the makita 40 volt track saw that's what this exciting episode is all about
now the timing couldn't have been better just as i was getting ready to do these cabinets makita
let me know that this is available and because makita gave me this this is an ad by the way
they don't know anything about this review they're not telling me what to say
anything like that but you should know that they did give me this for free but my opinions
are still my opinions great timing just as i was doing cabinets in comes the new makita track saw
this isn't my first track so i bought this makita track saw here about four years ago i love this
track saw it's a great track saw so this new one is basically that track saw but it's powered by
one battery but if you were hoping for a big upgrade from the corded makita saw
this might be a little bit of a disappointment now it would be hard to find a bigger tracks or fanboy
than myself i swear by them i think every builder should have one i've got a video stating that it
lets you get clean factory cut edges with a saw that you can hold in your hands it's basically
like taking a table saw to the thing you're cutting when it comes to table saws and track saws
my rule of thumb is the smaller the material the more likely i'm going to use the table saw
and the larger the material like these big sheets of plywood here the more likely i'll use the track
saw either way you get a nice clean edge even on these laminate timbers now how is this similar to
the corded saw and let's start with that um it's almost like a case of if it ain't broke don't fix
it it's got the same scoring function which is awesome it lets you cut a nice two mil cut first
before doing the full depth cut which helps get that clean edge it has the same washer on the
base that prevents the saw from tipping when it's on the track and the angle adjustment is
the same as the quarter saw a couple of dials on the front and the back tip it over tighten
them up the blade diameter is the same and crucially it runs on the same makita tracks
so like i said maybe maybe it's the case of if it ain't broke don't fix it why improve on a thing
that a lot of people were already happy with but that also means that you don't have some of the
upgrades that make people choose other brands over makita it has the same depth adjustment which is
a little bit it's just a old-fashioned you just loosen a bolt and then you slide it up and down
there's no sort of incremental change i prefer the the festool brand where you just push it in
and you can just feel it kind of clicking slightly as you slide it up and to topple that off in one
respect there's actually a downgrade this blade spins slower than my old makita track saw blade
so here you go the makita 40 volt track saw so first up you can see they've used the space gray
that seems to be common with these 40 volt tools obviously this doesn't affect performance the top
handle is a lot higher too despite the fact that the blade housing is identical and high
the handle has been changed into a more ready to go position i guess you could call it if you look
at my corded saw it's almost vertical the new 40 volt starts on more of a angle presumably to help
with the forward motion of a track saw cut and the motor is a lot more compact when you look at the
width of the saw the whole body of the saw fits above the base if you look at the old one here it
sticks out where the brushes are now if you have been watching the channel for a while you'll know
that i've been using a lot of the makita 40 volt tools and there's kind of a mixture some of them
are redesigns or you can tell they've been designed from the ground up when they came up with
the makita 40 volt platform i think the drop source that you know they've thought about
every little component and they've made a great drop saw and then some of the other tools like
the impact driver are pretty much carbon copies of the 18 volt version now when they first drop
this off at my house i thought that's what they've done with the track saw they've just made the same
track so they've been making for years but they made it so this battery could power it
but i've been swayed since then after a couple of weeks of using it some of the upgrades are subtle
but they they make a difference so they're all important battery tests now i didn't do like a
runtime test or anything like that what i did was i just used it and i've used it with both the 2.5
amp and the 4 amp 40 volt batteries i started off with a 2.5 because it's nice and compact
so i put this on this morning it was fully charged it's a two and a half amp 40 volt
and now it's flat this thing lasted about four hours of non-stop cutting so i'm gonna replace it
with the four amp battery and we'll see how that does then i changed over to the 4 amp after that
and i honestly don't know how long that lasted because
the way i use my tools especially when they're all compatible is i'll take a battery out of
a tool to quickly use a drill or nail gun or something like that and that's kind of what i did
on the second day i did i carried on doing some cutting then i needed the battery for a drill
so i took it out i think it was probably two or three days later that i charged the four amp so
hopefully that gives you a real world example that might help i guess the bottom line is
it wasn't something that hindered my my process i carried on working like normal it wasn't an issue
one thing that is annoying about a cordless track saw though is it can
stop mid cut and if you're like halfway through cutting a bench top or something
i guess you just got to remember to check the battery before you do the crucial cuts
now one thing that people wish the makita tracks or had
was a riving knife they have that on the festival track saw basically that just
puts a wedge in between the timber after you've cut it and that prevents the
timber from clamping together on the blade and forcing the saw to fly back and do some damage
uh that was the one time that this actually happened to me but it actually happened to me
again the other day while i was filming
well i wish i wasn't time lapsing because i just missed that
look at that kickback holy moly what did i do wrong i had on the score function not even on
the full deck which makes it only cut two mil down and it kicked back that gave me a bit of a
fright so i i hit up one of the guys at makita and asked them about the new saw and i'd heard about
the anti-kickback function and i kind of wanted an idea of how it worked so he said the xgt model has
