Debate: spending $300 on a Festool track saw vs. a $99 circular saw with a homemade guide?

I dropped $300 on a Festool track saw last year and it made my cabinet builds way cleaner, but my buddy swears his $99 circular saw with a clamped straight edge does the same thing. Has anyone else tried both and found the cheap route actually holds up long term?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole99412d agoTop Commenter

You mentioned "your buddy swears his $99 circular saw with a clamped straight edge does the same thing" and honestly, I used to think that too until I actually tried cutting melamine with both. The difference isn't just about being straight, it's about chipout and time. With my homemade guide I was spending 10 minutes clamping and measuring every cut, and still getting frayed edges that needed sanding. The Festool basically lets me just set it and cut, plus the splinter guard on the track means zero cleanup on the cut line. For one off projects the cheap route works fine, but if you're doing a whole kitchen it pays for itself in frustration saved.

hayden14412d ago

A Festool track saw is actually $650, not $300.

mitchell.lee12d ago

Three years @cole994 and that cheap circular saw with the guide is still sitting in my garage because I realized the same thing applies to anything in life - you can either spend time setting up or spend money on tools that just work.

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