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First let me say, before somebody else does, that I'm no stranger to festool sanders. I have an ETS EC 125, a 150/3, a 150/5, a rotex 150, and even the little RAS 115. I had the old ETS125 too which I sold when I bought this thing. All of which I enjoy using.
The Pro 5 is just impossible to control. This seems to be a known issue and I just need to get off my tail and send it in. I've tried it on every vac suction level imaginable and it is just insane how much it jerks around. It's truly hard just to control it. Even almost holding it off the surface it still grabs and slings itself around. In addition to being hard to operate it leaves a terrible surface. One could almost put up with the poor handling of the results were good but they're not!
As I said, I've seen reports that Festool can fix the problem...but who wants to deal with that? With my 150's I can literally leave them running on a board and walk away and they will stay right where I left them. This pro 5 would be halfway to Albuquerque if I left go of it for 15 seconds!
Overall I'm not too bent out of shape over it because Festool paid me to take it - I sold my ETS 125 for $150 so I cleared $50 there plus I got the voucher for an extra $50. Secondly I have plenty of other sanders to use so it's not a big deal. But if this were my only sander or my first festool purchase I would be pissed!
-Marc
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03-24-2017, 10:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2017, 10:34 AM by Lumber Yard®.)
I've owned almost the entire line of ETS sanders and all the Rotex Festool sanders so, I'm familiar with how a lot of the Festool sanders perform. My favorite, by a large margin, is the ETS 150/3. It runs as smooth as butter and use it for the majority of my finish sanding tasks. In the past, I have owned (2) ETS 125 sanders hoping they would fill a need but always felt that they under-performed. I actually prefer the 5" Dewalt/PC low profile sanders over the Festool ETS 125.
I ordered (2) of these Pro 5 sanders when the promo was available. I have only received one at this point with the other being pushed back until April. I've heard of the problems with jumpy performance BUT the one I received a week ago runs VERY smooth and performs flawlessly. Based on my limited usage I actually think it performs on par or BETTER than the ETS 125. I'll be keeping at least one of these Pro 5 for my arsenal. I've seen videos from other customers of their jumpy Pro 5 ...it reminds me of how my Rotex 125 performs in random orbit mode. I love my Rotex 125 in aggressive mode but in random orbit it is a PITA to control.
These Pro 5 sanders are selling for ~$200 on Ebay/CL so, I wouldn't be too fast about canceling your orders. If you end up not liking it, you should be able to flip it fairly easy and maybe even make a little for your trouble. I need to find someone to buy my $50 vouchers as I have no intention of using them. Heck, I might even sell off the systainers as well because all my other tools have the old style systainers. The actual sander costs shrink considerably if you can dump the voucher/systainers.
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Indeed. The black systainer is messing up my color scheme
-Marc
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Mark et al, thanks for your posts...I think I'll wait and flip it if I don't like it. I have a couple of others that work well, just looking for an upgrade...Ed
Ed
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Just got an email from ToolNut that my unit is shipping. A few weeks early, based on the last ETA.
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(03-24-2017, 10:28 AM)Lumber Yard® Wrote: I've heard of the problems with jumpy performance BUT the one I received a week ago runs VERY smooth and performs flawlessly. Based on my limited usage I actually think it performs on par or BETTER than the ETS 125.
This has been my experience as well. My wife used it to sand some doors between coats, having never used a Festool sander prior to this. She found it easy to use and loved the results.
I'm keeping mine. Passed on my ETS 125 (a fine little sander) to our son.
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April 1st could get interesting this year.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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Shipping notice today for mine, we'll see.
Michael
Every day find time to appreciate life. It is far too short and 'things' happen. RIP Willem
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(03-24-2017, 12:04 PM)WaterlooMarc Wrote: Indeed. The black systainer is messing up my color scheme
Put a 3/8" flat washer between the pad and the sander shaft. That will relieve some of the dust collector suction.
I retro fitted a PC pad (psa) for my 150/3 sander and couldn't control it due to the suction. Spaced the pad away and it fixed it.
Maybe that will work for you.
Steve
Mo.
I miss the days of using my dinghy with a girlfriend too. Zack Butler-4/18/24
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020
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(03-24-2017, 12:04 PM)WaterlooMarc Wrote: Indeed. The black systainer is messing up my color scheme
FYI it is blue, you do need strong light to see it though. As for the break dancing sander just go to the Festool website and open a repair ticket, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how painless it is.
Also, the question of it being lower quality was brought up in the thread, the Pro 5 is mechanically identical to the updated ETS 125 being sold in Europe now and will go on sale here as soon as the Pro 5 orders are all covered. It is essentially the old ETS 125 with 25% more power, the new bayonet style hose port, improved switch ergonomics and the edge guard. It is also important in order to have proper expectations is that the Pro 5/ETS 125 is a 2mm orbit finish sander and much less aggressive than the average 5" ROS.
