Spencley Design Co.: Kreg Domino vs. Festool Domino - Is It Worth It?

$500 for a machine that does the exact same thing as my nearly $1,400 Festool Domino? Why wouldn't you buy it? Because after spending the last few weeks using these side by side, the answer gets a little more complicated. I've cut hundreds of mortises with the Kreg Edge, tested the accuracy, battery life, dust collection, every major adjustment, and used it for these same joints I normally reach for my Domino to make. And I am not exaggerating when I say this. The Kreg can do every single thing that I use my Domino for. But there are catches. Some are things you'd probably never notice if you never use a Domino. Other things I genuinely think Kreg got wrong. And that leaves a pretty obvious question. If both machines ultimately put the same joint in the same piece of wood, where exactly does that extra $859 go? And more importantly, are you actually giving up anything that matters when the project is finished? That's what I wanted to figure out. And I have something that's going to make this comparison a little more interesting. When I first got the Edge, the Kreg Edge just showed up. So let's unbox this thing and check it out. I filmed the first few hours I spent figuring out and testing it before I had any idea what I was eventually going to think about. So anytime you see me wearing this blue shirt, it feels pretty much just like the Domino. But let's do some more and try to get some more reps in. That was my actual reaction the first time I experienced something. And now that I've spent a few weeks with the Edge, some of those first impressions were dead on. Some definitely weren't. Oh, and before we get into it, Kreg did send this tool to me for free. But this video is not sponsored by Kreg. They're not paying me anything. They don't know what I'm going to say. And they have zero input on this video. I have worked with Kreg on paid partnerships in the past, and I may again in the future. But for this video, they sent me the tool and that's it. So with that out of the way, let's figure out what you actually get for that extra $859. Before we start picking them apart, you need to understand just how similar these machines actually are. And I could spend the next 10 minutes slowly showing you every knob and adjustment, but I don't hate you that much. So let's do this quickly. The Kreg Edge, $450 as a bare tool, or $500 with a 4Ah battery and charger. For that $500 kit, you get the Edge, the battery, and charger, 6mm cutter, 10 loose tenons, a narrow stock guide, a vertical plunge support, and everything stores inside this foam block. The Festool is $1,359. You get the domino, a 5mm cutter, narrow stock guide, cross stop, vertical support, and everything has a dedicated home inside the sustainer. But you don't get any domino tenons with it. So right away, Kreg is not exactly handing you an empty box for a third of the price. But the similarities go way deeper than what comes in the package. Both machines make a mortise for loose tenon joinery using essentially the same process. Line up the tool, turn it on, and plunge. Both give you 3 mortise width settings, so you can make precise mortises when you want alignment, or give yourself some extra side-to-side wiggle room if you want an easier glue up, say you're doing a large panel for a tabletop. Both have adjustable fences that tilt from flat up to 90 degrees with stops at common angles. Both let you adjust the height of the mortise relative to your reference surface. Both let you control the plunge depth. Both have retractable indexing pins that let you register directly off the edge of a board, so you can align mating parts without having to measure and lay out every mortise individually. Both have machined center marks underneath the base when you're doing vertical plunges. Both have removable front plates for changing cutters. And the cutters for the bits are cross-compatible. Festool cutter and Kreg works fine. Kreg cutter and the Festool also works. I even tested Festool's special 4mm cutter, which Kreg doesn't currently offer, and that works on the edge too. So, functionally, Kreg did not reinvent this category. And the very first time I picked this thing up, that familiarity hit me immediately. It feels familiar. And that was before I even made a cut. And once I actually plunged my first mortise, feels pretty much just like the Domino. That was when my expectations started changing. Because going into this, honestly, I expected the cheaper machine to feel obviously cheaper. It doesn't. And I think that's important context before I start nitpicking the edge. I've used virtually every tool Kreg has ever made. Every generation of pocket hole jig, track saws, circular saws, drills, routers, drivers, and hands down, this thing feels like a step above all of them. If you've never put your hands on a Festool Domino and somebody hands you the edge, I think you genuinely are going to be blown away by this thing. Seriously. It feels substantial. It feels solid. The adjustments feel deliberate. Nothing about picking it up screams cheap Timu Domino knockoff. But there's a problem for Kreg. And it's that I have used the Domino. A lot. And when you put these directly beside