Yesterday I went and checked out this saw at a local showing. I was very excited to finally go see it and spent about 2+ hours looking at all of its features. Previously to going I’ve watched a lot of reviews online from people stating mostly positive points on it and I think that it created some false expectations for me of the saw. I am not new to Festool and own quite a few of their tools, including their latest battery Kapex KSC 60. Due to the nature of my job, I’m able to use different brands of the same type of tool and can see - first hand, the advantages and disadvantages in each. I was surprised to find a few items and features in this table saw that made me scratch my head and am hoping that someone would explain them to me. Please reply into this thread, I will definitely check the comments and see where I’m wrong. 1. The saw angle bevels TOWARDS the fence 10° while beveling AWAY 47°. Old Delta saws use to do that, until the manufacturers realized that it’s safer not to wedge the piece of wood between the blade and the rip fence. This Festool saw does exactly that. That also means that ripping material against the fence at angles 10-47° (a fence which allows maximum rips of 11”) - will force you to put the material face down, if you’re ripping an outside corner miter. Therefore the teeth of the blade will be producing tear-out on the face (which is now the bottom of your piece). You can’t place the fence on the left side of the blade, the saw is not designed to do that, the sliding table is there. 2. The sliding table. It is very nice, but the saw that I looked at had a pretty noticeable difference in the planes of the sliding table and the main table. As you would push the table forward, it would lower, not by much, but enough to be causing the material to run against the main table. The only reason I noticed that was because I dropped the blade all the way down and slid the table forward with the clamped piece of wood. Normally I would think that the resistance is from the blade against the wood. I thought that maybe it was a cup in the particle board, but no, the aluminum of the crosscut rail was also leaving marks on the table, so it was catching too. I repositioned the crosscut rail forward to maybe negate an imperfection somewhere but it was doing the same thing. 3. The crosscut rail. There’s no way to put stops on it (at least right now) for repeatability, nor is it any significant length to do so anyways. In my head this is not something an installer would do in the field anyways, that’s geared more for a shop situation where a sled is used. But since this saw already has a sliding platform, why not just go a tiny step further? There’s also no way to attach a sacrificial fence to the rail so that you’d get zero-clearance cutting. 4. The outfeed base of the cart that’s designed to be an outfeed material stand is very clever, but it was at least a 1/4” lower than the plane of the saw table so the material was dropping when leaving the saw. Not a problem for when material is ripped with the saw blade being 0 degree, but when you’re ripping at an angle, the material has to be supported at the same height when leaving the saw. When it drops that quarter of an inch, the material picks up at the blade causing the distance between the blade cut and the fence to widen. There’s no adjustment, unless it’s in the feet and I didn’t see it. 5. The handle of the cart touches your knees when you’re working with the saw on the festool stand. The handle is not “quick” removable and it definitely takes some getting used to, but requires you to change your ergonomics by bending down slightly. This saw offers great features to me that other cordless saws don’t offer. Some include: 1. Systainer storage 2. Accuracy of angles and blade height plus repeatability of 6 programs on the saw and 10 with the app 3. Vacuum port and auto start with bluetooth batteries Those are features I wish I had on other saws, but definitely not instead of the basic features that other saws have that we all take for granted.

Love a new Festool video & nobody does the set up & explanation better than Peter - Thank you Peter I hope you enjoy your new saw! 👏👏👏👏👏

Thank you, best presentation and unboxing video I have seen about this saw.

Fantastic, I so love you clear and concise explanations and demonstration, So helpful. Saves so much money for me personally, your recommendation is so trustworthy. Appreciate your years of experience and knowledge, thank you .

this is a real game changer in the portable table saw world. top quality panel saw on the move. it still needs a power cord that you can plug in. step in up in size., a mid-level size for a limited workshop footprint

Another great video Peter. Always detailed and informative. I’ve been using the Festool CS50 (with sliding table and all extensions) for the last few years. But this new small portable saw has got my interest. Thank you again. I think a lot of people would agree with me. If you say something is good, we can count on it! 👍🏻

Hi Peter - good to see you back on screen. I took the plunge and purchased this saw earlier in the year and have been delighted with the results so far. Look forward to seeing your future work with the saw. All the best

Thank you Peter! I look forward to when this saw is available in the USA.

The clearest explanations I've seen so far. I got mine a couple of hours ago and will follow your video in the morning. Thank you.

Excellent presentation Peter!

Looks like Christmas came in July for you Peter! Thanks for sharing

Wow! For it's really "SPOT-ON!". As they say over the "big pond". Wow. We❤it kind Sir. And you never let us down. Thus, we ❤love you too!

Thank you Peter for your excellent first review

Thanks for a great video Peter...very helpful. Looks to be a nice portable saw...

Thank you Peter. I took the plunge and purchased the saw. IT’s everything you said it is and more. It is precision personified. It will be a wonderful addition in creating small projects. I am delighted with my purchase. Regards, Paul

Peter, thanks! I purchased the saw and was generally pleased. That said, I went with the Benchdog miter fence as it has measurements and works well with the blade guard. The fence only allows 11” inch rips, which is disappointing. I hope someone will make an adaptor to extend the rip cuts to 24”. That would make this little “gem” of a tool priceless. The battery life is good for a hobbyist but I imagine a finish carpenter would need an extra set of batteries to make it through a normal day of work. That said, the sliding crosscut sled is beautifully machined and works perfectly.

Great review Peter. Can't wait to see more of you thoughts on the saw as you use it more. Hope it comes soon to the 🇺🇸 .

Good afternoon Congratulations. Thanks for the video.

