DeWalt guy tries Festool for the first time (not good)

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[Skellist]

4 years later and he's wearing their merch and his shop is covered in lime green everywhere. Gotta love it 🤣

[EM-fiqg]

The worst thing about owning a Festool is, having to peek out the window every 30 seconds to make sure no one ran off with it. 😬

[trevormaclean]

I have a kapex and I Love it, I've cut right inside a customer's house when it was pouring rain outside, no airborne dust at all when connected to the vacuum system

[frankvanruitenbeek]

I have my Kapex for over 12 years now and never had to replace anything besides the sawblades. I’m surprised by anyone finding the grip position awkward? How about any handsaw? Here in Europe we use upright grips on handsaws too ;).

[okpail]

FYI: the trigger in the handgrip is enough to pull the saw down. To engage the motor you have to use both triggers. I must admit that it is not immediately clear when using it without reading the manual.

[clockbuilderhg]

I've used DeWalt, Makita, Hitachi, and Festool miter boxes. The Kapex in my favorite, followed by the DeWalt.
The handle on the Kapex is awkward at first, but I got used to it pretty quick. It wouldn't keep me from buying the saw. I like the large bevel scale too. Very easy to dial in on fractions of a degree. I also like the soft start motor.

[tomjonko]

Personaly, i’m used to this saw and i like the grip more than any other saw. With the
Laser you don’t have too check the blade against your line any more. Saves a lot of time

[huckleberry]

Hahaha, I'm a DeWalt guy too and as soon as I saw that handle I thought the same thing!! Plus you can hold the blade guard up just a bit with your thumb on the DeWalt.

[daved]

As a professional interior railing installer and having tried several saws of the years, Dewalt are still the best I have found for the following reasons. The d-handle position is close enough to the guard that you can hold the guard back when lining up a cut when the 1/16ths and 32nds count . Weight for there size they is light . Cutting capacity of the 12 " blade for large square posts . Durablilty, same saw since 2006 and only had to repair armature once and usually brushes that wear out (and I beat the heck out of it daily ) . The only thing that I wish it had was better dust collection.

[AnibKram]

Thanks for the review. My one comment: I like the implementation of the ball slides. I own a Bosch Glide saw. The one feature that sold me was that nothing projects out the back of the saw. I have limited space in my garage, and I can leave the saw setup against the wall.

[ILikeCatsMoreThanILikeYou]

I think the vertical grip is to keep all the pressure generated by your hand in a downward direction during a cut rather than having a horizontal handle offset to one side which creates a slight rotational pressure. If that makes sense

[JimTom.]

With the triggers, you can disengage the safety stop very easily, there is a small plastic pin just inside the blade guard, that stops you from bringing the saw down. Just clip that off, and you will completely bypass that safety feature and be able to use it like any other miter saw. I did it with mine, it takes 3 seconds to do. You can also do this with the top button, that is to disengage the actual switch, go inside the handle and find where it interferes with the switch, and again cut the little bit of plastic that is causing this. Its well worth it. Also its a shame you werent able to try out the laser, it is amazing, it has a line either side of the blade and its ridiculously accurate.

[dotyman]

Oh, and BTW, it is not necessary to push the thumb button and handle trigger at the same time in order to lower the saw head to your workpiece–you only have to pull the trigger. The trigger releases the head lock and its throw is limited by the thumb button–the saw will not start until you push both at the same time.

[MrPAHearn]

I've been a trim carpenter and contractor for over 40 years. Most of my career was spent using a Makita LS1011 bought in 1993 and I still use it at times. I bought the Kapex saw in 2015 for about $1400. For me it is well worth the money because minor adjustments are so EASY and most importantly ACCURATE! This saves me a lot of time with less trips back to the saw, and time is money. Obviously if that degree of accuracy is not important to you, the price might not be worth it. The ergonomics is a non-issue; if you are a carpenter you should be able to suck it up and turn your hand a little without it being a problem, then again it's what I've been used to. My "young" helper who has been a carpenter for only about 30 years concurs with my view; he actually dislikes the orientation of the Dewalt and similar saws. But what do we know?

[Lyleartist]

I made the switch from Dewalt to festool. The first 2 weeks it was uncomfortable, the same 3 issues as you, now those are the 3 things I love the most about the saw. The laser is so awesome, double line that gives you the outside of the blade, almost like a shadow indicator in reverse. The handle has made my elbow hurt less and the trigger system has been an eye opener to how unsafe I've been over the years.

[raynman]

Bought my first mitre saw and now I'm watching videos on saws I'll never own for jobs I'll never do 🤣

[adrianitescu]

I actually agree with almost everything you said except for the deal breaker... I carried one for almost eight months. I refused to buy the $100 a piece crown stops for a saw that i don't own, but the kicker was the day that i had to cut 4-1/4" base on the flat because to the right, the motor wouldn't clear.

[danregep]

Actually a hint about the handle design is: The design made by the German engineers is smart and has a purpose: The handle is in line (i.e. same plane) with the disk so that the push force does not create a torsion effect like with other table saws that have the effect of reducing the cutting precision due to the excentric handle design (push force out of the disk force). Also, depending on the height of the workshop the handle may be also ergonomic (easy to use).

[kgilliagorilla]

We used Festool sanders in the field for solid surface installation. (Mostly countertops in homes and restaurants). All the tools they make are 100%.

[wxfield]

The cleanliness of the saw with dust collection is the reason I run one on my jobs. Most of my winter work in New England can be inside a customers house. I have to be as clean as possible wherever I setup.