On 2007-04-01 14:10:00 +0100, Stuart Noble
said:

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Andy Hall wrote:

Festool TS55 is those sizes, comes with a riving knife and in a
Systainer case. It's rather nice to use as well.

Bloody well should be at £250 + !!!

I'd want an operator thrown in at that price!



There are some tools you should pay good money for but the circ saw
isn't one of them IMO


I disagree. It depends on what work you want to do.

I tend to see circular saws in four categories:

- The really cheap junk around £20-30 that isn't worth buying.

- Reasonable quality light use such as Bosch green and B&D

- Trade/industrial quality - Makita, Bosch blue, De Walt, Metabo, Hitachi

- High end quality. Festool, Mafell, possibly a few others.


In the top two categories one can expect a solid cast rather than
stamped base - yes it does make a difference - , good quality adjusters
that are easy to set and clean, smooth operation.

I've compared the Festool and Mafell with Makita, Metabo and Hitachi
and there is certainly a difference in feel between them.

Certainly if one wanted to regularly use a circular saw as part of a
panel cutting set up with guide rails, Festool and Mafell both have
very good products that inegrate with them well. Had I been doing
this, I certainly would have gone for one of these products.
As it is I have a table saw with slider and outrigger so I can handle
large panels anyway and so I have a Hitachi circular saw to cover
applications needing a portable saw.

This is a similar discussion to jig saws. People with experience only
of entry level ones assume that all are limited, and that is not really
the case.