Same Review I posted on Lumberjocks:
This will be a quick review and really somewhat of a comparison between the Festool Kapex and the Bosch Glide 12”. I replaced my Bosch Glide Saw with a Kapex. It made absolutely zero economical sense, especially given that I’m just a very occasional hobbyist, but when Festool had their “sale”, I jumped on one. My primary motivating factors were 1) the dust collection (not so much for my health, but my hatred for cleaning), 2) the promise that the Kapex would cut 45’s perfectly, and 3) the fact that my Bosch Glide was a little “unruly” for cutting perfect angles. I think for 95-99% of all people, the Glide would be a killer saw. When I bought it, I thought, “I have to get the 12”, because I’ll need all of that capacity and power.” I’m not sure I ever did, but there were a couple of boards that I did need to flip around to cut all the way through (but that’s not really blade capacity, that’s reach).
So last night I needed to cut down some 8/4 10” Cherry. I had cut this board with the Bosch, and it wasn’t exactly like butter for the Bosch, so I 1/2 expected to get some “sag” from the Kapex. Boy was I wrong! The Kapex cut through the cherry so smoothly that I immediately disregarded the $600.00 difference. Plus, there was barely a shred of any dust (I had the CT26 hooked up to the Kapex).
Now, it could just be that the Festool blade is so much better than the Bosch blade that it made the cutting easier, but the Kapex had other nice features, too. 1) It appears to be 100% square right out of the box. I didn’t test the 45 degree cuts or bevels, but I did check the board post cutting with a Starrett square and it was right on. The bevel adjustment is nice, too, though I probably won’t use it a ton. I will use this for cutting picture frame stock, so the 45 degree precision is very important.
There are bazillions of articles/videos/info on the kapex, so I’ll incorporate all of those reviews in by reference. I didn’t even turn on the Lasers!
My nitpicky things are as follows:
1) the width of the table is a little narrow. The Bosch Glide has an extendable table incorporated, and that would be nice on the Kapex.
2) I like the perpendicular handle on the Bosch Glide as opposed to the verticle handle of the Kapex. this adds “size” to the bosch glide, though, so it’s a trade off.
3) I wish there were hold-downs on both sides. I actually got a minor kick-back last night. It was purely user error, because I was used to having the hold-down on the left instead of the right and I pushed the board into the blade. I’ll be spending the money on a second hold-down, but Festool should consider supplying two with each saw. We know that doesn’t cost them $80.00 to make them!!!
4) The angle adjusting mechanism (not the bevel adjusting, the cut angle adjustment mechanism) feels comparatively flimsy next to the Bosch Glide.
It works fine, though, but in terms of overall quality, this is one area where the Bosch wins. The above “nipicky” things are just that: Nitpicky. To me, 5 stars is absolute perfection (like the TS55 Track Saw), and this is REEEEAAAAAALLLLLY close, but not quite there. These nitpicks certainly wouldn’t prevent me from buying the Kapex over the Bosch, just notess on how Festool might make the Kapex Perfect. For point of rerference, I probably would give the Bosch Glide about 3.5 stars (mostly because it was unruly, didn’t cut perfect angles and the dust collection was pretty poor, especially next to the Kapex.
This will be a quick review and really somewhat of a comparison between the Festool Kapex and the Bosch Glide 12”. I replaced my Bosch Glide Saw with a Kapex. It made absolutely zero economical sense, especially given that I’m just a very occasional hobbyist, but when Festool had their “sale”, I jumped on one. My primary motivating factors were 1) the dust collection (not so much for my health, but my hatred for cleaning), 2) the promise that the Kapex would cut 45’s perfectly, and 3) the fact that my Bosch Glide was a little “unruly” for cutting perfect angles. I think for 95-99% of all people, the Glide would be a killer saw. When I bought it, I thought, “I have to get the 12”, because I’ll need all of that capacity and power.” I’m not sure I ever did, but there were a couple of boards that I did need to flip around to cut all the way through (but that’s not really blade capacity, that’s reach).
So last night I needed to cut down some 8/4 10” Cherry. I had cut this board with the Bosch, and it wasn’t exactly like butter for the Bosch, so I 1/2 expected to get some “sag” from the Kapex. Boy was I wrong! The Kapex cut through the cherry so smoothly that I immediately disregarded the $600.00 difference. Plus, there was barely a shred of any dust (I had the CT26 hooked up to the Kapex).
Now, it could just be that the Festool blade is so much better than the Bosch blade that it made the cutting easier, but the Kapex had other nice features, too. 1) It appears to be 100% square right out of the box. I didn’t test the 45 degree cuts or bevels, but I did check the board post cutting with a Starrett square and it was right on. The bevel adjustment is nice, too, though I probably won’t use it a ton. I will use this for cutting picture frame stock, so the 45 degree precision is very important.
There are bazillions of articles/videos/info on the kapex, so I’ll incorporate all of those reviews in by reference. I didn’t even turn on the Lasers!
My nitpicky things are as follows:
1) the width of the table is a little narrow. The Bosch Glide has an extendable table incorporated, and that would be nice on the Kapex.
2) I like the perpendicular handle on the Bosch Glide as opposed to the verticle handle of the Kapex. this adds “size” to the bosch glide, though, so it’s a trade off.
3) I wish there were hold-downs on both sides. I actually got a minor kick-back last night. It was purely user error, because I was used to having the hold-down on the left instead of the right and I pushed the board into the blade. I’ll be spending the money on a second hold-down, but Festool should consider supplying two with each saw. We know that doesn’t cost them $80.00 to make them!!!
4) The angle adjusting mechanism (not the bevel adjusting, the cut angle adjustment mechanism) feels comparatively flimsy next to the Bosch Glide.
It works fine, though, but in terms of overall quality, this is one area where the Bosch wins. The above “nipicky” things are just that: Nitpicky. To me, 5 stars is absolute perfection (like the TS55 Track Saw), and this is REEEEAAAAAALLLLLY close, but not quite there. These nitpicks certainly wouldn’t prevent me from buying the Kapex over the Bosch, just notess on how Festool might make the Kapex Perfect. For point of rerference, I probably would give the Bosch Glide about 3.5 stars (mostly because it was unruly, didn’t cut perfect angles and the dust collection was pretty poor, especially next to the Kapex.
