Festool vs Bosch Sander

[Wuffles]

The Bosch op mentioned is a ros with swappable backing pads so you can use 125 or 150mm disks. It doesn't have a separate rotary mode.

That was brought up by Peter Millard earlier in the thread mate.

 

[No skills]

Well YorkshireMartin hadn't noticed.

 

[Jake]

Abranet HD is vicious mind

Haven't tried it, but will do. If it is that good on a finish sander, would be a beast on the Rotex. That's if it can take the heat.

Rotex to me is a renovation tool more than a pure woodworking tool , and the geared mode is a massive difference. I am surprised you think they are so similar.

 

[Wuffles]

Well, they're not similar, but imo the Rotex 150 doesn't do as good a job as the 90 (which I kept).

I ran the abranet HD on the Rotex and without doing a side by side comparison I couldn't tell you the difference in stock removal against the ETS EC. It's a 150/5 btw.

All my opinion, didn't get on with the 150 really and would prefer to use a belt sander if I'm really serious.

 

[petermillard]

Abranet HD on an ETS isn't far off the Rotex 150 I had before, as I've said before in this thread.

Interesting, never heard of an ETS being used in that way.

Yeah, decent grit on an ETS and it's way more than just a finish sander, IMHO - so much so that I didn't bother to replace my Rotex 150 when it died, just stuck with my ETS 150/5. Mostly use the remaining Rotex 125 and 90 for paint stripping etc... Also have ETS 150/3 and ETS 125 (2mm stroke) - now they're finish sanders, no question.

But the 150/5 is a very flexible, versatile machine - mine was my first Featool sander, and I remain a big fan.

Cheers, Peter

Edited to add:-
@ Noskills; FWIW the Rotex has provision for a grinder-style side handle, but I don't think it comes in the box.

 

[Marineboy]

Really helpful comments from all, thanks. The lack of straightforward extraction attachment on the Bosch ( I have the Festool CTL Midi) is a problem IMO. On balance I think I will go for the ETS, I won't often need really aggressive sanding and I have an old Bosch belt sander for that. I have a Festool voucher burning a hole in my pocket so need to decide before 31 July! Am looking at making it up to the required £500 with the CXS drill. Expensive bit of kit but with £50 off it's a bit more palatable and the reviews of it (particularly Peter Parfitt's) are impressive.

 

[Lonsdale73]

Really helpful comments from all, thanks. The lack of straightforward extraction attachment on the Bosch ( I have the Festool CTL Midi) is a problem IMO. On balance I think I will go for the ETS, I won't often need really aggressive sanding and I have an old Bosch belt sander for that. I have a Festool voucher burning a hole in my pocket so need to decide before 31 July! Am looking at making it up to the required £500 with the CXS drill. Expensive bit of kit but with £50 off it's a bit more palatable and the reviews of it (particularly Peter Parfitt's) are impressive.

The CXS is a fantastic (fes)tool, packs a lot of power into a compact package