each other, that's when you start discovering what another $859 actually buys you. Let's start with the plunge. The Festool is incredibly buttery smooth. The edge requires noticeably more force and the mechanism has a slightly grindier feeling as it moves forward. It still does the job. It still reaches full depth. It isn't difficult to use whatsoever. But swap back and forth between them and you'll notice it immediately. The edge also feels like you need to slow down and kind of baby the plunge a little bit more. If I try to drive it through the material with the same speed, not really aggression, but speed I use when I'm using my corded Domino, it feels like I'm asking the motor to do way more than it wants to. It reminds me of switching between a really good corded miter saw and an equally good cordless one. The cordless saw still makes the exact same cut, but you have to naturally slow your feed rate a little bit so you don't bog it down. Same thing here. And it isn't just the motor. The actual plunge mechanism on the Domino feels just a little more refined. It gives you a much more defined bottom out feeling. The Kreg feels softer and I find myself being a little more deliberate to make sure that I've gone completely to depth. And I know that sounds minor now, but it becomes more important later. There are also a couple ergonomic differences. The handle on the edge is noticeably chunkier. It's not uncomfortable. I'm someone who wears a large or XL glove and the diameter just feels a little larger in my hand. And weight wise, they're actually pretty close. The edge with a 4 amp power battery weighs about 7.8 pounds. The corded Domino weighs about 7.1 pounds. So the Kreg is a little under three quarters of a pound heavier. But interestingly, I actually like where Kreg put that extra mass. The battery hangs off the rear and when I plunge, I naturally use my hip to help drive the tool instead of trying to push entirely with my wrist. And I really like that. I can use a similar technique with the Domino, but that cord comes straight out the back. And every time I lean into it, I have a little voice in my head saying, maybe don't crush that $1,300 tools power cord with your crotch. So cordless isn't all bad. Now, both of these are incredibly specialized tools. They basically do one thing really, really well. This, on the other hand, does three. This video was made possible by the Shark Transformer, and it's basically an upright vacuum, stick vacuum, and handheld all built into one system. So I can use it as a full upright vacuum when I'm cleaning a big mess like this, and then transform it into a much slimmer stick to get underneath furniture and into tight spaces. And then pull out the handheld when I inevitably realize there's dust on the shelves, workbench, stairs, or basically anywhere else I can't reach with a normal vacuum. And these reveal headlights are kind of disgusting because they show you all the stuff you're perfectly happy not knowing was there. But my favorite part is when I'm finished. Put everything back together, and the debris collected while I was cleaning automatically empties into the larger upright tank. So instead of keeping three different vacuums around for three different jobs, the Shark Transformer lets me move from one mess to the next without stopping to grab another machine. I'll put a link down below if you want to check that out. And now back to two tools that are very, very happy doing exactly one thing. The fence angle adjustment felt familiar immediately. Loosen it, move it, tighten it, done. Nothing particularly exciting. The height adjustment was a little more interesting. Remember when I first got this machine, I intentionally didn't read the manual. By the way, I'm intentionally not looking at the instruction manual that comes with this thing because my goal is to see how intuitive this is right out of the box. That decision immediately came back to bite me. I also need to adjust how high this plate is, which if it's anything like the Domino. So there's no little latch over here like there is in the Domino, but there is this little twist mechanism. Maybe this does it. No. Huh. I don't know. I loosened the fence, found this little adjustment wheel. Okay, I found this knob that spins it. Started spinning it and thought, don't tell me I have to make that adjustment every time. Thankfully. Oh, wait, wait, wait. There's a little button here. Okay, I found it. There's like a quick release button here. There is a quick release. Problem solved. Once you know that button is there, changing the fence height is actually really easy. Do I love the feeling of the locking knob or the quick release mechanism? Not really. They work fine. They just don't have the same refined feel as the Festool controls. One thing to note is that Craig actually includes both imperial and metric height scales in the box. Also have some sort of stop. Oh, okay. This is the millimeter version of the, of like the height adjustment, but I'll show you this more later. Mine came set up with imperial, but if you prefer metric, you can swap it out. No problem. Then there's the micro adjust. Craig makes a point of letting you perfectly center the mortise and the thickness of your material. And