First Look REVIEW:
Festool OF 1400 EQ Plus Router
What do you get when you take all the great things about Festool’s OF 1010 EQ router, scale things up a little and add some other niceties, such as 1/2" collet capacity? An almost must-buy machine for the serious hobbyist or pro woodworker!
Thanks to the generous consideration of Christian Oltzscher, CEO of Festool USA, and Bob Marino, I had the opportunity to spend some time with this beauty in the shop on a balmy October weekend...this was Christian’s personal router, by the way, and it was very kind of him to lend it for review and so some other woodworking friends could get a look at the same time. After all, he couldn’t use it while we had it! That truly must have been a sacrifice.
Festool USA
Festool has been in the tool business since 1925 and although not a household name in the USA, they are very highly regarded worldwide. The key to their offerings is understanding that they sell “systems” rather than just tools. Every tool is made to work together with certain components, such as guides, vacs and their elegant stacking storage system called Systainer. The tools and other products are made to extreme quality standards and afford an unprecedented 3-year warranty as well as a 30-day Money Back Guarantee...if you are not satisfied with it, return it, no questions asked within that 30 day window. Also of note is the fact that virtually all the tools are designed to provide excellent dust control when used with the Festool Cleantec dust extraction system. Trust me...it works. Really well.
Although some retailers are starting to pick up the line, buying through a local rep, such as Bob, affords you a level of personal service that you rarely get from other sources.