Fein Turbo II's hot deal

[beacon14]

The new model seems to be identical except has an auto sensing switch and is rated at higher Amps but this may have to do with the fact that it's meant to have a power tool plugged into it as the cfm and vacuum rating are the same.

Amazon.com is taking orders for the new model for $229 but they are not shipping it yet.

I just ordered 2 of the sale models - thanks for the tip Bill you saved me a few hundred bucks (the wife thinks you cost me a few hundred but I know better)

[gerald_d]

It looks like the Feins only have 2 basic engines (116/90 and 126/99)- all the rest is in the packaging and accessories. However, the all-important noise issue is determined by the packaging. Please believe that an increase of 3dBA is a doubling of the noise volume. 6dBA difference is double.x.double=4.times the volume. Those cheapies are very much noisier at 63dBA compared to the Turbo II at 57.8dBA.

[bleeth]

For those interested Woodcraft is waiving shipping until the 4th.

[beacon14]

Follow up: I have been using the two new vacs on my recent project and I couldn't be happier, especially for the price. They may not be the quietest model but compared to what I had before they practically whisper. The holding power is noticably stronger than the old shopvacs I used before, and I don't have to worry about the motors burning out in the middle of a long file.

When I finally get around to making my full sized four-zone setup I may splurge for the model with the larger motor for my primary zones and use these guys for the lesser-used zones, but for now these are working very well indeed.

Thanks again for the tip.

[cabindoors]

Does anyone know how the Fein shopvac would stand up to the Ridgid's 12 gallon 5 HP shopvac? I don't currently have a hold down system but am considering making one.

Home Depot recently had the Ridgid on sale reg $70 marked down to $25. Needless to say I bought several. I really liked their lifetime warranty and their superior suction.

[alabama_davo]

the HUGE difference is that the fein has a secondary cooling fan for the motor that prevents it from overheating when used for a vacuum holding system. and it is about half as loud...
I have a III and I love it.

[gerald_d]

Fein advertises this secondary cooling fan, but every other brand that I've looked at inside also had the secondary fan - they just didn't mention it in their advertising.

[Brady Watson]

Tom,
Yes...I have a "6.5 HP" <---yeah right...Rigid Shopvac and my Fein T3 pulls exactly twice the vacuum as the Rigid.

-Brady

[paco]

ShopVac do have their own line of "secondary fan" (named "Industrial line) type of vac but I've had some problem getting info about it... they advertise about similar specs than Fein...

[ron brown]

Brady,

According to my calculations 6.5HP is 4849 watts or, on a 120V circuit, only 40.4083A (yeah, right). I am always amazed how the advertising firms can claim such outragous stuff and get away with it.

I've found a "3.25 HP Porter-Cable Router" is a lot closer to two horsepower. My Vacuum motors pull about 8A and I've never seen a tool that pulls the amps required for the nameplate "HP rating".

When I was a lot younger I used to have a few "fast" vehicles. Others would talk "my engine makes X HP" or this car/motorcycle/truck will go X mph. For some reason I was the only one who had things like dyno reports and time slips where I had actually gone as fast or my engines had made as much power as I claimed.

It would be interesting to see how much a 'shopvac' of a particular brand actually pulled in water/mercury and the CFM at the vacuum and at the end of a particular run of hose, PVC or whatever.

I think the old saying of how to tell a salesman and a farmer apart from seeing which side of the boots the manure is on could apply to tools.

Ron