Leigh DR4 Pro v Incra LS - what should you buy ?

Leigh DR4 Pro v Incra LS - what should you buy ?

We have now completed our reviews of the Incra LS Positioner and the Leigh DR4 Pro. In this video we compare and contrast them, and focus on.

• The cost to buy
• The total cost of ownership
• What they can do
• The end results
• Ease of use

AND make a decision-as to the one that will stay in The Woografter studio.

The YouTube channel focuses on the growth of the business from day 1, on the channel we publish on a Tuesday and Friday at 19:00 GMT and cover,

• Business plans
• Tools, tips and reviews
• The workshop design and build
• Marketing
• Customer projects
• Educational videos.

I hope you enjoy this video, please hit the like button and leave a comment or question; I read and respond to each and every one.

Talk soon.

Andy

[kassahalon]

Thank you for an extremely well and comprehensive presentation, as a tutorial for my future use of my Leigh D4R. Well done.

[AB-nuwe]

Great head-to-head review. For years I've used fixed dovetail jigs. That limitation is glaring after a while. I've switched to the DR 4 Pro to get the variable sized dovetails. That little detail makes a big difference, for me at least. Thanks again for taking the time to compare.

[TheFalconJetDriver]

Hi Andy, I have been following your videos on this shootout between the two systems, I decided to drink more KoolAide from the Incra System and I purchased the TS LS joinery system and a new Lift Master II router lift and router top two weeks ago along with the clean sweep for the router. The reason I went this route was several one I wanted an accurate and repeatable fence system for my table saw and router system.
I have the Incra 1000 HD miter gage and I really like it. Plus several of their measuring tools the quality is outstanding as you know.

I live a two hours automobile drive west of their facility outside of Dallas, TX. I spoke to them on the phone about my potential purchase and they invited me over to visit. And I am glad did. I met with David Barnet he has been with them for 21 years, and he gave me a tour of their facility while showing me around I saw 3 CNC machining centers, years ago I was Field Service Engineer for company that built CNC Machines. that was 38 years ago.
Shortly after that I had my wisdom teeth extracted and I became an airplane pilot for a living. It turns out David has an aviation background as well.
David spent two hours showing me the TS LS joinery system and answered all of my questions and offered ideas on how set up my system as there were a few options on how to do that. I placed my order they gave me the items that they had in stock, router lift, clean sweep and the clean sweep router plates and the router table top. The TS LS positioner/ joinery system is being built as I write this. The Website stated a 7-9 week delivery. Having visited the facility and seeing production taking place I had no concerns on a long delivery delay.
I walked away in confidence knowing that I made the right choice for my self. Also knowing that superb support is only a phone call away.

[frankenberry]

I think the main difference is that the Leigh is a dovetail jig while the Incra is a router fence that can do dovetails. The Incra will be more flexible and chew up more space. The Leigh is better at doing dovetails, especially oddly spaced stuff. I don't think including the ISO lock template in the price comparison is entirely fair since I don't think the Incra does it at all. The big plus for the Leigh is the variable dovetail spacing for any width of wood up to the limit of the jig. The big plus for the Incra is that it is a router fence system for a router table and can therefore do a bunch of non-dovetail related stuff the Leigh can't. I haven't checked it out but I have a hunch you could make your own templates for the Incra and therefore do variable width and wider stuff. It would be more hassle but thanks to self publishing on the internet it could become a "thing" with hordes of happy Incra users creating a library of downloadable templates.

[heystarfish]

Great review and very in-depth personal commentary. I’ve used a incremental position gauge in the past for joinery and had some issues I did not care to work with. I recently purchased the Leigh DR4 Pro with the dust collector and router bit assortment as you showed. Fantastic piece of equipment that I will get to know better soon and grow into further.

[Trevscuriosites]

I agree with your choice setting up a shop from scratch if you bought the Leigh system you would still have to have a router table to do shaping etc so that would have to be added to the overall cost

[Mark_L]

OK, I have the Incra and love it. I’ve had ir for years so I am u”good” at its operation. I really liked your comparison. You hit the nail on the head.

[RD]

Love the realistic cost of ownership. The review was very helpful.

[michaelkaye]

I had already ordered the INCRA before I watched this video. I was pleased to hear your conclusions 😅.

