I’ll be re-locating in the next year or three and will be moving on from my 10” SawStop with extended tables.
Curious to hear any first hand accounts of the various choices out there. Also, seems like a battery powered option would be nice since my use case would only be occasional.
I’m on the poor end of the spectrum and have a Ryobi version that seems to do just fine. Had it about a month or so and is cutting well. Would love to have a Festool, but my budget doesn’t support it yet.
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I just picked up the Milwaukee flavor and have been very impressed so far. It was on sale so the price was closer to the Makita. I don’t have much experience with other brands, but I already have M18 batteries so it fit for my shop.
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I mislike the idea of battery powered tools for occasional use because the battery is always discharged when I need to use the tool — maybe that’s different with modern battery chemistry, but I find a single piece tool w/ plug easier to manage than a disparate set of tool, battery, and charger (maybe I’d feel differently if there was a battery form-factor I was willing to buy into).
I will note that a Festool only makes sense if you’re also getting a matching vacuum.
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Not as big of an issue if you can stay within the same battery ecosystem.
I have a lot of the Dewalt 20v batteries and have multiple drills, trim router and random orbit sanders that use all the same. I also bought the adapter that allows me to use the 20v in my 18v Dewalt circular saw. You sure don’t want to get halfway through a cut and have to wait for a recharge.
I would love to have a track saw for sheet goods but I have a nice cabinet saw and can’t justify the cost for occasional use. I would not want to give up my tablesaw I favor of a track saw though. Too many things I do on the TS that the track saw doesn’t or doesn’t do as easily.
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I have the Festool, i wish i had bought one years ago, my one buddy has the Makita and my other friend has the Milwuakee one. Easily one of the best tools you can own.
They are invaluable for sheet goods. The WEN tracks are compatible with Festool, i have a 8ft WEN instead of the Festool, but my main one is the 55" Festool.
My table saw is used for smaller cuts, anything that is sheet goods or larger rips i use the track saw, it’s MUCH easier to move a track saw than a 4ft or 8ft sheet. Set the sheet on the table or saw horses and make all your cuts with the track saw.
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Not so relevant a concern today with li ion, lipo, etc. You just need to manage charging them to avoid burning your house/shop down haha 
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I have a few lipo batteries in a form factor I don’t use much anymore over 6 years old that have remained charged at 65% that entire time.
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I have the Bosch GKT55 which is commonly thought to be the same base as the Mafell. I can’t think of anything to criticise on it. (it’s the corded version)
I now never use the factory edges on sheet material like MDF or ply, it’s so quick to cut a clean straight long edge and then square the short edges. It’s also good for angled cuts that would be tricky or dangerous on the table saw, including compound angles as you can put the track wherever you like. Things I didn’t expect to use it for include, trimming the edge of my shiplap cladding square on the shed, if you can get the rail onto it, you can set plunge depth and cut.
The track is excellent, the joiner straightens track sections as you join them, the saw is a pleasure to use.
I bought a bench dog tools track squaring plate for it to save time using a big square when setting up the track, that’s a nice to have, wait till you get bored squaring the rail.
There are various other tool attachments for many of the saw tracks including router guides which may be useful, I’ve not bothered with that yet, might just cut one out of acrylic on my Shapeoko now that I think of it…
edit - thought of something to criticise, the track clamps are offensively overpriced.
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I have a Festool TS60K and love it. I wrangled 4x8 sheets on the table saw and panel saw for years, and got sick of it. Now I use a couple sawhorses, some 2x4s, and some xps sheets underneath so the work is supported and I can cut nicely. The dust collection was the biggest benefit. I looked at the battery versions, but it’s a smaller depth of cut for the price, and I saw some videos showing how to hold the hose and power cord over your forearm, so I went for a deeper cutting saw. I have the festool 55" and the makita 118", and some cheap track clamps from bessey and busybee (looks very similar to the makita/festool quick clamp). I use a contractor style table saw for short, repeatable cuts, and do all my sheet goods with the track saw. Saves a lot of floor space, because I can put everything away when I’m done.
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I have researched extensively. A friend of mine has the Makita and we used it on some projects we did together. I really liked it. He has the router mount as well and worked well on the track. Each system has it minus and plus. The Festool seems to be a great saw but the saw and enough track to cut an 8’ board is quite expensive. The Wen is cheap but gets good reviews. Many of the track saws use the same track but some are propriety. I have a lot of dewalt 20v tools and plenty of batteries including a 6.5" circular saw. The trick with the circular saws is when you let off the trigger the battery brakes the saw using more power then the actual cutting. My dewalt side grinder does the same thing. My 20v drills the batteries seem to last forever.
I mainly have 5AMP hour batteries. The 2AMP hour batteries that come with man tools wont cut it for circular saws. I have bought some off brand batteries that work in the dewalts but they are not made of the same quality. It is inevitable to drop a tool or knock it off the bench. The dewalt brand batteries have never broken but both of my 3rd party batteries have the cases cracked from the same abuse.
I agree that staying with one system, dewalt, makita, or whoever is smart to keep the batteries all the same and limit the amount of chargers you need that take up a lot of space.
Edit: After reading a lot of reviews and using my friends Makita I would buy the Makita. As stated above the battery saws take a large battery and frees you from the cord. However when I need to cut 2x4 treated material the battery saw wont cut it. I get out a Ridgid 7.25" saw and it never lets me down. I had a Bosch 7.25" corded saw but the cheap plastic locks break very easily.
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I’ll throw in thoughts from my perspective, which may not work for you but add an alternative possibility. I’m stuck with very limited space, and I own a Festool TS55. Like most Festool items, this track saw was pricey, but it works very well. The problem for me is that track saws are designed to work on evenly-surfaced stock that is larger than roughly a foot wide and a couple feet long. However, much of my CNC work requires cuts on hardwood of smaller dimensions. So I recently purchasing a Milwaukee’s jobsite table saw. With a crosscut sled and a zero-clearance plate I get cuts that are at least a good as the Festool. As a byproduct, a rip jig now serves as my jointer. Of course, the table surface and fence on a jobsite saw are always going to be too small, but a couple of homemade jigs, sleds and fences can work wonders. My track saw is now pretty much delegated to cutting sheet material.
In your defense, Will, I actually suggested to Milwaukee that they offer a plug-in option for this saw. That said, like most of us, I already had the charger on the wall. Furthermore, the battery lifetime lasts well beyond one day of my usage, and I have one less cord to trip on.
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Yeah, the smaller stock thing is an interesting balancing act — and a big part of why I just bought:
but c.f.,
Interesting. I’ve actually expanded my investigations to include Job site saws.
In reality a small table saw is more suited to my needs. I rarely cut sheet goods and will no longer be making large furniture pieces.
The Milwaukee looks pretty good.
Yup, that’s where a table saw comes in. Track saw is great for sheet goods, table saw is good for hardwood stuff typically. At least that’s how i break it down.
I have this Wen plunge cut track saw and tracks. The saw is a not expensive at all, and does the job quite well.
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