Nearly one year ago, I posted about my desire for Festool to offer cordless dust extractor vacuums. Earlier today, a reader left a short comment that really made my morning. They simply said “And… here it is.”
After some digging, I came across a Festool Owner’s Group forum post, where someone shared some images and notes from a European tradeshow.
It seems that Festool is indeed coming out with new cordless dust extractor vacs.
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From the images, it looks like there will be cordless versions of Festool’s Mini, Midi, and mobile vacuums.
Unfortunately, all of Festool’s new cordless dust vacs look to be cordless only. I had wished for hybrid battery and corded-powered vacs, but cordless-only is still very welcome.
In his FOG forum post, Hans Mertens noted that the CTC Sys vacuum – their cordless mobile vac – can only be powered by specific Festool 18V batteries. It looks to fit their more compact batteries, but not their larger and higher capacity ones.
The wheeled Midi (CTC Midi) and Mini (CTC Mini) vacuums look to accept Festool’s larger batteries.
All three options look to be dual-battery tools, meaning they’re effectively 36V vacuums that require two batteries to operate. A simultaneous dual-bay charger is also said to be on the way (TCL 6 DUO).
The cordless vacs were said to have a January 2022 ETA, at least in Europe.
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At this time, there’s no indication as to if or when Festool plans to launch the same or similar products in the USA, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Plain grainy
Thanks for the update.
Troy Queen
I’ve seen that they also have a cordless compact miter saw on the way ,that’s on my list.
William
Festool is just a disaster when it comes to cordless tools, I foolishly purchased a few 18v drills, can’t use the battery on their cordless sander, and now it looks like the only vacuum I’d want is the mini, and my current batteries won’t even work with it. Plus it’s only cordless, which is a bad decision.
Bjørn
I have 10 cordless tools from Festool all using the same battery except the Sanders but they all use the same charger so I don’t follow
William
I’m guessing you don’t live in the USA, other than drills, there are barely 10 cordless tolls that Festool even sells in the US.
It was a mistake to get into this 18v platform, I should have stuck to the main brands that invest in the US cordless market.
rob
Festool is a niche company. They don’t have a lot of cordless tools…because they don’t have a lot of tools in general. Their cordless lineup is great for a European kitchen fitter. Otherwise, complaining about their breadth and scope would be pretty similar to complaining about Fein not having a cordless plywood tracksaw.
John
I have a lot of Festool corded tools. I will never own their cordless tools, just a mess with different batteries which are not fully compatible across their full line of tools. Dumb as far as I am concerned.
I owned the corded CT Sys for many years but never liked it. Bag was too small, suction wasn’t that great and it always sounded like a heart pump in a hospital.
Plain grainy
That is why the Dewalt Flexvolt system is so nice. They will run everything that the battery fits on! Not the M-12 tools of course. I wonder if we will ever see a 60 volt vac?
ToolGuyDan
The one that DeWalt markets explicitly as a “Dust Extractor” is 60V.
Stuart
https://toolguyd.com/dewalt-flexvolt-cordless-dust-extractor-vacuum/
Thomas Herbst
I wonder if they are finally using 21700 cells or the older 18650 cells in there batteries.
rob
The 4ah “compact” batteries are 21700 and the 5.2 and 6ah 18650 packs run circles around them.
Tator
I wonder if they will only run on one battery or draw from both to lower the draw on each battery. On a side note, looks like Harbor freight is working on some Hercules right angle drills that look very similar to the Milwaukee Fuel. They might have slipped a pic in an email about new self feed bits.
Julian Tracy
At least with my Makita 18v x2 (36v) dust extractor, the suction is rated much much less than if it was a corded model. I wonder how the power is on these Festool vacs compared to the corded versions.
I’ve got a ton of Festool tools, but honestly, most of their offerings are severely lacking in the value/cost equation.
And, like previously commented on, the oddball battery incompatibility is just silly. I think maybe Festool has introduced and killed off more battery platforms than any other power tool company.
