Power Saws Reviews

I purchased this saw several months ago from Amazon, and I couldn't be more pleased. I gave the saw only 4 stars because it doesn't have a laser guide, which I would have preferred. However, I purchased an Erwin laser guide ($20), and it works great on the DeWalt saw. Highly recommended, since it helps with precision cuts. I also bought a Ryobi miter saw stand ($99) which also makes the saw far easier to use. I built an octagonal picnic table which required a great many regular and angle cuts with treated wood, and the saw performed flawlessly. It has no problem making a 45-degree cut across a piece of 2x6 lumber. I'm amazed at how sharp the blade is...and stays. Very highly recommended piece of equipment.

I love this little 12" saw, I outfitted it with the Dewalt laser for the DW718 that is not supose to fit any but the newest but it works great, bought the newer guard and fitted it to the old gaurd spring assembly plate and with just a flip of the switch from my little finger and laser is in sight, I built a deck yesterday for my father and it was supper bright out, very difficult to see the laser but when the stanley tape measure, it reflects the red laser and had no problems,,,just put the tape on the end I was keeping and lay it across under the saw and adjust the board to were the laser refected to the measurment, slide the tape forward out of the way and cut, keep the tape length out and set on the next board and on my way,,,,,NO pencil marks, NO T-square, SO MUCH FASTER :O)
Built my own 2x4 table for it with a couple of ply wood squares on each end and only added about 10 pounds to the weight, sets on 2 saw horses great, I can carry the table and saw by my self if i need to for sort distences and very easy for two people, If you read this ,,,Thank you :O)

Arrived without any damage, always a plus. Saw was square out the box which surprised me. I mounted it on brackets for my dewalt dw723 miter saw stand. It can cut 5 1/4" base standing upright , and 5 1/4" crown on the fence (get the crown stops, dw7054, if you cut alot of crown, they are worth their weight in gold). My only complaint was the saw came a 32 tooth blade which I changed out after about a week, the cuts were not smooth enough for fine finish work, but for general carpentry, that blade should be fine. A 60 tooth combination blade would cover just about any situation.....but that's only my opinion, and we know what opinions are like.

the drill fits but hangs up when you go to remove it from the hook. I had this first and it was ok. But then I got the big lugg bunge...much better easier to use all aroung a better solution.

IT WORKS PRETTY WELL WITH A BIG GUN. IT WORKS VERY WELL WITH A SMALL GUN. MY COIL NAILER IS A LITTLE HARD TO GET OFF AND IT BENT THE BELT CLIP A COUPLE OF TIMES.

An excellent addition to my tool belt. Incredibly handy, way less cumbersome than drill "holsters". I like that I can pop it off and move it to another belt with ease. Can't wait for the Big Lugg 2....

We've been using these saws in our middle school wood shop for the last five years. In that amount of time, I've lost track of how many times I've had these in for repairs. It's more of a hobby saw that can not stand up to serious use. In addition, one saw that we purchased, stopped working a week after we took it out of the box.

This scroll saw is a Bentley. By comparison, the other scroll saws on the market are Yugos, unless you want to fork over an outrageous sum of cash.

After looking at reviews of many scrollsaws and trying to stay uner $500, I bought the Dewalt DW788. I use it for Intarsia so it has to be able to do some fine cutting. I've already finished two projects with it and I am completely satisfied with it. There is virtually no vibration and changing the blades is a snap since no tools are required. It's well built and the only assembly was connecting the base plate which only required two screws.

The other reviewers who note that this tool is a pain to set up are correct. But, it does function as advertised once you go through the process. I bolted the carriage to a Skil 77 wormdrive by drilling holes, since the mounting clamps would not fit, and mounted the guide bars on fiberboard. With a 40T thin kerf trim blade on the Skil, I can get tablesaw quality cuts with the tool. I usually cut panels at the jobsite by laying them on a sheet of foam isulation board, and cutting through the panel and into the foam. That way I don't have to lift the panels, and worry about the piece I cut falling, jamming the sawblade, etc. The PPS-B is ideal for this kind of setup.