active feedback sensing technology this won't 100 stop kickbacks but its smart function will
minimize the effects now unfortunately i can't test a thing like that without putting myself
in danger but in theory the the sensing of the kickback will make the source stop the tool dead
it's better than nothing right now if you prefer the fissile or mafil tools the makita 40 volt
tool is unlikely to win you over the thing that's winning me over is the fact that i only need one
battery my makita vacuum over there that needs two batteries and the problem with needing two
batteries is you kind of need four batteries you need two on the tool two on the charge
there's four batteries taken up and then i've got five 18 volt batteries and then i've only
got one battery loose for you know multi-tools and sanders and stuff now while i was using the
track saw i used my festool corded vacuum a lot more than i was using the makita cordless vacuum
i have my drop saw set up and that's plugged into the cordless vacuum
it was just easier to switch on the festool every time i went to cut
which you know then you ask yourself shouldn't i just use a corded saw what's the point in order
for the bluetooth to work you need a bluetooth chip and it doesn't come with the saw which i
think is kind of crazy i looked it up and it costs an extra 100 new zealand dollars to buy the chip
and if you multiply that by all the 40 volt tools you end up getting this whole dream of a cordless
job site becomes a little bit more expensive so i've got one chip one bluetooth chip and right
now it's in that dropper over there i have to take it out of the drop saw put it into the track saw
and then if i want to do some sanding with a 40 volt tool i'd have to put the chip in there and
it goes on and on right it seems to be a big selling point of these 40 volt tools
yet it's not a part of the tool unless you pay extra yeah now of course
bringing up the bluetooth dust extraction brings up the important topic of dust extraction
how does this perform compared to the corded version
there you go that's one score and one cut with the corded
and this is one score and one cut called this same vacuum everything
now the the one downgrade the blade speed i was concerned about the blade speed when i
first got it especially cutting the stuff behind me all this laminate you know material it's got
that nice crisp layer on top and the last thing you want to do is chip that in my mind it was
the slower the blade speed the more chance the play has to think about chipping but
bro science right um i didn't have anything to worry about i cut all that laminate ply behind
me there's a bunch more stacked down there as well that i've cut and no chipping as long as
you have the track in the right place and the rubber on the track is hard down you're um
you have good results so the blade speed hasn't been a problem for me now the other makita track
saw that i do not have here is the two times 18 volt double battery cordless saw the other
cordless track saw before this one i have used that and i've got a video comparing that with the
festool version you can check that out i'll put in the link below i only use that on that one job and
i gave it back to makita because i didn't want all the hassle of all the batteries already have two
batteries in this vacuum two batteries in the saw that means well i'd have to have four batteries
charging or something ridiculous so all that battery juggling was what put me off you can use
a plug-in bluetooth compatible thing to make your corded vacuum work with any of these battery saws
so that might be something to consider if you want to get the two times 18 volt so the makita 40 volt
it takes a lot of boxes for me it has that scoring function it has a lot of the things
that i'm used to with the makita corded and i love the makita cord it's a great sword i'm
more than happy with it and it fits my existing tracks i don't have to go out and buy new tracks
and it has a couple of bonuses chucked in it takes one battery has slightly better dust
extraction and most importantly it was free makita gave it to me that's a huge factor
if makita hadn't have given me the saw i wouldn't have gone out and bought it
simply because i already have the corded i'm not full steam ahead into some future cordless
worksite i don't need that i often have plugs and everything wherever i work
so it's not that important to me and the improvements of this aren't enough over my corded
makita tracks or to justify the 900 or whatever it is when i looked it up this was about a hundred
dollars more expensive than the 18 volt version 2 times 18 volt so yeah you pay a bit more for
40 volt tools and then if you want that bluetooth thing you have to pay another 100 for that chip so
things to consider right so in conclusion the track sword lives alongside the other makita
track source it's not much of an upgrade but if you want a track saw that only needs one battery
here you go or if you plan to move over to the 40 volt permanently then this is a track saw
for you so if you are shopping for your first track saw and you want a makita one and you're
not you don't really care about cordless tools then go out and get recorded if you're very keen
to get a cordless tool well pay a bit extra and get the 40 volt and then you only need
two batteries one on charge one on the tool it has everything that the other makita tracksuits have
all in one package i'm gonna get rid of the quartered one even though um seems like a
contradiction but i'm going to give this to pydo this quartered makita track saw and i'm going
to hold on to this one because for me this one just feels nicer to use i don't know if it's the
the fact that it's new or it's compact size and the fact that i can have a cordless track so i've
never really had one so it'll be interesting to see how my habits change i mean what this makita
tracks was is a refined makita track saw that happens to run off one battery it's good i like it
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thanks squarespace appreciate it that's the makita 40 volt track saw that's going to be
my sort of regular track saw now so i'm sure i'll pick up more things about it if you've
got more questions i'll answer them in due course and um thanks for watching this exciting review
and i'll see you in the next exciting episode oh yeah what do you think of my sound wall here
i really like it look i talk here like this and maybe it's a little echoey i don't know
but then if i go over here that's an improvement right maybe i should
have had my camera set up there doing all of that okay see you next one you