jonathan-m

Its very clear to me you guys in the States havent had the pleasure of using a tool like this yet. The comments I read on message boards sounds very similiar to when Festool introduced you guys to the track saw. People didnt see their value either. "well i just clamp a straight edge and run my circ saw by it..." And just look at the market now. Everyone whos used one swears by track saws. This is the same thing all over again. KSS saws are so much more convenient, faster and precise. And who says you cant have great dust collection? Those Mafell KSS saws have excellent dust collection when connected to a quality vac. And im confident the dust collection on this new Festool will be great as well. One thing Im fearfull of is the power using only 1 18v battery. Festool isn't exactly known for powerful saws. They're all just debatably adequate in grunt. I do agree about the battery eco systems though, but I doubt well ever see any manufacturer offer everything. Combining different brands seems like a necessary evil thats here to stay.

Mafell is 100% German. All the engineering, CNC machining & plastic injection moulding happens in-house in Oberndorf, Germany. There's extremely little to zero outsourcing. They also manufacture many tools for other brands like Hilti, Bosch, Flex to name a few. In the past Mafell and Festool collaborated a bunch of tools but when Festool infringed on some Mafell DuoDoweler patent when they came out with the Domino joiner, the cooperation seems to have stopped. This new Festool HKC saw is another concept Mafell introduced 25 years ago. In short, Mafell is one of, if not the most respected tool manufacturer in Germany. They're generally regarded as the most premium German portable tool brand for timber framing. Another nice fact is their next door neighboor is weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch.

I was looking at some M18 videos on youtube today and I stumbled upon this unboxing video of the M18 Fuel grinder in a box I hadn't seen before. https://youtu.be/CGquyDBXqvA I think the cat's out of the bag and this is one of their new boxes they were hinting about. If I'm right, it's as I feared and it looks like they tried to do their own thing, which is again incompatible with the other systems already out there. Might as well have saved themselves the trouble and just kept the old cases.

Good eye. Yeah they're Bosch batteries, just with a different logo.

Mr Yellow is correct, this is nothing new. Mafell have been making these for 25 years now. They offer 3 corded versions and the KSS400 variant has been for sale in cordless for over 10 years now. KSS400 36v KSS300 (depth of cut 40mm) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRxUuHKTZiU KSS400 (depth of cut 55mm) https://youtu.be/9TCOE3IbBAc KSS80 (depth of cut 85mm) https://youtu.be/3-VCI4miQeI Just wanted to set the record straight and point out that Festool didn't invent anything new or groundbreaking here.

Well all they need to do to have a slam dunk is license the gigantic range of tanos systainers. That way their tool storage will be compatible with the majority of the other tool brand out there. Festool, mafell, makita, metabo, mirka, bti, hitachi, triton, lamello,the list goes on. But most likely theyll just try to reinvent the wheel like dewalt did and start from scratch with a completely new and non compatible small range... Its so simple to get this right Milwaukee, but youll probably just shoot yourself in the foot. Dont be stupid and just license the already insanely popular systainers. Especially in Europe many work trucks and vans are specifically designed around the systainer tool box system.