Notorious T.O.D.
Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2008
- Messages
- 502
I saw my first Dewalt Track Saw at the local Woodcraft store yesterday. They have just received them and some accessories in the past couple of days.
Some thoughts after having a chance to handle it and see it up close....
It appears that it is made in the Chek Republic and not made in America as many Dewalt customers might assume according to the salesperson.
So, to me the Festool being made in Germany seems to have an advantage to me potentially in fit, finish and overall quality.
The straight line plunge is a big selling feature presented by Dewalt according to the Salesperson, but neither he nor I saw any significant advantage or dis advantage to that design vs the Festool plunge design. It is just a different way to do the same function it seems.
Because of the way the blade cover is square shaped the saw appears larger than the TS55 and it appears that out of the box dust collection might be a little better. But access to changing the blade may be a little more cumbersome. The blade variety does not appear to match the offerings of Festool at this time although the pricing is in the same ballpark. The blade hole also appears to be about 5/8" or so and the blades will not interchange with the Festool blades at all. Festool has a much larger hole in the blade.
The rail seems about as wide as the Festool with one raised track down the center. You can cut on either edge of the fence without changing any saw settings. This could be a slight advantage if the Dewalt blades are of different widths as the Festool ones are because you could use one edge for one with of blade and the other edge for another width of blade. You will have to have your own method to keep track of which edge is which though.
The question I had was about the joining of the tracks to make a longer track. Since there is only one track ridge there is only one place to join the tracks and it is in the center of the track. I don't know if this will be as sturdy and stable as the double joint offered by the Festool rails. From my design and engineering background I think the advantage goes to Festool in this case. The single track joiner is $20 so the cost of joining tracks is pretty much a wash.
The clamps from Dewalt are similar in cost but I am not sure the options to use them with the track are as good since there is only one groove in the Dewalt track. Seems to me that the Festool tracks are more flexible in the options for clamping work. I only saw one size of track for the Dewalt so I am not sure what else they offer track size wise. The T square and Angle guides for The Dewalt are about $30 and I think $40 so they cost less than the Festools.
From the way the saw was displayed I didn't get any feeling that it was part of a "system" as you do with the Festool display even though the saw clearly has a dust collection port and there were some accessories on a wall pegboard a couple steps away. Perhaps the most interesting thing was the work table that the saw was displayed on. I think it was about 18-20" by 50-60" and had a hardboard top. It also had a plug attachment and 2 or 3 power outlets built into the center of the table edge. Seemed like these might get cut into if you are not careful though with your blade depth settings. Dewalt may have made this table but I cannot say that for sure. I think the price was $150 which was not bad for what it was....but you are not going to be cutting 4x8 sheets of anything unless you have about 3 of these tables....
Interesting in that with the Dewalt priced at $499 and the other costs pretty much a wash with Festools pricing the salesperson seemed to think that the Festool was still the better buy and didn't seem to think they would sell more than a couple of the Dewalts. I am also not sure how the Dewalt warranty compares to the Festool warranty. Personally, I'll stick with the Festool, but I have never been a big Dewalt fan...
Best,
Todd
Some thoughts after having a chance to handle it and see it up close....
It appears that it is made in the Chek Republic and not made in America as many Dewalt customers might assume according to the salesperson.
So, to me the Festool being made in Germany seems to have an advantage to me potentially in fit, finish and overall quality.
The straight line plunge is a big selling feature presented by Dewalt according to the Salesperson, but neither he nor I saw any significant advantage or dis advantage to that design vs the Festool plunge design. It is just a different way to do the same function it seems.
Because of the way the blade cover is square shaped the saw appears larger than the TS55 and it appears that out of the box dust collection might be a little better. But access to changing the blade may be a little more cumbersome. The blade variety does not appear to match the offerings of Festool at this time although the pricing is in the same ballpark. The blade hole also appears to be about 5/8" or so and the blades will not interchange with the Festool blades at all. Festool has a much larger hole in the blade.
The rail seems about as wide as the Festool with one raised track down the center. You can cut on either edge of the fence without changing any saw settings. This could be a slight advantage if the Dewalt blades are of different widths as the Festool ones are because you could use one edge for one with of blade and the other edge for another width of blade. You will have to have your own method to keep track of which edge is which though.
The question I had was about the joining of the tracks to make a longer track. Since there is only one track ridge there is only one place to join the tracks and it is in the center of the track. I don't know if this will be as sturdy and stable as the double joint offered by the Festool rails. From my design and engineering background I think the advantage goes to Festool in this case. The single track joiner is $20 so the cost of joining tracks is pretty much a wash.
The clamps from Dewalt are similar in cost but I am not sure the options to use them with the track are as good since there is only one groove in the Dewalt track. Seems to me that the Festool tracks are more flexible in the options for clamping work. I only saw one size of track for the Dewalt so I am not sure what else they offer track size wise. The T square and Angle guides for The Dewalt are about $30 and I think $40 so they cost less than the Festools.
From the way the saw was displayed I didn't get any feeling that it was part of a "system" as you do with the Festool display even though the saw clearly has a dust collection port and there were some accessories on a wall pegboard a couple steps away. Perhaps the most interesting thing was the work table that the saw was displayed on. I think it was about 18-20" by 50-60" and had a hardboard top. It also had a plug attachment and 2 or 3 power outlets built into the center of the table edge. Seemed like these might get cut into if you are not careful though with your blade depth settings. Dewalt may have made this table but I cannot say that for sure. I think the price was $150 which was not bad for what it was....but you are not going to be cutting 4x8 sheets of anything unless you have about 3 of these tables....
Interesting in that with the Dewalt priced at $499 and the other costs pretty much a wash with Festools pricing the salesperson seemed to think that the Festool was still the better buy and didn't seem to think they would sell more than a couple of the Dewalts. I am also not sure how the Dewalt warranty compares to the Festool warranty. Personally, I'll stick with the Festool, but I have never been a big Dewalt fan...
Best,
Todd
