Hello fellow car audio junkies! Wanted to write a review of the Bosch GTS1031 for quite some time now, but also liked to get a bit more usage before posting my opinion.
For anyone curious which Bosch table saw it is, here is the link: Bosch GTS1031 10 In. Portable Jobsite Table Saw
To answer the question of how did I decide on this particular saw, well a lot of it could be my OCD about brand loyalty and matching. Growing up, my dad taught me a ton about woodworking. He was/is a Craftsman fanatic, but has no brand loyalty like I do. If it does the job, it works. His circular saw is Makita, because they make a dang good product, and it does a great job. His table saw is a Craftsman not so portable but not quite cabinet saw. Drill press is Craftsman, sanders are a mix of Porter Cable, Craftsman Skil, and Bosch. His scroll saw is a DeWalt. All wonderful products, that do an amazing job. I started out with Skil, mostly because of price and availability, but also because they do a great job. Especially for the price. When I found out they are a division of Bosch, and after my old Black and Decker cordless drill took a super dump... I purchased my first Bosch product. And seven years later, it still works! That drill has easily been my best purchase. So slowly but surely, every item I had was replaced with a Bosch, and any new items that were added have been Bosch. And they have all performed flawlessly. Well, except for a display drill that took a dump after a year, but I don't know if that has to do with it being a display at Lowe's, or it was indeed a defected unit. But that was only $45 from their Clearance section - so I can't complain too much.
When it come time to get a Table Saw, I actually looked at Rockwell's saw because of having recently acquired their BladeRunner X2. Also looked at the Delta like BigAl purchased, DeWalt table saws, Hitachi, Ridgid, Skil, if anyone made a portable job site saw, I looked at it. My shop isn't big enough for a cabinet saw, and it actually isn't my most used tool at this point yet. The miter saw is my current go to tool right now, but hoping to quit using it as a clutch so much, and build some nice sleds for the table saw to get more precise miters. So I kept going back to the Bosch GTS1031. A lot because of the Bosch name, but mostly because of the features. Decent dust collection setup, decent fence setup, decent price, and most of the reviews said it just has power for days. My stepfather-in-law does a lot of on site work, which they have mostly DeWalt and one Bosch saw. He says they use the heck out of those DeWalt, and the motors seem to go out on them after a few months. But the Bosch is their backup, and just keeps going. Does that mean the Bosch is better, not necessarily. He admits they use the DeWalt saws a lot more than the Bosch, because the worm drive fence on them is a super nice feature. But they said the Bosch is a super reliable backup saw and works every time.
Went ahead and ordered the Bosch GTS1031 from CPO Outlets when the price come down even lower on a sale they had. And from all the reviews, I knew right away the stock blade wasn't going to be my particular choice, and I've never even used it. Ordered a Diablo 50 tooth 10in. blade the same day as the saw. It went on the same day they arrived.
This is the Diablo blade if anyone is curious - Diablo D1050X 50T 10in. Combination Saw Blade
So the first cut was made with MDF. Needed to make a half cube test enclosure, so a quick set of the fence, raise the blade, let her rip!!!
And that's when it got scary. You ever had a sharp pair of scissors that slides through wrapping paper with ease? No resistance, just shhhppppppp! That's what happened. I kept asking, is this right? Where's the pushback? Do I have it set correctly? What the heck? I mean, whatever was fed through this saw, it just cut through like melted butter. Doubled up the MDF to make it quicker, and still no resistance or pushback. Just bzzzztttttttt, done. To this day, with everything I've tried, including MDF and birch plywood sheets, pine boards, poplar, you name it. That saw makes cutting an absolute breeze. The one time I've felt any resistance, was with 1.25" thick red oak. Saw speed never slowed or bogged, nothing. Could have been the rough surface of the red oak causing friction and not sliding as smoothly across the table area, but I'm just being honest that it did provide a little bit of effort to push that material through. Made some desk legs out of pine, triple stacked to get a 2.5"x 2.5" square leg, and had no resistance with that.
After some design and shop layout, decided to place the saw towards the front of the shop, in the middle. This allows me to open the front door of the shop if needed, to feed anything longer than 6 feet through the saw. Building is 16 feet long, so it allows 10 feet on the other side of the blade.
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It's nowhere near as sexy as the table DavidRam built for his DeWalt. Hoping he'll post up a thread about that awesome setup. Did use a super nice pallet to make an outfeed table that has been a lifesaver many times. Don't think I have pictures of it though. Thank you for taking the time to read this review!
