What is the BEST Sliding Miter Saw? Makita vs Festool

What is the best miter saw for woodworking? I purchased both the Makita and the Festool Kapex. Which one would you choose? Ultimately, I decided to keep the Kapex and return the Makita. I thought the Kapex would have better dust collection overall, but I was surprised that the Makita had better dust collection in the non-sliding position. Amazon and other affiliate links are used in this description and they help support this channel.

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[Woodworks]

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[jr.]

The Festool is twice the price of Mikita but not twice as good, I'll take the makita any day.

[miloh]

Of just those two, definitely the Makita. I only had the $ to choose 1 and I went with the Bosch 12”. Absolutely no complaints with it over the last few years.

[MMMS]

I have wanted to sell my 10 year old Dewalt 12” sliding mitre for a while after seeing both of these. Probably won’t get much for my old saw, but love that these rails come forward. My Dewalt rails go behind the saw making space in my workshop a real hassle with it.

[Woodworks]

Just to clear things up, I purchased both of these miter saws. I purchased the Makita first and tried it for a few weeks. After going to Woodcraft and seeing the Festool in-person, I decided to return the Makita and purchase the Festool. A good friend of mine knew I was retuning the Makita and buying the Festool, so he decided out of the goodness of his heart to bless me with half of the money for the Festool. So I paid for half and he paid for half. I told all of this in the members-only video that was released previous to this video, but it got left out of the edit on this one, and I missed it when reviewing the footage for this release.

[scottmorris]

Doesn’t matter how good the Festool is, can’t afford it, so it isn’t an option.

[averageamerican]

I'd go with Makita. Superior capacity and dust collection are big deals in my book. Plus I've used a festool and find the handle awkward and uncomfortable.

[Tripring]

I’d keep the Makita. They make solid dependable tools. I don’t like the handle configuration on the Festool saws.

[DKWalser]

You were massively unfair in your judgement of Makita's fence. The size of the gap between the left and right fences is adjustable. It came from the factory in the setting that gives your work the most support when cutting at 90 degrees. If you want to make a cut at 45 degrees, simply adjust the gap between the fences. This gives the user the ability to get the most support from the fences no matter what angle is being cut.

You might not appreciate the flexibility to set the gap to meet your needs for a particular cut. That's fine. Just slightly widen the gap and you're good to go. But, other users, take advantage of that flexibility. Perhaps they're cutting thin materials that benefit from as much support from the fence as possible. The point is, this is a feature, not a flaw. This was an example of intelligent design. You made it seem like an example of poor quality on the part of Makita.

[nigelboucher]

I know Festool makes great tools but to me there’s to much plastic. Which to the eye makes them look cheap. I’ve got a 25 year old Makita drop saw that is still going great to this day and just recently purchased the 10” sliding saw and that gets a little kiss from me every day. It’s brilliant.

[bmak]

It's important to keep in mind that the Festool product will cost two to two and a half times the cost of the Makita. Also, the reason the Makita stands out farther is that it has a much wider cutting capacity. Not sure if Festool even makes a 12" sliding miter saw, but if they do, it too will stand out farther.
Personally, I have the Makita and am very pleased with the performance of the saw.

[louiesworkshop]

I am a cabinet maker here in the UK, I have had a dewalt mitre saw, , a reliable workhorse of a mitre saw, we did use the makita model to which you have reviewed, a beautiful saw to use in the workshop but I found that often while cutting at full reach the saw blade would along its rails cup alittle, the saw blade would enter and leave perfectly however as the blade travelled it would approximately run out by a millimetre. I opted to upgrade to the kapex, by no means is the kapex perfect, there is a surprisingly large amount of plastic, it does create a disappointing amount of saw dust even with the large dust shroud, is the saw overpriced, yes I believe so, however, I have never used a saw as sweet to use and as accurate as the kapex, cut after cut after cut, the kapex just keeps delivering perfect cuts, is it the best mitre saw in the world, I would say without hesitation YES, it maybe over priced, it may create more saw dust than what is claimed it catches but if you have deep pockets and want the best, the kapex is the only saw that will deliver an outstanding cut over and over again, thank you for the very informative and video.

