Metabo kt 66 18 bl ltx track saw

[glass1]

First thoughts:
Compared to tsc 55
Overall build a little rough. The shoe casting is not polished.
Fancy one knob rail adjuster we will see how it holds up. Does not work on makita rails.
Shoe is Narrower than festool so does not ride one glide strip on festool rails. I put a piece of electrical tape on the shoe.
Out of the box in was square bevel wise.
More cutting depth.
One battery.
Power is good. I ripped 1 3/4” mahogany with no fuss. Used the stock finish blade. 1.8 mm kerf. Definitely better than the tsc 55 with a 2.2 finish blade
Battery life. We shall see but 2 30” rips in above mahogany and one 8” crosscut was one light on the 4 light battery.
Cas. Which means Mafell and lamelo to me.
No Bluetooth batteries. But hoping to get that auto vibration start gizmo metabo has in Europe.
Only 2 rail lengths available 160 and 80 cm. Connectors better than festool but no top slot so limited third party attachments.
Dust collection is good.
Overall it feels good in hand. But still more time needed.

 

[glass1]

Update.
Ripped mahogany with 28 tooth makita blade. Very good results. Like butter. Makita 1.8mm track saw blades strike a good balance of quality affordability and availability.
One thing that has been bothering me on the tsc 55 is the hose connector. The wimpy detents do not hold position and the whole knuckle pops off under any strain. The metabo has a cool hose connector elbow. It rotates 360 and has pull out detentes that hold fast definitely better.
Metabox in my opinion is better than tangos. Sturdier better locking. But its not the industry standard.
Struggling to resize images to upload.

 

[Svar]

The shoe casting is not polished...
Shoe is Narrower than festool so does not ride one glide strip on festool rails. I put a piece of electrical tape on the shoe.

[member=4687]glass1[/member]
Not polished? You mean not flat, rough? I don't think shoe on any of the track saws are machined. Just paint over raw casting.
Same thing with Mafell or Bosch on FT rail, not riding on one of the glide strips.
How are trunnions? Sturdy? Rotate around the edge of the splinter guard? I noticed rather unorthodox design with two metal links.

 

[glass1]

It’s flat. Yes you are correct just not smooth and painted. It’s surface is like a cast table saw top. Trunions  are metal. Seems to be a sturdy saw. It is made in china. The jig saw and big drill I have are made in Germany. I will do the 45 thing soon. I am in the middle of a big double bunk bed build and do want to distrust the flow till I am done so I am staying with the tsc 55. If i can figure out to take lower resolution photos I will post.

 

[dashboardpws]

We bought this saw to verify compatibility with our system and I'm impressed. I like the weight distribution and balance from the battery being in back. It rides well on the Festool rail, though it doesn't like the joint between two of those. Action is smooth and bevel adjustment is solid. For me the dust collection has been better than the Festool saw.

 

[glass1]

Put some time in on the saw. 5.5 lihd battery. I made 7 full sheet rips and 2 4 foot crosscuts in maple furniture 3/4” ply. Start at 2 bars out of four. Battery never cut out but started flashing so off to the charger.
Cuts where clean.  I could push the saw harder than the tsc 55 (2.2 kerf) but the faster you push the worse the cut.
So far so good. Dust collection with just the bag is amazing. Best I have seen. I am getting another bag. So good no need for the vacuum. I am serious about this. And this is big as the biggest draw back to the track saw thing breaking  down sheet goods is the tethers.

 

[glass1]

Some updates.
I think the power with the supplied 42 tooth classic blade is on par with standard 2.2 kerf tsc 55 finish blade.
I get better results with the makita 28 tooth blade with 1.8 kerf. In hand the makita blade feels heavier. Thicker plate ? Same kerf. The good makita blades are Tenyru made.
I cut some stair stringers ( 1” Maple ply) today where the riser was mitered (on the bevel). One side I had to do a plunge cut. No problems plenty of juice. I would say that the bevel cuts a whisker off the strip. I finished the bevel cuts with the ltx 140 jig saw. It’s a beast.
3 9” bevel cuts in maple ply, 4 9” straight cross cuts in 1” maple ply.  2  1 1/2” thick by 12” wide cross cuts in maple ply, and 4 8’ rips in 1 1/2” maple ply dropped the 5.5 lihd battery from 4 lights to 2. Using makita 28 tooth blade. 
On the negative. Accessories. Only 2 rail lengths available 80 and 160 cm. The dust bag is so good I went to buy another nope not in stock in usa.

 

[glass1]

Update: Not that anybody seems to care, but here goes.
Some corrections. I eat some some crow on the makita 28 tooth blade as it went dull quick.
Back to the metabo supplied 42 classic blade. It’s much better than I thought. Again power and cleanness of cut is similar to standard tsc 55 finish blade (2.2 kerf). The metabo saw is not more powerful than the tsc. They are on par. I think.
The dust collection as noted with the bag is excellent with 2 caveats, you can really feel the heat thru the bag, and its a compression attachment so when bumped it can fall off.
Battery life, not scientific, but 2 5.5 lihd batteries are comparable to 2 6.2 amp batteries on the festool. Albeit the metabo is a single so you get it.
I think the things I like most about the festool are the smoothness, and the excellent slop adjustment system.
The Metabo (like a drill I recently bought) seems a little rough but if this makes sense is getting smother as it breaks in.

All in all they are sideways as the festool is a little smoother, maybe a little better with ply(especially with the off cut green thing) but the metabo is close with better balance(better battery placement) and that little bit extra capacity, maybe that’s a USA thing.