Miter Saws Reviews

I purchased this tool in May of 2004 for my shop. An a middle-aged amateur with diminished eyesight I chose it primarily for the laser guide and initially found the device to be a terrific advance for electric miter saws. However, after using the tool no more than 20 times the laser stopped working. Following the phone advice of the Porter Cable technician I removed the cover to expose the laser switch wiring and found everything to be intact. Ditto with the remainder of the tool's wiring. As irritating as it was to loose the use of the lasers on such a new tool, I was equally disappointed that rather than sending me a new switch, or lasers, I was told to take the saw to a local shop for repair. I am not sure what the repair cost will be, or how long I'll be without the tool, but I do know I'll not buy another Porter Cable (or Delta) power tool.

Although the basic tool is solid and sports a rigid adjustable fence, I already had a power miter saw without lasers. I rate this tool 2 stars because of the lack of overall quality and mediocre customer service.

I loved the thought of a twin-laser mitre saw. Bought the 10" version almost two years ago. The switch that turns on the lasers would not work properly sometimes. Then as I was cutting some base and casing, small chunks of wood damaged first one laser and then the other. One laser was knocked loose from its mounting. I don't know what happened to the other. The lasers simply don't work.

The auxilliary (left) fence has never aligned with the main fence. Now I ask myself if I paid extra for features that don't last very long.

I appreciated the lasers when cutting base and casing, as I could line up on a mark very easily.

This is a great saw, the lasers are very easy to use since they are on both sides of the blades. You can turn the lasers on without the saw running so you can setup board hold downs for accurately as well as keeping your fingers and thumb away from a running blade. There are good stops, easy to read scales and a large base for stability on a table. The left side is larger than normal by about 6 inches so it holds work well. The fence is easily adjusted and the blade is a snap to change, the tool for this is on the back and only one bolt needs to be removed and your at the blade. I looked at sliding compound miters but was not impressed with blade side movement so I stayed with the compound miter for its dead on accuracy.
The wonderful part is it is under priced for a saw of its quality.

Package arrived in good condition. As I opened the box one thing was apparent and that was "sure is bigger than I thought it would be". Truly "Heavy Duty". I had throughly checked it out on the internet prior to purchase, even went as far as making a copy of the instructions. This morning when I took it out of the box I just set the boxed instructions aside, I had a copy and didn't think I would need them. About the first line of the assembly instructions reads "Remove both end caps" while all the time showing a picture of the axle and wheels. Well the end caps are already off the axle, so after a couple more steps I decide to look at the new instructions, what a difference.

Two complaints; no handle and small wheels. Let's face it, you aren't gonna roll it around on gravel or in the dirt. One other thing - More written instructions instead of just pictures would help for those of us who are impaired in that direction.

I would highly recommend this workstation.

Purchased this saw bench from Amazon almost 2 years ago. Along with the work station I purchased a 15" hitachi chop saw. I invistigated extensivly both products and this station was the only one that would marry up to a saw that size. I am a commerical contract Glazier and my material comes in 24' lenghts. Some of these extrusions can weigh up to 200 lbs. Fabricating in the feild has never been easier.

As far as putting this thing together if you follow the instructions to a tee you should spend no more than 2 hours putting it together. Would recomend this product to the novice home owner to the heaviest commericial contractor.

I would like a handle to but can do with out one . The assembly took about two hours a little longer than I would have liked but that OK .I got it for my bosch 4412 slider and it works perfect .I would recommend it for any pro .I think I'm going to buy their vice and router table next.

I needed to have some window treatment crown molding replaced on my historic home. I was able to buy this saw for about the price that our contractor wanted to charge per window. The saw appeared brand new and works great. I have completed the project with ease thanks to a well built tool. The crown-molding presets were a great help.

I gave this saw a fake 5 star rating because that is what it deserves. Do yourself a big favor and don't purchase any of this remanufactured junk. I took this saw into the Dewalt factory repair shop and got it back in the same condition that it was in when I dropped it off. This purchase was a total waste of time and hard earned money - NEVER AGAIN.

