Hand circular saw / plunge saw

[jedmc571]

For me personally, there was a bit of kudos with getting the Festool.

I did all my homework on it because it was a big expense for one not in the trade, but I also suspect like a lot of others it's the difference between good, and the best.

I recently debated this with my father in law, he argued that I could get 4 circular saws for the same price, serviced anywhere, when it breaks you just replace etc.......I then asked him why he got rid of his Vectra, and bought a Mercedes ?

For me it's obvious, I want the best I can afford, and with my upbringing, I'm the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of the income my parents earned.
I want to surround myself with nice things, and although spending more money does not really mean the product is better, I've never had this proven with Festool

If you want to buy other manufacturers, that's the choice we make, but we all want the best, if a Mondeo was proven better than a Ferrari, would you still buy the Mondeo :lol:

I'm really pleased with what the TS55 brings to my woodworking, it's accurate, simple to use, and gives me the facility to dimension my own material without having to pay and shoehorn it into the back of my car :lol:

If in any doubt, go to a dealer and get a test drive, and see what it can do.

Cheers

Jed

 

[ndbrown]

I think you have made a very good point in the first line of your post.
I am a huge fan of this forum for sharing knowledge, but it should be done with a degree of responsibility. For me, that goes to the heart of the whole Festool / Lamello debates on various tools, add in Lie Nielson etc for hand tools. All these companies are responsible and good at what they do, but the tools they produce are not inexpensive for good reason (development costs / marketing and “presige”). Equally, there are budget tools as well that should probably be avoided. It’s been said many times that you get what you pay for. Good research and asking fellow enthusiast’s what they use as well as reading reviews and going to a dealer are all part of the research process. Selecting the most appropriate tool to spend your money on and avoiding expensive mistakes gives a good feeling of satisfaction and we can all get on with the business of making things.
I am not a professional woodworker – I am only keen amateur, and not nearly as good as I would like to be. It’s easy with any hobby (I used to be into Hi-Fi) to get seduced by the “high end” equipment that is a must have. There are a lot of tools such as the Bosch “blue” range and Makita, Dewalt, Hitachi to name a few that are certainly not cheap, but offer very good quality and backup from the manufacturers. Equally, not all manufacturers are good at the complete range, some have their specialities.
The danger is that when a amateur or hobby woodworker asks what is the best tool to buy for a purpose, that they get good and balanced advice. Money no object – buy high end, but be carefull that it not suggested that the only tool worth having is a xxxxx that is really expensive, some posts I have read on purchasing Festool’s normal products (not specialist products like the Domino) are verging on suggesting that anything else is not worth considering. I have a Lamello biscuit jointer (bought second hand, it’s) good but not significantly better than a Maffel or similar AEG version for the difference in cost that can be spend on other equipment.
I inherited my father tools (he was a time served coachbuilder) and his tools are the most precious that I have, they are very ordinary and when compared with the tools we have now, fairly basic. The work he and his generation produced from tools like these is remarkable. Clearly, there is a balance to be struck between cost and performance.
Sorry if this has turned into a sermon; I would not presume to have the skills that many of the people on this forum have (or the experience) and these are only my observations, but in my opinion advice on the choice of all tools needs to be given with care sometimes.
Nigel

 

[jedmc571]

put considerably more eloquent than myself :wink:

A good point raised Nigel, the work of our predecessors was amazing considering the tools thay had.

It's easy to get sucked in to the "Prestige" ranges, look at me I'm living proof :lol: