Job site table saw

[Kelly Marr]

Hi,
I am looking for a new or used job site portable table saw. Looking at Bosch and the Dewalt.Those of you that have them do you have any pros or cons of eithere one of them.
Thanks Kelly

[Neil Brooks]

You may want to search the forum a bit.

The 4100 consistently takes the top spot, in this category. I love mine.

It's not a cabinet saw, but ... you know that.

But ... fitted with a good blade, aligned well, and -- particularly -- if you outfit it with the Bosch in/outfeed extensions and, say, an Incra 1000SE miter gauge ... it's a VERY good saw -- capable of the sort of work needed for fine furniture joinery.

I love mine. I find NO faults. It's parallel. Cuts straight. Stays at whatever angle I set it to. Eats hardwood, with my full 6" Forrest Dado King stack, and allows a _surprisingly_ quick feed rate.

With a ripping blade, it'll eat up dimensional lumber all day long.

I love the motor. I love not worrying about corrosion on the non-ferrous table.

Do I still wish a Unisaw was the center of my shop ? Yep. Occasionally.

But ... in its class ... it's hard to imagine it having competition that TRULY does anything MUCH better, and/or everything AS well.

Good luck !

[Albert T. Tappman]

The Bosch 4100 is a better saw than a Dewalt DW745, no question about it. I have the Dewalt for a single reason - I needed the lightest, most portable saw available. It's easy to pick up and store on a shelf. I've used it almost every weekend since I bought it last November to install wood flooring, and it's performed well. Things you need to know about it: it has a composite table, it's loud, the arbor isn't long enough for anything larger than a 3/8" stacked dado blade (two blades and one chipper). The fence is adequate but nothing special.

Note that Bosch is coming out with a model GTS1031 that looks like a more direct competitor similar to the Dewalt DW745.

[John M Wilson]

+1 on everything Neil said about the 4100. Love mine. Does exactly what I want it to. As Neil said, it's not a cabinet saw, but my workshop is also my garage, so all the toys need to go away when it's time to pull the cars in.

The only thing I can add to Neil's fine summary of the saw is a review of the mobile cart. Before buying the Bosch, I did research for months on the various kinds of mobile and stationary workstations for table saws. Nothing comes close to the combination of portability, ease of set-up, and stability of the Bosch gravity rise stand.

BTW, I bought mine used from a fellow creeker, and he had taken such meticulous care of the saw, it was better than new.

I hope you have good luck in your search, too.

[Kelly Marr]

Albert,

How do you like the R&P fence on the dewalt. Do you think that that is a deal breaker?
Thanks Kelly

[Jim Andrew]

I have the Dewalt, bought it because of my bad back, to use on jobsites. Had a old old craftsman, when I was young could roll it into the back of my truck by myself, now can't do it with help. The saw is great in that you can just pick it up, set up the stand and set the saw up on the job and saw away. The fence is the best part. Always parallel. Think it would be smart to downsize the blade to 8 or 9". I have the thin kerf 10 on mine, and it saws, but not like my unisaw.

[Timothy Wolf]

I have the Bosch 4000, I got it second hand, it was beat up pretty good when I got it, but I cleaned it up and have a pretty decent saw. BTW the motor had recently been replaced and purred like brand new so it was still in decent working order. I just upgraded to a Ridgid 3650 Contractor saw so I am getting rid of mine on CL in Colorado Springs, it is in rough condition from the outward appearance but it can slice wood like you wouldn't believe even with an Irwin blade on it I love the fact it is so much quieter than any other jobsite saw I had used previously. I looked at the dewalt and decided it was just too small to justify for shop use (it may work for jobsite better but I fell in love with the size of the table on the bosch). One more thing I understand the need to have a light weight base on a jobsite saw but I will never own another saw with a plastic base, they just tend to break too easily. That said, another saw you may want to bring into consideration is the Ridgid jobsite saw which fairly comparable and can often be bought used for considerably less $.

[Albert T. Tappman]

Albert,

How do you like the R&P fence on the dewalt. Do you think that that is a deal breaker?
Thanks Kelly

All I can say about it is that it has remained square to the blade without needing any adjustment. It does occasionally take a few tries to get it set precisely, because very small movements are not so easy.

The only advantages it has over the Bosch 4100 are its size and its price. Since I didn't have the space, the Dewalt was the only option, and it's worked out fine. I do intend to look at the new Bosch portable saw, however.

I second Jim Andrew's suggestion to use a thin kerf blade.

[michael gates]

Theres no comparison between the two, Get the Bosch, I used to have the Dewalt, then bought the Makita with gravity stand but have used the Bosch and I wish I would have bought it instead.