I just opened my new (reconditioned) DeWalt saw and what a blast! I had been using a borrowed Delta 10" saw, and for what it was it did a great job framing our new gas fireplace surround. However, I was amazed after making a few cuts with the DeWalt. Like someone else said, it's like I'd been playing with a toy and now I'm working with a real tool. The cuts were so smooth and sharp, perfect! One note, the invoice said my reconditioned saw would have a 30 tooth blade, but it had a 60 tooth DeWalt construction blade and I was very happy about that. The saw had a couple of very minor marks (not scratches or dents, just some small rubbing marks) on the table, nothing really, but otherwise it looked new. I am very happy with this purchase ($179 through TylerTool) and can't wait for my next project.

I am a professional remodeler and have just about every tool on the market. I don't use it that often but this little saw comes to the rescue when no other can do the job. It's great at making perfect cuts on wall trim while the trim is on the wall (a rotary tool, sawzall, circular saw can also do this but with less accuracy) . It is very powerful for its size. The only drawback is that the blades are not designed to cut through metal (old houses are full of hard nails in unimaginable places) but a sales rep indicated that they are working on a metal cutting blade. All of my friends in the business are amazed at this saw and I can't understand why they all don't own one. Good job Bosch!

I received my Bosch 1650VSPKG via UPS yesterday. I was impressed with the speedy processing and delivery of my order (ordered Friday and received on Tuesday). The price was to my liking with a $10 coupon plus FREE shipping.

The small manual was printed on less than quality paper, but the instruction were straight forward.

The first thing I did was fine-tune the blade alignment; needed was a small T-square, small crescent wrench and a blade screwdriver.

I recommend permanently mounting the miter table attachment to a solid surface to eliminate viberation [that are likely to be caused by the loosening of the furnished mounting clamps].

Another suggestion would be to construct "extention wings", i.e., 6" to 12" on each end of the [pemanentaly mounted] Miter Table, to handle and stable the excessive lengths of wood.

I don't think the Workclamp is adequate to sufficiently hold the wood being cut. I'd suggest using a pair of hand spring clamps to do this job by clamping them over the Workpiece Fence holding the wood to be cut.

Replacement blades are available on a couple other websites. There was about a $2 differents per blade between the two websites I located.

The only drawback of this packaged deal was the flimsey carrying case. But, I can live with that.

A very clever tool with magnificent performance! This isn't a replacement for your circular saw or Sawzall (tm). But when you need it, absolutely nothing else on-the-market will do the job. Easily cuts through even when you need to begin your cut mid-sheet or mid-board -- with no pilot holes or wasteful pre-cuts. Surprisingly powerful, yet easy to handle even in awkward or confined spaces. I've never purchased a Bosch power tool, so can't yet comment on reliability. Regardless, this one is a real winner.

the delta 36-412 is a beast. unique features including the front bevel lock mechanism and the quick grip sliding fence make the saw a treat to work with. it cuts smoothly and efficiently, and is the only 12" saw that can cut a 1"x8" upright. the dust port is too small, and the secondary blade-guard is a liability--a 90-tooth blade throws the dust into the guard and showers the operator with dust. I removed the seccondary guard after a day and haven't had any problems since--mind you I run a dust collector on-site non-stop.
cut and dry; professional trimmers who frequently cut base over 5" would be advised to follow my lead and invest in "the beast"

I'm a professional woodworker and own a half dozen miter saws and several different brands. Like many other people, I feel the sliders are great, particularly if you are doing carpentry. But, they can be a bit cumbersome to move in and out of the truck and job site and most don't come close to the accuracy and the excellent features included in the 36-412. For doing crown and cornice molding this unit really does the job nicely. For those that may not be aware, many of the problems you may be having can be simply solved by fastening up to a 3/4" x 4" MDF chip breaker to the fences that will adjust independently along with each fence/back stop and can be trimmed and adjusted as needed. This will help you visually line up your cuts and put the work piece closer to the center of the blade arch. If the fences aren't quite true, you can always slip paper shims in between the aluminum fence and MDF as needed. This is actually a very handy trick for most saws that have sliding/adjustable fences. We found the unit to be true out of the box as well and were immediately impressed with the thoughtful design and quality of the sliding fence lock and crown stop mechanisms.

