Power Saws Reviews

Problems on assembly:
1) Center hole on cast iron base @ both ends was not centered + did not line up to the leg cross brace. Fix: used air grinder to grind cross brace hole wider.
2) Instructions for the installing the adust. feet were vague. Just says use "provided hardware". Fix: used my incredible powers of observation and deduction to determine what goes where.
3) The leg cross brace opposite of motor has an interference problem w/switch box. Fix: ground the cross brace to form a notch to clear switch box.

Usage:
1) table for vertical cuts is flimsy. Only single support underneath - needs 2. could not level table since there is no adjustment.
2) Adjustment of eccentric bearing requires a thin wrench to fit between bearing + support casting.
3) The blade covering has to be put on "just right" otherwise interference with the stop bolt occurs.
4) When moving the miter vise plate, the hold down bolt interferes w/the screw that holds the scale strip. Loosening the bolt enough will get past the interference unless the angle you want is right where the interference occurs.

In general:
The motor has enough power for cuts. I've been cutting 4130 .125 steel and the motor never bogged down. Horizontal cuts is this machines best use. vertical cutting leaves a lot to be desired but this could be because the blade's tooth pitch did not match up to the metal type. But,as stated above, the table doesn't help.

I looked at the grizzly and harbor frieght saws and then I saw a jet saw at my job,abviously heavier duty. But what i had noticed about the jet saws is they are more stockier build and heavier construction.I went to harbor frieght and the cover on the 4 by 6 was broken.I set this saw up in no time and had no troubles it cuts very nicely and timely,I am very pleased with it.

I'm not a home improvement enthusiast. Don't know why Amazon put that there. (Stupid!) I'm a hobby machinist.

I compared several different Asian made 5x6 bandsaws. Don't believe it when someone tells you they're all the same.

The Jet was very easy to assemble and use. Very solid base. UL approved motor that is bigger than some other bandsaws have. Nice fit-and-finish.

Some other ones I checked on needed to have additional bracing added due to a flimsy base. I had read about some of the others having motors prone to overheating and meltdown.

Bought mine locally for $249.99. Don't understand how Amazon can charge a $70 premium. Around $250 seems to be everyone's prices except Amazon. $319.99! Ridiculous!

While the saw cuts materials smoothly and quickly, that is what it's supposed to do, right? Nothing special. The bevel adjustment system is about the same as you'd expect to find in a $29 saw, except this one is better quality. Only complaint is the little plastic blade guide that keeps falling out.

Great saw. Feels great in your hand. Almost no vibration. Easy to use. The tooless blade changing system is awesome. Has great fit and finish, and feels like a quality tool. Built in England. Not the U.S. but better than China. As far as Amazon and shipping, it arrived on time and in fine shape. I am engineer that does woodworking on the side. Only aspect that I see that might be improved upon is having variable speed trigger in addition to the speed adjustment control. This is a minor point as it does have soft start control. Overall, very pleased with both the saw and Amazon.

Makita has hit a home run with this saw. I compared it with the Bosch 1587AVSP and both are fine jig saws. One test we tryed was putting both saws on a flat table at top speed and just let them vibrate. The Bosch wanted to tip slightly and vibrated more while the Makita almost stood still, now that was impressive. The Makita is also more compact making it easier to get into tight areas. The light also is a great feature and really brightens up the cutting surface in poor lighting conditions. It feels great in your hands and is just plain rock solid. The quick change system is easy and seems fool proof. The only flaw in the Makita is the blade sits a little further back than the Bosch making it somewhat harder to see your cutting line, but I have found that it is still is easy to use. Bosch is a great jig saw but I think Makita has real winner and you will not be disappointed. Buy it!!

