SEE OUR FULL DETAILED POST ON REAXX SAW HERE
https://beltsandboxes.com/bosch-jobsite-table-saw-reaxx-gts1041a-with-active-response-technology/
We all know the story of SawStop with its patented technology to stop a table saw blade once it touches your skin. It’s a wonderful technology, we are very happy was invented and think this was a great leap forward. SawStop has a very nice line of stationary table saws and recently also launched a portable jobsite table saw JSS-MCA for $1399 which is priced significantly higher than other jobsite table saws but if it saves a finger or two, worth every penny. For the first time since SawStop hit the market however they will have some competition in this super safe saw space as Bosch is also launching a new super safe jobsite table saw with flesh detecting technology called the Bosch ReaXX GTS1041A ($1499, Shipping as of 6/1/2016).
Unfortunately SawStop has been in the news a lot because of various lawsuits and talk of creating laws specifically to require technology such as this to be used on every table saw. This is a fine idea if it did not also make the saws simply not economically feasible for many people to purchase a table saw. Hopefully with a new player in the game this is a step towards making this sort of safety feature more widely available.
The folks at Bosch Tools told us their technology is based off their airbag technology (which they’ve put in millions of cars) with the big advantage here in that the blade is not ruined (as it is on SawStop) when the airbag is deployed. Each airbag cartridge will have 2 deployments before you need to replace and apparently the saw can go off 25 times before requiring factory service. That seems like an excessive amount of times to touch your finger to a spinning table saw blade.
The Bosch ReaXX saw is also equipped with technology to connect to an app you can download on your smart phone which will allow users to track how often the safety feature is triggered as well as how often the safety feature is disengaged (in certain cases like cutting wet wood you may need to turn it off). This monitoring allows companies to better track the safety of its employees and perhaps improve maintenance of this investment.
We should know more this week on availability date, price and additional info on how it functions when the saw is officially launched a JLC Live. Great to see improvements like this make tools safer to use and our hope is this will be a voluntary move for more consumers and businesses to elect to purchase saws with these features. With competition comes more innovations, cost reductions and economies of scale which is great news when it comes to the safety of our workforce.