My purchase of the Delta 36-412 was based on looks, ruggedness and price. I'm not a heavy user of miter saws but I've always wanted one for the now and then projects that were previously done struggling with a common skill saw. My intention was to buy a DeWalt or Craftsman saw not a Delta since I considered them inferior. However after spending about an hour looking at all the available saws it was apparent even to me a novice that the Delta saw was built stronger and had more features that I felt were more useful to my needs.

After getting home I did a little research on the internet and found that many other agreed with my assessment of this saw. For once I made the right decision based on my own opinion before being influenced by others.

My current project is the reason for buying the saw and I have not doubt it is going to be much easier having a miter saw and the Delta will serve me for years to come.

I have not use the miter saw yet, but when first opened the box today, I received a broken handle due to poor packaging. No protection! Just the cardboard from the box. Amazon was great about their customer service. Anyhow, I gave it a 1 star due to the lack of packaging protection. It probally would have made a great saw, but not this time.

I bought this saw when it was on a major sale so I think I paid substantially less that what it's going for now. Nonetheless, I would purchase it again at it's current price. The saw works beautifully. The controls and adjustments are smooth and easy to use. It fits perfectly on the StableMate Universal Saw Stand I bought to go with it. We've been building a kid's fort/swingset/deck/climbing wall/etc. for the past year. I got tired of borrowing my brother's saw so I finally bought my own. I normally buy DeWalt (which is what I was borrowing) but I have to say this is a great saw as well.

I just purchased this saw a couple weeks ago. I have just completed installing new trim in one of the bathrooms and it looks great. This saw is big enough to do large trim boards with ease. I have not done much in the way of complex cuts (bevel & miter), but on the returns that I have cut, it makes a nice clean cut every time.

I have been buying freud blades for over 15 years and i have found them to be the best value and quality for my restoration business.

First let me start off by saying i'm just getting into woodcutting.Just purchased a 1938 #1160 delta-millwaukee tilt top table saw.Saw had very dull blade,such as you could ride up-town on it and never get even a scratch from it.Started looking at blades online and came up with this one,being one of the better one's at a very reasonable price and from a well known maker.Blade is to be one of best for ripping & crosscuting,have cut both ways and say i absolutely agree! Have cut hard wood,soft wood,plywood,it makes no difference.Will give you a nice smooth finish type cut.I'm sure looking at cuts, this blade will give you finish cut as good as a lot of others & better than some.

I have read a lot of reviews about how great such-and-such a blade is compared to some other blade. I figured that while most of what was written was probably true, a good chunk of it was probably the same sort of bunk that you hear from folks who consider themselves audiophiles - all talk and no substance mixed in with a lot of pseudoscience. In other words, Bunk with a capital B.

Well, I needed to get a blade for an old saw I am restoring, so I bought one of the TK906 blades. Everything good you hear about the blade is 100% true!

I am pretty new to woodworking, so still have the blades that came with the tools. I am used to having to wear hearing protection when sawing. I was completely amazed when I did a test cut with the TK906 - instead of a very loud "skeeraach!" sound that I am used to, I heard "bzzzzzzzzzzzzt". The blasted motor and arbor turning on the saw makes more noise than the blade cutting!

Once I inspected the cut that's what really sold me. Granted, 99% of the cut is having the blade aligned properly (and I go for a perfect alignment), but the cut I got was ridiculous - perfectly flat, smooth, no tear out. Close inspection showed very little in the way of teeth marks - they are there, but are miniscule.

I know there are some more expensive blades out on the market, but I can't see how they would be worth the added expense. Maybe they are, but it is awfuly hard to improve on cuts like I am getting.

OK, far from great. Blade brake never really did work properly and motor burned out in about two weeks of use (maybe around 10 hours of actual run time) Plexi blade guard would jam up into the housing and not come back down. When it was running it did good work. Based on above I can't recommend it to anyone. In shop now for warranty repair.

