Grizzly track saw

[fshanno]

Last year I was in a different position.  I needed to build some cabinets for my garage, and needed a method to accurately breakdown sheet goods for those cabinets.  I also wanted to buy a plunge router and put together a router table (which I used extensively).

I purchased a Grizzly track saw, three 55" rails, and the other things which come with the track saw for under $250, add another $40 for a quality blade and I was in business.  The "stock" blade is a P O S. 

Is it the same quality and level of engineering as festool?  No.  In fact the first time I even touched a TS 55 was last Saturday.  I can say the Festool plunges easier than my grizzly, but I didn't turn the festool on (it was a demo model at Woodcraft).

Can I put the rail down on my marks, clamp the thing down and cut a sheet of plywood down to the sizes I need accurately and efficiently?  Yup.  Can I hook my shopvac up to it and suck up most of the dust which happens when I make a cut? Yup.  Do I have to use care and and caution to make sure the rail is square and thus the cut square? Yup, and I would have to do that with Festool rails as well.  Did I "have to" clamp the rails down? Probably not, but I wasn't going to take chances.  I would clamp the festool rails down as well. 

Was it worth every penny I spent? Yup.  Would I have realized $400+ more value in the TS55.  I don't know.  Maybe, maybe not. 

But what I saved by not buying the TS55, I was able to buy a Triton Router, an Incra Router table top, plate, and incra 17" positioner, and some other odds and ends.  All of which were used extensively for the projects I worked on last year.

No argument from me. 

I have an SDS I bought from Harbor Freight years ago for $65 and it has served me well.  I use it maybe 6 times a year.

 

[JimD]

I think the Wood Whisperer reviews are fair including the one for the Grizzly track saw.  He could have put a Festool blade on it and tried the cut quality but he wasn't obligated to do that.  To someone that tinkers, replacing the spring and adding a glide strip would quickly come to mind to fix it up.  I also agree that his review of the DeWalt is fair.  He says he likes the Festool better but also says he has used his a lot and that could be why.  I bought the DeWalt.  I got it with 59 and 106 inch tracks for about $600.  I think that's roughly half what a Festool would have cost with comparable tracks.  I recently made my own parallel guides for it and will soon make a Paulk style bench something like a MFT.  If I had known about the Grizzly several years ago when I got my DeWalt I might have purchased it.  I don't feel disadvantaged by the DeWalt at all.  But if I did this for a living, I do not know that I could really afford to spend 8 hours or so to make a parallel guide versus buying one (for $250).  I also have around $100 in parts for it.  I probably couldn't afford to spend the time to make the bench either versus getting a MFT or two.  Festool stuff is expensive and even a hobbiest who just doesn't want to spend the time to make shop things and instead buys them from Festool is OK with me.  For a professional, I think it may well make sense to get something that doesn't require tinkering.  My DeWalt works as a track saw fine without tuneup but DeWalt doesn't offer a parallel guide or a MFT.  Grizzly saw needs a little tweaking plus you would need to make the other things (although the track is so similar I wonder if one of the parallel guides for the festool would work on the Grizzly or Makita).  So you can save significant money with the other brands but you have to decide if it's worth it since more work is required to get them to perform at the same level too.

 

[Neal W]

Fwiw , the grizzly track has the slots on the bottom of the track. The festool has its slot on top of the track which makes it nice for the parallel clamps. 

 

[Hawkeye1434]

Well unlike some I have seen Marc's videos for years and he is very unbiased and said in the video, "to compare festool to grizzly is not apples to apples". I personally bought the grizzly after watching the video. I was cheaping out big time trying to avoid spending on quality stuff.  The saw is super cheap and after a couple dozen sheets of 3/4  4x8 stock the blade was so dull I couldn't push it thru, it felt stuck.  It wobbles as they said it would badly on the track.  I thought I could overcome this small blemish but I couldn't.  So I dove into the world of festool cause I was tired of buying inferior crap that eventually broke down.  Everything I buy from festool has been hands down amazing and has taken my work (I'm a professional) to a whole other worldly level.  There is no comparing festool to any other brands they don't stake up. So I have switched almost everything in my shop to festool and have never had to replace a thing ever it's been 5 years. So am I a "festool monkey on the payroll" now as well?  The products are that good.

