for him to do what is in his best interest, but he hasn't been honest about that.   

 

[Locks14]

What he says is true, that there are some game changers in the Festool line and others who are comparable to other brands. But his revenue comes partly from advertising and apparently festool dropped him. So regardless of what he thinks of the tools he has to use tools from others brands if he wants their ad money. You don't have to look much further. It would be a world first if someone did away with tools he got for free because they are too expensive.

Tim nailed it here.  This is all about helping to open the door for new sponsorship.  I'm not sure why he's getting praise for his honesty since he is misleading his audience behind this switch.  I don't think it's wrong for him to do what is in his best interest, but he hasn't been honest about that. 

I guess it depends what camp you're in as to when you think he was being less than 100% transparent. A bit like the chicken and the egg.

If you believe Festool are really worth every cent of their price premium, you'll probably think he's now being dishonest about his motives.  If you think that because now Festool have stopped greasing the wheels and the gravy train of free tools from Festool for bloggers has (at least for him) come to an end, then you'll probably think he's now more freely sharing his true opinions on the tools and being honest.

I really like Audi's and think they're the best German car, but if BMW gave me a fleet of their cars I'd probably say they were brilliant. If they stopped supplying me with BMW's I'd probably revert back to buying Audi's with my own money.

 

[stvrowe]

It really isn't very relevant to me what brand Marc (or anyone else for that matter) uses in their workshop.  I believe that we all choose what is best for our individual needs and applications that also fits our budgets.  When someone appears to be promoting a tool/machine, full disclosure about whether they paid for the item out of their own pocket or if it was provided to them by their "sponsor" or advertiser is important to me.  Failure to fully disclose leaves an open question regarding whether the individual promoting a tool/machine has a financial stake in the products success.  I do enjoy watching Marc's videos as they are well done and provide useful information and will continue to watch regardless of what brand tools he uses. 

As a side note, it is interesting that he has chosen to highlight his change from Festool to the "more accessible" brands of Bosch, Makita or others while simultaneously expanding his line of the mustard yellow machines.  If he really wanted to highlight the "accessible" brands to the masses, why is he not coverting his stationary machinery to less expensive brands that might have more appeal to the masses? 

 

[Wuffles]

...why is he not coverting his stationary machinery to less expensive brands that might have more appeal to the masses?

He's sponsored by Powermatic (currently*) - who I have never heard of. They seem to provide machines for "giveaways" to his fanbase & subscribers.

*by currently I mean anything I've seen of his recently.