[jwar]

I have the Incra router table setup with super LS 25 with wonder fence the PRL-V2 lift with a Porter Cable 7518 Router. The learning curve is there for the Incra and there for the Leigh. I purchased a Porter Cable Omni Jig 4216 with three different plates for various dovetails. I got it used for 50 usd. I purchased it to whipped out a set of drawers really quick, but the Incra can do so much more and does have so many more uses. I used it to make a dovetail style fence for my 3hp shaper to copy that of the Felder Shaper Fence. Dados are a breeze on the Incra table and the LS setup.
On a note too Customer service with Incra both to Incra and to Incremental Tools I had questions with setup and assembly and both companies walked me thru my issues. Only issue I had was a damage wonder fence vacuum port and it was sent to me next day air at Incra's expense. Even after owning the Incra For 3 years Incra is still there for me. Leigh jig is a very nice piece of equipment and I may pick up the Leigh tenon and mortise jig. Because I am lazy and like to do things with power tools. If I had 10 dollars for every time I hit my thumb with a mallet or hammer I would be a very wealthy man.

[arthurgriffin]

Terrific job !! Very thorough and fair. (None of this out of the box review nonsence - that's just me)

[bgfunbear]

Wow, incredibly thorough, best comparison I have ever seen, TY for posting this video!

[paultay]

Great comparison series Andy. I have the baby Leigh Superjig 12. Well pleased with it for my workshop, although i did buy the DW 625ek router to go with it, which was a big expense just for a hobby woodworker..but its there available to me for other tasks..

[KlausPedersen_gaffa]

Amazing comparison you did. Just what I needed in my decision process. Thank you.

[henrysiegertsz]

Japanese pull saw, Mitre saddle, set of chisels a coping saw and a marking guage! That covers everything the Leigh does for about £100 plus the satisfaction of never having plugged a tool into the mains to do it! I've had the Trend DC300 for about 20 years, used once, performed poorly and now gathering dust on my shelf!
If you want to go the Incra-mental route, Incra make the inexpensive IncraJig, two halves of plastic with toothed racks on each half which mesh at exact 10ths of a millimeter (Metric) or 1/32" (Imperial). You can be up and running with the IncraJig, your own fence in minutes and it is brilliant! Mine's the Imperial I bought in the US while visiting, along with the Incra Mitre 1000SE, 12" Incra Rule, Incra 6" T Rule, the Incra protractor. Incra tools are brilliant, but a TS/LS fence system is for people doing precision woodworking every day for a living, or people with a lot more disposable income than sense!

[stephendixon]

Hey Andy,

It's me again (ha, ha). Really interesting to look through your videos on the Leigh system and this comparison to the Incra system. As usual the videos are phenomenally detailed.

One point that occurs to me again in this comparison is the point I mentioned to you before about the availability of the free software to make custom templates for joinery using the Incra system. First, this obviously removes any limitations of having to use just the provided Incra templates both in terms of the maximum size of the joinery and having to compromise on your project design. However it also means that you could design a template to suit your available router bits or stock thickness so you wouldn't necessarily have to thickness your stock to suit if you don't have a thicknesser available.

I know you said that you had seen the software but hadn't had time to play around with it. If you do it might make an interesting follow up video.

I think the thing that really strikes me is, especially give the cost of both systems, how much more versatile the Incra is for so, so many other tasks beyond this sort of joinery and that once you get used to the routine of the Incra process it is probably going to give you more consistency in your work being less dependent some free hand router techniques; and let's face it we all have off days!

Thanks again for all your hard work putting these videos together. Hope you get chance to look at that template software.

Cheers

Steve

[markchurch]

New subscriber, yesterday in fact, brilliant content so far doesn't appear to have the manufacturer bias that is all over YT.

[lmallard]

Having had bad experiences with incra, I am very happy with my leigh 18 inch superjig

[MikeyDonna]

Have you considered the physical size & if so if you had limited space where you had to take this down and put them up each usage, would that make a difference in your decision?

[grahamwhiting]

Andy, I've watched my way through both your Incra and Leigh video series. Thank you for a thorough piece of work. Clearly the Incra is a big multi adjustable fence that can do many other things than the Leigh dovetail jig. I have the feeling that most Leigh jigs end up in storage, largely unused, even for those who have gone through the detailed but far too complicated paperwork. Pro woodworkers have many quicker ways of making strong neat joints and amateurs may prefer not to spend their limited creative free time reading and re-reading instructions. The Incra may have way more adjustability and options than most amateurs need - maybe I'm wrong here, but I while I see the range and precision setting attractions compared with my Festool CMS fence, it turns out that the CMS fence has lots of adjustability options and fine setting screws and its not hard to add a fence to the sliding table and have a very adjustable mid size setup in a smaller space. I guess the same is true for other, smaller but still accurate fence and table systems.