Festool USA recently sent me an email with holiday gift guide suggestions.
This is typical – plenty of brands reach out with gift ideas and suggestions this time of year.
The email started off with an attention-grabbing subject: “Crafting the best Holiday Gift Guide? Ideas for the DIYer in your life.”
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I found a couple of them interesting.
Here’s how it starts off:
Known for their innovation and durability, Festool products are sure to be a highlight in any DIYer’s holiday collection, regardless of their specialty.
This one caught my attention first – a Festool 18V 2-tool cordless combo kit with impact driver and track saw.
Gift the ultimate power duo this holiday with the TID 18 + TSC 55 K Combo Kit. Featuring the robust TID 18 Impact Driver and the innovative TSC 55 K Cordless Circular Saw, it’s perfect for precision-driven
DIY projects.
A new TSC60 cordless track saw launched earlier this year. Festool says the TSC 60 offers multiple improvements, but I’m sure the TSC 55 is just fine for everyone’s DIY projects.
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Price: $999
If you’re looking for something different, there’s also a 2-tool combo kit with impact driver, jig saw, and compact batteries.
Price: $750
Here’s what Festool says about this other combo kit:
Delight the DIYer in your life with the TID 18 + HKC 55 Combo Kit. Combining the durable TID 18 Impact Driver and the versatile HKC 55 Circular Saw, this kit excels in both precision and power.
Price: $999
To be frank, I think Festool power tools are too specialized to give to someone as a gift, or at least as a surprise.
But if you’re dropping gift idea hints to your friends and family, these are just perfect.
I’d totally ask for a $1000 2-tool cordless power tool combo kit… and then follow up with what I really wanted for far less money.
Take the Milwaukee M12 Fuel installation drill/driver for example. Right now, it’s $199 at Home Depot and other retailers.
$200 is still a lot for a holiday gift idea, but it’s an easier ask than a $1000 2-tool combo kit.
Milwaukee’s cordless track saw kit is a “special buy” at Home Depot right now. It’s pricey, but nowhere close to $1000.
Or for one just starting out, something like the Bosch Colt compact router (on sale at Amazon) and maybe a clamp-on edge guide might be perfect for elevating a DIYer’s woodworking game.
What do you think – are these Festool 2-tool combo kits great gift ideas for DIYers?
For a less laughable gift idea, the outdoor Systainer set might be a good fit for super fans.
fred
My tool buying these days is mostly for gift-giving – mostly to what comprises the next generations of tool users (or potential users) in my family. Some of these folks have wish lists – and if some Festool item were on these lists I’d consider a buy. But to buy something Festool – especially cordless – on speculation would not be something I’d do. Much better, IMO, to give a holiday recipient a cordless tool on a platform (like Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita or even Metabo-HPT or Ryobi) that offers mor opportunity for expansion. All that said, last year I bought 2 Mafell cordless track saw packages as gifts – and Mafell is even more limited in its cordless offerings than Festool – although the use the Metabo battery platform. However, these were gifts for recipients with work that I thought would benefit from the extra capabilities that these saws provided but would likely never buy them because of their cost. In a separate case I bought someone a Makita cordless track saw kit – based on its more “mainstream” positioning.
With corded tools – I might take a different approach to Festool. If I knew that a prospective gift recipient was trying to get into woodworking in a serious way – I might consider a Domino machine as a gift
Derek
No way. If I’m buying Festool it would be corded only. I don’t want another battery type, never mind one at expensive as Festool.
Robert
I would have to be confident I was very high on Santa’s Man of the Year list to aspire to these.
John
In Europe, Festool is used as a professional carpentry brand. In the U.S., it probably has a higher hobbyist ownership. Some Festool tools are good, some are ok. The Carvex jigsaw is annoying to use. Owned one a decade ago and sold it. You do have to buy the accessories just for the feature of base tilt as an example, when that is standard in just about any other jigsaw. The Festool HK saws are bested by the Mafell versions. Mafell is more premium but their K series saws are at the top. Festool Dominos are great, have both and won’t part with those. The all or none mentality just doesn’t work with tools. No single brand is the best. Great tools across many brands. Absolute top tools require owning many brands. Cordless is the snag in all this. When everything was corded, it was no big deal to buy the better tool. Now incompatible battery systems forces users into a platform where not everything shines.
Steven+B
I never understood that. Are European carpenters just paid a LOT more? Are alternatives like DeWalt and Milwuakee VAT-ed until they cost the same?
Festool is nice stuff, but if you’re doing this professionally, doesn’t it wear out a lot faster? Doesn’t the price premium really add up?…especially when Festool nickels and dimes you on every little thing. In the USA, DeWalt vs Festool really adds up. Also, I get the impression Festool is more optimized for indoor use. Milwaukee and DeWalt seem a bit more rugged and Packout and ToughSystem are weather sealed whereas every Festool box I’ve seen wasn’t. Most people just leave their packouts on their truck beds when driving away. You could never do that with Festool.
