[jwr]

One reason could also be that the US woodworking culture treats a table saw as an essential tool (especially the basic table saw, without a sliding table), while elsewhere track saws are used more, it seems.

If you run commercial production, then you do need a table saw (but one with a sliding table!), but for hobby work you might as well spend some time for track saw setups and be much safer.

[Arainach]

They're very different tools, and neither is inherently safe. You can absolutely have kickback-like issues with a track saw if you're not careful when making plunge cuts, for instance.

A track saw is more convenient and arguably safer when breaking down a huge piece of plywood. After that it's no table saw replacement. You can't easily do repeated cuts of identical stuff width, you can't work on small parts, you can't make most of the common jigs, you can't do dadoes or box joints, etc.

[jwr]

I regularly do repeated cuts of identical stuff width with my tracksaw, so I'm not sure why you'd think you can't easily do that.

About the only thing the tracksaw is not good for are long cuts of narrow stock. And yes, dadoes, but I do those with a router and arguably you should not even try to do them with a table saw, unless you are trying to hurt yourself.

Implying that because of the possibility of kickback a tracksaw is comparably dangerous to a track saw makes no sense.

[Arainach]

Track saws struggle with any repeated cuts.

I recently made a cutting board with many tiny pieces - 0.5" square, several hundred of them. With a table saw it's "run pieces through, rotate 90 degrees, run pieces through" - not fast but WAY faster than having to move the track saw every time, and that second cut is impossible with a track saw.

On a table saw I can do crosscuts. I barely ever use my miter saw (in favor of my crosscut sled on my table saw) unless I'm trying to keep the table saw fence positioned somewhere precise and need to make a crosscut in the middle of my workflow.

And speaking of the fence: The table saw is a precision instrument. The track saw is not. I set up my table saw fence once, eight years ago. I have never had to adjust it or look again. If I want something an inch thick I set the fence to an inch and make the cut and it is correct. I don't have to draw a line on my workpiece, measure, and make a mark. I don't need to measure the final piece with calipers to see if I got close enough to actually an inch. I can work quickly and efficiently.

Then there's bevels - am I going to buy a new rubber track guard for every different angle I want to cut, or am I just going to use my table saw and tilt the blade? If I want to be precise and always use a zero clearance insert, at least I can make those myself rather than having to buy rubber molding.

I own a fairly nice track saw (Festool TS55) and a pair of good-quality tracks for it. I own several expensive chunks of metal which profess to do things such as align the track at a 90 degree angle to my workpiece which I am unable to trust or even to get working consistently. I'm not talking "oh, this is 89.7 degrees", I'm talking "I can see with my eyes that's not square, guess I'll go get a combo square and a pencil".

I have owned devices such as the Kreg jig which aim to make it easier to do repeated rips with a circular or track saw and while if you don't own a table saw they're better than nothing, they're nowhere close to the precision, reliability, or ease of use of a table saw.

I love my track saw. I hate trying to pick up and manipulate 4x8' or 4x4' pieces of wood on the table saw and the track saw makes my life much easier - but that initial breaking down is all I ever use it for, because for every other task the table saw is dramatically better.

[miunau]

Table saws are very common in Europe in hobby circles as well. If you take woodworking in school you'll learn to use it along with other tools. Also, you usually build the sliding table and other jigs yourself using the tracks on every table saw. They're called T-tracks, there's a couple different common widths.

[ragingroosevelt]

I think you're probably right.

I have an older Delta table saw and recently decided to sell it because a miter saw + track saw + some other tools you need anyhow does nearly everything a table saw would do, but uses space way more efficiently.

[delichon]

My table saw is space efficient because I also use it (covered) as a table in the middle of my small shop, sometimes to support work I cut with a track saw. And I added a router table to the extension, which just disappears as part of the table. It's a space dense with utility.