The Exakt saw yes they are a tadge expensive for what they are, but the company is Scottish, so one is supporting Scottish Industry for what that's worth, but I paid fifty quid which included delivery for it is a graded product, that is cosmetic return and has a 3 month warranty which isn't bad as it's not electronic and if it is going to die it will do so when I am first using it as I am using it heavily.
It runs quite hot in use and is somewhat awkward what with the angle grinder style slide switch and I understand a health and safety inspired button to release the plunge mechanism, that came off straight away on mine , not broken but I removed it as it is awkward and the plunge spring is strong enough to stop the guard enclosure from being moved by accident. ( I understand later models are not as awkward, they have responded to customer input)
It cuts on the upstroke which I thought was odd, which means the machine does not drag itself into the cut so it can be quite precise as the cut is fully dependant on oneself driving it and after a bit of practice it can plunge into a cut and cut to a line, the cutting guide is pretty good, it lines up well with the blade.
Depth of cut it says up to 12 mm, I would say it is good for 10mm which is plenty enough for laminate. Dust extraction is excellent and it is advisable to use it when the destructions say it is advisable. But in conclusion, it is good for what it is designed for, a bit of a specialist tool and the one I have is the destroy- it- yourself model, but there are more professional variants available even reconditioned like mine. Blades, mine came with two, just bog standard wood cutting HSS blades a 30t and a 44t, but tct blades are available as are ceramic cutting blades and I think metal cutting plus a variety of attachments which expand the versatility of the thing. Oh and yes, it is well built out of resilient materials
The seller I got mine from ;
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/exakt_precisi ... 1497.l2754
Which made me laugh really, what with second hand machines being sold for more in the auction section.
Oh and I used to be a power tool repairman trained by Bosch at Denham and have handled/repaired thousands of professional use power tools over a ten year period including Festool, Fein, Metabo, Trumpf and Flex and fully understand a well built machine when I see it, the Exakt saw is not of Black and Decker or Ryobi quality, but so far in my understanding of what I have experienced,the d-i-y model is somewhere up in the middle range in terms of build quality. I have not taken it apart yet to investigate how well built the innards are and won't unless I get really bored or it breaks outside of the warranty period and so I have yet to discover what it is like for spares availability, armature and field for major repairs and brushes for minor repairs.