technically it works great. The adjustment is smooth. It lets you dial the height in really precisely. I also think for most people, it's basically useless. Let me show you why. When you're using one of these machines properly, you normally reference both mating pieces from the same face. So let's intentionally put this mortise a little high on the boards. Now I cut a mating mortise while referencing the same face, put them together, perfectly flush. The mortise does not need to be centered in the material. Now there are situations where the micro adjust could be useful. Maybe you're intentionally offsetting an apron or a leg. Maybe you have some specific design reason to put the tenon in an exact location. Fine. Totally get it. But for normal joinery, I almost never care. The plunge depth adjustment is almost the opposite. The first time I found it on the domino, the adjustment is here, but let's flip it around. Okay. It's over here. It looks like you can just, you can't move that. Oh, there's a little latch here that you can, I guess, push in. It's kind of in a bad spot and you can adjust it there. So let's go to 15. A few weeks later, I still agree with blue shirt, Eric. The dust chute sits right beside it and makes the control more awkward to reach than it needs to be. But once you know how it works, I actually find the Kreg depth adjustment faster than the domino. On the Festool, I have to hold this locking release while moving the spring loaded depth selector. On the Kreg, click, move, done. So I think the Festool mechanism feels nicer. The Kreg mechanism is positioned worse. And somehow I still think the Kreg is actually faster to set. And that is pretty much this entire comparison in miniature. Changing cutters is nearly identical. Remove the front plate, lock the spindle, grab the wrench, swap the cutter, done. And one point absolutely goes to Kreg here. Oh, is there a wrench on board? Oh, okay. That's cool. That's cool. Actually comes inside here. On board storage, the wrench stores directly on the tool. I love that because the tiny Festool wrench lives in the sustainer. And to be fair, that is also why I love Festool sustainers. Every little accessory has a designated place. The cutter wrench goes here. The supports go here. The stops go here. Everything stays with the tool. So when I need something two years from now, I know exactly where it is. The Kreg foam keeps everything together too. But the sustainer is simply a much more polished, long-term storage solution. Kreg also uses a push-button spindle lock. It works, but it takes noticeably more pressure to engage than the Festool. Tiny thing, I know, doesn't affect the joint, but still, it is noticeable. And then we get to quite possibly the dumbest advantage for the Festool Domino. Hear that? That little hydraulic pop when the domino comes apart is so satisfying. And it isn't completely imaginary. You can feel how tightly these machine parts fit together. It almost has this piston-like fit when the plate slides off. Whereas the Kreg has a little bit more movement and slop in that sliding mechanism. Now, really important, I have not found that play to affect the accuracy of the Kreg at all. The joints still come out exactly where I want them. It's just another physical example of the difference in the fit and finish. Does the Festool satisfying pop make one single joint better? No. Would I pay $859 just for that noise? Probably not. But that stupid little pop is weirdly representative of this whole video. Festool has a lot of tiny refinements. Individually, they sound ridiculous. Together? Different story. So far, I've talked about knobs, buttons, plunge feel, handle diameter, and satisfying noises. None of that matters if the $500 machine can't put two pieces of wood together accurately. So, let's actually make some joints. And while we do that, I want to show you a few tricks that apply whether you buy the Kreg or the Festool. For a panel glue-up, loose tenons are mostly helping me with alignment. The long grain glue joint itself is plenty strong. So, I'll mark the boards, line up the center indicator, and cut the mortises. Remember, the important thing is to pick a reference face and stay consistent. You do not need to obsess over getting the mortise perfectly centered in the thickness. This also explains the three mortise width settings. A common technique is to cut a tight mortise on one of the mating parts. That establishes where everything belongs. Then, make the mating mortise slightly wider. Now, when I add glue and I'm wrestling several pieces together, I have a little bit of side-to-side adjustment instead of requiring every mortise to land with NASA-level precision. Same technique on both machines, same result. A butt joint is different. Here, we've got end grain meeting a face. So, the tenon is actually reinforcing the joint that otherwise doesn't have much glue strength. And this usually means making at least one vertical plunge. Anytime you're plunging vertically, stability becomes really important. Rock the machine while the cutter is moving, and you can accidentally widen the mortise. Kreg includes this vertical support attachment, and so does Festool, but my favorite solution has always been the TSO Bigfoot. I