Every tradesperson I speak to in my area sticks with DeWalt and Milwaukee and they tend to avoid upgrading because shiny new tools have a habit of getting stolen. One of my neighbors jokes that he intentionally covers a new drill in mud and abrades it to look old so no one steals it out of his truck.
SecretSquirrel
I do know Euro Carpenters are more respected as a trade, vs here in America its viewed as an option if nothing else works out in life..
I’m an American carpenter and now most of my tools are Festool. I believe the quality and longevity of the tool is worth it. I can provide a better product to my customers and charge more for it. The organization with Systainers is key too.
As for your comment about “packouts in truck beds,” we really should not be using trucks for work! For 80% of tradesmen we waste so much time loading and unloading tools everyday from an open, un-secure truck bed. In Europe everyone works out of a van, tools are organized and protected.
There is a lot of dumb ways we Americans are stuck in our ways for no reason other than “its cool” or thats just the way we do it. We could learn alot from our Euro Carpenter counterparts.
fred
In both our Plumbing and GC/Remodeling businesses we had more vans than we had trucks. Mostly in the remodeling business we had a company called Dejana – upfit the smaller vans and step vans – plus some of the trucks for better organization and productivity. We used a stake truck, flatbed or a dump truck when needed to haul mobile equipment or material to a jobsite – not for transporting hand tools or personnel.
The plumbing business – half of it a union shop – was another kettle of fish entirely.
Adam
Sorry your wrong, in England carpenters are not respected the trade isn’t respected, I lived in Massachusetts the carpentry trade is much more respected in America , you get more recognition for how good you are.
SecretSquirrel
America is a big country. I think carpentry is probably the highest trained and respected in the NorthEast (Massachusetts)
I grew up in the trade in the Bay Area, have litterally worked on billionaires homes, most guys I worked with “fell into” carpentry. I was told by many I needed to go to college and get into high tech.
I make decent money in Carpentry, and I think its changing, but here in the western US the trades are not well respected, let alone there is no education pathway to becoming a skilled carpenter. I’m mostly self trained, some on the job by others.
fred
I know several painters who use nothing-but Festool corded sanders coupled with their dust extractors. By comparison, I don’t know any carpenters who use Festool drills, drivers, sanders or routers but one who uses a TS75 track saw. I have a TS55 track saw, a DF700 domino machine and an ETS125 sander. Based on their current offerings – I’m not likely to buy anything else from them.
Adam
I’m a carpenter in England, carpenters are paid les in England then America, I know I lived in Massachusetts, a good carpenter can make twice as much money in America, most English carpenters have Dewalt Makita or Milwaukee cordless tools Festool tools are expensive some carpenters might have some Festool tools like the track saw maybe 1 carpenter in 10 might might have more Festool tools I have the Festool sander and two routers, one of the routers I bought used I have a mafell track saw, it’s tough to make money in England, much easier in America Massachusetts anyway.
Michael F
From what I understand, Festool has sales regularly in Europe and US tool brands are more expensive. This makes the pricing much more competitive. As for the rest, it’s really just a culture difference. You don’t find European tradesmen driving trucks, they drive vans. Systainers are easier to van rack than Packout or ToughSystem due to smaller widths (among other things). As for the durability…Festool will last as long as anything. Just very different cultures.
Steven+B
Festool impact driver? Hard pass!!! They’re expensive AF, and just look really crappy compared to the best from Milwaukee and DeWalt…who are much cheaper, much more compact, much lighter, etc.
Festools has great tracksaws, dust extractors and they’re the only game in town for Domino…but drills and drivers? I think they’ve been well out-competed by the competition.
Stuart
The impact isn’t bad.
My calling it “perfectly unexceptional” could be why they won’t send review samples anymore, or why I only get half-baked PRs months after they give social media influencers exclusive hands-on review opportunities.
I also called it “one of the most unremarkable tools I have ever used.” https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/festool-tid-18-impact-driver-final-review/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I don’t see any reason for anyone other than Festool 18V users to buy or use it. For those users who want to stick with a single cordless platform for their track saw and impact, it’s a capable choice.
B-Rad
Kudos to you, Stuart, for being willing to tell it like it really is and not just singing overwhelming praises for how “incredible” the impact is for fear of Festool doing exactly what they did in being catty and sort of black-balling you. It’s telling of you, and very telling of Festool in their response.
Social media and essentially every “tool review” entity is so hard to read today since they are all so scared of upsetting a brand. Every product that hits influencer pages is nothing but greatness as they grovel for brand approval since they must survive on getting early access to product.
You the real MVP.
Nathan
I think that is true of their entire line up other than the domino.
If you have that why not get more blue and green. Domino and tracksaw is their key. And the tracksaw is now widely available. I think the festival is one of the better ones. But I’d have the Milwaukee or DeWalt or Bosch before it
One day the domino patent will run out and bring on the close wars