If you want a durable, high-power, aggressive sander, then this is the right one for you. I bought this sander because of Milwaukee's reputation for tough & powerful tools, and it sure has lived up to the name. However, I do have a few minor complaints... (1) The motor shaft has a fan and vent for keeping the motor cool, but unfortunately, this fan/vent blows the sanding dust almost directly upward into my face (so wear goggles/dust-mask); a dust bag would be nice (if it worked right) (2) The power trigger is on the underside of the body which circumscribes the motor, but the body diameter is a little too big to get a comfortable grip when using the sander for a long time. It'd be better if the grip was shaped like a gas pump handle (like the Makita, Bosch, and Metabo sanders) (3) The sander should (but doesn't) come with a hook & loop pad for easy application and removal of sanding discs (instead the discs have to be stuck on). (4) the sander comes with a handle that can be screwed into right/left/top side of sander for two-handed use, but I think the sander would be a lot easier to use for long periods of time if this handle would screw onto the FRONT of the sander, so that your two hands would be on opposite sides of the pad for balance (like on the Makita BO5021KX and Bosch 3725DVS, although the handle is fixed on these models). Aside from these ergonomic drawbacks, the sander is just what Milwaukee tools are supposed to be: very durable, aggressive, and high-power... this is what your money pays for. I've gotten excellent results when using this sander on wood floors and furniture, and would be reluctant to trade it in for anything but another Milwaukee.

I have 3 porter cable, 2 Makita, and 1 Fein random orbit sanders. Only the fein comes close as far as agressiveness. The only drawback is that there is no vacuum provision.

I use this sander every day all day all week long it is the best sander on the market We have tryed them all and this one is hands down the best we use it for rough sanding and fine sanding jobs and it does have a vac set up

they said the saw was ready for shipping, and after numeruos calls we finally received it in 4 weeks.The shipping was horrible-ABF claimed they were sending a truck with a lift.The driver calls 15 min. before he gets here and tells me I need a fork lift.The setup was ok at first, untill you put a real blade that cuts in it,then all the problems begin.Jet claims it will accept a 1 1/2" blade as long as you don't mind spending 4 hours trying to set it up,and then find out it rubs on the frame.The motor is mounted on a plate that is to small for the weight of the motor,which seems to help in the vibration!I've had the saw about 4 months and nothing but problems.Two of the lower bearings are going bad.The dust collection design is horrible.Jet says that most things are factory adjusted, then you find out about every thing on it is misaligned or just plain loose! The bottom line is if you have a lot of time on your hands for fixing and adjusting,this is the saw for you.Whoever engineered this saw should actually test their design and see how flawed it is!!!

An excellent bandsaw. Vibration-free, powerful, ready to go out of the box. The best feature is the fact you can crank the guides up and down WITHOUT having to re-adjust them every time. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the 1" blade that it comes with is next to useless. It looks like a blade, feels like a blade, but doesn't cut like a blade. I didn't even get half way thru cutting up the shipping crate before it was mauling, not cutting, the wood. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my new bandsaw.

Others have commented on the quality of this saw (comments with which I agree, by the way), so I thought I'd mention some useful information about purchasing this item through Amazon.

The most annoying thing about this purchase was the fact that Amazon promotes their free super saver shipping on this saw quite prominently on the web page, but what that includes is only the ABF Freight Systems truck pulling up to your location. Unless you have your own forklift or a loading dock, you are going to have to pay an additional charge (of $92) to get them to take it off the truck for you. Make sure to mention to the ABF folks when they call to make an appointment to deliver the saw that you have neither of these things and need them to deliver the item on a liftgate truck. (Or they will have to bring it back another day, as they had to with mine.)

I feel that Amazon should be more up front about the additional shipping charges and that their Super Saver Shipping and low standard shipping charges are not the whole story. It's definitely left a sour taste in my mouth, and I'll probably order my next big power tool from somewhere else.

