Festool has come out with a new cordless miter saw, the Symmetric SYMC 70.
It features a symmetrically-adjusted fence that should work well for corner miter joints, and caster wheels for rolling around on the floor.
The special fence isn’t unique to the Festool Symmetric SYMC 70, and it’s been a while since we’ve seen any new saw with this feature.
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The saw is part of Festool’s 18V cordless power tool system, and is powered by two batteries.
It comes with a bevel square, so that you can just transfer measurements and bisect miter angles without having to do any complex calculations.
You also get a workpiece clamp, which can be mounted in one of multiple locations around the miter saw’s base.
There will be a basic kit as well as a “Plus” kit with batteries and a dual port charger.
Festool USA has not shared anything about the tool’s pricing or availability, at least not to us. Maybe we missed out on the exclusive social media influencer launch event announcements again.
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Soup
I don’t do trim stuff, but I love it. I need it. Not sure for what, but I definitely need it.
Mack
It’s meant for hardwood flooring installers
Rafe
This is more directed at base trim install I presume, not hardwood install. Creating opposing odd angles on a floor install is uncommon, especially if you’ve done your job right and certainly not on a regular basis that would warrant a tool like this. Base trim, all the time.
Normalspeed
Can imagine this rolling away just on the last bit of cut.
Wheels with brakes(maybe 4″ height) is good, castors just not right for a machine.
James
The wheels have brakes. It would be a disaster without them. Oops there goes my finger…
Joe H
A guy could put on rollerblades and just roll about the whole house while working.
Rog
Its funny how confirmation bias and brand preference can play a part in our perception:
If a low tier or off-brand tool company put this out it would likely be derided as a gimmick and unnecessary, but since its coming from Festool–or a similar tier brand–it will likely be viewed as clever and innovative.
Aaron Gillison
Craftsman had this saw years ago…
Stuart
Yes – it was the Craftsman Miter Mate.
Nick
I’m not a usual commenter. But I feel like I needed to let this out. Sorry to do it as a reply to your own comment Stuart ( I’m a quiet but constant reader), but yes there is innovation here. Great idea for custom trimmers. I never knew craftsman had a saw that is similar because I never heard of it. And I actually heard about this particular saw a couple months ago and was very interested in it and tried to find videos of it but only saw shorts of it being shown at trade shows until you posted this article. I trim houses. But I mostly do production homes. The occasional custom but mostly production. This wouldn’t be something practical or ideal for what I do on a daily but for someone trimming a custom home, where you have the time to go back and forth to readjust an angle cut, this seems like the holy Grail. Never has there been a perfect 90° inside corner for baseboard in any home that has ever been constructed. But again, as a trimmer, this seems like your best option to get your base or case or crown or whatever you are putting on to fit at a perfect miter or bevel. Would love to try this out. Just my two cents.
Nick
And I say all of that without even talking about or considering the fact that it is on wheels! That’s a whole other ball game right ther
Stuart
The MiterMate came out roughly 14 years ago.
Craftsman sent one for review, and after we sent it back I purchased another copy for the reviewer to continue testing.
This new cordless Festool is similar, but more specialized.
I can’t say what’s innovative here over earlier models, but it looks designed and built with purpose.
A Festool cordless reciprocating saw doesn’t make sense to me. This does. It reflects understanding of a problem or frustration that can be eased or eliminated.
As you suggested, it looks to be a better way for mitering corner trim at off angles, such as 87.2° or 92.4°. It can be done with traditional miter saws, but something like is simply quicker.
Ross
That fence does seem nice with getting both side cuts from a single adjustment. However I can’t understand how it would work well on a stand. Perhaps if installing flooring where you’re already on the floor, although precision mitering isn’t usually needed that often when flooring.
Doresoom
I had the same thought. I just installed 250′ of baseboard in my basement. I was working with 16′ stock I would NOT have wanted to deal with supporting it as it flopped around with this saw’s fence setup. I had my miter saw up on a stand though.
The Festool symmetric fence looks handy for short little runs of detail work, but definitely not good for longer pieces of trim unless you’re working on the floor all the time …which sounds miserable.
Peter
They should come out with something like the Bosch GTM 12 JL on wheels.
Leo B.
I think this is definitely aimed towards flooring installers. Flooring can definitely have precision miters- often prominently featured. I think it’d be nice to have the saw right there vs having to go up and down. I could see this being nice for quarter round or shoe mold, too, if shears won’t work. Interesting execution!
fred
One of the Mafell saws that I gifted last year was to a fellow who does flooring as his principal work. Maybe he’s just humoring me – but he has said that it has become a mainstay tool.
https://www.timberwolftools.com/mafell-kss-40-18m-bl-cordless-cross-cutting-system
John E
I’ve had the corded version (KSS300) for 15+ years. It gets used so much that I somehow now own three; one being the cordless model. Only wish they made a blade left version for some tricky cuts where you want the battery at the other end.
John E
If you install composite decking, this saw (KSS40) will pay for itself by the second or third job.
OldWiseMan
Isn’t the apprentice working below your belt on the floor while you cut and hand them down for them to fit and fasten? 🙂
Bsc
Metabo (Europe) sells something similar-Metabo Mitre Saw KGSV72 XACT SYM sans the wheels. I think it’s aimed at trim installation but I could see it being used in flooring.
Blocky
And people were probably putting it on wheels already.
Robert
Seems like the total assembly has a high center of gravity. How have you users dealt with that? Doesn’t seem of you are working on the floor you could clamp it down to the floor.
Nathan
I assume the saw base is a sustainer height so you use your existing systainer boxes as work supports.
I like the fence but it doesn’t appear to have the depth to cut large crown molding or foot tall baseboards. (Minor exaggeration).
Blocky
Could have called it the “trim tram”
Saulac
The Craftsman mentioned in the comment does not have symmetric fences and would need a special bevel square that fit into the clearance of the saw. I wonder if the symmetric fences are unique to this saw. It seems to make the concept more worthwhile.
BTW, Stuart do you mean “just” in “It comes with a bevel square, so that you can cut transfer measurements”? Also, not trying to split hair, and I totally understand what you meant, but would “angles/corners” is better fit than “measurements”? Why? Because the whole idea is that with this saw, you do not have to “measure”. This saw enables the woodworking practice of “mark not measure” (Is this what it called?). So you get the perfect miter w/o needing to know the actual angle measurement.
Stuart
Sorry – thank you, that’s exactly what I meant.
You’re still taking a measurement, it’s just not quantified. Measurements can be comparative.
The difference here is in how it’s directly transferred rather than requiring any math.
Michael F
I’m learning a lot these days about product market fit and believe that if Festool thinks the market needs this tool they must have spoken to tradesmen who have a pain point around cutting non standard miters. Considering it’s designed to roll on the floor I would imagine the pain point is around trimming floors and base board.
J. Newell
I think that saw has been available in the EU for some time.
There’s a video on Festool’s YouTube site that has a competition between a flooring installer using this saw and another installer using (I think) the 18v Kapex. The installer using this saw won by a noticeable margin.
Very nice but also very niche, at least for me and my needs. Still, a very slick saw.
Hoser
Been a professional finish carpenter “trimmer” for well over 20 years. In the early years did production homes, now custom homes with lots of millwork. There has never been a time in my life where I would use this saw. This is not a saw for cutting base.
I have seen so many saws on wheels over the years, and it’s always flooring guys. A finish carpenter has no reason to put a saw on the floor.
Munklepunk
I did something similar with the DeWalt 7.5 20v and the packout rolling dolly. That combined with that Ryobi flooring saw made life easy for flooring jobs since we didn’t do then often.