# Need < $200 miter saw that is QUALITY!



## draconius (May 7, 2012)

I am returning my pos craftsman 10' miter saw that I just bought and want to replace it with one of the following:
Ridgid with laser at home depot ($200) , kobalt 10" sliding miter at lowes ($200), Hitachi 10" at lowes ($140), Hitachi 10" laser at lowes ($170), or little more for Dewalt for $220. I like Ridgid for the lifetime and already have their table saw and reciprocating saw. Love Dewalt. No experience with Hitachi. and kobalt is low end tools, so guessing that goes in line with power tools. I want accurate out of the box, and ability to cut through 4x4's. Craftsman claimed to, but motor housing his before full cut through. I will be laying laminate flooring and need perfect 90° and 45° scarf joints. 

Would LOVE the 10" Dewalt sliding, but out of my budget. :-(


----------



## Woodworkingkid (Jan 8, 2011)

I have a dewalt 12 inch chop saw that I really like. I got a ad from Lowe's last week and they had it on sale for 250. I have found that I almost never need to cut anything more that 8 inches wide.


----------



## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

draconius said:


> I am returning my pos craftsman 10' miter saw that I just bought and want to replace it with one of the following:
> Ridgid with laser at home depot ($200) , kobalt 10" sliding miter at lowes ($200), Hitachi 10" at lowes ($140), Hitachi 10" laser at lowes ($170), or little more for Dewalt for $220. I like Ridgid for the lifetime and already have their table saw and reciprocating saw. Love Dewalt. No experience with Hitachi. and kobalt is low end tools, so guessing that goes in line with power tools. I want accurate out of the box, and ability to cut through 4x4's. Craftsman claimed to, but motor housing his before full cut through. I will be laying laminate flooring and need perfect 90° and 45° scarf joints.
> 
> Would LOVE the 10" Dewalt sliding, but out of my budget. :-(


Well, from what I have found, the Craftsman and the Kobalt are one and the same save for the color. Best bang for the buck, IMHO, from your list is the Hitachi sans laser. Laser isn't worth $30. I ran a C10FCH with laser for about 2 years before I upgraded to a slider and was very happy with it. Light, quiet and, once set up, dead on every time.. Actually, I still have it and use it for construction projects because it only weighs about 30# as is easy to load and unload. Ability to cut 4x4's with a 10" saw is gonna be tuff with your budget. The cheaper, direct drive saws don't have the depth of cut to quite get there. I have done it by making the first cut, flipping the stock and finishing it. You can also try shimming the stock away from the fence to get it away from the arbor.
Actually, from your requirements and budget, this is the only one I can think of:
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-sliding-compound-miter-saw-with-laser-guide-98194.html
:smile:


----------



## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

draconius said:


> I am returning my pos craftsman 10' miter saw that I just bought and want to replace it with one of the following:
> Ridgid with laser at home depot ($200) , kobalt 10" sliding miter at lowes ($200), Hitachi 10" at lowes ($140), Hitachi 10" laser at lowes ($170), or little more for Dewalt for $220. I like Ridgid for the lifetime and already have their table saw and reciprocating saw. Love Dewalt. No experience with Hitachi. and kobalt is low end tools, so guessing that goes in line with power tools. I want accurate out of the box, and ability to cut through 4x4's. Craftsman claimed to, but motor housing his before full cut through. I will be laying laminate flooring and need perfect 90° and 45° scarf joints.
> 
> Would LOVE the 10" Dewalt sliding, but out of my budget. :-(


First off being brand loyal is a always bad idea. All manufacturers make good things and bad things. The other important thing o remember is no manufacturer makes everything themselves anymore no matter if it's oops, appliances, or even automobiles. They all make stuff or each other or get parts fom the same supplier.

With that said I hunk you budget may be a little low and your expectations to high. Very rarely do ou get tools that one out the box dead accurate. You have adjustments o make no matter what. As stated a 10" saw is pushing to cut a 4x4 all the way through. For that you may want a 12" saw hitch cost more. I had a HF 10" skiing miter saw that was crap, it had to much slop and was no where near accurate even sometimes much less everything. If you try the HF 12" saw listed above get the extended warranty there standard 90 day warranty is not enough. Sometimes you get lucky with there tools so I won't say not to try it.