use this constantly with my Domino because it gives me a much larger reference surface, and thankfully, it fits the edge too, which makes me super happy. So, now I can stabilize either machine and make that vertical plunge with a lot more confidence. Now, here's what's probably my favorite trick with either one of these machines. I call it the Domino Fold. So, let's say I want this shelf right here. Normally, I could measure where it goes, transfer some marks, figure out exactly where I need the mortises to land, or I can put the shelf exactly where I want it, then fold it flat and clamp it down. Now, one plunge goes horizontally into the shelf, and the matching plunge goes vertically into the cabinet side. These engraved center lines underneath the machine let me reference the exact same pencil line in both orientations. Fold the shelf back up, and the joint is exactly where I wanted it. No calculating the mortise location, no transferring dimensions, no measuring twice, and still somehow being wrong. And the Edge does this exactly the same way as the Domino. Both machines have that engraved center reference underneath. I do wish the Kreg added two more markings though. Festool also gives you side reference marks corresponding with the indexing pin locations. The Kreg only gives you the center. Can I make the exact same joint? Absolutely. The Festool just gives me a couple extra breadcrumbs. Again, small creature comforts. Miters are another really good example. Both fences lock at 45 degrees. Both machines can cut essentially the same miter joint. And the Edge produces a perfectly good result. But, once I tilt the Kreg over, I have a harder time seeing my pencil mark through the plastic alignment window. Now, compare that with the Domino. The Festool gives me a much more open view around that indicator. I can see exactly what I'm doing way easier. Does that stop the Kreg from making an accurate miter plunge? No. Is the Festool nicer here? Absolutely. And by now, I think you're starting to see the pattern. There was one thing that legitimately worried me on day one. I made my first actual test joint. So, if I bring these two boards together and make a simple straight line across them, when I join them back together, that line should be perfectly lined up. Not shifted side to side at all. If this thing is accurate. So, the Kreg Edge has this little cursor. If I put it right on there, I should now be able to plunge in right on that line. So, I got that one. I should be able to do the mating one here. Do the exact same thing. So, now if the Edge is actually accurate, I should be able to take this tenon here, put it in this mortise, and when I bring this board in, these lines should match up perfectly. Let's see. So, if I bring this together, these fit. Not accurate at all. And it didn't line up. Not exactly what you want to see after spending $500 on a precision joinery machine. But there's an important distinction. The height was perfect. As far as the boards joining together in the same plane of one another, it's dead on. Take my fingernail, go back and forth, and it doesn't catch or get caught up on anything. I could run my fingernail across the faces and they were dead flush. So, the fence and cutter height relationship were doing exactly what they're supposed to do. The problem was lateral alignment. This plastic viewing indicator wasn't centered with the actual cutter at all. So, I can go ahead and loosen these screws here. And for me, I need to adjust this over just a little bit. Let's see how that works. Tighten them back down. Let's see if that fixes our problem. So, we know this line was a fail, but let's try one more. It's now the tenon and the new mortise. And push these together. And yep, that is dead on now. Which means the edge perfectly calibrated now. Now, I don't love that I had to do that. I think a brand new $500 precision tool should arrive calibrated correctly. But I also want to keep it in perspective. If I buy a new table saw, one of the first things I'm going to do is make sure that the blade and fence are actually calibrated before trusting them and making a cut. Same idea here. I adjusted this once. Since then, the joints I've made have lined up exactly how I want them. It is something that I would check occasionally, especially if the machine gets knocked around. But know that I do not have to recalibrate it every single time I use it. And remember, on something like a panel glue-up, I'm normally using a tight mortise on one side and a wide mortise on the other. So, being a fraction of a millimeter off laterally isn't always catastrophic. Still annoying. Still something Craig should have gotten right. But it is not the same thing as the edge being incapable of making accurate joints. Once you calibrate it, it's dead on. Now to something I genuinely think Craig got wrong. The edge ships with a six millimeter cutter. And the first time I opened it, I noticed that immediately. So we need to get the bit in here first, and this is a, I assume, five millimeter? Nope, it's actually a six millimeter bit, which is a little odd, but that's all right. After using it, I still think it's an odd decision. Here's why. A common guideline for mortise and tenon joinery is the