I read many of the reviews and was hesitant in purchasing this unit. Then I thought how bad can it be. After receiving the unit, I don't know what some reviewers found so difficult in mounting the saw to the base. I dedicated a not so expensive Skill saw for this task. Mounting the saw was easy. I did not mount the rails to any guides but did make the suggested spacers for lining up the rails. This worked fine for me and I was impressed at how smooth the saw glided along the rail and with a good blade, it made easy, accurate cuts. I feel I got lucky for once and found this money well spent.

I've read the other reviews and cannot understand the ones that are critical. I took about 15 to 20 minutes to set it up, clamping the rail to the plywood, checking and checking again and then made my first rip cut into a sheet of 4'X 8' 3/4" birch. The saw glided down the rail and made an effortless perfect cut. I love this thing!

First off, the tools themselves are quite good, although there is definitely room for improvement.
Hammer Drill:
+ Great torque, good balance, solid chuck.
- No place to store screw driver bits
Overall a very good hammer drill

Circular saw:
+ Good balance, like the opposite orientation from older circular saws (i.e. this one works for right-handed folks).
- The safety switch is sometimes awkward to engage.

Sawsall Hatchet:
+ Works well at cutting through stuff, adjustable handle is nice when it works.
- Adjustable handle stops broke shortly after I started using it (they're plastic molded-in features on the case and aren't very sturdy).

Batteries:
+ They make good paper-weights
- These are by far the biggest problem with this kit, and bad enough that I DO NOT recommend buying this set. After low to moderate use, one flat gave out, and the other holds maybe 20% of its original charge. I didn't abuse the batteries and they should have lasted much longer. The kicker is that replacements are $80 each!

Conclusion: Maybe the new 28V Lithium-Ion batteries for the new Milwaukee sets work better, but don't waste your money buying any of their 18V sets.

The hatchet saw and drill are quality items, the circular saw is worthless. What makes the whole package trash is the batteries which are a joke. In 20 plus years of cordless tool use these are the worst Iv ever seen,used or heard of. Save your money and buy Makita of which the tool quality is as good and whose batteries are, no joke, 10 time better. D. Robinson

I love Milwaukee tools. I grew up with Dewalt (which are good tools too) and then switched to Milwaukee after selling tools at Sears for three years. The power, toughness, the ease of use are wonderful.

These tools are heavy, as well as the batteries. These tools were meant to be used. My Milwaukee tools have never let me down, but I get a workout using them.

The batteries have been an issue, but not with me. My only complaint in after some time they are hard to take off the tool. However, I have known some people who have had battery issue. My batteries are 5 years old and they still have a good charge. The new V28 system will make up for any battery problem.

Grizzly states before purchase a vastly lower sum than when you attempt to check out. Do not be misled.

This Grizzly saw has received high marks in a number of recent reviews in woodworking magazines, typically being recommended as the best cabinet saw for the money. So I bought one. Grizzly shipped the saw by Fed Ex Freight, and I decided to pick it up at the freight depo using my neighbor's trailer (highly recommended...this avoids having to request lift gate service on the delivery truck). As others have noted, the packaging is a bit flimsy, but I got it home with no problems, and the saw was in fine shape. The assembly was straightforward; I followed the suggestion of another reviewer and used WD-40 to remove the preservative goop, which worked OK. Amazingly, when I went through the alignment procedure the saw needed no adjustments.

I have only two negative comments: (1) Grizzly doesn't provide an arbor wrench (!). There is a wrench for the nut on the arbor, but no wrench to hold the arbor. Fortunately, the arbor wrench from my old saw fits. (2) The front rail for the Shop Fox fence has to be shimmed to provide clearance for the fence. The shims consist of six stacks of four washers each that need to be positioned between the rail and the front bracket (to which the rail is attached). Besides being nearly impossible to get these "shims" in position (made possible only by using double stick to hold them in place), the arrangement is just plain Mickey Mouse.

Overall, I really like the saw.

I bought mine last Oct. and have had no issues. I had no problems with the delivery (tipped the guy so he would roll it to the garage), the setup was no problem even for a novice (my first saw), and cut accuracy and quality if excelent. It has lots of power and is so quiet that I can run it late into the evening with no complaints from the neighbors. This saw with some good blades should do for any setup.