Gary
I have 18V Festool tools, including the latest 2x18V track saw. All of them will run off my original 12V NiCad drill battery and can use the same chargers. Some of the sanders use a different form factor, as do their two 10.8/12V drills. Just like Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita, Dewalt… have multiple battery form factors. So they’ve effectively not ‘killed off’ any battery platforms (I can still buy my 12V NiCad and 15V NIMH batteries direct from Festool).
Rafe
Cordless vacs are pretty terrible IMO. Total battery drainers. I have two different Milwaukee cordless vacs and they are nice for really small applications, but a 15A corded vac for constant jobsite application is a must. CT MIDI is a big vac to tote around for small niche projects.
Koko The Talking Ape
I agree. Even for just cleaning up your car, cordless vacuums either don’t have enough power, or don’t run long enough, or both.
I think part of the reason is they have to run at full load, all the time.
Joshua Morris
IMO
The target would be more in lines with doing trim or flooring jobs
Cordless saw not having to much stain and it being used with the saw to minimize dust
Plus cleanup end of day
My cordless dewalt 12″ miter lasts basically all day unless I’m doing a bunch of framing
Can’t imagine a 2 battery saw from festool wouldn’t last most of the day
Guy I work with loves festool stuff he wqs hoping their battery power bank came here first that way all.his corded tools are “cordless”
rob
Festool’s powerbank is the slickest. However, I’m not getting the impression we’ll ever get it here, unfortunately.
Craig
I have the 40v makita (xgt). As of feb 2023 I can say definitively the xgt bridges the gap between cord and cordless. Rated at 148 cfm and 92 inches of lift it’s the best option out there.
rob
If you were scrolling through the forum, then you caught me just flat out laughing through internet words about the limited battery size on the CT SYS.
I was holding out for the Makita XGT vacs, but they were announced and advertised as running off of one battery at a time and doing slightly less CFM than the Festool vacs (107 CFM). Considering I already have Festool vacs and Festool batteries and I can drive five minutes to get bags and filters for them and can use my bluetooth button and so on, I settled on waiting for the Festool…. Honestly, the LXT vacs were pretty useless at best to useless at worst. So, whatever. I digress…
Until I saw the new Hilti vac. A true and proper 140CFM. I’m waiting to hear if it can do that on the 8ah and not just the 12ah battery. Not even their reps know for sure. Hilti went full Milwaukee with their “one platform” marketing and reality of needing a different battery for every tool.
Starmix/Metabo have a 140cfm vac, but no plans to bring it to the US.
Harrison
The new Hilti Vac does look awesome. But yeah, kinda surprised they went Milwaukee direction. Why have the same voltage if there are a dozen caveats and every tool needs it’s own battery size? Not a huge fan. I wonder if the new M18 x2 lawnmower is a sign of things to come.
For what it’s worth, I think Makita is going for the ‘low hanging fruit’ with a lot of their ‘first wave’ XGT releases, so they can build up the system tool count quickly. Annoying, but they are showing new tools on the Japanese IG every week, so they’re keeping busy.
Ex: The first XGT sawzall is nothing special, (basically a remake of the 18×2) but now they’ve announced a mechanically unique AVT model with a geared counterbalance similar to the Skil ‘Buzzkill’ saw which should be a legitimate contender.
I think they’ve done something similar with the first XGT vacs- they are basically a re-style of the existing compact 18×2 models, but with more run time. All the promotional photos show it being used in boardrooms and offices, and for only basic jobsite cleanup.
I don’t have a magic 8 ball, but I seriously doubt Makita will leave the OSHA-compliant “dust free jobsite” money on the table. Based on the 2” 80v rotary hammer and 14” concrete saws, they are clearly aiming for the heavy construction market. There has to be a 140+ cfm dust extractor on the way.
Craig
You seem to be severely misrepresenting makita xgt. I have the xgt extractor and it is an absolute 10/10, it has heaps of run time and power. Have you used xgt? I have many many tools that are xgt and they are revolutionary not just an evolution of the 18volt system. The xgt extractor is my favorite tool and demonstrates the capabilities of makita in 2023.