# 6" sander, bosch vs festool



## duburban (Apr 10, 2008)

is there anything that makes the festool that much better than the bosch between these? they seem virtually the same... 

http://www.boschtools.com/Products/Tools/Pages/BoschProductDetail.aspx?pid=1250DEVS

http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalo...face/festool-ro-150-feq-dual-mode-sander.html


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## bob14-0 (Mar 26, 2008)

Many times they are the same tool. I'd save money and go for the Bosch. Here's a tool test on ROS, but 5"
http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1473&articleID=1200315


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

yeah but with the Festool you get a systainer worth about 100 bucks! lol

bosch looks very similar. festool is great too, just pricey. worth it for some tools, not for others.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Like most stuff festools sells there are other companys make stuff that works just the same but cost far less. I guess it's like buying a Ford or an Audi. They both get you from A-B but you know what you would rather really own. If you can afford the Festool it's a no brainer after buying some of their kit my self im pretty impressed but the bosch does look like a nice sander also.


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## Rustbucket (May 22, 2009)

If you have a vac, the Festool sanders are amazing! Virtually nothing left behind. Very smooth, and almost no vibration. Once you go green..... Warner, take it away!


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

i see that rigid has a dual mode one also. 120 bucks. lifetime part/service, 1/8 mod and 1/4 in mode for aggressive. i am not buying it but i saw it today. can't argue with their warranty. even their battery tools, which I own ZERO of, you can bring a battery back at any point it stops working and you get a new one free. i love the makitas and so far their batteries for lithium ions are holding up nicely. 
it's all about the bottom line these days and how much money you actually keep in your pocket, and not wasting money on a tool that is nice but you can get the same results with something that costs 1/4 of the expensive one. 

for 120 bucks and knowing if it ever breaks or whatever, you get it repaired for free with free parts. or they give you a new one, that is a good deal from rigid imo. i may consider that 6" one from them just to get my by and see how it goes. their 5" got great reviews as stated in another thread but the 6" dual mode seems nicer and a lot less expensive than the rotex 6" 
i don't sand in a shop, nor do I build fine furniture or cabinets, so a sander to me is different than a sander for others. 
my PC333VS has gotten me years and years of service and the sanding that I have done it's done a great job with no swirl marks.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

I have heard good things about that bosch. 
It looks like the old style rotex sander.

I would venture to guess the dust extraction on the festool was much better.

Notice the country of origin on the bosch?


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## mwhafner (Oct 19, 2008)

> i see that rigid has a dual mode one also. 120 bucks. lifetime part/service, 1/8 mod and 1/4 in mode for aggressive. i am not buying it but i saw it today. can't argue with their warranty. even their battery tools, which I own ZERO of, you can bring a battery back at any point it stops working and you get a new one free. i love the makitas and so far their batteries for lithium ions are holding up nicely.
> it's all about the bottom line these days and how much money you actually keep in your pocket, and not wasting money on a tool that is nice but you can get the same results with something that costs 1/4 of the expensive one.
> 
> for 120 bucks and knowing if it ever breaks or whatever, you get it repaired for free with free parts. or they give you a new one, that is a good deal from rigid imo. i may consider that 6" one from them just to get my by and see how it goes. their 5" got great reviews as stated in another thread but the 6" dual mode seems nicer and a lot less expensive than the rotex 6"
> ...


I had the Ridgid can't hold a candle to Festool Rotex. No comparison. I had one for about 6 months, and was never impressed with it. Didn't really do a good job for either aggressive or finish sanding. 

I haven't tried the Bosch, but have read good reviews. There was a guy on another forum that had both the Bosch and the Rotex, and he really liked both. If memory serves, his only comment was that paper didn't load up and wear as quickly on the Festool.

Makita also makes a model that looks similar to the Bosch. 

I have the RO150 and the ETS150/3. They make a great combination. You can get about the same results with the Rotex alone, but it isn't as well balanced or comfortable to use as the ETS.

