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Overall Rating

Only half of the needed solution
PSI offers a version of this connector, reviews of it are also available here at amazon. I wish I had read those reviews before buying this. The PSI reviews are more critical and more numerous than those for the Jet version, and not knowing to look there, I decided to buy this and give it a go. My mistake.

Well, on the plus side, its well made, solid and the correct dimenstions.

On the negative side, I don’t have any 4″ OD hookup that fits securely in the tapered end of this connector. Sure, all of them will go inside to some degree. Most will slide in about 1/2″, some a little more, and some only about 1/4″. None of them make an airtight seal. They will pivot in the taper under vacuum pressure and allow air gaps, reducing static pressure significantly.

Worse, nothing seems to want to stay put. Any bump on the hose, such as tapping it with a board or your elbow, will usually cause your hose to pop free of this connector. And I do not mean bumping the hose near the connector, but instead near your tool. Yes, the connection is really just that delicate and weak. I spent more time reconnecting, twisting, mashing, tapping, etc., my splices into this quick disconnect than I would have by just loosening a clamp, sliding hose over a standard connector and tightening the clamp again.

This is NOT a complete solution. What is lacking is the male counterpart connector, which should have a tapered end to match that on this female connector. I cannot find that such male connectors exist. Perhaps they are in the works and we’ll see them soon.

Fazlok by Woodtek has done this scheme right, or so I tend to believe by reading some reviews of it. Both sides are tapered to match each other.

However, I don’t own and have never used the Fazlok products. I won’t therefore endorse them. As of this review date, Woodworkers Supply seems to be the sole reseller for Fazlok (I could be wrong). Result: You pay 8 bucks per connector, which is 1 dollar MORE than the MSRP. You’ll need 1 female for your collector end, and each tool will require 1 male end (either at the tool itself, or at the end of a short length of hose attached to the tool). Lack of competition in resellers makes this an expensive alternative.

OK, let’s be fair, this connector by Jet/PSI is also 8 bucks. Assuming any possible future male connector becomes available, it had better be much less than 7 dollars to make the resulting system cheaper to own and use vs. the Fazlok. If such a male connector ever comes forward, and if it sells at 8 dollars also, then I’d recommend taking a long look at Fazlok if you are willing to spend that kind of money on a simple piece of plastic. At least the Fazlok is transparent and includes a twist-lock to prevent accidental slippage, which given identical prices between the competing makers, offers a slight edge
to Fazlok for the dollar spent. Still, 8 dollars for a simple mold of plastic? There’s probably 25 cents of plastic in these things. The engineering and manufacturing costs can’t be THAT much (it’s a cylinder, and how difficult is that to engineer?)

I think I’ll stick with the old way of fiddling with hoses and clamps until either (1) Jet makes a male connector to match this female one, or (2) Woodtek gets more resellers for Fazlok so the price comes down to below MSRP per connector.