Bosch PST 680E Jigsaw

The Bosch PST 680E jigsaw is a very nice piece of equipment. Although it comes from the Bosch ' green ' range of tools for the DIY market, it has the feeling of solidity that I usually associate with professional quality equipment. Mine cost £50 from B&Q, slightly more than I could have got it online for, but I needed it urgently, and it did come with an additional set of blades.The SDS quick blade change system is now fairly common, but it works well, and if you still have a jigsaw that uses the old blade fixing system using two screws, then it is worth buying a new jigsaw just for the convenience. The PST680E has an acceleration trigger, dust extraction connection, and can be set to blow or suck air across the cut for optimal visibility. The case isn ' t up too much, being rather flimsy and fiddly to use, but it is adequate.The machine has a pendulum action " this is important, because it speeds up cutting, and helps the blades last longer. I bought this due to dissatisfaction with a very old Black and Decker, which didn ' t have a pendulum action, and the Bosch cuts about three times faster. I have been cutting laminate flooring with both of these machines, and the B&D with some cheap own brand laminate blades only managed to cut about three linear feet before becoming blunt " and required a firm shove to get the blade to cut at all. Using the PST680E with Bosch ' s own laminate blades, the machine goes through an HDF laminate board as though it is made of cork (well, almost), and I managed to cut for the rest of the project without needing to replace the Bosch laminate blade. By my reckoning I would have paid as much out for blades to complete the project with the B&D as I spent on buying the Bosch and a single set of laminate blades (of which two still haven ' t come out of the packet).You can get cheaper machines that have quick change blades and a pendulum action, so why spend more on a Bosch (and more than Bosch ' s cheapest jigsaw at that)? Well, you can never have too much power in my view, the acceleration trigger is particularly clean and progressive in its action, and the machine is surprisingly smooth for a jigsaw at any power setting. It is also relatively quiet, and cuts more accurately than my previous experience of jigsaws. It feels compact, solid and durable.