I guess maybe I'm lucky but I've had this saw for about 10 years and of all the tools I own, I'd say it was the most worthwhile tool I've ever bought. I used it, abused it and put it through a lot of work for a few years and then used it to build a custom oak log home. Yes, a totally solid milled OAK log home where every log was 5-1/2" x 7-1/2" and you can imagine how many cuts I had to make building a log home throough thick hard oak. And then came the basement, interior walls, and outside landscaping. And then tons more work and then a lot of custom fence work. I have probably pulled that trigger a million times. I noticed the brake not engaging a few times, maybe less than 10 times over about a million trigger pulls. It's been truly a magnificent saw and would rate it as high as a scale would go. Heavy? Well if you're really slight of build, maybe, but then again, just don't try and take it on the roof! I find the weight just right for the job it is capable of doing, it doesn't bother me and I weigh 190. I've never had any problems or replaced any parts, it just keeps on working whenever I need it to. I just used the stock blade as a backup when the carbide blade I bought got dull from all the oak cutting. The carbide blade I got would leave a glass like finish across the oak cut, it looked like a laser cut it. The best thing to remember is that the blade is big and like a tire, it needs to get up to speed to get a true spin and then cut started. If it wobbles, then you need to get the blade balanced at a professional saw sharpening shop. Trying to slam the blade through heavy stuff before the blade gets up to speed or if the blade is unbalanced will get you a cut that goes (to the)right usually. Keep your blades sharp and make that first 1" cut slow and easy and then it will cut straight and leave that killer finish on hardwoods. All in all, I wouldn't ever consider a "normal" 12" blade after owning this saw unless I had to make sliding compound cuts. Yeah, it also rocks on trim too. But don't forget this is the saw you want when sawing through Pergo or any of that flooring out there. If you're looking for the Arnold of saws, this is it.

I have been using the Hitachi C15FB for about 5 years now. I have found it most usefull for cutting trim including large crown, casing, and baseboard. Although transportation and set-up of the saw can be somewhat difficult if you don't have it mounted to a stand, it performs better than any other miter saw I've used. including (other Hitachi saws, DeWalt, Delta, and Jet)

Pros:
clean, crisp cuts
extremely accurate miters
can't beat a 15" blade
15 amp motor
affordable

Cons:
Heavy
Brake doesn't always engage after trigger release causing the blade to dive.(be carefull!)

as to "dukemans" remark on the plexi guard sticking. I have completely removed the guard which makes lining up the blade to the desired cut line much easier. However, I don't reccomend for an untrained carpenter to do such acts.

The pros definately outweigh the cons, and I would highly recommend this saw to any professional trim carpenter.

Over the past three months, I have purchased 4 Jet woodworking machines including this one, to the tune of almost $2400. Until recently, I was planning to purchase a Jet Planer Molder and Performax Drumsander, but based on my recent experience with the WHM Tool Group, who makes this equipment, I am having second thoughts. Although I am for the most part happy with the machines I've purchased, when I was assembling my table saw, the fence that came with the saw did not match the one in the instructions, and I had to spend a considerable amount of time on hold with the WHM customer service department to find out how to mount it to the saw. I can live with that, but as I began to use the saw I discovered that although two arbor wrenches are required to change the saw blade, only one came with the saw. Although I don't think it is too much to ask that they throw in two $6 wrenches with a $1500 saw, I thought, I'd just order one from the WHM website. There I found that the Shipping for the $6 wrench would be $19.99. I sent a note to WHM regarding this requesting a reply, and did not receive one. When I called a week later, I was curtly told that the saw comes with only one wrench. When I asked why it would cost $20 to send a $6 wrench that would fit in a standard letter sized envelope, I was told that they do not ship via U.S Mail, and that was the end of the conversation. I ordered the wrench to the tune of $26.70, and was surprised again to find that it was back ordered with no expected date of delivery. I sent a copy of this rating to WHM tool group to give them a chance to respond, but again have received no response almost a week later. For what ever it's worth, if customer service is important to you and you don't want to have to purchase things that should come with the tool and then be charged three times the value of the item for shipping and handling you might want to consider another brand.

