festool - makita track saw questions

[Demps]

I had opportunity to play around with a ts55, mft/3, and domino at woodcraft yesterday. I break down occasional sheet goods with shop made guides and circ saw. I don't like the process - both my cut quality and the dust. The festool stuff was very impressive, especially with the mft in the mix.
So...a little research shows the makita set up for quite a bit less coin, but no mft.. My thinking is to buy the makita saw, short rail and 118 inch rail. Cost about 640. Then buy the festool mft/3. Is this flawed logic? Also, I'm assuming makita saw plays well with festool track, correct??

[Richard D.]

I opted for the Shop Fox track saw with 2- 55" rails which is considerably less than the Festool and even the Makita. The Makita gets great reviews using the stock blade. The Shop Fox needs several modifications and a blade upgrade but paired with a vac it gives as good a cut as the other saws and leaves very little dust behind.

[Steve N]

An old review all of them have differences, you just need to go with what sounds like the best features for you. I have had 1 Festool, stinker. I have had 5 Dewalts, keep having guys offer me more than what I paid for them, go figure. I mostly like the DeWally bi-directional track. All the others you are constantly flipping, and with a long rail for 8' cuts I find that a huge PIA. Some have quipped about blade changes on the DeWally. I can't say I have ever noted a difficulty, but the end pretty much says it all. Brand loyalty,, and I have bought DeWalley for over 20 years. Prior to that I did use Mickey Mouse Kita, but their poor product, and especially customer service of that time, took them off my buy list for life. I will say it was during that time that DeWally zoomed as a pro tool brand, now obviously not so much. Everyone's experience drives their boat for them

When I first bought the Festool I was still doing a lot of work, started the same with the DeWalts. If I was starting from scratch today I would fly Richards way, unless you see 5 to 10 sheets of ply a week, or more. I'd go cheap as I could. Especially if you are just making plywood smaller

[Trusty Rusty]

I've got the Makita.
Could not be happier and I use it a lot.
I'm sure the Festool is great too ( everything else I've used of theirs is)
The Makita does work with the Festool track.
But like I say I could not be any more impressed with mine. Makes dust free perfect cuts every time. That's all I want from a track saw no matter what color it is or how much it costs.
My 2 cents
Rusty

[BillN]

Richard, What kind of fixes did you do to the Shop Fox saw?

[Richard D.]

I cut the tension spring down, cleaned and waxed the tracks, covered the opening on the side of the saw and bought a Freud blade. I'm debating moving the glide strip or adding another but the much discussed wobble hasn't been an issue so far.

[Bob10]

I have the Dewalt have to say I have no complaints with it. I have seen deals on them from time to time so you might want to do a bit of searching before you buy. I picked up the router plate also just haven't used it yet but I imagine it works well too

http://www.cpopowertools.com/dewalt-dws5...wndws520sk,default,pd.html?start=1&cgid=dewalt-track-saws

[BillN]

Thanks Richard

[AHill]

If you already have a circular saw that you like, you should also consider the EZSmart (Eurekazone) track saw system. You mount your current circular saw to a base, and use their tracks. It's what I had prior to buying a Festool system. Not as convenient and not truly a plunging saw, nor does it have a riving knife (not really needed with ply), but the cuts are just as smooth, assuming you use a decent blade.

[HomerLee]

And the EZSmart is WAY less expensive.