Makita track saw? Any users have thoughts on this tool?

[Peter Quinn]

2014 may be the year a track saw enters my tool collection. Primary goal is to make a fold down work table in the garage to break down sheet stock before it goes to manufacturing….err….my basement shop. I can get full sheets into the basement, but it gets less fun with each passing year. Even less fun still would be dropping a slider down the bilco stairs. I'm thinking a fold down table on the windowless wall of my new one and a half car garage (ever try to get cut a car in half?) would work nicely to make lighter parts out of 4X8 sheets. The makita on paper seems to strike a decent balance of performance and cost. I've use the festool T55 extensively, and its great, but the cost is more than I'd prefer to spend presently, or to put it another way, I'm a frugal yankee and would love to save some money outfitting my shop with a track saw. UNlike some yankee work shops this one has no under writer and a low budget! All bad jokes aside, anyone own or tried this saw? Any opinions or impressions? Thanks. Peter

[Art Mann]

I own one and use it all the time. It allows me to get the accuracy and cut quality of my table saw with much less difficulty than handling full sheets of material by myself. I have only tried this model so nothing to compare it to but it was well worth the money to me.

[David Weaver]

I also have one. I've never used it and wished I bought something more expensive. Not that it's cheap.

[Art Mann]

How do you know you should have bought something more expensive if you haven't used it?

[David Weaver]

No, what I mean is that I have never felt like it had any shortcomings when I used it. I'm perfectly happy with it, it goes where you point it and leaves a good smooth cut finish.

[Art Mann]

Okay, my bad. You can read your sentence one of two ways and I picked the wrong one. :p

[Bill Geibe]

I read it the same way Art did and was scratching my head. Thanks for clarifying.

[Rick Potter]

Peter,

Have you checked out the DeWalt? I got one during the big Amazon sale, and it works well for me. It came with the long and short rails, but the long rail packaging was damaged. I contacted Amazon and they shipped me another one, and told me to keep the original. I am going to cut it down some day and have three sizes.

By the way, I have found the track saw to be indispensable for cutting smaller angled pieces. I am building a cabinet with three sets of angled five sided shelves, all three slightly different. Once we got some templates made up out of stiff cardboard, we made all the angle cuts with the track saw. These cuts were only five to seven inches long. Worked great.

Rick Potter