[andrewnewman]

As a Carpentry and Joinery lecturer I get to see how these saws stand up to apprentice use and abuse. We have the Makita, Dewalt and Festool saws in the workshop, that are in constant use. The Dewalts are bombproof and make great site saws, downsides are the lack of soft start and the sticky blade guard roller when cutting compound mitres, which rules it out for finishing work. The Makita is a good all-round saw, but does not stand up to the constant abuse from apprentices and requires constant part replacement. The Festool is the saw we use for all our finish/joinery work, its well built and accurate with little to fault.

[morrist]

I hesitated before buying my Kapex. I can tell you that most of the time a 12” saw is more of a hazard than a help. I know the price is a killer but I saved up for a while after trying one at a Woodcraft store. I found that the festool grip was more ergonomic and less strain on the entire arm and shoulder. Also the repeated accuracy without have to dial it in or find a sweet spot is a huge benefit, time saver and money saver. I only wished I learned that lesson before I shattered my thumb because I would not take the time to evaluate the tool instead of finding reasons to not like it. It only takes once for that added deflection or one bad “dial” and it leaves years of pain. Eventually we all learn that you can’t put a price on safety when the justification of money makes you pay dearly in pain and injuries. Trust me when I tell you that I check and double check and all it took was for the stars to align and I now have a permanent reminder that the extra money was worth it weight in gold. Besides when I have taught people that have never used a miter saw, the Festool came more naturally because everything is a straight line vs the age old paw grip. So in a nutshell, when you learn to unlearn what you have been taught and told to learn what can be we all go a lot further.

[mkbcoolman]

Excellent video! I love your attention to detail.

I looked at both the Festool and the Makita when I was looking to upgrade my Ridgid 12" compound slider. It was a beast that was perfectly suited for a construction site, but I had a hell of a time getting it tuned in to my satisfaction. I ended up going with the Bosch 12" with the knuckle arm after seeing both Drew Fisher and Jon Peters use the same saw. If it's good enough for those guys, it's good enough for me! I love the knuckle vs. rails...it saves so much space against my wall! It took a little tuning but nothing unexpected. Plenty of tutorials here on YT to show you how it's done. Dust collection is horrendous, but I copied Drew Fisher's video and built a small dust collection housing right behind the blade that collects 95+% (Drew calculated 96%) of all the dust when the blade isn't extended. I've NEVER seen a better solution for dust collection at a miter station. Even when my saw was fully shrouded with a 4" hose to my dust collector I didn't get anything near the efficiency. I don't know any way to get decent dust collection on a sliding miter at full extension, so maybe this solution is as good as it gets? I use my miter station pretty much daily, and I only find myself having to clean up a minor amount of dust about once a week. That's good enough for me!.

[harrydoherty]

both look great but i’m a guy that does projects around the house . for me the hercules 12inch sliding miter saw at $ 320.00 on sale and member discount . works great after 3 years of use . as for the dust collection, it’s not an issue . i do all my woodworking in spring summer and fall. it’s mounted on the ridged rolling miter saw stand and all my cuts are done just outside of my garage. hook up the shop vac . the rest of the saw dust is blown off with my leaf blower . no problems . this system work perfect for me. 😊

[timmccarthy]

Two important points: the Festool costs more than twice the Makita; for the angle, simply adjust the wing.

[linsen]

I have the Makita miter saw, and I love it. Given that it's 1/2 (or less) of the price of the Festool, it's a great saw for the money.

[scottmacgarvey]

My 25+ year old dewalt 12” compound miter saw finally died about a year ago. I bit the bullet and bought the Kapex after watching numerous YouTube videos. Long story short, I took it back 2 weeks later and bought the Makita 12” sliding compound miter saw. I’m perfectly happy and impressed with this saw. There ARE some minor advantages to the Kapex, but NOT worth the money. The Makita dust collection is excellent, the cut is precise and the slide works extremely well. The laser is accurate, but I do wish it had the double laser like the Kapex. It IS a large machine. Had to rework my miter station, but worth it. I appreciate your tool reviews, but disagree with you on this one.

[johnmooney]

Great review! I have the 10" Makita and love it!