Anyway, it's a great saw, and I'm glad I've finally got it. :-)

My old Makita, which I absolutely love, was made in Japan and/or the USA. When my new Makita saw arrived, it was made in China. It is a really nice saw but some of it is cheap, like the handle grip on the top. I would not have ordered it if I had known where it was made just because I have not found the quality to be as good from China. There is too much cost cutting by executives seeking to boost their stock option bonus by shipping jobs and quality overseas plus I like products made by the USA or it's allies. Silly me.

Framing - I like the saw. I took the stock blade and tossed it for a Freud Diablo ultra fine cut coated blade. I was able to make paper thin cuts of 2x4 the long way for shims, flipping the wood over, and held registration outside the line no problem with the clear visibity of the blade and guides. The saw does buck when you power up unlike a Skill Saw, but I let the saw power up to full speed, and then register and cut. Surgical cuts are no problem, and this saw will make you a better finish or rough carpenter if you have the potential and the eagle eye. I'd take a soft carry bag over the tool belt any day, one that held blades and tool.

Millwork - The saw has a plastic gismo that hangs along the bottom edge of the guide plate. This interferes with the clamp on guide, I use for precise mdf or pb cuts. The Skill Saw does not have anything that interferes with the clamp on guide. Makita, PLEASE MOVE THE GISMO!, you know what I'm talking about, right side of unit in the middle. Because the saw is left side blade, I use the right motor side to rest on the material to make cuts, and register against.

I ran into the Makita Rep at the bank today, And he said I got the old saw. The new saw has the gear change that eliminates the buck, and came with the toolbelt. I think a softstart circuit would of been nice with the gear change. I bought the saw because it is maintenance free. I don't like the idea of changing oil in my tools.

Like other Makita products, this saw is built for a lifetime of use. Its has to be one of the heaviest saws i've ever lifted,
but it's worth the extra weight. I doubt i'll ever wear it out, but if something does happen to it, it'll be replaced with another one just like it.

This saw works great on light iron, such as purlin. When cutting heavy pipe or structural steel, the blade quickly overheats and the life of the blade is shorter than abrasive blades. Milwaukee does not tell you that this machine is not suited for hardened steel or galvanized iron. I made 10 cuts with this saw on 2 3/8 in. pipe and the 10 th. cut was the blades last. I was very disapointed in the life of this $100.00 blade. If you only cut light iron, this saw is the best. If you plan on cutting any shaft or bolt, forget it. The blade can not handle the heat.

Just started using the saw yesterday. Currently I am cutting 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle iron, the saw buzzes right through with only slight burring. WAY better than the sparks, fumes, burrs and diminishing blade of an abrasive saw.It's just as loud, but in a lower pitch which I find less irritating. Cuts are straight, finish is good. I will enter another review after using it for a month or so.

This is truly a five star machine and will be greatly appreciated in your shop. It has a handy chip pan to catch most of the chips it produces. The sparking is minimal and only occured when I was cutting 1" round stock. The cut is extremely clean and free of burrs. The only improvement I could see would be in the angle set-up on the fence. In order to get an accurate angle you would have to get out a bevel gauge. Even with that it will still cut good angles compared to no angles on most abrasive saws. I am in awe with what this machine will do compared to the old abrasive saw. The Milwaukee has lots of features the others don't. It is also nice that the blades can be resharpened. The old saw was an odd size and the abrasive blades were $15-20 each, which didn't take long to add up to more than one blade for this machine.

I bought one of these locally to hang drywall in a couple of remodels I'm doing. After going through a box of screws trying to convince myself that I must be doing something wrong, I'm going to return it. The gun frequently bogs down and stalls. On a freshly charged battery driving screws into the "field" the gun will stall roughly 1 in 10 times, forcing me to go back with cordless drill to manually set the screw. After about half a strip of screws on a battery or when driving screws into corners where it is difficult to get the gun to align perfectly straight the success ratio drops significantly.

I called Senco tech support to see what they had to say about this. I told them I was hanging 5/8" drywall with 1 5/8" screws into both old (redwood) and new replacement (fir) rafters and studs. They told me that had I called them first they would have recommended a higher torque screw gun or one of their corded guns.

