272 – Bosch Glide Vs Festool Kapex

Video - October 7, 2016

Over the past year you may have noticed some changes in my tool collection, including trading my Festool Kapex for a Bosch GCM12SD Glide Miter Saw. If you’re looking for a little background information on these changes, check out What Happened With Festool. Since that time, I’ve received numerous requests for a review of the Bosch as well as my thoughts on how it compares to the Kapex. As always, I don’t consider myself a very good reviewer. I have no desire to do a feature by feature and spec for spec rundown commonly found in our favorite woodworking magazines. Instead, all I can offer is one man’s opinion and a completely biased personal impression based on my needs and the type of work I do. So here it is!

Special thanks to my buddy Scott for bringing his Kapex over to play.

Things I Like

Small footprint. The Glide is has one of the smallest footprints on the market and only takes up 33″ from the wall.
Big flat work surface with included extension wings. Plenty of support and reference surface for your workpieces.
The handle is comfortable and ambidextrous.
Easy/obvious adjustments. It’s pretty easy to figure out what all the little knobs and levers do and they are easy to use.
Has a standard 5/8″ arbor so you have a wide selection of blades.
Holds its settings well.

Things I Don’t Like

Dust collection isn’t great. While better than most miter saws on the market, it’s a far cry from the Kapex.
Very slow screw clamp for workholding.
Insert isn’t flush with the table surface.

Things I Miss from the Kapex

Stellar dust collection
Quick-action clamping system

Final Verdict

The Bosch Glide is a great saw. It cuts well (especially with a Forrest Chopmaster installed), adjusts easily, and actually makes a decent attempt at dust collection. But the dust collection is a far cry from what the Kapex is capable of. I’m hoping with some modifications, such as the one shown here in my friend Dyami’s setup, the dust collection will improve.

And while the Kapex is a great saw too, it’s not “more than twice the price” great. The Bosch is about $600 and the Kapex is about $1500. As I see it there are two groups who probably should consider the Kapex:

Those who do on-site installs where portability, accuracy, and dust collection are critical.
Those who are obsessed with good dust collection.

Outside of that, buying the Kapex becomes a matter of “because you can” and not “because you need to.”

Discussion

Patrick Robitaille October 7, 2016 7:24 am

Marc,

I do have the same saw in my shop and to kind of solve the dust collection issue, I enclosed the saw in a box around it and my shop-vac hooks on a port on the side of the box. Works quite good as I took the habit of orienting the dust port of the saw toward the box’s port. The box can be removed or shifted on one side or the other to accomodate for bevel cuts. I went a step further and added an i-vac switch to plug in the saw and the shop-vac. So when the saw gets turned on, so does the shop-vac…

There is one big flaw in the design of this saw though… Why do they didn’t equipped it with an “over the top” carrying handle? You have to take it with one hand on each end, and that beast must weight close to 70 pounds. If your shop is downstair like mine with doorways to get through, it’s quite a hassle to take it out of the shop when needed.

But other than that it’s heck of a saw for the cost!

Reply
- TimL October 6, 2018 6:10 am
  
  Over the top handle is not there so you don’t carry the saw single handed which will put the saw out of alingmemt. These large saws are meant to be carried with two hands.
  
  Reply
Tom Lin October 7, 2016 7:46 am

I have the same saw but instead of trying to fix the little vinyl shroud, I made a permanent enclosure with a dust port on the bottom. Since my saw is attached to my miter station, it makes for a better solution. It doesn’t suck up all the dust, mostly because I only have a 1.5hp collector, but it doesn’t leave a layer of dust everywhere after every cut like it did without the enclosure.

Reply
Dale Murray October 7, 2016 7:52 am

I bought a 12″ Dewalt for rough carpentry when we bought our house, with designs on getting the 10″ Bosch Glide when I started doing finish work and furniture making. This review is giving me greater confidence in making the move.

Reply
Drew Sabens October 7, 2016 7:54 am

Your comment of the Festool being a better saw but not twice the saw has been my experience as well. I have a Kapax in my shop and while its a great saw I would not buy another one at $1500 when there are a lot of very very good saws out there for half the price.

Reply
Darren Rash October 7, 2016 8:54 am

I have heard that you can buy a replacement dust shroud for the kapex and it will fit on the bosch. I don’t know that for a fact but I did read it somewhere

Reply
- Eric Webber November 10, 2016 12:10 pm
  
  Yup – I ordered the Kapex shroud from a canadian Festool parts supplier for a couple of bucks. Huge improvement
  
  Mods, not sure about the rules of linking other sites, but this is where I got it, and Im a regular contributor on that forum, and even comment about it in later posts.
  
  The part number and pics I found were from
  http://bethepro.com/forums/top.....lide-mods/
  
  I copied that exactly and am glad I did
  
  Reply
Jason White October 7, 2016 9:06 am

Aww.. You didn’t mention the lasers on the Kapex. I’d really miss those if I got rid of mine. Best lasers on any miter saw I’ve used.

Reply
- Kelly October 7, 2016 8:30 pm
  
  I bought the Bosch laser for my Bosch glide saw and it gets the job done.
  
  Reply
ben_r_ October 7, 2016 11:33 am

Okay now when are you going to do a comparison of the Bosch router your using now vs the Festool routers you got rid of?

Reply
Victor October 7, 2016 3:15 pm

The more Festool continues to fail to acknowledge the motor issues on the Kapex the more this comparison will become even more relevant, with the balance easily tipping towards the Bosch.

I love my Kapex — it has some features I’d greatly miss — but if/when the motor burns up I’ll much rather spend that $600 to buy the Bosch than repair the Kapex.

Reply
Mark J October 7, 2016 3:57 pm

I had a different solution that works pretty well, especially for 90 degree cuts.
I used a Festool on the built in dust port then positioned a shop vac perpedicular to the blade track at the end of the travel. I can’t post a picture here, but I did in the Forum.
http://www.woodtalkonline.com/.....ed-for-me/

It gets a lot of the dust and does not restrict my depth of cut.

There is also a product out there called the SawStache that is basically a flexible curtain of bristles that can be used to make a non-rigid shroud. But, for my Makita (12 inch blade so I can cut a 4×4) I think it would restrict depth of cut.

Reply
kent Adams October 7, 2016 4:33 pm

Sorry Marc, first time I’ve disagreed with you. I first owned the Bosch, then bought the Kapex. There really isn’t any comparison in my opinion. The Bosch seemed like a toy after the Kapex, but if you are only making 90 degree cuts, then I agree with you, Bosch is fine. Bosch’s detents and adjustments are garbage compared to the Kapex, come on! Just about any miter saw is fine if the test is 90 degrees. I have a 20 year old DeWalt that was better than the Bosch at 90 degrees. Could this be a case where you never understood how to work the Kapex? You’re basically making the case that if you only do 90 degree cuts, why pay twice as more? I agree with that! But, nearly every miter saw can make perfect 90 degree cuts once dialed in, so why buy the Bosch?

As far as the blades go, Festool blades aren’t anymore expensive than Forrest and are just as good. I have 8 Forrest blades so I’m a fan of their blades.

I almost feel like you’re trying to troll with this video. If so, kudos, it worked on me.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo October 8, 2016 7:13 am
  
  I wasn’t trying to troll, but people who spend $1400 on a miter saw are very easy to upset when they feel that have to defend their purchase. If you’re happy with your purchase then that’s all that matters. It doesn’t negate the facts or my personal opinion on the matter. Bottom line is the Kapex is better, but it’s not $900 better (for me). Sorry if I hit a nerve. :)
  
  Reply
- Tom October 19, 2016 4:05 pm
  
  r as the Bosch presets are concerned, there are micro adjustments for fine tuning the detents, so accuracy should improve if you follow the instructions………..just sayin’
  
  Reply
Brett LaRue October 8, 2016 8:40 am

Kent, are you really suggesting that the guy who runs his own woodworking show and builds fine furniture doesn’t know how to use the Kapex properly? And come on, the detents are “garbage?” Hardly! The saw is a very well built and consistently accurate machine, and anyone who buys one will be happy with it…unless you spent $1400 on a miter saw that really doesn’t feature much more. So, is it worth $800 more to improve the dust collection? I think with much less than $800, I could rig something up that would vastly improve the dust collection. And the clamping? A few tweaks later and I’m sure M-Spag will have a solution figured out for it. Anyways, this got waaay too long. I do second the other poster’s suggestion that you should address the Bosch routers next, as well as some others. I love my Bosch routers. I will also say that I recently purchased a Bosch 1/2 sheet finish sander and the vibration control is awesome. Check it out!

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo October 8, 2016 9:25 am
  
  Routers will be next. Spent lots of time with the Bosch. Now I need to change gears and play with the Porter Cable. Then DeWalt. I’ll see ya in 2018. :)
  
  Reply
- Kent Adams October 8, 2016 11:09 pm
  
  Brett, I probably should have read this first.
  
  http://www.thewoodwhisperer.co.....h-festool/
  
  Reply
garry waters October 9, 2016 7:44 am

i have noticed watching several woodworking shows where festool saws are used that they seem under powered. they seem to bog down mid cut both the chop saws and circular saws even some of the drills sound like they struggle.