rule of thirds. Roughly one-third wood, one-third tenon, one-third wood. Three-quarter inch material is right about 19 millimeters thick. Divide 19 by three, and you get roughly 6.3 millimeters. So, from a thickness standpoint, a six millimeter tenon sounds perfect. The problem isn't the thickness, it's the length. A six millimeter tenon is 40 millimeters long, so the obvious setup is 20 millimeters into this piece, 20 millimeters into this piece. That's perfectly fine when I'm plunging into the end or side of two boards. There's plenty of material there. But now imagine the mating mortise needs to go into the face of three-quarter inch plywood, like a butt joint. Remember, the plywood is about 19 millimeters thick here. The machine is set to 20 millimeters deep. See the problem? Congratulations, you just invented a window. So now instead of doing one plunge setting for the entire joint, I need to do something like 15 millimeters into the face and 25 millimeters into the end. That works, but now I have to change the depth between pieces. Also have to remember which part gets which setting. And I just introduced another opportunity to screw up an otherwise very simple joint. Now compare that with a five millimeter tenon. A five millimeter tenon is 30 millimeters long, so I can set the edge to 15 millimeters, plunge 15 millimeters into this piece, 15 millimeters into this piece, and move on with my life. Does five millimeters perfectly follow the one-third rule in 19 millimeter material? No. Do I care? Also no. It gives me a strong joint and makes the workflow dramatically easier. And if you're a hobbyist buying one of these, there's a very good chance that three-quarter inch plywood is one of the first materials you're going to use it with. So personally, I think Craig should have included the five millimeter cutter as the standard stock one in the box. They do sell one, you just have to buy it separately. And oddly enough, Craig doesn't offer a four millimeter cutter. I don't use four millimeter tenons very often, but there are times when it's handy for thinner material. Now remember Festool sells one, and like I showed earlier, I tested it and it works perfectly in the Craig. So cutter compatibility between the machines is excellent. I just wish that the cutter included in the box was the one I think a lot of new owners are going to get the most use from. One of the biggest differences between these two machines is dust collection. Festool basically requires you to connect a dust extractor to the domino, and there's a really good reason for that. On the domino, there really isn't anywhere for those chips to go. If you keep plunging without dust extraction, debris can pack inside the mortise and the machine, interfere with the cut accuracy, and put extra stress on the cutter, and potentially create much bigger problems for a tool that costs over $1,300. So I do not use my domino without dust extraction. Craig took a different approach. The edge is specifically designed so that you can use it without a vacuum. That's what these openings on the bottom are for. Chips and debris can escape instead of getting trapped in the machine. And when I first saw that, I thought, that's actually kind of cool. Then I cut about six mortises. And almost immediately... So after doing six mortises, they say that this thing doesn't need dust collection, but it is making a mess. So continuing on, I'm definitely going to plug this thing in. Because this thing makes a mess. Chips on the bench. Chips on the floor. Chips on your feet. Chips basically everywhere except where you want them to be. Now let's test how it works with the hose attached. Once I hooked up the hose, without a doubt, the hose attached to this thing is a way better experience. It doesn't just send dust flying into your face and all over your feet. And it is. But after using the edge more, I discovered something more important than the mess. When you use it without extraction, dust starts building up around the sliding mechanism. And I actually started getting inconsistent plunge depths. The machine wasn't always reaching the exact same registration point. Clean the dust out, connect the extractor, and that problem went away. So even though Kreg specifically designed the edge to operate without dust collection, I personally would not use it in that way. And even with the vacuum attached, the Festool has noticeably better extraction. After cutting a mortise with the Kreg, I often still have chips sitting inside the mortise. I find myself tapping the workpiece to get the remaining dust out. The Domino, while not perfect, clears the mortise out way better. My theory is that the openings that allow the edge to operate without a vacuum also make the system less sealed. So when the vacuum is attached, some of the airflow is being pulled through these openings rather than being concentrated entirely around the cutter. That's just my theory though. But for whatever reason, the Festool does a much better job. And there's one side effect I was not expecting. With dust collection attached, the Kreg is noticeably louder than the Domino. But honestly, the overall volume isn't really what bothers me most. It's this. The airflow through the edge creates this like