For 1/2" drywall with 1 1/4" screws this screwgun may be fine, but its certainly too wimpy for my application.

I purchased this tool and find the quality and comfort to be very high. It gives all of the signs of a tool that will last a long time. I recommend this tool to anyone who works with screws frequently.

Every once in a while you come across a tool like this that really makes a painful job much easier. When I use this screw gun, I actually don't mind dealing with drywall.

This part is not really worth it. I was using a Bosch orbital jigsaw that that I got for our pergo kitchen floor. I started out using the inserts, but after a while I just couldn't see the line I needed to cut so I took it off. When I did I really didn't notice a difference with it off. If you use a sharp fine tooth blade you can achieve the same results and see where you are trying to cut. In my opinion this is just alot of fluff. Invest in a bunch of good blades, its worth it.

I thought that since they were clear plastic, they would do the job, and not get in the way of being able to see the line. Wrong! They fog up with wood dust on the underside, right away, and the line is impossible to see. When I wanted to see where my marks were at the end of the cut, I had to guess.
In terms of getting a straight aim, Bosch put a V groove on the leading edge. If you were making a completely through cut, then the splintering inserts are a good thing to have. But when I tried to see where my cut would stop, it was buried under the insert, and couldn't see my mark. So I guessed. The net result is an inaccurate cut. When I took the insert off, I could make the cut, and come to an exact mark.
The insert blocks the blower from being able to get to the wood, so it is only cleaning off the top. Having used it both ways, it is nowhere near as good as eyeballing the blade.
I know they are inexpensive, so I shouldn't get so excited. The reason why I feel bad is that one came with the jigsaw, and instead of using it, I went ahead and bought a five pack of them.
I used a finer tooth blade, made my cuts into 3/4" oak with the splintering inserts installed. It made a very smooth cut without splintering. I removed the inserts, and used the same finer tooth blade, made my cuts, and it also made a very smooth cut without splintering.
End of story, just use a good finer tooth blade. The Bosch blades are Swiss made, and they are so sharp they are almost scary. They fly through the material, and don't create any splinters, just clean smooth edges.
My advice, put the money toward a new pack of fine tooth blades.

I prefer reverse tooth or fine blades when I don't want splinters. That way I can keep a close eye on the cut which is harder with these. If you are using a straight edge I suppose they would be more useful. For a truly clean cut I make a rough cut about 1/8" larger and then use a router and a straight edge for the final clean up. I would spend my money on good blades rather than these.

I've been a professional woodworker in the past and I had high hopes for this product. I'm a big Porter-Cable fan, but not this time. The blade on the left does provide great visability, but the limited size of the base plate to the left of the blade and the overweighting of the motor housing toward the right makes it difficult to keep the saw from tilting when nearing the end of the cut. As the saw tilts to the right at the end of the cut, the lower portion of the blade digs into bottom edge of the board. If you care about having a vertically square end on your board, you're in for a challenge. With practice, one might learn to overcome this stability problem, but a careless moment and you'll have to cut again... and again... and -- well, you get the idea. Great saw for the left-handed, or for when someone else is around to hold the bulk of the board on the right side of the saw... but then there's no increase in visability since the "good" board is back on the opposite side of the blade. The directional dust spot is a great idea, however.

Excellent saw. Lots of power, and the 7.25 inch blade is definitely better than 6" ... that little bit makes a difference.

It's true that the saw takes some getting used to if you're right handed (because your cutting "off" the part of your material which is holding up the saw) but with a bit of practice it becomes easy.

This saw is light -- for a high quality saw. If you're comparing it to a $... departement store saw it will seem heavy... compare it to other professional saws and it's very very light.

Case is nice. Moveable ust port is excellent. The saw is well though out on the details (for example the platform to the left of the blade is exactly 1.5 inches, so setting up a straight-edge to guide the saw is a snap).

Very happy with it.