The good things about this saw: It's easy to assemble (one person can assemble alone), it's powerful, the table is ground to precision, and, for the most part, assembly instructions are good.

The bad things about this saw: The worst feature is the only part made in the USA...the Accu-Fence. Neither the original fence nor the replacement fence I received are acceptable. Secondly, the arbor gearing inside the saw very quickly gums up with sawdust affecting the ease of blade height adjustment. Thirdly, you can simply throw away the dust collection plate since you will collect virtually no sawdust in your vac system.

This saw certainly beats my old Craftsman, but it's definitely not a 5 star piece of equipment.

i bought this table saw two years ago and have used it to build a number of pieces of furniture around the house including: a bookcase, two stools, a toy box, a built-in four cabinet wardrobe system, a vanity, a linen closet and most recently a set of kitchen cabinets.

one thing about this saw is that it's pretty SOLID from the cast iron wings to the terrific rip fence. all of this adds to the overall weight of the saw which is great for minimizing the vibrations. putting it together will definitely take you a few hours and a bit or perspiration - consider getting some help when you're tilting it on to the base, although i did it alone without too much back strain. fine tuning the adjustments are not impossibly difficult as long as you have an engineer's square to alight the front and rear rails for the fence. don't waste too much time trying to get your cast iron extension wings to less than 0.0000005 - it's a HOMEOWNER's table saw and your wood will probably expand/contract much more than that for crying out loud! make sure that you fit a panel to cover up the back of the saw and tape up the seams around the dust port on the bottom so that you can get decent suction from a dust collector which is also a requirement unless you enjoy arguing with your wife about the dust that's currently blanketed her new car! the blade guard works extremely well but i recommend not fastening the screws on the INSIDE of the saw too tightly so that you can swing it upwards when you need to make a non-through cut. converting it to 220 volts is a MUST unless you enjoy seeing the lights dim every time that you turn it on - not too difficult with the drawn in wiring diagram and an 18 gauge cable and a replacement dryer plug from home depot. don't forget to buy some form of mobile base or you WILL NOT be able to budge this beast once it's standing on its feet. one last piece of advice, if you find that you can't raise the blade, look inside the cabinet of the saw and make sure that the miter gauge didn't fall into it like mine did. BTW, a woodworker two blade and a sliding table will maximize the capabilities to this fine table saw.

this is a fantastic saw, but if i had to do it all over again, i would strongly consider either the ridgid contractor saw from the local borg since it's about $400 cheaper and has many features including dust shroud and integrated mobile base, the sawstop with it's blade-braking device/riving knife or the new craftsman hybrid saw.

highly consider ALTERNATIVE methods of cutting dovetail joints, tenons and dados like hand tools which are MUCH safer. don't crosscut with the rip fence and ALWAYS use push sticks for narrow pieces!

These usually come out in my wife's name. She's never used a table saw. This is Bruce. Before purchasing a table saw, I drove a hundred miles East then another West and man was it disgusting to find absolutely nothing I'd want to own. Lowes, Home Depot, local lumber yards, hardware stores, I actually gave up and went online.

I found this saw on sale at Amazon for $849 with free shipping, and yes you absolutely need the mobile base if you pull it out and put it back.

1. The solid cast iron top is one requirement my saw needed, it has it.

2. A fantastic rip fence, this one exceeded my expectation, even has high density plastic on both sides to cut friction. Adjustment is a breeze and very accurate. You will love the AccuFence.

3. The power of the motor is incredible, 2 HP I believe. I cut two inch exotic hardwoods like it was butter.

Only complaint and it's minor, the lock-knobs on the tilt and height adjustment are small and could be on a larger shaft. They work though, and that's what matters.

Best saw I've ever owned. The only better saw I've ever used is a Delta Unisaw, but at twice the price it better be great. Buy it, you can thank me later.