My only Festool purchase that has been a disappointment is the ETS125. It really doesn't work any better than the Bosch, Makita, or PC 5" sanders. I have used the newer low-profile PC sander, and it is great. More aggressive than most of its counterparts, but extremely comfortable to use for extended periods.


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## duburban (Apr 10, 2008)

work with a guy that has the ridgid you guys are talking about. its ok... we did a job where the owner had the 150 rotex sander and it simply kicked a$$. haven't tried the bosch yet but it is made in germany... i think its the one for me. i'm not at the point where dust extraction is worth the extra $200 or so. but having a sander this aggressive could have saved me days or weeks in sanding with a 5" 3 amp. recently did a job for an architect that was building his own house. he used a 1/4 sheet sander to do all his beams, didn't even know about a random orbit! poor guy. 

i did read bad reviews on makitas tool. something about breaking and then the service was terrible. someones bad luck. 

wheres the guy that owns the bosch and festool? give us the dirt!


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

why do people even consider ridgid?

their stuff looks decent on the shelf but that's it.

as far as warranty, it's all BS. my drill set kicked it after 4 months and they wouldn't do anything about it.

everything I've bought from ridgid was **** except for my shopvac. they make a good vac for the price range they're in.

there's a good reason all they're stuff is cheaper than others. in fact, i still don't think they're worth what you pay for them.

*RIDGID ARE DIY/WEEKEND WARRIOR TOOLS*


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

my roofer bought the rigid collated screw gun, just for when they reskin a roof with ply over roof boards and the rafter spacing is too great. he got the cordless rigid one with lithium ion batteries and for what he does with it, it holds up just great and works as good as my coorded senco gun. 
i bought a senco because i needed it for one job and figured at 99 bucks it would burn up right away but it's still kicking and has saved me a ton of time. might not be top of the line but i don't use it everyday so that doesn't matter to me sometimes. 
anyways. my roofer had an issue with the one battery right out of the box. took the battery back to the store, and they handed him a new battery right off the shelf, no questions asked. no receipt shown, no returns done. 

some of their stuff is DIY and some stuff i see contractors use everyday. think about dewalt batteries and how much some guys spend on them each year. how many of the normal 18 volt dewalt batteries do you have that go bad?? if you had rigid and the battery that costs 80 bucks goes bad at any time during the life of the tool they give you a free battery.
why can't dewalt do that?? 120 bucks for a double pack of dewalt batteries adds up. that's why i hate dewalt for cordless. 

so for something like a sander that costs 70 bucks, big deal if the 5" rigid sander, which gets a great reviews, only lasts a year or so. you take it back and they hand you a new one. or fix yours free.
i haven't bought it but for a little 5 inch backup sander, not a bad deal. i would never buy rigid circ saw, table saw, chop saw etc. but for little things like that, not a bad deal. they have been around a lot longer than just popping up in HD.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

It's more to do with each store person than the warranty it's self. At my local Lowe's they would take stuff back from me that was out of warranty when they really shouldn't. But the Lowe's 2 miles further down the road wont even take back stuff thats under warranty and tell me to send it to the returns address on the warranty info. 

They are exactly the same in HD, i asked a guy if they would price match the kitchen door handles to a price i see online which was 1/3rd they were selling them for. One guy said yes we can and he double check with the so called "expert" handle guy and he said yes but the woman at the customer desk said No:blink: she said that these 2 people didn't know what they was talking about and just as she said that they walked past and heard her. They got pissed of and Told her how to do it through the system. They said to her she does this 20 times a day for the last year so she should know how to do it by now. 

Had exactly the same problem with the lumber also in HD. Exact same as above.


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

ApgarNJ said:


> my roofer bought the rigid collated screw gun, just for when they reskin a roof with ply over roof boards and the rafter spacing is too great. he got the cordless rigid one with lithium ion batteries and for what he does with it, it holds up just great and works as good as my coorded senco gun.


compare it side-by-side with a real tool and you wouldn't say the same thing.