high-pitched whistling noise. And I find that whistle way more annoying than the actual difference in decibel volume. Again, does the whistle change the mortise? No! This video is all about comparison, and that's just one of the things that makes the Kreg a little less pleasant to use. And there's another tiny quality of life difference here too. With the edge, every time I want to make a mortise, I have to turn the vacuum on, make the cut, and then turn the vacuum back off. With my corded Domino plugged into the Festool extractor, I pull the trigger on the Domino, and the vacuum automatically turns on. When I'm finished, it shuts itself back off. Even the new cordless Festool Domino can wirelessly trigger a compatible Festool extractor. I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole of comparing the cordless Domino to, but the point is, if I make 50 mortises with the edge, that can mean reaching for the vacuum switch a hundred times. With the Festool, I don't have to think about it. Same mortise, nicer workflow. And speaking of my Festool extractor, there was another problem. The first thing I did was grab the hose. Now, will a vac hose fit into here? I don't know. Eh, kinda. It doesn't fit properly. And that annoyed me enough that I did what any rational person would do. I spent way too much time designing this. This is my dust adapter for the Kreg Edge. It connects directly to the Festool hose, locks in place, and lets me use the extractor I already own without worrying about it falling off. So if you grab an Edge and have a Festool extractor, I made these available on my website, which I'll link below. The Edge is cordless. And judging from the reaction online, that's apparently either one of its best features or one of the greatest crimes ever committed against the woodworking community. I understand why people want a corded version. I really do. I just spent the last section telling you that I think you should have a dust hose connected almost all the time. So if I'm already tethered to a tool with a hose, why not have a cord too? That argument makes sense. I wouldn't complain at all if Kreg offered a corded version of the Edge. But I think the battery life concern is completely overblown. Why? Because I actually tried to kill one. Freshly charged 4Ah battery, 6mm cutter, 20mm plunge depth, really dense, hard plywood. And then I just started cutting. And cutting. And cutting. Until eventually, battery died. 251 mortises, 1 4Ah battery. And it took me long enough to make 251 mortises that if I'd had another battery sitting on the charger when I started, that battery would have been fully charged long before I killed this one. So if you feel like you're the intended customer for the Kreg Edge and you're cutting more than 250 mortises in one uninterrupted session, first of all, congratulations on your new cabinet business. Second, swap the battery. Or just use a larger battery. Runtime is not the practical concern I thought it would be. The argument I understand more is I don't want another battery platform. And personally, I stopped caring about that a while ago. I have Dewalt batteries because I really like their Palm router and several of their other tools. I have Milwaukee M18 batteries because I love their nail guns and outdoor equipment. I have Milwaukee M12 batteries because they make some fantastic compact tools. I have Festool batteries. I have Kreg batteries. And even if you gave me unlimited money, I know confidently that I could not build my ideal tool collection on just one battery platform. No company makes the best tool in every single category. And honestly, I think that's good. It forces these companies to compete with one another and make better tools. Now from Kreg's perspective, making this cordless also makes perfect marketing sense. Maybe you've never owned a Kreg cordless tool. You buy the Edge. Now you own a Kreg battery and charger. Six months later, you're shopping for a router, drill, or other tool and think, well, I already have the battery. Congratulations. That is battery platform marketing. You don't have to like it, but that's how marketing works. And since I apparently cannot own a battery without designing something to hold it, I also made these locking Kreg battery mounts. They engage the battery's actual locking tab so you can mount the battery vertically, under a cabinet, upside down, wherever you want, and it stays locked until you intentionally release it. I'll link those down below too. This is the question I keep coming back to, because if we make a checklist based purely on capability, the Edge does ridiculously well. Three mortise widths? Both. Adjustable fence? Both. Depth control? Both. Height control? Both. Indexing pins? Both. Interchangeable cutters? Yep. Panel glue-ups? Yep. Butt joints? Both. Shelves? Both. Miters? Both. Vertical plunges? Both. Accurate finish joints once everything is calibrated? They both do that. So, purely on paper, spending another $859 on the Festool starts sounding kind of insane. Until you use them back-to-back. The Domino plunges smoother. It feels faster. Requires less force. Its spindle lock feels nicer. Its alignment window is easier to see on miters. It gives you more reference markings. Its