It exhibits a lot of clever engineering maneuvers, and undoubtedly retains the admirable build quality that Festool is rightly known for.
But I object to management imposing an artificial constraint on engineering.
Instead of saying, “I want you to design the very best, light weight portable table saw that you can.”
They said, “I want you to design the very best light weight table saw that will fit in a Systainer.”
I can only imagine how much better the saw would have performed if the task was to to simply build “the very best light weight tables saw you can” rather than forcing it to fit in a Systainer.
Festool is noted for its use of the Systainer. That does not mean that they should hobble their engineers with an artificial constraint that compromises performance.
Much better, to have engineering say, “This is the very best, lightest and most competent portable saw we could come up with; it performs as well as any full-sized contractors’ saw. But you will have to create a special sized Systainer, because we could not put all that capability in a standard sized Systainer.”
They had the tail wagging the dog. Better to give basic parameters to the engineering department with a overarching dictum: Keep it light; keep it compact; keep it capable.
Colin Chapman, the legendary engineer (and creator of Lotus Cars) said, “Simplify and add lightness”. He did not say, “Build me a car that has a 107” wheelbase”. Instead he provided an overarching principle and let his engineers run with it.
Precision and portability have always been the hallmarks of Festool. But the Festool saw predates the containers that house it.
I think they should have taken a similar approach: Design a saw that will eventually have to be made to fit in some sort of containers, preferably a container that reflects the design characteristics of a standard Systainer (similar lines, materials, handles and latches, and of course the standard Festool colors).
It looks like an appealing little saw, but I think they screwed the pooch by forcing the engineers to work within a size constraint.