The 12" DeWalt that woodworkingkid lusted is another option but also more money. You get more capacity, proven saw but less features then the preferred SCMS.

JMHO


----------



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

The fences on mitre saws are very easily knocked out of calibration by shipping. The difference will not be much, but if you are needed true cuts, it is worth checking.

I would always check the calibration out-of-the-box before using. Normally an adjustment is to loosen a couple of screws, use a good square and then tighten. A one-time adjustment, unless you move the saw frequently, which may be the case for you.

A 10in mitre saw will likely only cut 3 1/2in @ 90 deg if the design has the motor ABOVE the blade. I do not think you will find such a model for the money you want to spend.

You will be better off looking for a 12in saw.


----------



## draconius (May 7, 2012)

Thanks for the help! 

I know there might be some adjusting out of the box, so I should have clarified...The Craftsman will cut 90 deg., but the 45 is off by almost 2 solid degrees...I want the deg stops to be accurate. I am fine adjusting the fence to the blade.

Isn't is a little false advertising to say it will cut through a 4x4, and then when you go to do it, the motor hits the wood, and you have to cut the remaining half inch? oi.

Too bad I didn't jump on a HD store specific deal of the 12" Dewalt Sliding Miter saw for $225 a couple months ago when I was getting a TS instead...


----------



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

draconius said:


> Isn't is a little false advertising to say it will cut through a 4x4, and then when you go to do it, the motor hits the wood, and you have to cut the remaining half inch? oi.


Good clarification. Agree if the 90deg stop is true, the 45 and any other stops should also be true.

I agree that there may be some false advertising.

I wonder if the unit will cut a slice out of the 4x4 which is less than the distance of the blade to the motor which is not very far, and not very useful.

This may be as mis-leading as "Peak horsepower" claims on many tools.:furious:


----------



## WarnerConstInc. (Nov 25, 2008)

:laughing::laughing::laughing:


----------



## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

I think a lot of people expect 200 dollar saws to perform like 700 dollar saws.....you really get what you pay for. My 325 dollar craftsman 12 inch miter saw is one of my favorite I've ever used...is it the Bosch axial glider, no, but it's as accurate as I need it to be.


----------



## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

If you are expecting the saw to be perfect out of the box. Don't buy any saw. The odds are that regardless of the saw purchased it will require a bit of setup or tuning. It's just the way it is.

BTW - By you doing the final setup and tuning you learn the subtleties of the tool. It's a good thing.


----------



## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

You will need a sliding saw to cut laminated flooring as most 10" saws have a capacity of around 5 1/2" on cross cuts. The claims of cutting a 4x4 often have (nominal size) as a disclaimer.


----------



## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

You say you want QUALITY but only want to spend less that $200. That is a rather difficult criteria.

Frequently quality is in the eye of the beholder. There are many variables that may enter to determine if something is "quality."

I have a Craftsman sliding, compound, miter saw that I bought several years ago for less than $200. (This was a sale price as the normal price was around $250.) The "quality" of this saw was very good for my uses. It only tilts to one side so making compound miters means I have to do some material arranging.

As others have noted I did have to check the fences and carriage to be sure all were true.
George


----------



## cocheseuga (Dec 15, 2010)

Another vote for the Hitachi C10FCE2. Slap bang-on accurate right out of the box (at least for me), but unless you're squaring the ends you probably won't be cutting 4x4s. Don't know, never tried it myself, I just laminate smaller boards together. $123 w/ free shipping from Amazon (and no tax in a lot of places). I didn't know anything about Hitachi's reputation before I bought this saw (it's pretty good), but it's made me realize that my next one will be a Hitachi as well, the 12" ZC slider.


