Compact extractor

There's also the Bosch Ventaro. Had one once, but was a bit disappointed. It has an amazing 1400w in a roughly rectangular box about the same as a Sys Midi. The (albeit short) hose, vac & blower (inflater) tools and an delta-head air turbine sander, spare sanding papers & dustbag all self contained within its briefcase style clamshell.

First the good. At 1400 watts its the most powerful vac & blower that I've ever encountered. It literally would blow my 2 Festo/ol extractors into the weeds. The blower is amazingly effective for cleaning up machinery of swarf etc. The sander is simarly effective, despite being unpowered by anything other than the vacuum created, whilst simultaneously efficiently extracting any sawdust generated. Over time, as the bag fills, the sander's effectiveness & "power" gradually diminishes. All in all a pretty remarkable overall package for an absolutely bargain-basement price.

It's cheap. Mine cost the princely sum of Au $80 (GBP 45-50?) when new. I've seen second hand examples (albeit in Europe) sell for mere pennies on Flea-Bay. The case is made from a softer, more flexible ABS type of material, that easily withstands worksite abuse far better than the supposedly stronger but more brittle grade of plastics used by the Festo/ol range. The modern Festool's extractor casings are notoriously fragile and poorly designed.

The design, make & manufacture is generally up to the usual Bosch standards. Mine was reliable & well made. It actually has a reasonable quality feel to the overall package. Manufacture is in Turkey, which at a stretch could therefore be described as of European origin. The fact that Turkey is a Middle Eastern nation or at least part of the "Orient" as in the final destination of Agatha Christie's Orient express is both germane & salient. Lands east of the Bosporous are commonly regarded as Asian.

Now the bad. Those 1400 watts are pretty noisy. When used indoors (its more natural habitat) that sound is uncomfortably amplified with a clear absence of any sound insulation. Ear defenders are a must. It's bags are ridiculously small for general cleanup operations. A mere 5 or 6 litres of dust space in palpably insufficient, & will require frequent bag renewal/replacement. There's no auto functionality either.

The onboard hose is ludicrously short: a mere 1.5m at a guess. There's just no reach available. You have to have that noisy bloody beast right "there" alongside you & in uncomfortable proximity to do any sanding work, where the relative silence of operation of the air turbine sander is comprehensively trumped by those 1.4 killer-wasps of motor and impeller noise. An aftermarket hose (35mm dia. works best) from any reasonably priced source (i.e. anywhere/anybody but Festo) is another must. Turbulence within longer corrugated hoses will inevitably lead to a slight diminution of overall suction & airflow.

There's no volume (speed) control. So it's always loud. This will over time become wearing on the operator's stamina and resolve. That's why I likewise despise Festool's clone of the Ventaro, the stupid Sys-Vac or CTL-Sys. These lunchbox type mini-vacs lack the all-important bypass motor cooling systems of proper dust extraction equipment, whereby cleaner & cooler air to the motor is always available independently of the actual extraction function. Instead they must rely on the "dirty" preheated air from whatever tool is attached to the hose end. Whether that particular tool requires a little or a lot of airflow to operate & extract efficiently (yes, it does matter) is irrelevant to these types of vacuums. they always must run flat maggot to maintain that severely compromised cooling airflow. They're actually more or less just a rather dodgy but powerful domestic vac with a puny dustbag shoved into a small suitcase!

There's likely to be a "me too" type coming from (I'm guessing here) Starmix/Metabo, which Metabo proudly showed off at the latest Bau conference/trade fair. It probably has the highly desirable auto on/auto off function of the best extractors. It also featured an innovative (probably low voltage relay-driven) on/off switch on the hose end. That'd be the absolute cat's pyjamas for cordless saws, drills etc. What a clever idea! Whether they take a more appropriate & "professional" approach to speed variability and motor cooling than the others is currently an unknown. Here's hoping.

As an aside, with some shrink-wrap insulating sleeves, available from any reliable electrical wholesaler, a pair of shears/scissors & a hot air gun you can make your own custom vac hose & tool adapters in about 30 seconds flat! Run a short length of braided copper inside between the 2 ends & you have antistatic electrical continuity inbuilt too!

There's also the Scheppach HD2P... £70 - maybe that says it all!
No experience of it - used to do good quality stuff many years ago, seems to no longer be the case.

I just noticed the CTL SYS power take-off is rated at only 1200w max, but the MT55CC is rated at 1400w (probably a bit more).

Do you (or anyone else reading this) successfully use an MT55CC fed via the socket on the front of the CTL SYS?


That 1200w rating might scupper my plans to buy a CTL SYS for use with me MT55CC, entirely.

Someone should offer a 6 meter hose that you pass though a window or door connected to something with a remote switched motor / armature similar to an electric leaf blower that blows into a canvas bag outdoors. No more hepa. (or clients)

(and yes, I’m going out right now to hook up the leaf blower mulching bag and try this… better yet I just found the perfect aerofix accessory vac to draw crazy suction independently of the saw vac)