dust collection is better. It automatically controls my vacuum. The entire sliding mechanism feels more precise. Everything has a dedicated place inside the mobile sustainer. The front plate even makes a nice noise when you pop it off. None of these things individually are worth $859. That would be ridiculous. But stack 10, 20, 30 quality of life improvements together and suddenly the Domino becomes noticeably nicer to use. And I think the easiest way to explain that difference is something that you're probably familiar with. Cars. The Craig Edge is like a really nice, fully loaded Toyota Corolla. It starts every morning, gets you to work, takes you on vacation, and unfortunately, it'll even get you to your mother-in-law's house for the holidays. It does everything a car needs to do. And if that is the nicest car you've ever driven, you could own it for years and think, oh my gosh, this thing is incredible. Then you get into a fully loaded BMW. The door shuts with this perfect thud. The steering feels smoother. The pedals feel nicer. The seats are heated and cooled and massaging your butt while you sit in traffic. None of these things fundamentally change where the car can take you. They're creature comforts. But if you use those creature comforts every single day, you notice them. You appreciate them. And eventually, you might even be willing to pay for them. And the newest Toyota Corolla probably isn't going to make someone who already loves their fully loaded BMW jealous enough to sell it and get the Corolla. They're different buyers. But if you've only ever driven the Corolla, you might genuinely wonder what the BMW could possibly do that makes it cost so much more. It's only once you actually live with all those little refinements that you start understanding where that money went. That is exactly how I feel about the Edge versus the Domino. If you have never used a Domino and you buy the Kreg Edge, I genuinely think you're going to be blown away. Seriously. This feels like a step above every Kreg tool I have ever got my hands on. And if you're someone who makes loose tenon joints maybe once or twice a month, weekend warrior, I have a really hard time telling you you need to spend another $859 just so all those tiny interactions feel nice. The finished project isn't going to know. Your mortise isn't going to know. Your mother-in-law definitely isn't going to know. I keep thinking about where I was when I bought my Domino. I bought mine in 2020. At that point, I didn't have anything close to the tool collection I have today. Money was incredibly tight and basically every dollar I earned from building and selling woodworking projects went straight back into buying another tool and expanding my capability of what I could make. If the Kreg Edge had existed back then, I would have bought the Kreg 100%. I would have taken that extra $859 and put it into two or maybe three other tools that expanded what I could build. Maybe another router, better sander, maybe a nail gun. Whatever hole existed in my shop at the time. And for someone in that position, Kreg makes an unbelievable amount of sense. But if you're using one of these all day, every day, the calculation changes. If you're a professional furniture maker making hundreds or thousands of mortises every year, that slightly smoother plunge isn't something you'll experience five or ten times a month. You'll experience it thousands of times. The nicer dust collection, the automatic vacuum, the easier visibility, the little markings, the smoother controls, the tighter fit and finish. Spread that extra $859 across five, ten, fifteen years of professional use and that difference becomes tiny. And if you're simply the person who wants the absolute best version of this tool and you're willing to pay for it, I still think the Festool is that machine. Which brings us back to the question we started with. Does the Kreg Edge replace the Festool Domino? For me, no. And that's not because the Kreg can't do something the Domino can. That's the crazy part. It can do every single thing that I use my Domino for. What Kreg managed to do was remove a lot of the refinement without removing the capability. And at $500 with a battery and charger, I think that's exactly what they needed to do. So no, I do not think that this is a Domino killer by any means. And I don't think current Domino owners will need to run out and sell their machine. I think the Edge does something way more interesting. It gives a gigantic group of woodworkers who are never going to spend $1,359 on a Domino access to essentially the same style of joinery for $859 less. And that's a very different thing. If you already own the Domino, keep it. If you make your living using one of these, I'd probably still buy the Festool. But if you've spent the last five years watching people use a Domino on YouTube and thinking, man, I'd love to get one of those, but there's no chance I'm spending $1,300 on it. This is the first alternative I've used, or I don't think you're really settling on what the machine can do. You're mostly settling on how nice it feels while you're doing it. And whether those creature comforts are worth another $859, that's a decision I'm pretty happy to let you make for yourself.