Fried Chicken
ArboristSite Member
Agonizing over here...
I need a finish sander to complement my Bosch ultra sander.
The complement of a big mega ultra sander and a finish sander should satisfy about 95% of all power sanding needs.
Festool right now, on their festool recon site has the DTS 400 REQ for $200 (normally $300). No returns. Corded (which I prefer). Comes with storage (systainer).
Festool being experts at removing money from your wallet to theirs; the sander doesn't feature alternate pads. For rectangular pads (as opposed to Delta pads) they offer the exact same model, but call it RTS.. that'll be another $300.
Bosch has now come in and offered an 18V Finish Sander that very cleverly gives you "three sanders in one", because the base plate can be changed.
I was eyeing the bare tool for $170, but for the holidays it can be thrown in free when you purcahse two 4Ah batteries for $160.
So I've ordered it on the premise that I can return it if I don't like it.
Now I'm stuck. Ideally I would order both the Bosch and the Festool to compare them, but the Festool has no returns on recon products. It's also unclear how long the recon offer will last. I have a friend who offered to buy the festool from me if I don't like it.
The Festool offers the advantage of being corded, coming with a box, and presumably will be higher qualtiy than the Bosch. The Bosch has the advantage of offering three sanders in one for the price of less. One huge flaw of the Bosch: sandpaper is hard to find (although presumably festool sandpaper will fit), but worse: the dust collection port idiotically goes off to the side so if you need to sand up to an edge there, you're SOL. Why bosch did this, I can only guess is so they could fit their 8Ah batteries in there. This is a huge design flaw.
What to do what to do... decisions decisions...
Finally there's the 3rd option of just getting an inexpensive Skil, Corded Bosch, Dewalt, Makita, etc. finish sander.
I need a finish sander to complement my Bosch ultra sander.
The complement of a big mega ultra sander and a finish sander should satisfy about 95% of all power sanding needs.
Festool right now, on their festool recon site has the DTS 400 REQ for $200 (normally $300). No returns. Corded (which I prefer). Comes with storage (systainer).
Festool being experts at removing money from your wallet to theirs; the sander doesn't feature alternate pads. For rectangular pads (as opposed to Delta pads) they offer the exact same model, but call it RTS.. that'll be another $300.
Bosch has now come in and offered an 18V Finish Sander that very cleverly gives you "three sanders in one", because the base plate can be changed.
I was eyeing the bare tool for $170, but for the holidays it can be thrown in free when you purcahse two 4Ah batteries for $160.
So I've ordered it on the premise that I can return it if I don't like it.
Now I'm stuck. Ideally I would order both the Bosch and the Festool to compare them, but the Festool has no returns on recon products. It's also unclear how long the recon offer will last. I have a friend who offered to buy the festool from me if I don't like it.
The Festool offers the advantage of being corded, coming with a box, and presumably will be higher qualtiy than the Bosch. The Bosch has the advantage of offering three sanders in one for the price of less. One huge flaw of the Bosch: sandpaper is hard to find (although presumably festool sandpaper will fit), but worse: the dust collection port idiotically goes off to the side so if you need to sand up to an edge there, you're SOL. Why bosch did this, I can only guess is so they could fit their 8Ah batteries in there. This is a huge design flaw.
What to do what to do... decisions decisions...
Finally there's the 3rd option of just getting an inexpensive Skil, Corded Bosch, Dewalt, Makita, etc. finish sander.