 

[JimD]

Hawkeye,

I'm glad now that I didn't know of the Grizzly or I would have been tempted to "cheap out" too.  That is my tendency (as my wife regularly reminds me (but not when I am buying tools)).  I got the DeWalt.  I am more than half a dozen sheets into it's use and I am still very happy with my purchase.  Maybe in another half dozen I will see something but I doubt it.  Marc's review of the DeWalt is significantly different than the Grizzly, however.  He basically admits he can't fault the DeWalt, but states he likes the Festool better, possibly because he has one.

We'll see.  I'm a hobbiest so it takes me longer to go through a bunch of sheets of plywood and it may make use of other brands more practical.  So far, so good.

Jim

 

[crazydave789]

I've been using a ts55 for a while which isn't mine and I am not sure I want to stretch to one as it isn't my trade anymore although I have been dipping in and out to help the family out as it is their business.

I've been watching lots of reviews on plunge saws this past couple of weeks and the scheppach/grizzly is out there is many many forms and does have a favourable review for what it is and costs. I'd watched a few sites where they had modded the saw and rails to work better, waxed the strips and so forth - some of which appear to have made it back to scheppach as they have moved the glide strips to help with the wobble they had and there seems to be a makita style anti tip thing going on.

and I quite like the idea of dinky rails you can fit in a systainer  [big grin] plus they do slap a three year warranty with them.

cheap does not always mean cheap quite often it can mean 'not as marked up' as some other brands do. my ryobi router is 18 years old and is now an AEG at twice the price. when black and decker went all yellow and sprayed up their old and bulletproof proline kit  they also bumped the prices up.

interesting that a few reviews say the dewalt is more comfortable but built material and quality let it down. something dewalt is very good at when they cheapened good dewalt and elu tools after the takeovers.

I've had a showroom fiddle with the scheppach and it isn't a vw - more a skoda IMO.

 

[Larso]

I bought a sheppach saw for no reason othwer than to see how good it was,good or not i was going to gift it to my brother who would use a track saw very little.
I completed some mods as per a youtube video and guess what its pretty good.

If you are considering one of these saws the festool is clearly a superior saw but with a few easily completed mods and a decent blade these knock off brands are definately worth the effort and a very good entry to track saws,but be warned once you have one it is inevitable you will upgrade to the green world with the superior saw and complete system offering.A gateway tool so to speak.

Must remember to actually give it to my brother next time i see him!!!!!!! [eek]

 

[crazydave789]

I bought a sheppach saw for no reason othwer than to see how good it was,good or not i was going to gift it to my brother who would use a track saw very little.
I completed some mods as per a youtube video and guess what its pretty good.

If you are considering one of these saws the festool is clearly a superior saw but with a few easily completed mods and a decent blade these knock off brands are definately worth the effort and a very good entry to track saws,but be warned once you have one it is inevitable you will upgrade to the green world with the superior saw and complete system offering.A gateway tool so to speak.

Must remember to actually give it to my brother next time i see him!!!!!!! [eek]

I was bailing out my mum last year as she had one fitter awaiting a hernia op and another with heart problems, seeing as the one with the hernia was my mums other half and also my old Mr Myagi I figured I'd better go and preserve my inheritance. most of my gear stayed at home 250 miles away as I went up by mbike.

one nasty job (kitchen) besides many kerfed plinths (thankyou ts55) I had to frame out an appliance/larder bank by making some massive foil wrapped pillasters and mitring the corners/joints accurately enough to pass muster in a £1.8m newbuild (shant go into having to rebate tracks for LED lights but it was a twatty job all in) it turns out that most of the work had been done by heart attack fitter with his well looked after tools and I was left with a very battered DW743 flip over, my dinky DW710 or what looked like a terminal erbhauer slide saw belonging to my little brother which had been thrown into the barn as no good which normally I wouldn't have given it a second glance.

however a few hours with some oil and wire wool to clean it up, resetting the table and tilt then using a sharp decent blade - it cut perfectly, not bad considering I'd been given permission to spend up to 600 on a new one if I had to.

proof that you can make a silk purse out of a pigs ear

 

[jacko9]

Seems to me that there are only two reasonable alternatives to the Festool track saw that being the Makita track saw and the Mafell offering.  From the reviews I looked at the Makita has very questionable quality concerns and the Mafell - well it's price is Festool +++.

