Grizzly track saw gets reviewed

[Cochese]

Marc (TWW) did a fairly in-depth review of this and compared it in part to his usual Festool daily driver. I think a lot of his 'complaints' could be improved upon with a few adjustments. The only thing that would be difficult to improve on would be the dust collection, without some ungainly attachment to the right of the blade. Could be done, though.

I think if you were making your money off of this tool, the Festool would be my buy (can't believe I just typed that), but for hobbyists it seems like it has lots of potential. Outside of tearout, I've been having great luck with my clamp solution. Perhaps though I might take a flier on it if I'm bored.

http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/vide...ck-saw-review/

[tommyt654]

Interesting review,but based on what I can see its no different than the Sheppach I had referenced earlier other than for the $175 you get the track included in the price with the Sheppach(http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SCH...319?Pid=search) . I might be wrong but since their were references to them both possibly being made in China,I'd be willing to wager they are identical other than branding, but I like yourself Chris get by just fine with a few clamps and a straight piece of wood/aluminum/steel straightedge in most case's regarding sheet goods

[JSUPreston]

If you watch closely, you see the Sheppach name on the blade. I've seen elsewhere that it's the same saw.

For the money, it doesn't look too bad, but I know it's not a Festool. It may not make sense, but I just don't see how I could spend more on a circular saw that my table and band saws combined.

[jussi]

I saw the Sheppach on the fog site about a year ago. I guess the clones are now being cloned . I'm curious to see how we'll they do. My inclination is that those are ready to get a track saw will pay the extra and get a festool or dewalt. Both equally good IMO. Curious as to why they didn't make the tracks compatible to the festool saw. They could have sold a bunch of the the longer tracks.

[Bob Crosley]

Bringing up a slightly stale thread...

The Grizz is indeed, the same as the Scheppach. I actually just got the Scheppach via a sale on Woot.com for $120 with the saw and 2 25" rails with the clamp. Looking at it, the only difference between it and the Grizz are mine is blue, and the Grizzly is green. The Scheppach will work with Grizzly rails and vice versa.

I had the opportunity to use my friend's Festool track saw when I visited him recently, and fell in love with it. While I found it much nicer to use than a circular saw with a guide, it wasn't $600 nicer than using what I already had. The Grizz didn't appeal to me because it was clear from Marc's review, and others, that getting the most out of it would mean swapping that spring, and putting a better blade on it. And $250 +$50 (blade) and $10 (spring) put it still more than I wanted to spend.

But recently, I've been focusing more on dust collection, so I didn't have to work only when I could open the garage door and drag some stuff outside. My existing circular saw has no dust port at all, and breaking down sheet goods was something I could only do outside. So I was looking for a circular saw with any kind of dust collection and the cheapest I was finding was about $90. So, even with sub-Festool-level DC, it's a huge upgrade.

I guess the point I'm trying to make with this ramble, is that if you look at the Grizzly and other clones less like replacements for the Festool and more like replacements for a circular saw, they become much more attractive. And that's the point that Marc was making in his video review. But even for me, the price had to come down much more from the Grizzly price, for it to be a good circular saw replacement.

[JimD]

I have the DeWalt track saw and also a Milwaukee circular saw I used to use to break down sheet goods. I think I paid about $550 for the DeWalt with a long (102inch?) and short (60 inch?) guide rail. I bought the clamps too. I understand the comments about the price, it is not insignificant. I saw the earlier reviews of the DeWalt versus the Festool. My main factors were price and the depth scale being inches on the DeWalt versus mm on the Festool. For me I was convinced the DeWalt better met my needs.

Comparing the DeWalt track saw to the Milwaukee, I can say that the DeWalt is a much different saw. It has a dust port which works well but it also seems to have much tighter arbor bearings or something. I used a "shoot board" with the Milwaukee to break down sheet goods but the blade of the Milwaukee wobbles a little bit during startup or shutdown or something and the edge of the shoot board gets chewed up. That doesn't happen with the edge of the DeWalt's guides. So I conclude the arbor bearings are better. The Milwaukee is a quality circular saw, I think it is comparable to other "good" saws but I don't think it is made to the same quality as the DeWalt track saw. With a $300-400 price difference, it shouldn't be.

I agree that a comparison of the inexpensive track saw alternatives to a more typical circular saw + guide makes sense. Part of the reason I bought the DeWalt, however, was to help with my need for extended rip capacity on my table saw. I think with the DeWalt I can go back to a 24-30 inch rip capacity because I can get a good cut with the track saw on anything wider. That will save me shop space and also makes handling sheet goods easier. It isn't easy to put a big sheet through the table saw, especially as I get older. Much easier to throw it on a lattice I use to support it during breakdown and then cut to size with the DeWalt track saw. I often do that on the trailer I bring the sheet goods home with. If I cut it in the shop I use my shop vac (which has a HEPI filter).

Jim

[Bob Crosley]

I think with the DeWalt I can go back to a 24-30 inch rip capacity because I can get a good cut with the track saw on anything wider. That will save me shop space and also makes handling sheet goods easier.

This was a biggie for me too. I simply don't have room for the extra wide rails and all of the outfeed tables necessary to handle sheet goods on my table saw. I was doing them on my circular saw with a guide and the track saw is the replacement for that.

[JimD]

I was surprised that the track saw cut exactly where the edge of the guide is and kept doing so. The down side is the accuracy ends up being limited by my marking capability. I set the rip fence of the table saw more accurately than I can put 2 marks on the board a good bit of the time. So I still like the table saw but I think I will have to get rid of the extension rails and just mark carefully and use the track saw.

Put another way, if I worked at it I could get within 1/16 with my Milwaukee and home made guide. Quick accuracy was more like 1/8. Same level of effort with the DeWalt gets me as good accuracy as I can mark the wood. But with the same effort or a bit less I can adjust the rip fence and get the same or a little better accuracy.

Jim

[chopnhack]

Hey Bob, I agree with the dust collection. When I upgraded my circ. saw, I borrowed from the E-Z system inventor's playbook and for about $10 had nearly the best d.c. for a circ. saw.