Festool dust extractors, in particular around here - I think the attraction the the very, very good dust containment. It’s just plain good. Expensive, yes. Impossible to match with a $100 shop vac as far as I can tell, even with “hepa filters”. I think that’s the bit in particular to the festool dust extractor.
Actually, arguably Systainers are the solution for that:
I have both 5" and 6" Festool sanders and their mid-size vac too. They weren’t cheap but they are the go-to tools in my shop. I find the sanders are exceptionally well balanced and help keep my hands from going numb with extended use. I’d compare the finish of the sanders with 80 grit paper about equal to another brand with 180 or 220 grit. They are that good.
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When you go to Woodcraft they have a dedicated display for Festool. I have looked at the track saw in the past and you could build a shop around the Festool tables and the track saws. The sanders are expensive but people really seem to like them. I would agree with Will that because everything works together it is a “System” instead of a bunch of discrete tools that do not work together. I have not invested in the Festool but always buy what I think are the best of breed for a hobby shop. The expense of Festool is 2 or 3 times an equivalent tool. They do have some unique tools like the Domino but if you buy into the Festool universe you need to go all in to get the advantages of the system working together. I can live without them but I am not trying to make a living with my tools.
So if you want a Cadillac system then Festool is what you want. As a person that can live with a Ford quality of tool I will buy more tools with the money I could have spent on Festool.
One thing that I do not like about Festool is the iron fist they have over their market. You will not find a Festool tool for more than a few dollars variation in price from one retailer to the next.
Some people want only the best and some may consider Festool the best. Festool is only the best if you buy into the whole system. If you only get a few of the tools the price vs performance ratio does not work for me. Plus with the system you must work Festool’s way and that does not appeal to me.
So you are not missing anything.
To Richard Warren,
I like your compact shop. Although crowded everything seems accessible. I learned a long time ago that if you can go out in floor space you must go up and take advantage of wall space.
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And the pictures gave me a few ideas of how I could better use the walls in my garage-slash-shop (considering the available floor space I have is about a third of Richard’s…)
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Sounds like Festool is your Apple vs others Android/Windows PC. There’s a premium for brand [loyalty] but the ecosystem is very seamless if you stay within it. 
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I suppose in regards to the ecosystem this is true, however I think tools like the Domino and Rotex Sanders are a class above the competition
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Thye are excellent for mobile workers. In the shop they just take up too much space. I fit 4 sanders and their paper in one drawer versus 4 systainers.
This leads to the problem of what to do with the systainers, in my case there’s a mass of them jammed in some kneewall storage in the house. The tools retain dang near 100% value if you ever need to sell them but fuggedaboutit if you dont have the original case.
RMW
“I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” 
The best days “in the shop” are those when the weather is good and I can roll out onto the deck to work, at which point the shop expands to around 500SF.
3 cardinal rules have developed for the shop:
- Everything on the floor is on wheels
- If it’s not used in the shop it doesn’t get stored in the shop
- Hang it on a cleat if at all possible
The past 2 weeks have mostly been spent on enforcing the rules again, things often get away from me. I also had to cull out the off-cut collection.
Now we are far afield for the Festool extractor topic. Sorry @Luke
RMW
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I don’t feel too bad, I have had my own threads hijacked often enough 
This advice is very timely, I was discussing (read negociating) with my wife yesterday evening about how much more footage of the garage I could allocate to my hobby. The “everything on the floor is on wheels” is something that makes a lot of sense and I could work on.
Sorry, back to the Festool discussion !
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I have a big pile of Festool stuff but the two items I consider really worthwhile are the Domino and the Kapex (miter saw). The Domino is a sort of “force multiplier” for my current level of skill in that you can plan parts as though you were going to dowel/pocket-hole them and then get the benefit of tenon joinery.
For the Kapex, I actually went through several other miter saws first and found myself actively avoiding them due to the giant cloud of crap they threw into the air. So I got the Kapex with its excellent dust collection, despite it being the price of two other-branded saws, and have been very happy with it.