Hi Peter, nothinb like gaving a new toy in the workshop, hope you have lots of happy times with the new saw, best regards from a Kiwi living in Australia

I'm fortunate to have one of these saws and I cannot find a _single_ bad thing to say about it. It is just so quiet - it also has a soft start - unlike my screaming demon DW475 which scared the living *&it out of me every time I switched it on (now sold :-) ! I haven't used the blade cover with the attached riving knife as I detest them - I wouldn't normally use a riving knife at all, but the separate small version supplied is perfect as it always matches the blade height and angle. Absolutely great machine for accurate work - and no mains cables trailing about either! Great video on this saw - look forward to seeing the next ones 😁

Hi Peter, ok for working away from the workshop or on site don't get me wrong the festool is a good product .But for the workshop I do prefer mains power just for the extra power ,it's a shame that festool don't make a small compact mains power saw. I watched Peter Millard 2 weeks ago with his view on the same saw . Thanks for the video I always enjoy your tool reviews and build projects ,take care and all the best👍

Great video as always! some people have said that the miter slot is a bit sloppy until locked.

Festool u.s.a. needs to get the market up to speed with the u.k. ! Thanks for the demonstration !

I wanted this pretty badly, but 11 inches maximum width cut for 2000 usd (because I would buy the whole set) or 1500 without the whole set - nah! Sad about it, too. Really wanted this little saw. Might still get it & plan to laminate my own boards I guess. Sheet goods are fine on the track saw anyway. Yeah, I will probably still get it.

I really like this saw. I just wish it was about 50% bigger and gave you an option to run on mains power. I'd probably mount this into a larger mobile table so I'd have support for bigger stock as I mainly work in my shop. Being only battery powered, I'd have to allow for getting at the batteries.

Another great video - I just took delivery on the saw/stand/batteries/charger kit. VERY nice. I did also order the Bench Dog miter gauge attachments. They won't fit into the case like the original miter gauge, but I really would like the repeatability and the ability to have a stop.

Peter, thanks for the video about the new saw. Looks intriguing! Sadly, it will not be available in the US for a long time IF ever for some reason.

Thank you sir

Excellant expanation of the use of saw and the features of saw Peter. I'm extreemely interested in knowing if the blade is perfectly parallel to the miter gauge slot when the sliding table is locked and if there is any runout in the blade as it spins. Also if the miter gauge fence is perfectly 90 degrees, to the table. And as long as you have your dial indicator out, (I'm sure you have a dial indicator), would you indicate the leading edge of the blade when the blade is at full height and the trailing edge with the sliding table unlocked so you can move the indicator to the rear of the blade.

I could see pairing this with an MFT to the right of the blade and adding an incra fence to turn this into a super accurate table saw option without the need for a giant dust collector. I wish it had a wired version though.

Fine

So where’s the digital read out for the fence? And I agree about having the option for a mains connection. I can see this as being very useful for a finish carpenter.

Thank you! I ordered this saw, but still haven't used it yet. I've been watching a lot of content trying to make sure I know what I am doing before I unbox it. Thank you for your videos. When is it best to use the blade guard vs small riving knife?

Hi Peter, great to see you back in the workshop. Can I ask if this new saw has the saw stop tec now it battery operated. Does it use every battery 18 volt range, 8,5 & 4 amp? In regards to the last cut you made, I was always thought not to use the fence and sliding arm at the same time, but rather choose one or the other. Alternatively you could pull the fence back till its in front of the blade then it's safe to use both. Cheers

I have the saw but i am only use for hobby but i think the batteries don’t during lot and if want cut a sheet is to difult cut only can i small parts of sheet because the table is to small.

Peter, wouldn't you prefer to have a digital fence rather than a digital height adjustment? Accurate and repeatable fence on this type of machine would be a massive improvement, while the digital height adjustment seems like a minor quality of life improvement.

Great video as always. What is the maximum blade width that the arbor will accommodate? I know it uses the usual 20mm diameter, but how thick?

Add mains power socket and I might buy one just running on battery is a big no no, and add legs similar to the Eli flip saw

Hi Peter great video I have now bought one but it seems to run one battery flat then stop. Is there something I should set up. thanks. j

Great video ! Can you tell me what brand is your square ? It looks well made. Thanks

Do you know if festool has any kind of extension for rip width capacity or if there is an accurate way to do this without losing blade height? Thanks Peter.

your Wish has come tru/through, for the Wish is the Father of Thoth ...

Great video of what looks like a great product, Peter. Perfect for fine work like kitchen fitting etc. However. For me just not practical without a main adapter. Batteries only get you so far and your working day ends without them. I have a cordless saw table (Milwaukee) and despite me having lots of 12amph batteries I still burn through them on big projects. They are expensive and the turn-around for charging is too long. With a mains adapter it might get more people taking it seriously as an alternative to another platform. Shame - I am loving my growing Festool collection - completely your fault Peter by the way - but this is just a reach too far for now. Thanks for another great video though 🙂

Beautifully made saw that looks about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. Unless you have a toothpick factory...

Hi Peter, a simple question if I may, is the machine value for money? Steve

Peter, I bet you’re thinking how could I Integrate this saw into a workbench to increase its table capacity!

What model sustainer? I,2,3,4 etc?

You should get it free have you seen some of the American reviews

Are you planning on selling your CMS 55 ?

Why?

280mm - 11 inches! Cannot even run a 12 inch cabinet! They dropped the ball with this, to fit it into a systainer stack. They should have made sure that thing could do 12 inches/300mm at least.

That menu system I think is ridiculous, and it’s way too expensive for a portable table saw.

Peter, look at your video again. You had your hand hovering close to the blade and riving knife, while the machine was still live to power and the batteries in their slots. Not good.