Track saws have been on the market for a while now, but there hadn’t been any major changes to the category until the past year or so, when three of the big manufacturers of track saws introduced cordless models. Recently, I tested DeWalt’s DCS520, a 61⁄2-inch cordless track saw powered by the company’s dual-voltage FlexVolt battery.
Power. I tested the tool with DeWalt’s 6.0-Ah FlexVolt battery (a 9.0-Ah FlexVolt battery is also available). In use, the saw had plenty of power, and I was able to rip 4⁄4 oak and full 2-inch-thick alder (almost maxing out the saw’s 21⁄8-inch cutting capacity) with no sense of struggling. It certainly felt like it cut as well as a corded saw. Of course, the trade-off for all that power is runtime; if you are hoping to use this saw constantly, you will want a second battery.
As far as I know, this is the only track saw with a variable speed control. Since there are blades for cutting all types of materials and each one has an optimal cutting speed, this is an option that makes a lot of sense to me.
Accuracy. Aligning the saw to its track proved more difficult than with my other track saws, because an Allen wrench was required to loosen and tighten the adjustment knobs. In theory, an adjustment knob with a locking screw should hold better than one without, but this makes aligning the saw to the track you are using a cumbersome process. Once it was set up, however, my cuts were perfectly straight.
Unlike on other tracks, both sides of DeWalt’s tracks are usable, which means that you don’t have to make sure that you have the track rotated in the correct orientation for your particular cut. Anyone who has used a track saw extensively will appreciate this feature.
I found that DeWalt’s track saw will run just fine on a Festool track, but not on a Makita track. Unfortunately, you cannot link a DeWalt track to a Festool track; it’s either one or the other. The DeWalt track seemed to be a little less rigid than my Festool track and probably a little more prone to damage if stored improperly. And one of the two DeWalt tracks I used with the saw wasn’t flat, so that it needed to be clamped down.
Features. Plunge cuts are quite a bit different with this saw than with the corded track saws that I own. Those saws essentially just pivot into the material, whereas this one uses a linkage mechanism. At first, this felt strange, but the more I used the saw, the more I appreciated this feature and came to prefer it.
Another feature that I initially disliked but came to appreciate was the anti-kickback mechanism. Once engaged, this prevents the saw from moving backwards on the track. I think that track-saw kickbacks are rare, because the track guarantees a straight cut line, which should eliminate binding on the blade as long as the riving knife is properly adjusted. That said, one of my other tracks has a long groove cut into it, a reminder that kickbacks can and do happen, so with this feature, that worry is in the past. Once I learned how to disengage the mechanism when necessary, I was fine with it.
Dust control. Like all my other track saws, the DeWalt has excellent dust control when hooked up to a dust extractor. That said, dragging around a corded dust extractor defeats the purpose of using a cordless saw. Are there cordless dust extractors out there? Probably, but you will lose the synchronicity between the two where turning on the tool activates the vacuum. It would have been smart for DeWalt to include a dust bag with this saw, but I suspect that one will be available as an option.
For deck builders, dust collection is probably not a big deal, which makes the portability of this saw—which compares very well to corded saws in performance—all the more appealing. For someone who works in a shop environment or a house, though, where dust containment is desired, I see no reason to buy a cordless track saw. Why pay the premium if you still need to hook a vacuum hose up to the saw and have a ready power supply?
