Bosch GCM 12 GDL Professional

[Pearo]

Both the Bosch and the Festool have their critics nearly in equal numbers, you pay your money and take your chances I suppose as both are at the high end of the scale as afar as performance goes. There are even critics of the Festool dust extraction which I find a bit hard to believe, they sure haven't tried the Bosch in comparison.

I had a fair old play with the festy. Its dust extraction is certainly much better than the bosch, but its no angel either.

[richmond68]

You are right Chris, everything has its critics. But aside from dust collection, the only thing I wish the Bosch had from the Kapex is the rotary bevel adjustment. I bought a Starrett mitre saw protractor ($30) so finding the exact angle isn't a problem, just a bit fiddly getting the machine set to it. I paid $500 for a slightly used GDL and stand, and I wouldn't have a snowflakes chance of finding a Kapex at that price, so I can tolerate the minor inconveniences. There's often debate over which is best, but best that you can afford usually sorts that problem for you.

My other bugbear is the trenching stop, the maximum is about 50mm which isn't good enough for a saw that cuts 104 depth, and is easily dislodged. But I haven't found a good trench stop on a mitre saw yet.