Product Reviews

Nice saw for cabinet/furniture makers, June 12, 2004
Reviewer: E. A. Jamieson "ericjamieson"
I've had this for about 6 months and it's never let me down. It takes a little getting used to if you've never used a sliding miter saw before, as the technique is somewhere between a radial arm saw and a normal fixed miter saw. As a couple of other reviewers pointed out, you have to make sure you slide the saw all the way home or you'll leave a little bit uncut.
One thing I've found is when I'm cutting narrow planks (4" or 6") I've gotten into the habit of pulling the blade toward me past the front edge of the piece, dropping it down, and then sliding it back through the piece - instead of just plunging the blade straight in, as you'd do with a fixed chop saw. This seems to significantly reduce bottom tearout.

It's undeniably a very pleasant tool to use; if you've only used saws that have a vertical handle you won't believe the difference the horizontal handle makes. The switch is well designed, it's not easy to trigger by accident but not fatiguing to hold. The action of the slides is smooth as silk, and setting the miter angles is quick, easy, and very positive. The motor has plenty of power for any kind of wood I've ever sent its way.

The 8 1/2 inch size has some advantages - the blade seems to be more stable, even without a stabilizer, than most 10" blades. Also in my experience 8 1/2" blades are a little cheaper than the equivalent 10" blade. But, it won't cut a 4x4 (or a 2x4 on edge) in one pass - a 10 incher will. Whether or not that matters depends on the kind of work you do.

You'll want to replace the blade that the saw comes with, it's fine for chopping up 2x4s (but if that's all you want to do you don't need this saw) but not good enough for finish work. There aren't a million blades available for this size of saw, but there's a decent selection - although not all the catalogs carry them. My favorite is a 60 tooth DeWalt finish blade that you can find most anywhere for about 50 bucks and does great work for me in all types of hardwood. Freud makes one that's pretty good as well. Forrest makes one of their chopmaster blades in this size, I'm sure it's great but it's $100+ and since I'm happy with my current blade I've never tried it.

Overall fit and finish is very nice - as you generally expect from contemporary Italian manufacture. After taking it out of the box, I went over it completely with my machinist square and couldn't find anything out of alignment. The only quality complaint I have is the crummy screws holding the blade guard on - blade changing is not exactly a snap with this saw and they really don't help.

There's no clamp included, unlike some other manufacturers - since I prefer to keep all 10 of my fingers I bought one - but they soak you on this item - $35!! Actually I bought two but you only need one - you hardly ever use both at once and it takes a second or two to swap it from one side of the saw to the other. Also, while it holds well, it's a screw type and I would prefer some type of cam action - I think that would be faster and easier to use.

But overall if you want a really sweet, pleasant to use saw and you don't normally need to cut large timber, I'd recommend this saw - I'm certainly very happy with it.
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 Good but not great, July 14, 2004
Reviewer: Jonathan Conway "stairgod"
Let me start off by saying that I have yet to find any miter saw that I would rate at five stars(although I do believe I rated the 12" Dewalt slide at 5 stars) because every manufacturer does put profit above product. However, I do like this saw very much. Slide is smooth, fence height good(when will Makita and Hitachi finally get the fence height right and even on both sides), lever action miter lock is awesome(knobs stink), blade deflection is good(it is only a 8-1/2 blade afterall), overall a really good saw. Dust collection complaints are irrelevant, as anyone expecting a slider miter saw to have good dust control lives in the world of clean radial arm saws too. I have yet to figure out what a "material hold down clamp"(or work clamp) is, but if I ever do, it means that I cut off on of my arms/hands and should not by using this saw anyway(we pros dont have time for clamping down wood prior to cutting it[short pieces should be cut from a long one, afterall]). I would buy another one in an instant.
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little saw with a big saw heart, March 3, 2006
Reviewer: Delbert R. Baker

I've just had the saw a couple of weeks, but I did a small trim job with it and it worked great. It does everything a 10 or 12 inch saw would need to do on a nice trim job with about half the weight. I owened a 12 inch dewalt slide compound a few years back that someone stole from me, it was a great saw but it was so heavy to move from job to job. the 8.5 slide is the perfect trim saw for me and I love it and I'm glad I bought it. I give it 5 stars and I'm left handed.
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$50 Bucks overnight?, December 13, 2005
Reviewer: Buzz
Found this saw late last night, had planned to buy today, price is up $50 bucks in less than 24hrs? Gold plating on the data tag now?
Never mind! (Looks like a great saw, too bad)!
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Makeroffinesawdust, November 6, 2005
Reviewer: MAP "makeroffinesawdust"
Picked up this saw this past summer our local bigbox had it on clearance. I have nothing bad to say about this saw. I was debating between a 12" slider (either the Rigid or Dewalt) and this 8 1/2". What made up my mind was, a friend of mine bought the 12" Rigid Slider. Although it's a good saw, its a monster to lug around. One of the features I wanted in a saw was portability. This Dewalt is very easy to transport around and set up, it's lightweight but seems very durable. It has a very nice fence system, it moves between angles very smoothly, some sliders I looked at just felt very "cheesy" when you moved the mechanism between angles, this one does not. It was accurate right out of the box, both on the 90 & 45. I had to rebuild my cedar deck this past summer and replaced all boards with 2x treated wood. This saw handled all the cutting tasks (both 2x4 thru x10's) with ease. The only thing this saw won't handle that the 12" will is cutting 4x4's. But to me that's a small price to pay for the added portability, I don't find myself needing to cut 4x4's very much anyways, but if you do this saw isn't for you. The blade that comes with a saw never plays a part in my decision to buy a certain saw of not, I expect cheap blades anyways. But the blade that comes with this saw is better than average. I cut alot of 2x stock and haven't changed the blade yet. Bottom line, if you do trim work from site to site, don't have a need to cut 4x4's, I highly recommend this 8 1/2" saw.
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Great saw, but one irritating flaw, October 1, 2005
Reviewer: Loren Woirhaye

Fine tool in most respects. It is very accurate and well made. The bevel gauge however is inaccurate: 0 degrees is a 90 degree cut. However when the blade is tilted to 45 degrees the gauge reads at 46 degrees. This means you have to fudge bevels (already difficult to get right) when cutting crown moulding on the flat. Ie. a 33 degree bevel must be cut at 32 2/3 degrees on the scale. Its a pretty anoying flaw in an otherwise sensibly engineered saw. I emailed Dewalt and got a lame, formula answer.
The saw is about about 42 lbs. but feels lighter than my Dewalt 12" compound saw (which is the same weight, or a little less). The compactness of the tool is one reason I bought it...its easy to carry without a lot of shin-banging. The motor is powerful and the tool feels nice to use. Larger sliders have considerably more blade deflection, making for less accurate cuts. I built furniture and cabinetry, so cutting 4 x 4s is not a usual thing for me. This saw performs well. I would be curious to try the Hitachi and the new 29 lb. Makita. _________________________________________________________________________