Bosch glide or Makita LS1019L

[nvalinski]

Just lost a Bosch 10" glide due to another user's mishap. The saw runs well for what I do with it and was reasonably accurate. However, now being on the market again for a saw with a large capacity that can butt up against the wall puts the Makita into play as well. Rumor has it the rails on that saw are occasionally misaligned, but it does appear to have better dust collection and a nice soft start motor. Does anyone have experience with these to sway me one way or another?

 

[RKA]

Glass1 posted about fixing the alignment of the rails.  It’s a bit of trial and error and you need a little leverage to move the rails, but once you dial it in it should do well.

 

[Naildrivingman]

A coworker of mine has the Makita and he has said nothing negative about it. The dust collection from what I’ve seen is as good as my Kapex. I cannot speak to the accuracy, but my coworker is pretty particular and I would think if he had any problems, he would say so.

I cannot speak to the quality of the Bosch.  I dont know anyone who owns one.  From looking at it personally, I am suspicious of all the joints.  If it is a stationary tool and never moved from job to job, it may be fine; but I question its ability to remain accurate over time if it is loaded and unloaded and otherwise subjected to the rigors of daily off-site use.

 

[Oldwood]

I have a 1019l and I am happy with it. I use it mostly in the shop but do mount it on a portable stand for onsite use. I did need to tweak the bars a bit , but the good news is you can tweak it to get the head parallel to the travel of the rails. Some saws are not in line and can not be adjusted.

I use a Fein vac with a 2.25" inlet and use a y fitting at the saw with one hose run to each port on the saw. I removed the hose on the saw running to the top port and plugged the hole. I find this increased the efficiency of the dust collection.

 

[Oldwood]

I should have mentioned that if I was making this a permanent vacuum setup I would run the 2.25" hose to the saw then split into 2 hoses the proper size for each inlet. (they are not the same size)  I cobbled this together from parts I had on hand and I use the hoses on other setups so don't want to alter the length of them.

 

[nvalinski]

Thanks everyone. Good to know the bars can be tweaked. My Bosch was rock solid for the past two years, no qualms on the articulating arm, though you are probably correct that it would be non adjustable if it was an issue. Maybe my biggest concern going from the arms to the rails is that the arms are silky smooth after a few years of use, do the rails of the Makita keep up in the same way? Sounds like I may be headed that way, with maybe the most recent realization that the Makita's blade guard doesn't appear to get as hung up on a 45 degree bevel cut.

 

[blaszcsj]

I have had my Bosch slider for 6 years now. It has been on and off a wheeled stand, and now resides on a miter bench. It has remained dead accurate, and I have had zero issues with the saw. The arm is a smooth as the day I bought it! Dust collection has been ok; I improved it with the Kapex boot, but it could still be improved. Outside that and the overall weight, it is a fantastic machine. I would buy again.

 

[tallgrass]

I love my glide. I got it at the same time that the Kapex was issued. I went through 2 kapexes because of the table binding issue I returned them. that is why I bought the glide. . I love the Glide, accurate, no problems.

 

[glass1]

I like the battery version better. Better brake smoother motor. The battery version spins the blade at 4000 vs 3200 which I think is a better speed for a 10” blade.

 

[nvalinski]

[member=4687]glass1[/member], I think the battery one is out of the picture with it mostly being a shop saw. You do bring up a good point about the rpms though, as the Bosch clocks in at 4500 on the 10". The accident that took out my Bosch glide was a kickback issue, I suppose the lower rpms would make it less violent but more likely?

 

[glass1]

I pair festools new Bluetooth remote start wit( the cordless Makita. Besides the occasional forget to turn on I actually like the manual turn on better especially when doing multiple critical creep cuts. I think it’s just better for the vac not be turning on and off in rapid succession.

 

[Oldwood]

I don't find the lower rpm to be a problem. It is always about 2 factors 1 being RPM and the other is feed rate. If you feed a little slower the cut will be the same. I tend to cut quite slowly with sliding miter saws. It comes down to technique and once you get used to the 1019L it has lots of power and is pretty easy to adjust.