Festool Mobile Systainer base - SYS-Cart RB-SYS (P/No: 495020)

Boys and Girls,
 
This was the first review I posted at LJ back in Jun, 2019.  

 

It was based on my 360° about face turn on Fe$tool systainers. While I liked their tools, I loathed the systainers.

 

As more and more brands are releasing their tools in systainers, I thought this might be a worthwhile repeat here.

 

If you are a fan or don’t have any, don’t waste your time, if you are not a fan but have them, it may be worth a cursory glance. 

I now sport 3 of the bases in the open,

with the cart dedicated to my VAC-SYS,

 

 

 

----------------------------------------- ooooOOOO From LJ OOOOooooo --------------------------------------------- 

 

 

Boys and Girls,

 

For a comprehensive review, one must set the atmosphere… and if you don't need to breathe, scroll down to the first picture of the mobile base (about 1/2 way down… but then you wont know what I was talking about).

 

 

However years ago back in 2008 when I was young and naive, I bought a Makita Cordless 4 Mode Impact Driver (BTP140) for $830… yep $830 for a Makita drill,

Back then, all their top end drills were around the $300-$450 (with various combinations of any 3 modes), however, that extra mode bumped the price by $400 dollars.

 

I must have been smoking something to pay that much for any tool let alone a drill… Needless to say, this reality check made me decide that if I was moronic enough to pay $800+ for a Makita drill, how can I have the audacity to begrudge purchasing Festool tools.  So a new epoch materialised.

 

Now one of the things I hated about any tool was their plastic cases and found they took up an inordinate amount of storage and always managed to fail integration with other workshop paraphernalia,

Consequently I preferred to purchase tools without plastic cases which I placed into a generic storage box,

so I could pick and choose the tool on demand

(I already had a dedicated recharge drawer so the case wasn't needed for the charger),

AND of course Festool had their bloody expensive systainers which I initially avoided with a passion. Consequently my early Festool purchases were the tool (and accessories) at a reduced price due to their missing shop damaged systainers… Yay!

When I couldn't avoid the elusive 'tainer, I found I was stacking the boxes on top of each other inside a cupboard,

and of course the one you wanted was always at the bottom. 

Now that space is used by the oversized belt sander and empty drill systainers (and room for other stuff),

When Festool released their DF-500 break down connector (plan to do a review on them) I couldn't resist buying that elusive Domino I was deliberately avoiding for over 10 years as I already had a reliable biscuit joiner and a Leight FMT Pro.  With a systainer for the Domino, one for the dominos and another for the DF-500 connectors my systainer management took a dramatic downward plunge.

 

Then I discovered the Festool systainer mobile base(s),

Bet you were wondering what that preamble crap was all about and when was he going to address the topic at hand… well, ante down… I know your tell!

 

The downside of them was that they were/are still a pain with the original systainer locking method,

as separating the boxes was still a pain with far too many locking levers (4) that have never been knuckle friendly.  Fortunately I only have 1 old style systainer (upward compatible - new style is not downward compatible… and if you say WOT?... that means that you can put a new on top of the old but not the old on top of the new… you may now ask why the hell didn't the jerk say that in the first place) and that is permanently on the bottom of the rolling cart,

unfortunately the 'tainers on this cart cannot be tilted though the top opened once the above boxes have been lifted off… and the subject mobile base,

Their "latest" T-lock mechanism was a breath of fresh air,

It was a simple twist to open if near the top of the stack and not too top heavy,

or 2 twists to separate (lift off),

and still tilt,

you also have the option to move it to the top,

Naturally you'll have the most used at the top for quick access. Another feature I like is that many Woodpecker

One-Time-Tool offerings come in systainers (the black ones) and will perfectly integrate with the Festool storage.

 

I have come to love the systainers and will probably buy another mobile base as my stockpile expands although the old style may be relegated back to the cupboard to make room for at least 1 or 2 more systainers.

 

One may argue that if you spend the money on Festool, you should be able to build a decent shelving system and I totally agree, however, these bases make shelving unnecessary and is for me, a very acceptable alternative. Their large lockable casters make makes mobility around in a crowded workshop a simple task. Furthermore if you take your Festools "ex-workshop", the mobile cart would be invaluable, however, as my tools never leave the workshop, as an afterthought, I'd probably have preferred a second mobile base instead.

 

PS. If you are not a proud parent of a litter of Festool tools or not storage restrained, please don't read this review.

 

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