----------



## Purrmaster (Jul 19, 2012)

I have the Kobalt from Lowe's. It's a good saw. The one I got cut almost perfect 90 degree cuts right out of the box. (Of course I had to do something stupid which knocked it permanently out of alignment). I believe the instructions say that the max thickness you can cut is 3 inches. But I just got done slicing through several 4X4s a few hours ago with zero problems.

I'm pretty sure the accuracy of the stops and such out of the box are veey good. I say this because I had to take the first saw back because I broke part of the fence. It was completely my fault and the fence would not have broken under normal conditions. So I threw myself on the mercy of Lowe's and they replaced it.

Both saws had the stops and such set perfectly. I've chopped through a lot of boards with it and the motor is still going strong. I believe the saw has a 3 year warranty.

It's a lot of saw for the money. And I think that's because Lowe's is trying to establish a quality reputation with the Kobalt brand. But to get people to buy and build up that brand they have to offer the tools at a lower price for a time.

The only real problem with it is that the dust collection sucks. The dust collection bag basically doesn't function at all. I have it hooked up to a large shop vac now and it's a little better but the dust still largely isn't collected.

Other than that it's a great bang for the buck saw.


----------



## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

A couple years ago, for some laminate flooring we were installing in our home, I bought a 10" Triton Slider for less than $200. Great saw. Went through 3600 sq. ft. of Bamboo laminate and still going strong. I don't know if that saw is still being sold in the US. Triton is an Aussie company.
The first thing I did though, was replace the stock blade with one from Tenryu. A 60 tooth made for miter saws. A good blade makes a big difference.


----------



## preacherman (Nov 29, 2011)

I have the 10 inch Hitachi with the laser. I did not buy this saw it was a gift. I was a little concerned because it is a lower priced saw. But out of the box mine was dead on accurate, no adjustments needed to get perfect 90 and 45 degree cuts. In my opinion the laser is not worth the money especially if your are going to use the saw outdoors, you cannot see that laser in the sunlight. Indoors it can be seen but mine is slightly off the true edge of the cut. Since I line up th ecut by eye it is no big deal to me.
Bottom line is if you need a decent saw for this low of budget it is a good little saw. I would recommend it as a low end saw. 
Personally my next saw is going to be a sliding makita. I have found it is better to go ahead and buy top of the line tools, cry once and enjoy for a long time. As opposed to buying within a low budget and be mad everytime I use the tool and wish I had put that money toward a better option.


----------



## Pop Pop (Jul 17, 2011)

I have borrowed and used the Harbor Freight 12" Sliding Compound Miter Saw With Laser Guide. I borrowed it because my Delta compound miter saw would not cross cut stair treads. The one I used was accurate and worked well. For the money, it is a great value.


----------



## danj (Jul 4, 2012)

You could look at better tools used or a refurb like the hitachis at bigskytool


----------



## huskerfoos (Aug 5, 2012)

I just saw a Lowes ad for a Hitachi double bevel that is suppose to be on sale starting the 6th for 219 regular 299. Not sure if it is any good or not tho.


----------



## dodgeboy77 (Mar 18, 2009)

I have the 10" Ridgid and am pleased with it. The saw has some nice features though the laser is not needed. It took some tweaking to get the cuts dead on but I think you'll find that with any saw. The Hitachi's have a good reputation, too.

Bill


----------



## Wood4Brains (Jul 25, 2012)

OK, stupid question to follow (you have been warned):



> Too bad I didn't jump on a HD store specific deal of the 12" Dewalt Sliding Miter saw for $225 a couple months ago when I was getting a TS instead...


Is there a reason you AREN'T doing the crosscuts on the table saw?

Are the pieces too big to lay out on the TS?

Or is the TS not accurate enough?

Thanks in advance, and pardon my ignorance.


----------



## Woodworkingkid (Jan 8, 2011)

Try cutting 2 inches off the end of a 8 foot 2x4 then you will see why you also need a miter saw. Every thing I cross cut 8 inches wide or less I do on my miter saw. Miters and short boards wider than 8 inches I cut on my table saw.


----------

