Time for a New Jigsaw

[Peter Quinn]

Bosch, Metabo, Festool, Porter Cable. All good saws, some great saws, slightly different features, all professional grade, all others are imitators. If one of these names isn't on your jigsaw, you got inferior goods.

[Curt Harms]

There's a Bosch factory service center in N.J. that I was passing by. Got a refurb regular handle for $89.00. They're regularly $99 but the guy couldn't find a case so he knocked $10 off. The saw fits in a case I have just fine. I have a Porter Cable with the fixed base but I understand the P-C hook-type blades are no longer made. My P-C saw will also use universal mount blades but I don't find the blade selection or quality as good for the universal mount blades. I did check the blade mounting mechanism and it seems to function properly. I suspect jig saws are sort of like bandsaws--the blade has as much or more to do with performance as the machine it's mounted on.

HTH

Curt

[Bill White]

Have a DeWalt, but the Bosch the blades are the only game in town.
Bill

[John Willoughby]

Have a DeWalt, but the Bosch the blades are the only game in town.
Bill

same here.

[john tomljenovic]

I have the bosch 1591 barrel grip. went from a crappy skil collecting dust to this, and now the jigsaw is my goto tool. cuts everything wood, steel, plastics, you name it. whenever I go on any "housecalls" this bosch is always with me.

the 1590/1591 bosch does have dust collection, part# JA1005, was like $20 and works just like the festool version with shroud and all, and fits the festool vacuum hose perfectly. there are even slots in the jigsaws tools case for storing the dust collection parts. why they don't include it originally is one of those mysteries.

[Clifford Mescher]

Bosch has new blades T308B, "Extra Clean for Wood".Clifford

[Matthew Hills]

The Festool, while pricey, does have dust collection and it works well...when I bother to hook it up. I dunno if Bosch jigsaw have built-in dust collection. Festool is reknowned for their dust-collection on ALL their power tools and that is one reason I'm a big fan of them.

the funny thing is, once you get a festool product it rubs off -- your other tools wills start collecting dust.

Matt

[Jerome Hanby]

I have a Milwaukee, nice jigsaw, but I like the Bosch barrel handle better for feel, from the few times I've used one.

Milwaukee here too. Got a great buy off of the Bay. It's amazingly better than my B&D and HF models.

[Tim Malyszko]

I use the Festool Barrel Grip Jigsaw and absolutley love it. Before purchasing it, I avoided my DeWalt Jigsaw at all costs.

If I didn't have the Festool Dust Collector and a bunch of other Festools, I would have probably gone with the Bosch.

[Robert Strebler]

I've got the older Milwaukee model and it's smooth as silk. I see absolutely no need to upgrade and am very happy with it.

[Ronald Kellison]

I've used several pro-grade saws. The Festool is the smoothest and has the best dust collection, the Bosch is about 99% as good as Festool for WAY less money. The Milwaukee, Metabo and PC are also good, but not as refined as the Bosch. I bought a Bosch barrel grip last year and love it! From a dust collection standpoint, all of them are much, much better than your old saw.

Regardless of the saw you end up getting, use Bosch blades. Hands down better than any other blade on the market and they last a long time unless you do something stupid with them.

Ron

[Chris Padilla]

Ron,

I've only used Festool blades on my jigsaw but I bought a bunch of them when I picked up the jigsaw. Do you have any experience comparing Festool and Bosch jigsaw blades?

[Curt Taylor]

One more vote for the Bosch. I've had mine for over 20 years and it's still going strong. The new ones look even better.

[Aaron Beaver]

I have the DeWalt but have been looking at getting a different one. For some reason if I want to cut a straight line the saw has to be angled. Not angled as in plumb but angled as compared to the line I am trying to follow.

[Dave Bender]

I have a Bosch, works great especially with Lennox blades (IMNHO better than Bosch blades). Having said that, if dust collection is a concern then get the Festool. I have Festool stuff and a Festool jigsaw is on my list whenever I get around to selling my Bosch.