Been hemming and hawing for months over one.  Needed a replacement for my old DeWalt, so bit the bullet and picked it up last night.  Stayed in my basement till midnight playing with it and making big pieces of wood into smaller pieces.  What a great tool.  Smooth and accurate and a miter saw with real dust collection.  Can't beat it.  Only thing I had to tweak was the right side laser a hair.  I thought it was odd that you had to poke a hole in the label/cover to get to the adjustment screw, but no big deal.  I am very happy with it. 

I have recently purchased a Kapex Miter Saw.  The 1st. plus, is the weight compared to the Milwaukee Compound Slider that I had, it?s a walk in the park to transport and set up.

I only had it a couple of weeks.  I?m retired and my shop is not yet insulated, that will happen this spring/summer.  I live in Minnesota, so the insulation thing is a must.

A neighbor up the street, asked if I would finish some trim in his Sons Home in the lower level.  I went over and installed the trim.  Some base and a little bit of Crown Molding.  The Crown Molding was pretty good sized.  No Problem at all.

It was a small job, and I really took my time.  I knew that everybody in the neighborhood would hear about what kind of a job I did. 

I set up the Miter Box in the finished lower level, carpet, furniture, the whole deal.  I used the CT-22 vac. system in conjunction with the Kapex.  When I got done, and we were packing up the tools and equipment.  I took a quick look around for the tell tale fine dust on the existing woodwork from my cutting with the Kapex.  Nothing to be found, I was impressed.  No chance I try that with my Milwaukee, I would have been cursed up and down from all of the dust that would have been generated from that Milwaukee.  I would have had to put the job off until spring, and do my cutting outside.

I had put down a drop cloth under the Miter Box Stand.  The only place that I had some fall out from the cutting, was some of the large saw dust that fell right on to the drop cloth.  Vacuumed that up and away I went.

My neighbor was trolley impressed.  Somebody else had done a majority of the trim work in the lower level.  My neighbor said it would be very easy for somebody to come in and tell the difference of the fine looking trim work that I did with a Kapex, compared to who ever did the majority of the trim.  He said that he wished he had hired me in the first place.  His wife came over and looked at it later.  She was also impressed with the work.

Having done trim work for 30+ years didn?t hurt, but you can?t do the really fine work, if your equipment is not up to the task.

When ever I see somebody using something that I?m interested in getting for myself.  I don?t ask them how they like it, I ask them, ? if knowing what they know now, would you buy another one?.  In the case of my Kapex, in a heart beat.

Poppawoody,

Full disclosure here: I'm not a pro, not even a particularly good amateur.

I had the Makita LS1013FL and my wife suggested I get the Kapex. who was I to argue? The Makita is a really nice saw, beautiful cut quality and very accurate. I think the cut quality is equal to the kapex with the stock blades.

Advantages of teh Kapex over the Makita:

- Easier to read miter settings since they aren't obscured by the work piece on the table
- Much easier to set and read bevel
- vernier scale makes 1/2 degree miter setting simple, even 1/4 degree if you're careful
- variable speed for special situations
- the dust collection is truly amazing with the large hose. the makita isn't bad (although it can't hold a candle to the kapex), but the rubber dust boot closes up with any reasonable degree of vacuum which causes the dust to just spew out the back of the saw, vac or no vac.
- the hold down clamp on the Kapex is so easy to use it's silly. the makita is pretty cumbersome to use
- You can't really adjust the laser on the makita to hit the cut line exactly (at least I coudn't). and you basically have to set it to left or right of the blade and leave it there.
- Kapex is lighter, although the Makita is pretty easy to move around.
-Kapex has nice tall fences on both sides
- Depth of cut setting on Kapex is easy to use, not so on the Makita.
- I think the Kapex is quieter, but I always use hearing protection so that's not such a big issue

The Makita has a few wins in its column:
- included supports let you put down slightly wider material and still ahve support than the kapex
- bigger table
- Light (although it's of limited use, frankly
- $800 cheaper 
- Now that the new 4-rail Makita 10" is in stores the older saws might be had for a real steep discount
-  think the slide lock on the makita is easier to use than the Kapex, since it's on the front handle
- Makita has built in bevel detents at 0 and both 45s, compared to the kapex that you have to set the knob to get the detents on the bevel.
- Makita tilts to full bevel without having to move the fence

I'm probably missing some stuff--maybe someone else will chime in if I did. Hope this helps.

After a long time working with cheap and nasty tools, I have decided to upgrade to festools.
Basically went overboard and bought the ctle33 dust extractor, ts55 saw, kapex120, domino, jig saw, cordless screw driver, rotex 150 and the hl 850 planer with most of the attachments to these tools. 
I'm very happy with all these tools. I did not need to adjust any settings to get stuff square and parallel AS WITH MOST OTHER TOOLS.
the only thing I find was the kapex 120- dust collection is not as what other people say it is. I'm using the 36dia hose, but still find I have to continuously clean around the kapex and my plastic guard also do not return after the power has been switched off. Which is a bit of a hassle. My machine is only about 6 months old. My problem is I'm sitting in Doha Qatar so I cannot send the tool back as there is no service agent here, and the courier services getting it to Doha was very expensive. I also had the unfortunate incident where a 5mm thk piece was picked up and chucked back thru the dust port which kicked the hose off and then this piece of timber was like a missile bouncing off everything. Luckily nobody got hurt. Is there any suggestions out there for me to remedy this. (the dust collection , and plastic guard around blade that does not return.

Sorry to hear that.



Presumably the suction setting on the dust extractor is set to maximum, ie the rotary control is at the "hare" setting?  Is there a chance that there is a blockage in the hose, or the bag is full? Also make sure that the rubbery collection shroud is attached to the saw - it can be removed or fall off, which will affect collection. I know, you've no doubt checked, but I have to ask!



The guard isn't designed to return when the power is switched off - it's designed to cover the blade when the head of the saw is raised. If the head isn't raised, the blade isn't covered; and if the head isn't raised completely, then the blade isn't covered completely.



Perhaps there is another offcut that is jammed in the dustport or the hose, which affects dust extraction?



The subject of small pieces flying out the back of the saw was discussed only yesterday in kapex - the new weapon. Have a read of that thread to see if you can pick up any tips.

The reason for the guard not covering the blade when you are finished sawing has also been discussed several times.

In the thread Kapex base is not level we saw a video where the guard was not covering some of the blade. It turned out that the head of the saw was not returning to its uppermost position, and was being stopped from doing so by a piece of plastic at the back of the head. When the piece was repositioned, the saw head was able to raise fully, and the guard now covered the blade. Note the distance between the bottom of the blade should be about 150mm when the head is fully raised - what's the distance on your saw?

In the thread spring fell out from kapex, a member reported that a long spring with cone-shaped ends had fallen out of his Kapex. This is the spring that returns the guard to its closed position, and if it's missing, then the guard won't spring into the closed position.

I have personally seen a Kapex where an offcut was jammed between the blade guard and the body of the saw, near the lasers. This also stopped the saw head lifting completely, and therefore prevented the guard from completely covering the blade.

Have a look at the threads I've mentioned, and get back to us!

Forrest

lots of help and info over at http://www.contractortalk.com/

PS: I got my own slightly used and pretty cheap Kapex yesterday too 8^)