Good answer, huntsgemein.
Speaking of which, I agree with your
previous associated remarks, especially in relation to saw blade availability. There are definitely more blade options in 165mm diameter than in 162 diameter. Tenryu blades don't seem to be available in the UK, and the Bosch blades (165mm dia., 1.8mm kerf, 48t) cost
approx £40 here, vs. Mafell (162mm dia., 1.8mm kerf, 48t) at
around £52. On the face of it, then, the Bosch blade looks to be the better buy, as it appears to be premium quality for £12 less, but I am still extremely wary of running a 165mm blade in my MT55cc, as it might leave small marks on the blade shroud casting, that'd void my warranty.
Festool blades, on the other hand, are safely 160mm dia., but
aren't significantly cheaper than the Bosch blades, and have a 2.2mm kerf instead of the standard 1.8mm kerf of Mafell blades. Given the disgraceful pricing of Bosch/Mafell FSN SG strips, I don't wish to risk trimming my SG more, with the potential of a nasty shock if I go back-&-forth with different blade kerfs, without remembering (although extra kerf thickness isn't always increased symmetrically, I'd still prefer to keep things simple and avoid any potential moving of the goalposts. That means I wish to stick to 1.8m kerf for all my blades)
After accidentally wrecking my 48t Mafell blade (hidden nails in a fire door I was trimming), I recently purchased a
Trend CSB/16248 as an economical replacement for such tasks, that wouldn't hurt my wallet as badly, in the unfortunate event of encountering future hidden metal objects.
I'm pleased to report that (for UK residents, at least) this really is a viable general-purpose panel cutting blade for the MT55cc. It doesn't leave a perfectly smooth cut-face (the genuine Mafell blade does), presumably due to either slightly less consistent grinding of the teeth, or slightly less stiffness of the teeth and/or blade body (the tooth profile is noticeably more slender, as well as having a slightly more aggressive angle of attack). The carbide tips are also noticeably smaller/more frugal than those on the premium Bosch and Mafell blades. However, this Trend blade does get 90% of tasks done more than satisfactorily, and, as I recently learned to my cost, it doesn't matter how premium your chosen blade is, if you hit a nail, it'll get damaged just as badly as a cheaper one! The thicker TC tips on the premium blades are more likely to tolerate re-sharpening, but one has to weigh up the pros & cons - if it's just blunted, then that might stand in favour of paying for a premium blade, but if you hit a hardened screw, then even thicker TC tips may chip so badly that they're beyond hope of re-sharpening, and if a new TC tip is brazed on, then the servicing costs may spiral upwards, pushing the economics back in favour of using more-disposable economy blades.
Therefore, I will be keeping my spare unused Mafell blade for high-end jobs, and now using the Trend blades for 90% of my daily work, since I can afford to use them in a disposable fashion when they get blunt or damaged. Why? Because, instead of £40 or £52 each, they are only £13 each.
With all that said, although I have found a reasonable compromise for daily blade use, if I had bought the Bosch GKT 55, instead of the Mafell MT55cc, then I would undoubtedly have a broader spectrum of blades and price-points to choose from, whilst still benefiting from the same FSN rail design.
Does that mean I regret buying the MT55cc and wish I'd bought the GKT 55 instead? Well, no. Ignoring the bloody annoying inaccuracy in the
bevel-cut alignment with the SG, the MT55cc is a generally superb piece of kit, and I do use the 'unique' quick-scoring function almost every time I use the saw.
However, if I had bought the GKT 55, would I regret it and wish I'd bought the MT55cc instead? That's a tough question for me to answer, as there are definitely pros and cons to each saw (and a huge amount of common-ground). I would probably mostly consider how frequently the saw would be used in the course of earning my income - if very frequently, then I'd choose the MT55cc, and especially so if cutting fragile melamine/Formica/laminate-faced panels and worktops, or finish-grade plywood, or veneered panels, etc., as the quick-score function would repetitively prove its worth.
On the other hand, if I was using the saw with only moderate frequency, or mostly cutting non-finish-grade plywood or non-fragile surfaces (plain MDF, for example), or preliminary cuts on timber boards, or trimming interior and exterior doors, then I'd probably save a hundred quid/bucks and buy the Bosch with a couple of extra blades. To be clear about this: the Bosch is absolutely capable of performing cuts of the same quality as the the Mafell, in 95% of scenarios. The other 5% could still be accomplished to an equivalent standard, but with a little more faffing around in order to get there (one example of this would be that, iirc, the Mafell quick-score function cuts approximately 0.1mm closer to the splinter guard/cut-line then the subsequent full-depth pass, so that the up-cutting front edge of the circular saw blade has less potential to chip fragile top surfaces of laminates and veneers. To accomplish the same thing, one would need to manually set the cutting depth of the Bosch to 1 or 2 mm deep, use that as a score-cutting pass, and then very carefully tap the guide rail sideways at both ends of the cut line, to move it over to the right, by 0.1mm, all the way along the cut-line, before re-setting the saw to full plunge depth and making the final cut-pass).