Picked the Makita track saw over the Festool and kinda regret it now

Been doing cabinets for a local shop in Portland and finally broke down to buy a track saw 2 months ago. Went with the Makita because it was $300 cheaper than the Festool TS 55, figured I'd save the cash. Now after a dozen cuts with the splinter guard the line is already getting hazy and I'm wondering if I should have just dropped the extra money. Anyone else go budget on a track saw and wish they hadn't?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarak171mo ago

Wait did you try adjusting the speed at all before the guard started wearing out? I run mine on the middle setting for ply and it makes a difference but I'm wondering if the Makita just has softer plastic on the guard than the Festool. Were you cutting with the blade fully buried or taking lighter passes?

faith_schmidt19d ago

I had a similar thing happen with my Makita after about 50 cuts on melamine. I ended up flipping the splinter guard around and running the blade speed down a notch and it helped a ton.