Jack

 

[JimD]

I think it's fair to say the Grizzly is lower in quality but I haven't see one review that claimed the Festool was substantially higher quality than the DeWalt or the Makita.  I've seen one review where they liked the Makita better.  The blade changing of the Festool is reportedly nicer.  Wasn't worth twice the price to me.  I'm only 6 or 8 sheets into using my DeWalt and maybe I'll feel differently after more use but at this point, I am very happy I didn't go with the Festool.  I see many nice things about Festools but I think it is naïve to claim substantially higher quality when the reviews do not support it.  I am not trying to disparage Festool in any way.  I am only reacting to an unsubstantiated claim that all others are inferior. 

 

[GregBradley]

I own both the Makita and Festool TS55. Actually bought a Festool Track saw loooong ago, back when they had one dealer in the US, maybe 20 years ago. When it grew legs and walked off, I didn't think I could justify the price of the Festool and bought a Makita. When I had an excuse for it to go to work on a dedicated breakdown table, I bought the TS55. I recently added another Makita to dedicate to home shop use and permanently use on a MFT. I've used Mafell, Dewalt, Sheppach, and seen Grizzly. I've not seen the Triton version.

The Sheppach & Grizzly are rubbish. That isn't to say they aren't better than nothing but have to agree that you will want something better and the resale will be a joke. Tracks are crap and so are the blades.

Makita is darn close to Festool but the cord is stupidly short and no removable cord. It is fine on a dedicated breakdown table or something with cord and hose suspended above. Old style systainer too but well worth the $268 I paid. WELL worth it. No riving knife is fine with sheetgoods.

Dewalt is OK but plunge is weird and so are the tracks. Might be worth the price if you aren't going to use the Festool track system but once you are in with Dewalt that you are stuck with their two track lengths. Stanley, Black & Decker (Dewalt) will screw you at some point given the chance. Total sleazeball company that has ruined many good tools.

The new TS55 REQ might be an improvement over my TS55 with the improved offside anti splinter setup and other improvements. Mafell might be worth the premium for some people that work mostly on site instead of in shop. Really nice track setup for onsite use but - wow that's a bunch of money.

No perfect choice for everyone........

 

[jacko9]

Here's a review from the Woodworkers Journal;

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/track-saw-review/

Later this year Fine Woodworking will be doing a review of the Track Saws on the market today and I look forward to their findings. If you read the review refrenced above you'll see what they say about the DeWalt and Grizzly offerings.  I can't tell anybody how to value tools in quality vs cost because it's a personal opinion but, I value long term quality and endurance and that's related to engineering, quality materials, and quality manufacturing.

I personally selected Mafell MT-55cc even though it costs more because I want the best I can buy.

Jack

 

[jeh]

Seems to me that there are only two reasonable alternatives to the Festool track saw that being the Makita track saw and the Mafell offering.  From the reviews I looked at the Makita has very questionable quality concerns and the Mafell - well it's price is Festool +++.

Jack

The Mafell is the easy choice once you see how much better their rail system is to work with. It's a better all around saw just a higher price point. If your in the game at $600 then your 2/3rds of the way there.

 

[Holmz]

Seems to me that there are only two reasonable alternatives to the Festool track saw that being the Makita track saw and the Mafell offering.  From the reviews I looked at the Makita has very questionable quality concerns and the Mafell - well it's price is Festool +++.

Jack

The Bosch is also not a bad choice and the Bosch and Mafell share the same rail system.
It would be nonsensical to not consider both, if the rail system connection is one of the major drivers.

...
I personally selected Mafell MT-55cc ...

Jack

Starting with Festool rails I can make a cogent argument that the TS55 is a sensible choice.
However starting with no existing rails... One pretty quickly realises that the rails are a crucial part of a track saw in both the connections as well as the replacement of the splinter guard.
So I considered Bosch... but I ended up making the same decision as you.