Festool ETS 125 REQ Random Orbit Sander Review
A 2 mm stroke, 3.5 lb and a pad brake. The ETS 125 is a finishing sander, and buying it expecting a stock-removal machine is the mistake people make.
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Random orbit sanders are separated by one number that most listings bury: the sanding stroke, sometimes called the orbit. It is the diameter of the small circle the pad describes as it spins. A 5 mm stroke removes material quickly and leaves a coarser pattern; a 2 mm stroke removes slowly and leaves a finer one. Everything else — power, pad size, speed — matters less.
The ETS 125 REQ has a 2 mm stroke. It is a finishing sander by design. 250 W, 6,000-12,000 rpm stepless, a 5 in (125 mm) pad, 3.53 lb on the scale and a 27 mm extraction port.
That weight is worth dwelling on. Sanding is the job that makes shoulders ache, and a sander you can hold against a cabinet side or above your head without fighting it changes how carefully you sand the parts that are awkward to reach. There is a real quality argument hiding inside an ergonomics number.
The pad brake is the other detail that earns its keep. Lift a running sander off the work and the disc accelerates; put it back down and that spinning disc digs a curved scar into the surface before the pad settles. The brake slows the pad as soon as it leaves the work, which removes that failure entirely.
Where it is the wrong tool
Ask this sander to flatten a glued-up panel, level proud edge banding or strip old varnish, and it will do it, slowly, while you wonder what you paid for. That is not a fault — it is a 2 mm stroke doing exactly what a 2 mm stroke does. Those jobs want a 5 mm-stroke sander, a belt sander, or a scraper.
The sensible shop has both: something aggressive for the early grits and the ETS for 150 through 220 before finish.
The ETS EC alternative
Festool also sells the ETS EC line, which puts a brushless motor directly under the pad rather than beside it. The result is a much lower profile — the tool sits close to the work and is easier to keep flat one-handed — and a smoother-running machine. It costs more again. If you sand for a living the EC is worth looking at; for a home shop the REQ is the version whose price can be argued for.
Abrasive costs
Budget for the paper. Festool’s Granat discs last well and cut cleanly, and the extraction hole pattern makes generic discs a compromise rather than a straight swap. Over a year of steady use the abrasive spend is a real line item, not a rounding error against the tool price.
What works
- The 2 mm sanding stroke leaves a finer scratch pattern than the 5 mm stroke on a general-purpose sander, which is why finish shows fewer swirls after it
- At 3.53 lb it is light enough to use one-handed overhead and vertically for a full day, where a 5 lb sander becomes a shoulder problem
- The pad brake stops the disc spinning up when you lift the sander, so setting it down on the workpiece does not gouge a crescent into your surface
- Dust extraction through the 27 mm port with a CT extractor collects almost everything at the pad, and the abrasive lasts noticeably longer for it
What doesn't
- 250 W and a 2 mm stroke means slow stock removal — flattening a glue-up or taking off old finish with this is genuinely tedious, and that is what a coarse-stroke sander is for
- Festool abrasives cost multiples of generic discs, and the hole pattern pushes you towards them
- It only makes full sense inside the system: without a CT extractor the dust bag option is a clear step down and you lose half the reason for the price