It’s April 1st, 2020, a fresh new month. Typically, this is the day when Festool price increases go into effect, but that’s been postponed this year due to the effects the pandemic and social distancing guidelines are having on businesses and users’ wallets.
I checked my Amazon cart as I always do in the morning. It’s full of items I plan to buy in the near future or if/when deal pricing is favorable enough – and saw that the Festool sander I’ve been considering has dropped in price.
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A sale on Festool tools?!
April Fools!!!
Wait, no, it’s real. The two Festool sanders I will eventually choose between are both discounted, from $270 to $259. What’s going on here, if this isn’t a joke?
I checked Festool Products (a Tool Nut store), and found 404 “Not Found” pages for the same SKUs, but that was when searching via Google. On Festool Product’s website, searching for the same Festool USA product SKUs pulls up two new listings:
OH, I think I see what’s going on. The previous/existing SKUs are now on sale because Festool’s Systainer 3 modular tool boxes are finally hitting the market, or at least that’s my theory.
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That would make sense to me. If there are new sander kits featuring the updated Systainer 3 tool boxes, why would anyone pay the same price for the other/older SKUs that are kitted with the previous Systainer tool box models? Or maybe this is to avoid confusion that could come from retailers having nearly identical product listings and at the same price point?
Either way, it looks to me that the older kits are being discounted to make room for the new ones that are bundled with updated T-Loc Systainer 3 tool boxes.
An $11 discount doesn’t seem like a lot, but when buying anything Festool related, any savings can help. I’m not going to bite just yet, but I found this to be worth mentioning.
I can’t find any other notable examples of discounted Festool tool kits, which means either I’m wrong in my theory about these price changes being prompted by the included Systainer tool boxes – (nearly?) every Festool tool comes packaged with one – or Festool USA is introducing updated tool packages and SKUs on a rolling base.
In case of the latter, perhaps these two sanders are discounted this month to help drive sales of remainder inventory, and perhaps other tools and SKUs will be discounted in the future until all of the older inventory with previous Systainer models are sold.
Buy Now: Rectangular Finish Sander via Amazon
Buy Now: Triangular Finish Sander via Amazon
Buy Now: Triangular Finish Sander via Acme Tools
Amazon doesn’t have much inventory of the new sanders, and they say “more is on the way,” but I don’t know how accurate that is.
Update: The rectangular sander has already sold out on Amazon, and I can’t find the same $259 pricing elsewhere. I guess other people saw the same price alerts I came across this morning. I found that Acme Tools also has the triangular-pad sander for $259.
See Also: New RTS 400 Kit via Festool Products
See Also: New DTS 400 Corner Sander Kit via Festool Products
Update 2: Here are some other SKUs that appear to be discounted on Amazon:
Are there any others that we missed?
Update 3 (4/2/20): The prices went back up to their regular pricing.
Planegrain
Perhaps there’s hope for a router price reduction? Maybe a special combo price for the sliding router table and compatible routers?
Matt Roberson
Rough day for OXO measuring spoons.
Planegrain
You r comment has me lost. Is Oxford Biomedical having problems?
Stuart
He’s commenting about the price increase alert for the OXO measuring spoons in my Amazon cart. It went from $4.99 to $15.70.
ToolGuyDan
In my opinion, the perfect combination is the EC 125/3 and the 150 Rotex. The Rotex comes out for rough work with 60, 80, or 100-grit paper; anything where I’m using 2x4s and just need to make it touch-safe. The 125 is then perfect for everything else. I used to use the Rotex in finish mode for high-grit sanding, thinking it’d save time, and I don’t just don’t more. I don’t miss the extra surface area versus the 125—it doesn’t save *that* much time, and the increased size and stroke was downright dangerous if a bit of dust got caught between high-grit paper and my nearly-finished work.
For really large applications, a drum sander and my RS2 are put to work, but honestly the RS2 mostly gathers dust; by the time I’ve set it up, the 125 would have already been on the job for several minutes.
Stuart
I have the 150/3 and like it a lot, but have been wanting/needing something that can better reach into the edges and corners of assembled work.
Rob
This actually crept up on me a few times at my current job. I sold the majority of my Festool (And Lamello, Fein and Mafell) along with my stationary equipment after a lay-off some tome ago. I got rid of my delta sanders because I always figured I could buy a Bosch 1294 Detail Sander on the cheap. Alas, they discontinued it. Most manufacturers are expecting you to buy sanding pads for their OMT. I kept the RTS for some reason but I really wish I had kept either the DTS or the R090 with the delta heads. When I do buy back some more Festo sanders, it will be the DTS. To really get into places the DTS can’t with the little Rotex, you’ll want to add the longer reach delta accessory which doesn’t have a dust extraction.
I have the 150mm version of the brushless sander that ToolGuyDan mentioned. Great unit. To be honest, I’ve been missing their non brushless 5” sander. The ETS 125 REQ (the one they offered for $99). Great unit. Ran it with Kllingspor paper. Excellent results. I also agree with what he had to say about the R2E. More importantly, their 125 and 150 (especially the EC) finish sanders have infinitely less vibration than their half sheet model.
Lyle
I spoke to a Festool rep at the beginning of March and he said that they were staggering the rollout of the new Systainers and they were starting with the sanders.
Diplomatic Immunity
Certainly a sign of the apocalypse when Festool lowers their prices. What’s next… different brands making their batteries interchangeable and compatible with one another?!?!? HAHAHAHAHA!!!!