If you are looking for a 3hp cabinet saw, look no further. I ordered this saw after exhaustive research. I had eliminated the 5hp models from JET, Delta and others due mostly to price. I knew (and I was right) the 3hp model would handle the oak, maple and other hard woods I like to work with. The fit and finish is first rate. Everything about this saw feels first class. I have no complaints at all

The saw arrived with no difficulty. I used the free shipping option, and contacted the carrier to ensure it was delivered on a lift gate truck (thank you to all of you who warrned me!). The whole shipment is 680 lbs. 580 of it is just the saw. I was able to slide it down my storm cellar entrance on my own (however, I don't recommend this as a 1 person job!!!), as the saw comes bolted to a wood skid.

I set the saw up in about 3 hours, with another 1 hour for the router base. Again, thanks to all of you who provided an order of assembly, and the note about the router plate holes being off by 1 mark.

The fence is amazing. Once it was setup, I've never had to worry about it's allignment. I get smooth, consistent cuts every time. The micro adjust let's me dial in any cut, with a degree of acuracy that is greater than any other non-industrial saw I've worked with.

In terms of cut quality, I'm very pleased. The best saw is worthless without a good blade. Again, I'm value-consious, so I've been using the Freud blades - I have about 6 of them between my radial arm saw, table saw and mitre saw. I've not been given a compelling reason to spend the extra money on Forrest blades. I've also added the Freud Super Dado set, and made some unreal dado cuts.

I would recommend a few extras: 1 - stabalizer. This has made good cuts excellent cuts. It really is a must, even with the quality Freud blades. 2- Zero clearance insert. In combo with a good rip blade, I've been ripping oak plywood without any tearout or splintering. 3 - Outfeed table. I've installed the Delta outfeed table. It took drilling a few holes in the cabinet, and removing the splitter/ blade guard. It took about 3 hours to install, but it fits perfectly. This is an excellent addition to an already great saw. It really make the saw more useable, and more importantly, safer.

This saw has PLENTY of power for any cut. I've cut 3/4" x 3/4" dado's with out any bogging of the saw. I've rip-cut 3" solid maple stock without any hint of bogging down. 4x quartersawn exotics? No Problem! This thing just GOES!!!

This was an upgrade for me from a Rigid contractor-type table saw. This is an excellent table saw that is easy to assemble if you read and follow the instructions. Mine was perfectly aligned from the factory and took me about 3 non painfull hours to assemble ( as a matter of fact, I had a good time doing it because all the parts were there). After that I was practicing and making a few different cuts to try it out with a happy smile on my face. I do use it on an every day basis, and I can tell you that it works great, has plenty of power, it's extremely straight, accurate, comes with a great fence, and it is a joy to use.
If you are not familiar with table saws in general, it would be a good idea to find out more about left, or right tilt table saws. With that in mind, see which is more confortable-convenient for you to use. Keep in mind that this saw has a powerfull 3 HP, 230V electric motor.
I started working with a contractor saw, and 2 years later I bought this Jet model with mobile base, and extension table. Now I notice the difference in power and the quality of my cuts. I am glad I didn't buy a more expensive brand. This is a great saw for the money and it will last you for a long, long time.

Because the screw issue has not been resolved (see other reviews), assembly can be maddening. It is too heavy: sturdy is good, but this gauge is awkwardly heavy. Without a T-slot (and maybe even a lateral table extension), anything but narrow stock will have this gauge falling off the table.

Reviews here imply this is a "must have" for precision work. Fastening a milled board to a conventional gauge (preferably with an adjustable rod, to eliminate lateral play) and clamping on a stop on occasion has a lot going for it.

The JDS 18-34 Accu-Miter Gauge does everything it claims it can do.It was simple to assemble and adjust it.Adjustments have held true so far.I've used it alot in the short time I've had it. Comparing it to 3 other miter gauges I have its by far the best, but I feel it should be. I paid the price for a quality tool and got one.

This is a rock-solid mitre gage. Easy to set up and use. There are two stops on the gage and both are easy to use and produce extremely repeatable cuts. Customer service at JDS is efficient and nice. (I accidently knocked the gage off of the workbench and one of the stops broke. JDS quickly shipped a replacement for a nominal fee, $4). It's an expensive gage. But, I do so much cross cutting that the cost is justified.