> anyways. my roofer had an issue with the one battery right out of the box. took the battery back to the store, and they handed him a new battery right off the shelf, no questions asked. no receipt shown, no returns done.


they replaced a new/unused battery he just paid for that didn't work no questions asked? wow... amazing! :whistling 



> some of their stuff is DIY and some stuff i see contractors use everyday.


Some ridgid stuff I see contractors use every day as well. Usually though it's fairly new (which means it just hasn't fallen apart yet).



> so for something like a sander that costs 70 bucks, big deal if the 5" rigid sander, which gets a great reviews, only lasts a year or so. you take it back and they hand you a new one. or fix yours free.


reviews are usually done on new tools anyway. the fact that they don't last long is proof they're made for DiY IMO. So if you or your roofer buy DiY tools to save money because you don't use that tool often, that's fine. Just don't kid yourself as to what kind of tool it is.



> they have been around a lot longer than just popping up in HD.


yeah, I hear they used to make decent plumbing tools.


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## jarhead0531 (Mar 5, 2008)

I'm guess you have had some bad experiences with Ridgid tools. Care to share winchester. I own serveral Ridgid power tools and have had zero problems with them, but none of them are daily users.


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## charimon (Nov 24, 2008)

My adivse here is buy them both on credit card and use them hard for a couple weeks Factor EVERY thing in to your desision on which to keep and return the "looser" under the 30 TOTAL satisfaction warrenty......Festool USA actually encourages this practice (I am guessing they Win more heads up than they lose), so that the credit is on the same billing cycle..... take pics or a video and post your evaluation....
Craig


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

Winchester said:


> compare it side-by-side with a real tool and you wouldn't say the same thing.
> 
> they replaced a new/unused battery he just paid for that didn't work no questions asked? wow... amazing! :whistling
> 
> ...


my point is that if you bought a dewalt or any other type of cordless tool and had a problem with a battery a month or so after you bought it, you are SOL. 

i'm not saying I love rigid. the only thing rigid i own is a 4 gallon shop vac because they work better than my shopvac brand one i have.

i never said rigid was the best nor did I say it was better than festool.

i own festool tools and love them. i wish i could afford to buy more.

and the reviews put the rigid 5 inch sander right up there with the festool 5" ETS 125. the rigid one is actually more expensive than the new porter cable 333. all of them are made in china anyways, probably with the same parts inside, with the exception of maybe bosch and festool not being from china.

you can come out and bash rigid all you want but some of their stuff isn't all that bad, some of it is crap.


also, the collated screw gun my roofer bought and the senco one i have are good enough for the amount of time I use mine and the amount of time he uses his. for me, i'm not always going to spend top dollar for something that doesn't get used on a daily or weekly basis. sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. my senco collated may not be the top dog but it's lasted several years and hasn't had a thing go wrong with it, for 99 bucks when it breaks, i throw it out. the days of tools lasting forever are over. it's a disposable era. i've spent 400 dollars on milwaukee cordles s only to have the batteries die in 6 months or the gears strip out on me too. and i felt i was buying a good drill then. not everyone can afford to buy every single tool in their box from festool.


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## Winchester (Jun 29, 2008)

jarhead0531 said:


> I'm guess you have had some bad experiences with Ridgid tools. Care to share winchester. I own serveral Ridgid power tools and have had zero problems with them, but none of them are daily users.


drill set was crap. they're batteries wouldn't charge if it was even slightly cool out. they crapped out after 4 months of very little use (they were a backup set) and **** Depot nor the Ridgid guy wouldn't do anything about it. I gave the set to my carpenter and he bought the heavy as **** nicad batteries and uses the ridgid as a backup set for his cheap Mastercraft drill set. That's how crappy ridgid is.

I also have the MSUV that doesn't lock open anymore. if I have a long piece of wood on the right side of my saw the stand will drop down (pretty dangerous if you ask me). It's pretty cheaply made to begin with and the only part that takes any real beating is the extending arms which hardly work anymore.

I've got the 14" chop saw that I use once in a blue moon and it hasn't crapped out on me yet and does it's job.

i've also got a 1/2" corded drill that I rarely use that is still kicking.

They're all cheap, and I know not to expect much from them, they are what they are and for stuff I very rarely use I'd consider ridgid as well.

I'll never buy ridgid for anything over $100 ever again, though. The warranty thing is BS.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

Only difference I can see with the Festool is you can hook it up to their dust extractor, would be nice if you were working inside.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

The bosch hooks to a dust extractor as well.


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## paulieryan (Apr 21, 2010)

*festool dust collection*

Festool has best accessories for dust collection....if this is important for you (for example for your worker protection insurance) then its best to go with Festool IMO

Makita Belt Sander 9031 is good and so too is Hitachi P50


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

Can you hook the Festool's up to the Bosch extractor? Or the other way around?


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

KennMacMoragh said:


> Can you hook the Festool's up to the Bosch extractor? Or the other way around?


Yes, just have to make sure the fittings are the same and I believe they are.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

If the dust extractors are interchangeable then I don't see any drawback to the Bosch sander. You can get the Bosch extractor and if you ever wanted Festools later, you could still hook them up to it. 

Personally, I wouldn't have much use for these dual mode sanders. I like to surface sand with a belt sander, then switch to a random orbit sander to finish it off.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

KennMacMoragh said:


> If the dust extractors are interchangeable then I don't see any drawback to the Bosch sander. You can get the Bosch extractor and if you ever wanted Festools later, you could still hook them up to it.
> 
> Personally, I wouldn't have much use for these dual mode sanders. I like to surface sand with a belt sander, then switch to a random orbit sander to finish it off.


The bosch extractor is a pos.

The Rotex is a viable replacement for a belt sander, the ras115 is even better.

The dual sanding mode really speeds things up.
I run up to 40g in rotex mode and then I use both modes up to 100g and then just RO for anymore sanding.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

WarnerConstInc. said:


> The bosch extractor is a pos.
> 
> The Rotex is a viable replacement for a belt sander, the ras115 is even better.
> 
> ...


Hmmm, on something like sanding a deck, I use my Bosch 4" belt sander. It grinds it right down with a nice flat sand. With the Rotex, I can't picture it sanding as fast or as flat, being the sander is small and round instead of large and rectangular. But I could be wrong.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

KennMacMoragh said:


> Hmmm, on something like sanding a deck, I use my Bosch 4" belt sander. It grinds it right down with a nice flat sand. With the Rotex, I can't picture it sanding as fast or as flat, being the sander is small and round instead of large and rectangular. But I could be wrong.


That is too much work for a rotex or bosch sander.
Heck that is almost too much work for a belt sander.

Depending on what bosch belt sander you have, look into finding a frame for it. The frame will let the sander act more like a wide belt sander, you can't over sand with the frame.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

WarnerConstInc. said:


> The bosch extractor is a pos












I should know. :sad:


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

angus242 said:


> I should know. :sad:


Mafell uses a version of that vac and I hear all sorts of good things.

The only thing I would use the bosch for is grinding concrete, which is what I think they introduced it for in the first place.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

WarnerConstInc. said:


> That is too much work for a rotex or bosch sander.
> Heck that is almost too much work for a belt sander.
> 
> Depending on what bosch belt sander you have, look into finding a frame for it. The frame will let the sander act more like a wide belt sander, you can't over sand with the frame.


I got one of those frames, forgot what they were called. That does make it handy. Belt sanders are perfect for a railing, but yeah the actual deck needs something a little more powerful, like a drum sander.


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

any of you guys got that mini porter cable belt sander, that is really handy at times and pretty aggressive too. nice for sending edges down fast. where a round sander won't do as well.