I do a lot of different things at work, from framing to finish, forming for concrete and all sorts of stuff. This saw handles it all. I have never liked worm-drive saws because of three things 1-excessive noise, 2- excessive maintenance, and 3-they kick when you fire them up. This saw is great, I have always had sidewinders, but was fed up with looking over the saw body to see my blade. The left blade on the Porter Cable solved my problem. Good power to get through all types of lumber and a light feel, and smooth start. Last week, my girlfriend and I built raised vegetable beds and she had a blast using it, she wasn't afraid at all, even when she put it in her left hand. How many saws can a beginner feel comfortable with in the left hand?

When looking to buy a 12 inch compound slide I wanted to buy the best. I have used extensively the Hitachi 8 1/4, the Bosch 10 in slide, and the Dewalt 12 inch mitre. In my opinion the Hitachi was the best. The most precise, reliable, and easy to use saw in the group. So when I found out Hitachi made a 12 inch slide I read the other reviews and ordered one from Western Tool believing I was buying the best.

After waiting 3 weeks the saw came and I brought it to the job to use. The saw had a serious arbor problem which I at first thought was the blades I tried, but they were all high dollar blades. The blade wobbled so much you could see it in your cut and feel it in the saw. Also one of the rails were loose so that you could move the head, which is adjustable but you shouldn't have to mess with a brand new [expensive] saw.

A couple of other shortcoming:
The entire head is plastic which doesn't seem to fit together very well.
Hitachis table and fence still need improvement.

I regretfully had to take my saw back and since I needed it yesterday, I could not wait another 3 weeks. So after reading and looking I went with the Makita. I am not disappointed with the Makita but rather impressed. It is a far better saw. Easier to use, more solid, more efficient design, only 5% plastic, it has a great table, superb sliding action, and it comes with a 100 dollar blade. More saw for less money.

In my opinion Hitachi is riding to much on their reputation with this saw. They are not putting the same rescource into competing as Makita or Dewalt. Perhaps after a year or so of getting saws back they will fix some of its problems and re-manufacture it. Until then, I think a person would be far better off going with something else.

Upon seeing this saw at a Florida tool show, I knew that my wait was over...Having owned the 8-1/2 model since its inception and watching Hitachi and other manufacturers try to improve on my old reliable, I finally found a saw that justifies putting my 8-1/2 to the side (even though its still cutting true and strong!)...Hitachi's newest creation has great capacity, accuracy, and is sooo quiet...Best of all, it has all the nice adjustment features of my 8-1/2 (unlike their 10" model)...It includes 60 degree mitre left and right, two bevel scales, looking directly at you when flopping left or right, and unlike Makita still builds in positave detents for common crown molding If this saw has the longevity of its predecessor, and I have no dought it will, you won't be able to beat this one for many years to come.

After useing my 8-1/2" for as many years as it has been out and waiting for an Hitichi 12" (been strugling to avoid the urge to go with the Makita 12), I finally spotted the newest and best saw on the market at a Florida tool show...I new immediately, that it wasn't the old Hitachi 10" and was drawn to ogle the beast. It has the smooth engineering of all Hitachi saws, but goes beyond that. My friends 10" was a smooth cutting and quiet saw to use, but that adjustment knob for the bevel fought me at all times...not so with the 12" (smooth and comfortable as my old reliable 8-1/2). Best of all , the new saw has two! bevel gauges, riding on each side of the barrel...looking directly at you when the head is shifted left or right! Their 10" model won't even allow you to see the gauge when beveling on one side. The abilty to mitre 60 degrees left or right, now gives this saw the capacity to exceed my 8-1/2 in more ways than vertical cutting depth...I had to have it, couldn't justify staying with my old saw all the time(even though its still going strong). Best of all, the noise level is so much lower...I don't care about turning my stock end-for-end...been doing it for years! For the demands required in the field (or shop), YOU CAN'T BEAT THIS SAW!