571782 Festool RO 125 FEQ Rotex Sander

Why spend this much for a sander?
A few primary reasons IMO....

1) Dust collection

2) Dual Mode

3) Durability

4) Excellent customer Service

5) Excellent selection of abrasives.

The RO 125, as with all the RO line, is a dual mode sander... in Rotex mode, the pattern of travel is more aggressive vs. the fine mode. Often this is very useful. There is many low cost sanders in this category, but none have the level of dust collection these Festools have. They are designed with dust collection from inception, not an afterthought. These sanders work for life, they are not disposable tools, hence the price. If the sander fails, you send it in for repair, and its good for another 10+ years. Festool tools are that durable. The comapany really stands behinds their products and customer service is FIRST CLASS, specially in USA. Kudos to Festool for such great customer care. The abrasive selection from Festool is nothing short of spectacular, covering all areas of work, such as wood, solid surfaces, metal, etc.

In addition to the RO125, Festool also makes the 150 and RO90. The RO90 has a neat feature, an interchangeable round and triangular shaped sanding pad. This is useful for getting into corners. But at 90mm, this is a very small sanding surface area. The RO125 is ideal for smaller work, such as face frames and small projects, whereas the RO150 covers a great deal more surface area, so select with caution, because you can have a large investment in abrasive pads that can equal the cost of the sander.

The sander has a very good feel to it, and when it becomes unruly to hold, simply dial down the speed, a fabulous feature on Festools sanders. I have owned a lot of sanders, but none are in the league of this sander, but, as expected this comes at a price... if dust collection is not important or a strong selection of abrasives, then I suggest many cheaper alternatives. Also, the FEstool RO sanders pair very well with the Festool dust extraction units (aka vacuums:). The Festool vacs have volume control on them, and when sanding, this is sometimes very helpful, as the vacuum force can be so great, it restricts the movement of the sander on the wood. You will find all Festool products are designed to work together, everything is well engineered.... I have no association with Festool, just a happy customer.

The EQ125 is my third tool from Festool. I have the Kapex miter saw and the 1400 Router. The saw and router have been way beyond my expectations in terms of accuracy, smoothness, power, and features. Those things are just great and worth every dime I spent.
I got my new sander on Friday and could hardly wait for the weekend to give it a try. It lived up to my expectations as far as being a well thought-out design. A tool-free way to remove the sanding pad...which is great since it also has available a selection of sanding pads with variable hardness for use based on the job at hand. Very smooth and vibration free. Two different sanding actions, one for rapid removal and one for service preparation. I don't like the unique hole pattern of their sanding pads: the Festool abrasives are superior and probably cost effective, but you HAVE TO use them if you plan on dust extraction. By the way, the dust extraction is excellent.
I have used both Dewalt and Milwaukee ROS for years, the Dewalt being my favorite. But as the on/off switch began giving me trouble after a very long service life, I decided to make the leap up to Festool. Here's the problem: I'm having controlling it, even when it's on the 'finish' sanding mode. The darn thing jumps all over the place during use. I used to be able to sit down and just glide my DeWalt over the surface, but the Festool requires a firm two hand grip to make sure it goes where I want it to.
I have trouble believing it is operator error. I'm very disappointed.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars