Bosch GTS 10J Professional Review (Pre GTS1031) – My First Table Saw

(UPDATE: In most countries, the Bosch GTS 10J Professional has been replaced by the Bosch GTS1031, which has some upgrades for the blade guard and other improvements)

I spent a whole lot of time researching table saws before finally getting my Bosch GTS 10J Professional table saw. For about six weeks, I read all about table saws, their features, the bells & whistles, and online Youtube reviews.

In my opinion, a table saw is a big investment for a beginner like me, and I wanted to get it right. I could not afford to buy a table saw only to find it lacking in the long-term.

Ultimately it came down to these few simple things:

• How much does it cost? I certainly had a budget, and I wanted to stick to it. About $650 was all I could spend on my table saw. I wanted to get one around that range or cheaper.
• How portable is it? I don’t have much working space, so it has to be portable. I sometimes have to move some tools away to use the table saw.
• How well-built is it? In the lower end, table saws can be quite deceiving. They seem sturdy enough, but read some reviews and you may find that major parts of the table saw could be made from plastic.
• How accurate is it? Again, this is quite a problem in the lower end. An inaccurate table saw is practically useless, or just adds more work to correct the inaccuracy. After reading some reviews, I found that a lot of the table saws I was looking at didn’t have an accurate miter or rip fence. The most important thing here is the rip fence locking, some lock tight while others are more unpredictable. Also, it must be set up correct out of the box.
• How dusty is it? Dust is a big, big problem for my small closed space. I do have small windows, but a table saw makes a lot of dust. For my price range, the dust collection options on the table saws were pretty ok but nothing fancy.
• What’s available to me? In Malaysia, I cannot get my hands on every single type of table saw. I didn’t want to make a special order and pay for the shipping and tax myself either. Plus, to keep my mind at ease I also wanted to have local manufacturer support.
• Will I need to upgrade in the near future? Like I said I didn’t want to invest in an inadequate table saw, and spend more money later getting something good. I’m sure I could try selling off the unwanted table saw, but that might take a long time.

So I decided on the Bosch GTS 10J Professional. I bought it form a local hardware store, with an extended warranty from them. Also, the Bosch service center is just about five kilometers away from my home.

It was very well packaged and was set up (almost) perfectly out of the box. I found out after a day of using it that the blade guard was not perfectly lined up with the blade, so the wood would squeeze between it and the rip fence.

Also, the faceplate has adjustment screws at the bottom that I was not aware of. Initially, when I made a cut I had to apply more force to push the wood piece all the way through, and I found out it was because the faceplate was just slightly sunken.

I adjusted the blade guard and the faceplate height, and then the Bosch GTS10J Professional cut really fast and clean.

A 10-inch blade was included, and I’m still using it today. The blade was sharp and accurate. The rip fence was easy to move and lock. The overall quality of the GTS10-J was just excellent. No flimsy plastic parts on this one!

The miter gauge seems a bit too simple, but I know there are a ton of ways to make the miter gauge more useful, like making your own jig or modifying the gauge itself. There’s a bit of a wobble from the miter slot, which can make some cuts inaccurate.

You can counter it by applying the correct pressure to keep it from wobbling.

My GTS-10J came with a fixed stand, which was easy to figure out and fix the table saw to. My only complaint is that it seems a bit too high. Maybe four inches lower would have been the perfect height. Either way, I was so happy to have the stand because now I can move my table saw out of the way when I needed more room.

In terms of the dust collection, I feel like it could have been much better. Although you have a vacuum outlet at the back for sucking out dust, there are a lot of gaps in the blade housing. So, a lot of dust still blows out of those gaps, not to mention from the top of the table saw. Since this is the only table saw I have ever used, I cannot tell for sure if this is what you should expect.

So my overall review of the Bosch GTS10-J Professional:

• Well built, set up nicely, and cuts accurately
• Small and portable enough for small workshops
• Complete with a push stick, miter, fence locking
• Comes with basic but useful safety features
• Can be extended for coping with longer wood
• Great value for money, perfect for beginners

I am so glad I got the Bosch GTS 10-J Professional. I was also considering the Makita 2705 table saw, but it was out of my budget. Upon further investigation, it seems like almost everyone was not happy with the rip fence on the Makita, so I’m glad I didn’t go for it.

You can get the Bosch GTS 10-J Professional from Amazon for about $350. If you live in the United States, this is a great deal because you pay so little in shipping. For me, the additional shipping cost for such a heavy item was not worth the wait.

So I paid about $600 at the local hardware store. (Buying from Amazon would have cost about the same after the huge shipping and import fees).

Before getting this table saw. I was cutting manually with hand saws and hacksaws. It was fine for soft pine wood, but hardwoods were a nightmare. The Bosch table saw can cut hardwoods pretty easily.

For thicker wood, you can take two passes instead of one to avoid burning and stressing the motor. For me, the Bosch GTS10-J Professional is good enough for my current and future needs. With a few different jigs to accomplish specific things, I should never need to buy another table saw again.

(UPDATE: In most countries, the Bosch GTS 10J Professional has been replaced by the Bosch GTS1031, which has some upgrades for the blade guard and other improvements)