So this is what heaven's like (jigsaw)

You couldn't have done too much research. In all the years I've been on the internet, the Bosch is far and away the most recommended jigsaw with the more recent Milwaukee receiving accolades, too. The Festool is a well regarded late entry also.

The Dewalt is generally poorly reviewed because of chintzy internals and I don't remember a single reference to the Freud. Even the Porter-Cable, which no one seems to care for very much, comes in 4th or 5th.

How you wound up with a Freud after doing "a lot of resarch" is beyond me.

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

You are absolutely right. Anyway, I did a lot of research BEFORE buying, so I'm not really expecting anyone to say I made a huge mistake. However, I was really looking for "obscure" advantages or problems--more like little known or undocumented fine points.

The only real criticism I have is that the user manual is rudimentary to a fault and misleading about how far in to push or how much force to use to seat the blade. However, once you get it right, it is a "no-brainer" thereafter and the Freud quick mount feature seems to be very good.

Like you, I learned a long-time ago not to look at prices and reviews of tools AFTER buying them.

I actually did do some research and chose a Freud J85, while I don't like using a jigsaw in general, I can't find anything wrong with the Freud. I could be wrong, but when I found it on the close out table at Lowe's for $49.00 dollars, I just had to give it a chance.

I guess reading is not your forte. As I said, I had to disregard the Bosch and the Dewalt (both of which are always mentioned here, with the Bosch being the runaway favorite) because the price was beyond my budget.

The Freud was recommended in a review in Fine Woodworking magazine and mentioned in a thread on rec.woodworking as a reasonable, lower-priced alternative for the Bosch (where price was an object). In the Fine Woodworking review, the only criticism of the Freud was that the handle was too thick. Like the guys here, the FW article rated the Bosch 1587 as no. 1 and and Dewalt DW321 as no. 2.

There are 20 reviews for the Freud F85 on amazon.com. All but one person gave it a 4 or a 5. The odd man out gave it a 1, apparently because he couldn't figure out how to seat a blade properly and then waited over a year before contacting Freud about that and other problems and they (he said) gave him the brush off.

On the WWA tool survey, the median total score for all jigsaws was 72.6. The Bosch 1587AVS total average score was 78.7 and the Freud total average score was 76.7 (only one point difference). The Dewalt 321 was a poor 48 but there was only one review for it.

On specific features, the overall average rating for the Bosch was 4.2 out of a possible 5 and the rating for the Freud was 5 out of 5. On the would-you-buy-it-again question, the Bosch was 4.8 and the Freud was

Considering the difference in price, almost $75 Canadian in my case, the Freud is a lot of jigsaw for the money. How long will it last? Who knows. The aveage age of the Freuds reviewed on the WWA site was about 3 years.

Is it the best on the market? No. Is it good value for the price and above average in perforance? I think so.

No, I do just fine.

Yes you did. That was not my point. Apparently that forte stuff strikes home.

Well, I've been reading jigsaw threads for a long time, and while you are right about the Bosch, the DeWalt is nowhere near "always mentioned." In the few times it is mentioned, it's nearly always negatively.

As I also said, the Freud is so infrequently mentioned that it's below the radar when the question "what jigsaw to buy" is asked here and in other woodworking fora that I frequent.

While I don't dispute the existence of any of those things you quoted, my experience has long been that they don't have much value in the real world. The installed base alone of Bosch vs Freud is enough to skew the answers to the poll questions. But I concede that you can count that as research to the extent that the results are virtually valueless.

No argument there.

As long as you're happy.

LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

LRod wrote: : [amazon reviews and magazine polls snipped]

: While I don't dispute the existence of any of those things you quoted, : my experience has long been that they don't have much value in the : real world. The installed base alone of Bosch vs Freud is enough to : skew the answers to the poll questions. But I concede that you can : count that as research to the extent that the results are virtually : valueless.

I disagree. Reviews posted on Amazon, and the polls cited, are input from real owners. So long as there are enough that the averaging of the ratings will wash out any extreme outliers (like the nit that gave rthe Freud saw a 1-star rating due to operator error), they are substantial and useful.

-- Andy Barss