I have owned this saw for 5 years now, and have been pretty disappointed. I can not use this saw for any project requiring accuracy to within a degree or so. For example, if I am making a picture frame, which requires 4 pieces of wood, each with two 45 degree angle cuts (for a total of 8 angled cuts), invariably, the error of the miter will compound itself 8 times, and one of the mitered corners will have a gap, either at the inside or the outside of the joint. This is after ensuring that opposing pieces of the frame are the exact same length, and that the frame is being assembled square (by measuring diagonals). For the longest time, I though I just couldn't calibrate the saw very well. So I would re-calibrate it over and over again, by putting a carpenter square to the fence and then to each side of the blade and adjust that fence until it was perfect. Then I would cut scrap pieces of wood at 45 degrees using opposite sides of the fence, and match them up to see if they were perfect, which they would be. I would then make eight cuts again, but again, one corner would be off!! I'm not sure what the problem is. I have noticed one major flaw, but I'm not sure it is the only thing affecting the accuracy. After rotating the table to the 45 degree position where it locks into place, I always turn the knob to tighten the table in place. However, looking closely at the miter pointer (callout number 113 on the parts diagram), you can see that tightening that knob actually changes the miter angle by as much as a half of a degree. This happens because the table actually flexes when tightening the knob (which another reviewer mentioned, also). The more you tighten the knob, the greater the change of the miter angle. A half degree doesn't sound like much, but multiply that by 8, and you get 4 degrees, which is totally unacceptable. However, if I am tightening that knob when calibrating the saw, that flex should be mostly accounted for (but of course it is impossible to tighten the knob the same amount each time, and hence, flex the table the same amount). I have spoken with Bosch representatives both over the phone and in person at a wood working. The folks on the phone were knowledgeable and helpful to a degree, but could not diagnose the problem. They said to check the fence with a solid straightedge to make sure it is straight, and offered to replace it if not, but it was fine. The representatives at the show were worthless, saying they have never heard of that problem. They had a similar saw there at the show with the same knob configuration, and so I demonstrated this table flex and miter angle change on their saw, but he really didn't say anything about it or think it was a problem. At that same woodworking show, I also has the opportunity to speak with a writer from a major wood working magazine (which had rated this saw very highly), and so asked him for his advice. He suggested that the saw was defective and that I should send it back. However, if the Bosch representative's saw did the same thing, I have my doubts that a new one would be any better! So I am kind of stumped, and left with a mostly unusable saw. I would love to hear suggestion, if anyone has any!

Great product for the price. Used to install a T&G ceiling and trim. Not sure if it would hold up to a contractors use but for a home hobbyist it should last a lifetime. Dust collection collects about 50% that is generated. Adding a shop vac instead of the bag greatly improves performance. Holding toggle clamp works great. No need to repeatidly screw in and out, saves wrist fatigue and holds well.

Couldn't agree more with Amazon's review - this is a high quality saw that rivals DeWalt and other competitors. Weight is not a problem, and handles on the top and both ends of the base make this easy to move around your shop or job site. The handle is very comfortable and convenient to use right or left-handed. Dust collection is good and noise is low. The saw arrived quickly as always from Amazon and required little adjustment out of the box. Highly recommend!

Bought this as a retirement present. Was planning to buy at Woodcraft and spend around the same price once you add Amazon $200 shipping charge, but Amazon then offered to throw in the Jet 1100CFM canister dust collector. This is a $550 item at Woodcraft. I could not pass up the Amazon deal. In addition, they were offering 10% off all other tools, so the mobile base came down to $135 compared to Woodcrafts $200.

If you're concerned about shipping damage, pay attention to the RED tilt indicator on the main saw box. It's about the size of a credit card, and the little round window in it will tell you if the box was tipped over. Obviously, you still need to check for carton damage. Like another reviewer, a different carrier than the main saw shipped the Biesemeyer fence and extension table. It's the main saw package that weights around 450 pounds on the pallet. Fortunately I was able to ship everything to our company's receiving area where they have a truck loading dock. I was then able to load it onto a friend's pickup truck without any lifting.

I had just been given some free 4*8 MDF, so I made a ramp around eight feet long, supported by two 2*4's on the side and around 25" wide. My son-in-law had a four-wheel dolly that handles 1000 pounds. This made getting it off the pickup truck and into my workroom rather easy.

