I have an Erika 85 and also a General 350 cabinet saw and extension table. Honestly, I have not used my cabinet saw in several years - it does serve as a good surface to pile stuff on, but it is a space hog and hard to maneuver around my shop- which I share with the family vehicles. So, the Erika is what I use when I need a table saw. It is portable and I can lift it by myself - BUT, it is not light-weight and it is a little awkward to carry - I am glad it has wheels to maneuver around and if I were taking it to jobsites and up and down stairs, I would buy a handcart and strap it to that to make moving it easier.
The only thing that it does not offer is the ability to use a dado stack or molding heads, but I typically use a router for those applications anyway. I do not miss the miter slots at all - the pull function of the saw negates the need for a sliding crosscut sled. You can configure the fences to eliminate the need for several other jigs that a traditional cabinet saw requires as well. It is amazing how well this works.
The ripping function is the only thing that is a little tedious to set up - because you either have to move the multi-function fence from crosscut to ripping and then back or you can use an extension and add an extra clamp to adjust it - but you are fiddling with little knobs to tighten the fence to the table, and it takes patience to dial in the width. Once set, it is solid and no deflection whatsoever - it just takes getting used to and a little extra time. The t-style fence on my cabinet saw is much faster to adjust and change for sure.
The Erika is compact in its folded state, though, and you can literally put it on a cabinet countertop (which is what I do) or lean it up against a wall to tuck it out of the way. It has wheels to roll it around and a little foot pad to level it automatically on uneven surfaces - one of the best features. The saw has plenty of power, even though it is a universal motor. It is ultra-smooth with no vibration and cuts are smooth, accurate and with no burning whatsoever. I like the variable speed as well as I sometimes cut plastic or vinyl flooring and occasional aluminum and adjusting the speed is handy. I also like the depth of the table - it adds good support before and after the cut when ripping. I added little 6mm plywood feet/shims to the saw so that I can now use my MFT tables as outfeed - the saw is just under 900mm tall, but that was a super easy project. I also like the fact that you can adapt the saw for the task at hand - super accurate crosscuts, accurate ripping, I actually prefer it to a miter saw for trim and baseboard - I can cut returns all day long accurately and not sending little pieces whizzing around the shop - which is awesome! I LOVE the way you can dial in bevel cuts - it uses a similar design as the Kapex and you can just turn a knob effortlessly to the desired angle. A traditional saw is similar, but more cranks on the hand wheel and the scales I have found to be more crude - so you often need to rely on an angle gauge for exact angles. The Erika is precise and I have been able to rely on just the scale. Switching back and forth between 90 degrees and 22.5 or 45 is a breeze and it literally takes seconds to adjust. The MFA is also super accurate for miter cuts and easy to adjust to precise angles. No complaints on it at all and as you have probably seen, it has an angle compensation feature so you can cut miters of different width materials easily (not that this has been a common need of mine - in fact, not sure I have ever need to do this - but I mention it as it is pretty cool and something big sliding saws offer).
For dust collection, it works pretty well with a normal CT vac or other make - it captures most of the dust from the saw from the main port. The above table DC does not work as well in my opinion. I am usually cutting without the top guard in place (it has a permanent riving knife) so I do not use it often. When I do use it, I end up using another CT connected to the top port vs one and using the y connector Festool sells and this works better. Part of the issue is that Mafell supplies a hose and it takes a lot of CFM to pull dust through the added length of hose. Also, the hose adds more resistance to the saw when using the pull function - not a huge deal, but you notice it. Also, it does not impact the quality of the cut at all - just take a little more effort to make the cut.
If buying new I would really think about what applications you typically do and how you envision doing these things on the Erika. Is it mostly crosscutting or combination crosscut and ripping? Do you have other tools that this will complement or is this going to be your main saw for accomplishing all of your sizing tasks? How important are miter slots to you for any jigs that require them and that you do not think could be accomplished with the pull function of the saw? I ask you these questions as I would avoid the temptation to buy all the extras until you have a chance to use the machine and get familiar with the base unit - there is a learning curve. I would buy a couple of extra 3m extensions and connections so that you can use it as a rip fence and also have repetitive stops for longer crosscuts and a ripping blade to start. I typically use my track saw for rips wider than the track and only use the Erika for narrow rips - so if that is your use case, there is no need to buy the extension table for wider rips. The sliding table is another thing that looks awesome on paper, but in practicality, the pull function of the saw has given me plenty of width and again, wider crosscuts I make on my MFT with my track saw. Adding all of these accessories requires room to store them, adds greatly to the cost of the system and if you leave them installed, you are back to taking up a fair amount of real estate. Taking them on and off gets old in a hurry. That said, I have all extras and glad I do as I can expand the tool for various use cases and I guess it gives peace of mind knowing that I have the ability if needed. But if I were starting over and knowing what I know now, the base unit and the above extensions is where I would start.
Hope this gives you some more food for thought.
