Thread: Makita and Festo go head-to-head — sort of

DeWalt have just come out with one as well. But it is no cheaper than the Festo TS55.

Ian, the difference between the makita and the festool rails are that the makita rail has an extra ridge on the inside of the outer rib. (I know this might sound like a weird description, but it's for the anti-tilt feature the makita saw has; there's a tab on the sole plate, that you can extend so it hooks underneath the "ridge", to prevent the saw from tipping over when making bevel cuts)

Apart from that the rails are identical and the festool saws can be used on the makita rails; The makita rails are cheaper, but are only availbable in 1400 en 3000mm lengths, the festool rails have more options between 800 and 5000mm.

The good thing about being the market leader is, that competitors, even those who have their own different rail systems, such as mafell or dewalt, make their machines compatible with the festool rails, so if you own a mft table for example, you can use it with the dewalt saw.

btw, I have read positive reviews by users of the makita saw, but personally I would consider the lack of a riving knife a reason to go for another brand of plunge-cut saw.

Cool must look into that.

The price on the 3000 mm Festool rail convinced me to put up with joining my two 1400 rails together, at least for the moment. The TS55 saw and rails work well, but am happy to seriously consider 3rd party options if they are up to the task.

Will have to start chasing thru catalogs and dealers to find these Makita rails. Havent laid eyes on em as yet.