Which is where things took off for me, as I realized I didn’t get any joy from doing in-house tool testing. If you are fortunate enough to be in a “money to burn and don’t mind smelling the smoke” situation, getting a Festool tool is shorthand for “give me a thing that will definitely work the way I want it to so I can stop thinking about it.” Is Festool always “the best” (whatever that means)? I don’t know, really - in the case of the Domino it is pretty much “the only,” so there you go.
In other cases, I couldn’t say, but I can say that it is unlikely to be as much “better” as the price difference would suggest. If, say, the track saw is 10% better (whatever that means in this case) than a competing brand - and again, I don’t know that it is - but is 50% more expensive, well…
It only really makes sense to me if money isn’t a major concern, is what I’m saying.
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I stepped into the Festool world about a year or so ago, following multiple references here and in woodworking forums and driven by a desire to clean up the air I breath and the noise I hear. Now that I spend much more time in my shop.
I have a MIDI vac and a 400 sander. My favorite part of the combination is the dust free/quiet I can achieve with the vac at about 50% and the sander at 70%. I’ve also accomplished a few inside my home sanding projects that I never would have considered doing in the past.
Never heard of the Domino joiner ‘til this thread…mine arrives tomorrow😊.
Need to check out the mitre saw too. I use mine frequently, hate the mess even with the huge hood I built behind it with 6” extractor.
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IMO the Domino joiners are quite reasonably priced for the very usefully and unique(?) capability they provide. You definitely need to use a shop vac or dust collector with it, but it doesn’t have to be a Festool. Rockler sells a nice flexible hose with all the adapters you need to connect to it and other small tools. In my experience, you don’t need to go the Festool route to get a high performance/quality random orbital sander with effective dust collection. Makita and Dewalt both offer good alternatives I never tried Harbor Freight’s nor have I tried their trim router, and I probably won’t after trying one of their compound miter saws.
But, this forum is about CNC routers. Do shop vacs offer good dust collection for them, or are dust collectors necessary? If so, which dust shoes are best?
I’m using a CT36 (plus static-conductive dust deputy and bin, under the “anything worth doing is worth overdoing” theory of operation) for the miter saw, sanders and Shapeoko and I’m very happy with it. As Griff mentioned, one of the really nice aspects of the CT series is the built-in speed control - as in “quiet, when that’s all you need.”
I regard that as a serious plus for CNC use where it will be running for a long time while not tearing my ears off (I’ve put a fair amount of effort into making everything else quiet as well). Other folks have come up with clever shop-vac noise reductions strategies (Winston built an enclosure and added a speed control, for instance) so again - not strictly necessary to go with Festool. But if you want a “take it out of the box and start using it” solution, it works well.
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I am using a Festool CT Midi with a one-off Reality 3DP dust shoe (it uses a smaller hose (matches the stock Festool hose and a small transparent tube), has the hose off on a diagonal, and fully encloses the endmill)
It works well, but I wish the skirt were more easily removed (it’s some bolts — I need to work up thumbscrews) and in long cuts with weird features some debris will get stuck — if I’m feeling fussy I pause and clean things up, but it doesn’t seem to be necessary.
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You don’t find it necessary to use the brushes or block the front?! 
OOPs I meant to respond to @WillAdams - sorry!
Actually, I do — on mine, the skirt fully encompasses things.
Here:
It’s my understanding that with sufficient suction that the opening under the vacuum connection isn’t an issue — since I cheaped out with the CT Midi, I asked for fully enclosed. At some point I’ll order the current model and try it with a larger hose.
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You’re missing money if you ask me. Not to say that Festool doesn’t make nice tools. They do. I’ve owned some. If you have all Festool then you certainly benefit from everything fitting together and storing neatly. Tools like the domino are unique and certainly offer some advantages. When I first got a circular saw from them with a track, nobody else was really doing like that yet and it was indeed very cool and had great dust collection for a handheld circular saw. Proprietary parts and high cost keeps me away now though. Having to run to a woodcraft or rockler, etc. instead of the big box store for a vacuum filter or some sand paper is a real bummer when you are in teh middle of a project. I will say that I also own a saw-stop table saw, which if I’m not mistaken is from the same parent company. I’m willing to pay for that safety feature and it’s really a nice tool.
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