I'm totally fed up with sawing everything that cannot be cut with my mitre saw with my jigsaw and handsaws so I've been looking into buying either a table or a track saw. If you can only have one which one would it be?
I'm trying to build a nicely workable amount of power tools into my livingroom/backyard "workshop" but am badly constrained by dry & warm storage space and somewhat by money (max. 800-1000€ for the saw).

My needs for portability are limited to carrying the gear from my living room out onto the terrace (6m) and back and in the winter time to the housing complex hobby room (30m) and  back (you can't leave anything expensive there unsupervised).

I must have all large sheet goods ripped to smaller dimensions at the wood store since they wouldn't fit my car and as a Honda Hybrid it can't pull a trailer. My projects for the next couple of years include mainly building back yard furniture (benches with storage boxes under the seats, dining table & chairs and some sort of a work table (got the UWB plans as one option) as well as I'm going to build some sort of a sysport like shelf system under the living room stairs to optimize my tool storage space.

I don't believe that the TS+CMS-base combination is convenient and exact enough after my dismal experiences with Wolfcraft MasterCut 1000 "universal" circular saw table adaption that is impossible to get squared to the fence and I don't feel like going on my knees to adjust the height or tilt of a table saw, nor is it my price range at 1200€+ since you can't find those used anywhere.

So I guess the question is can a track saw achieve the same things you can do with a table saw only on a track and a MFT/UWB-like workbench and what are plusses and minuses of each approach? Since I haven't used a table saw since middle school (and then they were the industrial ones) I'm a bit out of what all can be done on it so I would appreciate it if you can point out things that are impossible to with one or the other type of saw.

I've been looking at options of either getting a TS55 Set or Mafell tracksaw or a used Festool CS70 or one of the new Bosch/Makita "portable" table saws.

I would suggest that if space and dust mitigation are criteria, the track saw is THE way to go.  It stores very compactly and couldn't be easier to move around.  Saw horses fold up to minimal sizes, and when used with a sacrificial sheet of rigid foam insulation, can support ripping and cross-cutting, which when terminally damaged, can be cheaply replaced.  I have a table saw, and continue to use it for certain cuts, but the TS55 track saw is my go-to choice more and more.  That's based on my current needs and space constraints.  The MFT/3s and parallel guides are icing on the cake for me.  YMMV... 

 

I think Alex has it right. For 1000€ you should be able to do both a track saw and a small table saw, and that would give you a great setup.

I have both; table saw and track saw.  If I were contrained by either money or space, I would lean towards the track saw.

While the table saw is very convenient and options abound to make it even easier to use (think Incra TS-LS), just about everything that you can do on the table saw, can also be accomplished using the track saw and advanced planing.  It just takes longer.

In your situation Reiska I would use a Track saw. Here's why, your supplier will rip your sheet goods to fit in your car.
Therefore, all you have to do is crosscut. So I would get the track saw. If and when you need to rip stock, or sheet goods, the track saw will do that.  And it's safer to crosscut with a track saw than on the table saw.
Good luck Reiska on your choice.   

My build list looks much like yours - various furniture, cabinets, etc.  I have both a table saw and the Festool track saw.  I am just starting a month between shops and had to pick only one in a very limited space.  I selected the track saw and MFT.  I did so because of versatility, safety and dust control.   I will be glad to get my table saw back, but as backup not primary.

I have yet to use my tablesaw again since getting the MFT/3 TS 55 combo two weeks ago.  Maybe I'm just plain tired of using my CT Mini/Dust Deputy combo as a floor sweep rather than catching it at the source.

SRSemenza: The hobby rooms is large enough (an old oil tank room for the housing complex boiler, about 8m x 3m)  for a track saw as well as a table saw if it has detachable in-feed/out-feed tables to get it through the door (3' wide). The worst part of the hobby room are the two "work tables" i.e. old solid core doors on saw horses. I'm seriously thinking of finding some cheap ply from somewhere and building a couple of downsized UWB's there and donate them to the housing complex to get better clamping there myself.

My significant other won't allow me to work in the house with any power tools unless it involves drilling a hook into the wall nor am I allowed to run power tools while the kids are playing outside. 

