Staniam said:
Does anyone own either a Bosch or Jet miter saw? If so what do you like or dislike about them and would you recommend a better saw or brand for the $500-$700?
Unfortunately the Kapex is out of the question for price and this purchase would be down later this year anyways but I'm just curious.
I had both the axial glide and the kapex in my shop for a couple of days. It really comes down to what you want the saw (and accessories) to do. I ended up with the 12" axial glide.
Kapex:
Lighter WAY lighter. If I was moving my saw around there is no question, this would have knocked the axial glide out of contention.
Accessories are top notch, and there are a lot of them, if you need them.
smooth and less play then the axial glide. I still think the axial glide is the smoother of the two, but it's harder to deflect the kapex IMO.
The lasers. They work. They work REALLY well. Bosch fell flat on their face not including them with the axial glide.
Axial Glide:
As good of DC as the Kapex with an extended apron (I have the kapex apron on my saw) I didn't do any "scientific" case study, both of these saws produce dust. Add a zero clearance fence and start doing longer sliding cuts and I can't see a difference. I really didn't see any difference for any of the cuts.
Big capacity if needed.
Perceived more power. I can't tell you for certain that this was the case, I was using the festool blade and I have an FS Tool 100 tooth for the axial glide. But the kapex strained where the axial glide didn't.
DEAD flat fence and table
Fit and finish was top notch, makes NO difference in the quality of the saw.
Price. I bought it for a third of the Kapex. Is that a "quality"? I don't know.
Now, I am not making weird 1/2 degree miters all the time or hauling the saw around, if that was the case I would have looked harder at the Kapex.
The axial glide has been a great saw for me. There's a bit of a learning curve to get a 12" cut straight. I don't mean almost straight, or really straight that it doesn't matter. I mean dead nuts square. The saw can deflect if you apply pressure and side load it. All saws deflect. I had the kapex deflect. It takes some skill to cut a perfectly square cut every time.
My two biggest beefs. It doesn't have soft start. This saw will lift in your hand. and NO LASERS!!!! what was bosch thinking. The have them on the European machines but not here. I had them on my old makita and they sucked. The ones on the Kapex are perfect. I miss not even having a crappy laser.
And not an issue for me but the axial glides are heavy.
