Festool TKS 80 or Mafell Erica 85 ?

[Tazio]

Hello I am getting a new site table saw currently I use both mafell and festool ..mafell rail saw and ks400 and 300 crosscut but festool kepex 120 so feet in both camps so to speak !
the Erica of course is a pull saw where as the festool is not but has safe stop …however stability and accuracy are important to me does anyone on here use either of these with first hand experience?
many thanks .

 

[yorkshirepudding]

I have had the Kapex 120 for around 6/7 years and have it bolted to my bench. It has proved reliable and accurate over all that time. Another advantage with the Kapex is that you can site it up to a wall, I don’t know about the Erica.
I should point out I am a hobby woodworker so I guess you could say it is used lightly.

 

[Tazio]

I already have the kepex 120 I am interested in the TKS 80 table saw !

 

[Doug71]

Definitely the Mafell!

I have heard one or two bad reports on the Festool TKS, mainly the table not being flat, someone on here got one and sent it back because of this.

I get the impression the Festool is just a site saw and you are paying the premium for the brake. The Mafell has many more features if you can live without the brake.

If I was looking to spend that kind of money on a site saw it would be the Mafell without question.

 

[Tazio]

Yes being a mafell user jigsaw kss400 and 300 I favour the Erica however having recently purchased the kepex 120 and a couple of festool routers I have been quite impressed.

 

[Jake]

I would ignore the TKS which I think is driven by employer liability rather than usefulness, and instead compare the Erika and the CS70 which are actually like for like. The former has more cutting capacity but is basically a really old and comparatively crude design. The CS70 is leagues ahead of it on everything but capacity.

 

[Lefley]

Looks like they are only shipping* the festool cs70 to the EU, Switzerland and Norway. No where else.

 

[Tazio]

In what sense can it be leagues ahead of an Erica ! There’s only so much you can do with a sliding table good accurate fence and pull facility which both of these have … as mentioned I have both festool and mafell and in my experience mafell are some way ahead of festool in terms of build quality . But festools routers etc are better in terms of usability !.

 

[Jake]

Try them and see.

 

[Ollie78]

Mafell Erika 85, many clever uses because of the pull function. I saw one at a show years ago and wanted one ever since. Sawstop is nice but I would still get the Mafell.

Ollie