Can one work on lumber like 2x4's & 2x8's and planks like ½"x3" and cutting joints with a track saw - doesn't it get a bit unstable if the track is balanced across the end of a 2x4 to cut the tennons? I guess you could work around that with various jigs and sacrificial pieces & clamping to an MFT-top, but jigs take space as well to store. This sort of stuff would logically be trivial on a table saw with the height adjustment and sliding table.

I seem to be getting a mild track saw favourable response from you all, though many of you do state that in the long run both would be better (logical, but impractical since I don't have heated dry storage for a whole lot of gear). I do very little cabinet sort of building at the moment - if I ever get good enough at finishing I might attempt building book shelves into the library at a later date, but for now I'll just buy the inside furniture instead.

If I was to go down the table saw route it would need to be a modular and carriable system that can function on it's basic set-up outside maybe even attach it to my Bosch mitre-saw bench if the bottom attachment holes would line up with the Bosch quick clamps for the GTA3800 that I have or have it's own legs. When it or the track saw's systainer are stored they are stashed under the stairs inside the house in a triangular space of about 1700mm x 1120mm x 940mm (l x h x d) on slide-out shelves or roller boards since I'm done with breaking my back lifting the mitre saw out from under there or a even worse location under the stair platform next to it that's 1120mm high as well but a larger square cubby (I always bang my head on the ceiling there) .

We have a city funded woodworking shop at a school a good 20min drive away with teachers present and all. You can rent time for about 15€/h and get to use the schools big machinery, but that adds up surprisingly fast and you can't store projects there for extended periods of time. I've been considering going there to take some classes on finer woodworking skills once I have time to relax and indulge myself in stuff I personally want to do vs. what need to be done to get a functioning back yard.

I guess I'm haunted by my grandad who was a carpenter and an electrician and used to always tell me as a kid when we used to build stuff together that you can save in everything else in life but never save on your tools. I guess that's the main reason I took the green pill last summer when I bought my OF1400 and going down that slippery slope...

TS 55 and large bandsaw (still takes up very little space in the workshop) cover everything I've ever needed to do.  My  .

Cheers,
Rick

When you are cutting things that are narrow or potentially unstable for the guide rail you need to set up like thickness material to support the rail.  Tasks like cutting tenons are better suited to a table saw, but can be done with a track saw. Some of this decision really depends on what you will be building, the joining methods used, and what other tools you have.  I don't cut tenons in the traditional way for joining. I use the Domino or other methods. So I don't need the table saw for that purpose. If I did need to make a traditional tenon, I could certainly make it happen with a track saw, Kapex, and router table at my disposal.

Seth

One day someone is going to produce a compound mitre saw that swivels in a way that the head can present the blade parallel to it's back fence (with adjustable distance, depth, angle) ... imagine being able to use it like a safe upside down table saw 

Even if you had to disconnect and reposition the head module in it's 90 degree opposed position - could be handy.

Then all you need is a router sticking up from below    ... the Festool Super Combi

Many radial arm saws can rip and dado ... but they're bulky beasts!

My history isn't great here - isn't the radial arm saw DeWalt's claim to fame?

For me, it would be a tough choice. I don't have the space for a large cabinet saw or 30" fence any saw for that matter. I use the TS55 for breaking down sheet goods and I use a portable 16" fence dewalt table saw for narrower rips. You could always buy the table saw and use any circular saw with a shooting board to get zero clearance (on one side of the blade). On the other hand, the rails in the Festool system leave so many opportunities to use other tools accurately (routers, domino (creatively)).

I'm curious to see how you fare with this decision!

Bob

I have a very old "micro table" table saw. The table moves not the blade and there is no tilt I also have an Elu circular saw that can be fixed to a table. But I had to make a similar choice to yours. Upgrade to a nice table saw or go to a track saw. I decided that the track saw was the way to go. That was 4 years ago. If I was in the same position today I would make the same choice again.

With a table saw you can certainly make repetitive cuts more easly but you need much more space. Also unless you have a very big table there are quite a few cuts that would difficult or dangerous on a table saw. I don't want to move 2 metre pieces past a blade. With the reverse (track saw) that is simple.

Well, so I took another sip of coolaid and got me a new TS55 EBQ + FS1400/2 rail package off our local auction site... 

Thanks for all your comments - I'll be putting the saw through its paces next summer and see how well it fairs

Now I just need to acquire a CT-VAC to go with it ... Hmm... CTL26 or 36