Paid my obligatory visit to the Toronto Woodworking Show out at the International Centre yesterday.
In particular, I focused a great deal of attention on the DeWalt and Festool track saws. I *was* gratified to see one vendor demonstrating Festool machinery considering the (to date) apparent lack of Festool attention on the Canadian market. And, as I was told, there are more vendors about to offer Festool products in Canada.
Since both vendors had sample pieces of veneered cabinet grade plywood on hand, I asked for and received demonstrations of crosscutting with both the DeWalt and Festool track saws. Both produced decent tear out free edges (90°
- 45° cuts) with what I'd call finished edges equal to anything I could do on my tablesaw with a 60 tooth carbide tipped blade. As to comparison, I'd say they're pretty well matched capability wise. The main differences would be the much higher price of the Festool products. Conversely, the benefit to the Festool line is that it's an entire system with many of their tools being able to work together. So, it comes down to price versus convenience.
More often than not, I have 4x8 sheets of plywood somewhere in the works when I'm building something. So, the convenience and versatility of a track saw often comes to mind more frequently as I progress. Aside from a few functions like dados and such, I'd offer up that a track saw with suitable lengths of track, negates the need for a table saw and even more so with a panel saw. A big side benefit is that a track saw with the use of a connected vacuum, products much less mess than any tablesaw. The only thing a track saw really does need, is suitable table space to use it.
Most definitely, they're worth the money in my opinion.