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## texastutt (Feb 24, 2009)

OK I'm practical, I have a 10 year old Bosh 6" ROS, and a Fein Vac (which is 15 years old and no Variable speed). I've tested the 6" Festool w/ the CT22 and with the Variable speed it out does the Bosh BUT... the Bosh 6" is bought and paid for, and does a great job... NEW and no sander? I would go with the Festool, and NOW Fein is variable speed on their Vacs. Festool is very well know for their Sanders and I don't think you could go wrong investing in Festool.


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## dejure (Jul 20, 2007)

*As long as we're jumping thread*

I make my living killing tools, a little bit at a time. The key here is that it cannot happen fast, but is expected to happen.

I was running my disposable HB site compressor and it ran everything I needed to run, until I got to my coil nailer. Every nail had to be hand driven the rest of the way. Needless to say, this was not a tolerable situation, since we had walls that needed to get covered.

I made the two hour round trip to Big Box, Inc., and came back with Ridged's aluminum tank compressor. It lasted less than five minutes. I returned it and came back with a replacement (the same unit). It didn't fair any better, so I returned it too.

I spent a few more nickles and came back with a Makita, which has been with me every since.

Move on a month and I decided I wanted a third sheet rock screw driver. The Ridged was lightweight and had promise. I was actually able to drive some screws. Unfortunately, I had a fifty percent success rate. So did my employees. Our luck improved when we went to shorter screws, but was always good with Dewalt and Milwaukee drivers.

There were a couple other, similar, Ridged tool experiences, but I can't remember which memory hole they're parked in.

This all proves, once again, that the lowest bidder is not always, and more often that not isn't the best choice. And it supports the concept "I can't afford cheap."


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## alboston (Feb 22, 2007)

Some of the Ridgid stuff is good. I have had great luck with the 13" planer. Dont own any of their cordless stuff. Their corded tools seem to have longer cords compared to other brands which comes in handy for me.


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## MAULEMALL (May 16, 2010)

Winchester said:


> drill set was crap. they're batteries wouldn't charge if it was even slightly cool out. they crapped out after 4 months of very little use (they were a backup set) and **** Depot nor the Ridgid guy wouldn't do anything about it. That's how crappy ridgid is.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I had the exact same experiance... Every time I went in to the "Contractors Desk" no body could give any info on the warranty and couldn't be bothered enough to find out...


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## JT Wood (Dec 17, 2007)

I have a ridgid worm drive. I use it as much or more than my mag77 seems good.

to be fair, I found the warranty to be bs too though.

At least it's no better than anyone else


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

While I am not a big Rigid fan, I have found that they do honor the warranty if you register the tools online when you purchase them. I bought that Nicad 18v set 
5 years ago, and twice I burnt up the impact. They replaced it promptly. I only use the hammer drill and jigsaw anymore. I gave away the rest.


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## denvertoolguy (Jun 17, 2010)

charimon said:


> My adivse here is buy them both on credit card and use them hard for a couple weeks Factor EVERY thing in to your desision on which to keep and return the "looser" under the 30 TOTAL satisfaction warrenty......Festool USA actually encourages this practice (I am guessing they Win more heads up than they lose), so that the credit is on the same billing cycle..... take pics or a video and post your evaluation....
> Craig


Great Idea. Is that really a practice that is encouraged by Festool? That is too cool. I guess that is really putting your money where your mouth is eh? 
I will say that I have had good personal experiences with both comapnies...


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## ApgarNJ (Apr 16, 2006)

why abuse the festool, by taking back the loser, you still have tried to kill the festool. 
i would say buy both, use them like you normally do for any type of job, and pick the one you think performed the best. 
not many sanders are going to break after one month of use. my cheap PC 333 has been used and never maintained for 10 years, no parts replaced, blow it out once a year with some air nozzle and that's it. the damn thing still runs. and sands. just goes buck wild when you take it off the surface. haha


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