I did the assembly myself, and it probably took six hours out of my Saturday. The hard part is getting everything level and in plane using multiple clamps and support boards as other reviewers have indicated.

I agree with a couple of other reviews that the side extension table is bowed in the middle. You can't help but have a ridge next to the cast steel table on the RH side. This causes the fence to stick at this point, so you have to lift it slightly. I then noticed the three threaded holes on the RH side of the cast end. I had a small piece of �" wood doweling. I used this as a wedge in the middle of the extension table and was able to move the wood table up to be level with the cast table. The threaded holes are covered around half way from the thickness of the wood table, so the wedge idea worked perfectly. Not sure why the threaded holes are there, but if you were planning on using them to secure the wood extension, you would have to cut part of the wood bracing underneath to gain full access to them. I think you would still have a hard time bringing the table into plane without some wedge idea. Let's see how long my idea lasts.

Fired up the saw and realized I have a true professions piece of equipment compared to my Sears Contractor series that is around 10 years old.

You may want to read my review on the Delta Out feed table, and read those directions thoroughly. You don't have to take any pieces off of the saw once you have it together other than the motor cover. If you are planing the out feed table, leave the motor cover off temporarily. I was ready to remove the rear support rail until I realized the directions are very vague at this point.

This is my first Delta product. I have a Jet jointer and planner, but I am very happy with the fit and finish of the Delta saw. I found nothing I could complain about other than some poor assembly directions. Like telling you to wait before tightening the front fence support, but never telling you when to do it. Obviously, it turns out once you start to level the extension table it's time!

I purchased the Delta 36-L31X-BC50 X5 3HP Left Tilt Unisaw with 50" Biesemeyer Fence as a gift to myself for Christmas. This made it easy for my wife and kids to shop for me; all they needed to do was get me table saw accessories! Almost two months later, I'm still like a kid with a new toy.

42 years ago I had my first experience with a Delta Unisaw in High School woodworking class. For four years while in woodshop, I never really considered the quality of the shop machinery we had back then. It was taken for granted that all machines were good. I was privileged to have a GREAT woodshop teacher (Bruce Kelly) and wonderful (Delta) tools at hand. I made a Grandmother clock and stereo cabinet that took state honors back in the sixties. My present profession as a remodeling contractor allows me to buy tools as I need them. When it came to table saws, bench top and contractor saws made the most sense, but the quality required in cabinet making took some real doing. Now after 25 years in the business, I wanted to get back to my dream of cabinet making once again.

Spending close to two thousand dollars on a saw was a hard decision. Which one do I buy? I talked to fiends in the business and visited several local shops for advice. I originally planned on the five horsepower model and was told by others that three horsepower was more than enough unless doing production work. Although more professional equipment was in use in the bigger shops, still there was a 10" table saw available for general use, and 9 out of 12 shops had a Delta Unisaw.

This Unisaw is by far better than I remembered it some 40 years back. After setup, (about 8 hours of time), I plugged her in. The soft purr of the motor spinning a Woodworker II blade was music to my ears. No vibration and the setup and fine adjustments needed are nothing compared to the quality of the cuts made with this saw. The dust shoot works well and the stable mobile base that was included with my saw makes placement AND storage quite easy. As with many products over time, quality sometimes suffers. Not with this saw! I know there have been several corporate owners of Delta, and I know there was a period of dissatisfaction on quality. My opinion is that Delta has their act together on the manufacturing once again and the statements in earlier posts, I feel, are not substantiated.

With a Biesemeyer fence (now a subsidiary of Delta), Delta outfeed table that folds flat against the saw, removable splitter and overhead blade guard, this setup is just what I needed. I'm quite happy!

Our 36-L31X-BC50 X5 arrived in excellent condition. After reading all the user reviews and warnings about setup, my woodworking buddy and I finished the job in a little over three hours. Since Delta shipped two right-side wings, we couldn't figure our why there was no drilled hole for the magnetic switch on the left wing. Fortunately when you put a right wing on the left side it sticks up at least 1/32, prompting you to contact Delta for a new left wing. Once the correct wing arrived and was installed, you realize they sent two right wings. Everything fits perfectly now, and the fit and finish are excellent. Delta's customer service was outstanding, easy to talk to, and used plain english. Our replacement piece arrived within five business days. The fence went on perfectly, and was aligned in less than ten minutes. The extension table has a dip in the middle, and we will shore it up at some point but it does not detract from the functionality of the saw.

