Track saw

[472scout]

I've been hearing a lot about track saws lately but have never used one myself. Watched a video about the Festool version http://www.tracksaw.com/ and it looks impressive. So the question is what are they good at/not good at and what all would I need to buy besides the saw and rails.

 

[Givl Reggin]

My brother is a member of the Church of Festool, hook, line and sinker... and while I think a lot of their stuff is over rated, over priced, their track saw is the one thing of theirs that I actually bought for my self after using his... it works and works beautifully.

 

[ATTappman]

What they're good at: breaking down sheet goods, trimming doors, jointing one edge of a long board, etc. What you need besides guide rails: a vacuum to extract dust. A Festool vacuum is nice, but you can get by with an ordinary shop vac and a gizmo for turning the vac on when you pull the saw's trigger. The Festool clamps are useful for clamping the rail when you're sawing 1/4" plywood or anything with flex in it, and they're not that expensive.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Any opinions on the Dewalt and EZ Track ?

EZ Track sure has a lot of option !

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

I think of Festool as the Snap On of Woodworking tools.

Other companies make the same/similar tools.
Festool makes very high quality stuff at a high price point.
Their consideration for dust control in the tool design is highly thought of.

The only thing Festool is missing is a Tool Truck dealer network.

It's interesting that the entrants into the track saw market came in at the Festool price point.

They do have some innovative things - but I'm too damn cheap to buy Festool.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Monte]

Festool just upgraded their track saw:
available in april 2012

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/n46hGBuS2vs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[472scout]

I was just looking at Amazon and the Makita SP6000K1 is getting very good reviews.

Anyone here try the Makita yet?