Reply
Brett LaRue October 14, 2016 5:39 pm

Kent, in all fairness, I’d be using a festool everything if I could afford it. However, I can’t and there are some really good tools for about half the price or less. I REALLY want one of those domino joiners…man, that thing would fit right in on my shelf :) On a side note, I was sitting on my couch reading the latest news about the two disappointments we are forced to choose between for President, and I had a thought: “I wonder who The Wood Whisperer supports…” So, who do you like, Marc? :) and you thought saying Festool wasn’t worth the money was controversial…

Reply
darrell October 31, 2016 5:36 pm

love the saw except for these problems . I have the same saw and have been unable to always get square cuts and when its locked in the its position so it cant glide it has lots of play in it , it hasn’t seen all that much use , contacted bosh a few years ago and they want me to ship half way across Canada at my expense. I don’t think id buy another one

Reply
Eric Webber November 10, 2016 12:05 pm

I put the Kapex dust chute on the 12 inch Axial Glide and it is a decent fit – a little loose, but the notches do line up, and it will hold in place by the same tabs.

Makes a big difference in dust collection. With a high tooth blade turning chips to dust (I use a 96 tooth Freud industrial) and the Kapex chute, dust capture is much improved – as I notice when I occasionally forget to turn on the extractor

Reply
Jim December 7, 2016 10:21 am

Not the same equation in the U.K. though. Bosch is around £700 and the Kapex £900. So is the Kapex worth 30% more rather than 150%.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 7, 2016 11:20 am
  
  That’s for you to decide. :) A close price like that definitely makes the decision a little more difficult.
  
  Reply
Gary Linderman March 16, 2017 11:46 am

Marc, can you talk about lasers? I noticed that the 12SD model $600) has no laser, but you can buy an arbor mounted laser guide washer. I also noticed online a gcm12gdl model that comes with a laser guide built in, but its only $497 from tools-top.com. Do you have any thoughts on this or heard any news about it?

Reply
jerry April 27, 2017 9:32 am

Marc can you elaborate on the accuracy of the 45 degree cuts? Also have you’ve come up with a mod to improve the dust collection? Finally, after using it for a length of time do you still like the Bosch?

Reply
Joel Troster January 10, 2018 7:49 am

I just bought and set up the Bosch. There was a Christmas sale from Atlas Machinery ($150 off) in Toronto and I picked the Bosch based on your review. I make end grain cutting boards and it plows through the 1 3/4″ thick panels with ease. I’m very happy with my decision.

Reply
Austin April 21, 2020 2:06 am

If you slide the fence out, wouldn’t the quick clamp then work just fine with this miter saw? Just wondering because I am planning on switching to the GCM12SD from the Dewalt DWS-779 I use now.

Reply
Mark January 3, 2021 11:08 pm

I’m carpenter i like quality when I was young ill buy usa products now you can’t what the difference when you buy Bosch and festool products when one is made in China for 40 dollars and you pay 600 dollars i don’t know going rate in Germany but ain’t that about the same the difference in market of price not value of quality when i buy quality of product and last for a time

Reply
Andy June 30, 2023 10:11 am

Once you’re in the $1500 range, you can keep your eyes peeled for a Omga (or similar) used miter or radial arm saw. Then you have commercial quality vs the odd niche of high quality consumer.

Of course, if you are going to jobsites Omga won’t help you.

I have a Bosch and have very little to complain about. It weighs a LOT. But it’s beefy and it takes the abuse of getting taken to and fro to jobsites and then my own miter station. Their mobile miter stand is pretty cool too.

Honestly, Festool seems to be an unrealistic brand in my opinion. They always seem to get something basic wrong (tracks on my tracksaw don’t align easily so I buy a 3rd party tool to correct, larger Domino machine won’t work on 3/4 thick stock unless I have a little plate, tracksaw blades are metric so I’m not allowed to use a cheapy to cut MDF, cheap ply, etc.). That brand is currently on my Do Not Buy list because of issues like these. They almost get it right, but they don’t. And they have nearly top tier pricing.

Other brands like Milwaukee, Bosch, etc might not be as good when the tool is perfectly set up, etc. BUT these brands have realism engineered in that allows me to adjust, use easily, aren’t super fussy, etc.

Reply

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272 – Bosch Glide Vs Festool Kapex

Things I Like

Things I Don’t Like

Things I Miss from the Kapex

Final Verdict

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