We installed a new Forrest WoodCutter II Thin Kerf blade on the X5 and put the stock X5 blade on our radial arm saw. The blade was perfectly aligned in less than fifteen minutes, and neither of us had ever done it before.

We've had the saw for about four months, and the precision of our cuts still amazes us. It is virtually vibration-free and passes the nickel test every time. The only thing the Biesemeyer fence needs is a magnifying spot over the graded markings so us oldsters with reading glasses don't have to squint to see the 1/32nd marks. OK, so I'm only 48 but a magnifyer would still be quite helpful!

The stock X5 blade is performing quite nicely, I might add. I do recommend the Forrest blade as it has reduced my sanding time on the cutting edges to nearly zero. It's that smooth.

We have declined to install the blade guard. We are ready for a dado insert to expand the use of our saw.

Other saws considered: The similarly priced General 350-T50 M2M (the fence seemed a bit weak, but it is made in Canada there, eh?); the Powermatic WMH1660760K (too pricey for the incremental difference in features); and the Grizzly 1023 (sometimes cheapest is not better in the long run).

I have had a Porter Cable 3802 CMS for around one year now. I have used it mostly for rough cuts and framing. The stock blade is good for framing but way to course for detail/finish work. This saw is probably the heaviest in its class at something like 70 pounds. That alone makes it a bit difficult to manage on a jobsite, but once in place it is great. A heavy saw is not a bad thing (once in place) as it greatly reduces vibration, making cuts a bit better and more repeatable. The D-Handle is a wonderful upgrade to the older straight handle CMS's - much more comfortable and safer it seems. The saw is 12" so, as you can expect, the blade can walk a small amount as it passes through the wood. That said, if you cut through something really fast (as I know I have) you are left with a no-so-perfect cut. As a compensation, I have found it beneficial when doing detail work to let the saw reach full rpm and cut slowly - you will be happy with the results. Many folks have commented on the setup/trueing. My saw was a bit off when I received it, but it is fairly simple to true up...and if you are much like me, you will periodically check to make sure things haven't gotten "bumped" out of alignment, anyway. The saw has served me well. I didn't give it 5 stars, but I would buy it (or the Delta equivalent) again.

I bought this saw for an incredible deal at my local membership warehouse, but was disappointed to find that the clamp that is recommend several times in the manual did not come with the saw. I emailed Porter Cable and they gave me the telephone number for their direct order line. I could not find the clamp on the internet from any sources, even Amazon!

The real problem with this saw and the reason I only gave it 4 stars is despite being relatively accurate on miter cuts, with the bevel zeroed at 90 degrees (zero on the scale) once you go to 45 degrees the scale shows that you are slightly past 45 indicating that the scale is not reading accurately through the range. I also noticed in trying to adjust the bevel that the turntable is not flat in the middle but actually slanted down towards the blade on either side of the blade. I did notice the model in the store had the support on the right of the turntable about 1/16th of inch lower as some of the other reviews had suggested, but the saw I bought did not have that problem.

The blade that comes with the saw (40 tooth carbide), while a nice blade, is only good for cutting rough cuts or 2x4s. It is a little too rough for finish carpentry without having a lot of tearout and relatively rough cut surfaces.

Despite my complaints I have practiced with the saw several times and most of the cuts come out very close to perfect.

I've had this saw for a couple of years now. It is time to review it. I had no problem setting it up, everything was square and true right off the bat. I've mounted it on a portable work station and put it in the corner when not in use. Everytime I unfold the work station the saw has been square. I use it for cabinet trim and have never had a joint that didn't fit. The 40 tooth blade that came with it was good for rough cuts, but I got an additional 80 tooth blade for the fine cuts. My only compliant is; my neighbors found out that the saw is portable, now I have to come up with reasons for them not to borrow it for too long of a period.