How Will Bosch Profactor Cordless Power Tools Compare to Other Pro Brands?

March 13, 2021

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Bosch has now officially launched their new Profactor cordless power tools, and the big question on everyone’s minds is about how well they’ll perform next to the competition.

Professional power tool brands have taken different paths towards high performing cordless power tools.

Dewalt launched their FlexVolt series of higher voltage tools, as well as enhanced 20V Max (18V) tools that deliver performance boosts when paired with higher capacity batteries.

Milwaukee launched their High Output batteries that can be used across the M18 cordless power tool system, and these batteries can handle the higher power demands of their heaviest duty tools.

Bosch has announced and will soon launch Profactor, their line of heavier duty cordless power tools designed to be powered by their 8Ah and Profactor-exclusive 12Ah batteries.

It doesn’t look like any of the new Bosch Profactor 18V cordless power tools have hit the market yet, and so there aren’t any direct performance comparisons yet.

Looking at numbers, many of Bosch’s new Profactor saws seem to have lower power and performance ceilings than competing products.

Bosch Profactor Track Saw

The new Bosch Profactor cordless track saw has a smaller blade (5-1/2″) than competing track saws (6-1/2″) and 5500 RPM motor speed.

Dewalt’s FlexVolt track saw has a 6-1/2″ blade and 1750-4000 RPM max speed. This delivers a slightly lower linear cutting speed compared to the Bosch.

Festool’s TSC 55 cordless track saw has a 6-1/4″ blade size and 5200 max RPM. This would deliver a higher on-paper linear cutting speed than Bosch’s.

Makita’s 18V X2 cordless track saw, XPS01, has a 6-1/2″ blade size and 2500-6300 RPM motor speed.

Makita’s linear cutting speed spec is ~36% faster than Bosch’s.

This is all on-paper calculations, and true performance differences will almost certainly vary.

Bosch Profactor Miter Saw

Bosch has not yet published official USA motor specs for their Profactor cordless miter saw. The EU version of this saw has a no-load speed of 2550-4000 RPM.

We asked Bosch to confirm the speed specs for the USA model and have not heard back yet.

Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel 12″ cordless miter saw has a max no-load speed of 3500 RPM. It’s also worth mentioning that Milwaukee’s saw is considerably lighter than Bosch’s.

Dewalt’s FlexVolt miter saw has a 12″ blade and 3800 RPM no-load speed. It can be powered by 2x FlexVolt batteries or an AC adapter.

Makita also has a cordless 12″ miter saw, as part of their 18V X2 platform, with a 4400 RPM no-load speed.

According to this, I would expect for all 4 saws to deliver performance all in the same ballpark.

I’ve heard from readers and users about accuracy problems with Bosch’s axial glide mechanism, as well as Makita’s rail system, and would personally lean towards Milwaukee or Dewalt’s more traditional slider systems, although it’s possible issues have been worked out by now.

Bosch BiTurbo Cordless Table Saw

Bosch also has a new cordless table saw on the way, and it will presumably be a part of the Profactor 18V system. (I wonder what kind of name Bosch will give it, seeing as how the miter saw is the Surgeon and their circular saw the Strong Arm.)

We asked Bosch if this table saw will come to the USA under the Profactor lineup and when that might be, and were told there’s no firm response yet.

If the specs stay the same, the Bosch Profactor BiTurbo brushless table saw will likely have an 8-1/4″ blade and 4000 RPM motor speed. (The EU model has an 8-1/2″ blade, but 8-1/4″ is more standard in the USA.)

The Milwaukee M18 Fuel cordless miter saw has an 8-1/4″ blade size and 6300 RPM motor speed.

Dewalt’s FlexVolt cordless miter saw has an 8-1/4″ blade size and 5800 RPM motor speed.

Metabo has a 10″ cordless table saw with 5000 RPM speed. Because of the larger blade size, if the motor maintains this speed, its linear cutting speed should fall between that of Dewalt and Milwaukee’s saws.

Thus, assuming all of these saws maintain their motor speed under load, Bosch’s 18V cordless table saw will have the slowest linear cutting speed.

(Linear cutting speed is based on the blade size and motor speed, measuring the speed of the circumferential cutting edge. This is similar to how a larger wheel will move a greater distance than a smaller wheel for the same rotational speed.)

Why This is Interesting

Bosch has had a very long time to watch the market and examine competitors’ tools before bringing their own tools to market.

When considering cordless table saws, for instance, Dewalt’s saw launched nearly 5 years ago, Metabo’s ~3.5 years ago, and Milwaukee’s nearly 3 years ago. Bosch’s cordless table saw is soon launching in Europe and hasn’t even been announced in the USA, although Profactor inclusion seems likely.

Does this mean that despite potentially benefiting from 3-5-years of tech advancements since competing models launched, Bosch’s BiTurbo table saw will be considerably less powerful right out of the gate? On-paper specs don’t always tell the full story, but it does set up some initial expectations.

It will be interesting to see how the new Profactor options compare once they’re finally available.

Here’s a current list of preorder pages on Amazon: