- 0-52 degree miter angle range, to the right and left for increased flexibility
- Large extended flip fence, raises to 4" for cutting crown molding vertically
- 0-45 degree bevel range, to the left with adjustable bevel stops for precision cuts
- Horizontal handle with soft, vibration reducing Elastomer grip adds comfort and control
- Carbon brush access, allows user to replace brush as needed to greatly prolong the life of the tool
The Hitachi C10FCE2 15-Amp 10-Inch Compound Miter Saw has flexible miter angles and compound cutting capability for trim carpenters, framers, and woodworkers who demand precision, reliability and versatility on the job. The 15-amp motor generates a no-load speed of up to 5,000-RPM for making crosscuts and miters with ease, even on the toughest cutting jobs. For ease of use, a comfortable horizontal handle with a vibration-reducing elastomer grip keeps you in control at all times, a large table provides a stable guide and sturdy support and a built-in clamping system holds your workpiece in place. The thumb-actuated positive miter stops allow for simple miter adjustments between 0 and 52-degrees left and right. This design allows you to easily change the angle of the cutting blade for creating miters in crown molding and other trim pieces. The bevel has a range of 45-degrees to the left to provide gorgeous bevels on the first try. The large extended flip fence raises to 4-inches to allow for accurate cutting of large workpieces up to 2-5/16-inches high and 5-21/32-inches deep. A dust collector minimizes the accumulation of dust and particles and the easily accessible carbon brushes will help your saw perform for the long term. This tool provides smooth, accurate miters and crosscuts with wood, plywood, decorative panels, soft fiberboard, hard board, and aluminum sashes. Weighing just 26.3-pounds, the C10FCE2 is the lightest 10-inch compound miter saw in its class. This tool is compatible with the UU610 miter saw stand (sold separately) and includes a 10-inch 24-tooth TCT saw blade, pivoting flip fence, vice assembly, dust bag, 10mm box wrench and a material support extension. The Hitachi C10FCE2 15-Amp 10-Inch Compound Miter Saw comes with a 5-year warranty. Hitachi Power Tools (Hitachi Koki USA, Ltd.) provides professional-grade power tools and pioneered innovative technologies that have improved the quality of craftsmanship worldwide.
By J. Ruhl Frank
I bought this same saw about a year ago at Lowes, I paid something like $150 for it. It's a great saw, really smooth and comfortable to use. Works great for cutting trim boards, but I've also used it as a chop saw to cut 2x6's, it doesn't bog down one bit when cutting larger stock. It's a little heavy, but to me that just means it's built better. It's also quiet compared to other miter saws I've used. This is definitely a great deal! I'm almost tempted to buy a second as a backup!
By KWP
Received the Hitachi C10FCE2 yesterday after a longer wait than usual from Amazon. But still within the window they specify.
Assembled the saw accessories in about 5 minutes (flip over fence, rear stabilizer bar, and hold down) and took it out to my shop. First up was a standard pine 2x4. Plugged in the saw and gave the trigger a pull. The first thing I noticed as a nice soft start mechanism, very nice. The blade started spinning and had little to no vibration. I love the horizontal anti vibe handle. Pulled the saw down and cut through the 2x4 like a hot knife through butter. I was impressed at this price point. Next up were some miter cuts. 52 degrees left and right, no problem. The indicator is very thin which makes for more exacting measurements, again very nice. Next up, bevel. Went to 45 degrees, gave the handle a tug and i had a clean 45 degree bevel. Checked the angles and they were spot on, right from the factory. I cut 2x6's, stacked 2 2x4's, and stacked 2 2x6's and it cut them without any problems or bogging down. This saw will cut 4x4 posts no problem at 90 degrees.
With the 5 year warrantee and a saw that performs like this you can't go wrong at $99.00 with free shipping.
Assembled the saw accessories in about 5 minutes (flip over fence, rear stabilizer bar, and hold down) and took it out to my shop. First up was a standard pine 2x4. Plugged in the saw and gave the trigger a pull. The first thing I noticed as a nice soft start mechanism, very nice. The blade started spinning and had little to no vibration. I love the horizontal anti vibe handle. Pulled the saw down and cut through the 2x4 like a hot knife through butter. I was impressed at this price point. Next up were some miter cuts. 52 degrees left and right, no problem. The indicator is very thin which makes for more exacting measurements, again very nice. Next up, bevel. Went to 45 degrees, gave the handle a tug and i had a clean 45 degree bevel. Checked the angles and they were spot on, right from the factory. I cut 2x6's, stacked 2 2x4's, and stacked 2 2x6's and it cut them without any problems or bogging down. This saw will cut 4x4 posts no problem at 90 degrees.
With the 5 year warrantee and a saw that performs like this you can't go wrong at $99.00 with free shipping.
By M. Haack
While I am not new to power tools (I am an avid DIY'r, and HVAC tech). This was my first purchase of a powered compound miter saw. I had no problems with the manual that came with it, besides who really reads those? The unit for the most part is self explanitory. I had it mounted to my bench downstairs in about 20 mins, plus 15 mins to go to the hardware store for some lag bolts. Operation and adjustments were easy. Cuts like a dream. The only thing i can say bad about it, isnt really bad. I would have liked to be able to cut 8" baseboard with it but it doesnt have the capacity. I should have done more research prior. But for all my other uses, crown moulding, quarter-round, trimming out a window, I had fun and they look great. I would recomend this saw for those who arent looking to spend an arm and a leg. Plus as an added bonus, it's super light for mobility.
By Sergio Gutierrez
Wow, I'm wondering why I never thought about buying one of these.. Always struggling to cut 2x4's with a hand saw, LOL. This is a great investment! It's well worth the $140, I purchased it because it was one of the cheapest one at the time of my purchase. I have no regrets, This thing is amazing, I had fun building my shelves in my shed :)!
By HMMW
Normally I'm a dewalt loyalist, but to be honest what drew me to the hitachi saw was the folding frame style fence and sub frame/fence on the right side (optional) that extend its flexibility to hold onto longer pieces of wood and provide support over a longe distance. That combined with the clamp system hitachi designed for left or right hand feed lets you setup your workpiece firmly in the fence, turn on the laser, and make the cut with your hands nowhere near the wood becuase it is so well clamped down. I've had miter saws kick off pieces when I square up the end of a feed piece and this system doesnt have that tendency due to the clamps provided (you get a hand tightened t-nut in the base, a 3/8" rod, and then another vertical clamp to that rod that drops down to your workpiece with a 1.5" disc which you can twist down to hold the work in place securely. No hands required during the cut. Avoiding any kickback is a nice feature during operation of the saw.
I make picture frames using an electric brad nailer and this miter saw. There is some truth to the negative review - the bolt to unset the 45 degree detent is torqued down more than need be. I used a dewalt metric impact wrench to loosen that bolt, then found that the table had detents at all the normal angles you would want to cut. Once in the detent, finger tightning was all that was required to keep it in place.
I bought the model with the laser which I found to be exceptionally accurate indicating where the finished edge would be and where the kerf would be. The laser is turned on with a covered on/off switch and can stay on forever since it draws power from the AC line while you are stacking your wood and clamping it down with the built in clamp. I've decided that for future frames I will cut 2 pieces of stock on top of each other to make exact length coppies of the top and side frames.
Considering that a laser compound miter saw would have sold for $500 years ago, the sub 150 price today is a bargain.
One really minor nitpick is that the saw draws 15 amps , which while I have a electrically started vacuum system, the vacuum motor and the tool must both share the same power line. That is impossible with the 15A saw and 12 A vacuum (27A on a 20A outlet) so I have had to operate the vacuum on a separate circuit and manually turn it on prior to cutting, then leave it running the whole time - but an advantage is there is NO DUST when I'm done! I prefer this active vacuum collection to the hitachi "bag" dust catcher since it has so much airflow with 12A it pulls nearly 100% of the dust out of the saw, the fence, table, floor, you name it.
There is some assembly required upon delivery but calibration has been done at the factory. A swing out fence must be put in place by the owner, as would be the dust collector if used. Even using a single piece of stock I was able to transfer a mark and cut them exactly to size. From there assembly went smooth except for an electric staple gun which could not penetrate soft pine. I returned it and plan to purchase a pneumatic stapler instead since I can dial up the force much easier.
As I mentioned, the fence includes a vice which can be swung close to the blade or opposing the blade. The kerf is narrow and the included blade has carbide tipped teeth making exceptionally smooth cuts that are perfectly flat when glued up.
Having the right tool for the job makes a world of difference - in this case it made a simple matter to construct a frame for an artist's canvas. The 3 dollar increase for the laser is well worth the price over the non-laser model. If your wood is marked prior to inserion, the process is simple. Dial up the angle using the detent and bolt just to hand tight. Line up the laser with the cut line noting where the kerf will be, put the clamp in place, then activate the dust management and make the cut(s). I am very pleased overall with the value and quality in this power tool.
I make picture frames using an electric brad nailer and this miter saw. There is some truth to the negative review - the bolt to unset the 45 degree detent is torqued down more than need be. I used a dewalt metric impact wrench to loosen that bolt, then found that the table had detents at all the normal angles you would want to cut. Once in the detent, finger tightning was all that was required to keep it in place.
I bought the model with the laser which I found to be exceptionally accurate indicating where the finished edge would be and where the kerf would be. The laser is turned on with a covered on/off switch and can stay on forever since it draws power from the AC line while you are stacking your wood and clamping it down with the built in clamp. I've decided that for future frames I will cut 2 pieces of stock on top of each other to make exact length coppies of the top and side frames.
Considering that a laser compound miter saw would have sold for $500 years ago, the sub 150 price today is a bargain.
One really minor nitpick is that the saw draws 15 amps , which while I have a electrically started vacuum system, the vacuum motor and the tool must both share the same power line. That is impossible with the 15A saw and 12 A vacuum (27A on a 20A outlet) so I have had to operate the vacuum on a separate circuit and manually turn it on prior to cutting, then leave it running the whole time - but an advantage is there is NO DUST when I'm done! I prefer this active vacuum collection to the hitachi "bag" dust catcher since it has so much airflow with 12A it pulls nearly 100% of the dust out of the saw, the fence, table, floor, you name it.
There is some assembly required upon delivery but calibration has been done at the factory. A swing out fence must be put in place by the owner, as would be the dust collector if used. Even using a single piece of stock I was able to transfer a mark and cut them exactly to size. From there assembly went smooth except for an electric staple gun which could not penetrate soft pine. I returned it and plan to purchase a pneumatic stapler instead since I can dial up the force much easier.
As I mentioned, the fence includes a vice which can be swung close to the blade or opposing the blade. The kerf is narrow and the included blade has carbide tipped teeth making exceptionally smooth cuts that are perfectly flat when glued up.
Having the right tool for the job makes a world of difference - in this case it made a simple matter to construct a frame for an artist's canvas. The 3 dollar increase for the laser is well worth the price over the non-laser model. If your wood is marked prior to inserion, the process is simple. Dial up the angle using the detent and bolt just to hand tight. Line up the laser with the cut line noting where the kerf will be, put the clamp in place, then activate the dust management and make the cut(s). I am very pleased overall with the value and quality in this power tool.
By Hyoun Kim
Embarassingly, I'm still somewhat new to the land of power tools although my dad has tons. Most of my work is with either a power drill, impact driver, or my various Dremel tools. So when my wife wanted me to start doing all sorts of woodworking projects because of Pinterest, I kept telling her, I can't do it with a Dremel. But she kept telling me to try. When the dremel didn't work, I resorted to a hand saw for one of her projects.
Honestly, I have 0 experience in woodworking. The most woodworking I've done is sanding and staining. So you can understand I was a little bit hesitant. I was doing it the old fashioned way (with a regular hand saw). I didn't know miter boxes existed and my neighbor saw me sawing 1x2 lumber for over an hour. He came over with his miter saw and let me borrow it. I was amazed how easy it was to use. Of course his brand was some generic one called "Workforce" that he said was under $100. But after the "success" of my first project, my wife started piling them up (damn PINTEREST!). I told her I wasn't going to ask our neighbor to borrow his saw every time she had another project for me to do. I said, "our anniversary is coming up and if you really are serious, then you'll buy me a miter saw." I sent her a link to the one I saw on Amazon that was top-ranked under $200. It was this saw I'm reviewing, the Hitachi C10FCE2. Well, unfortunately she didn't buy from Amazon, but Lowes. Regardless, the saw from Lowes is the exact one from Amazon.
Since owning the saw, this thing is a LOT better than my neighbors and the 24-tooth TCT (tungesten carbide-tipped) saw blade that came with it performed better than my neighbor's saw. It just felt sturdier and better made. Plus the FIVE-YEAR warranty is amazing. Warranties are hard to come by these days, especially ones that are beyond 1 year. So with this saw, everything about it is just solid and easy to use. Again, this opinion is coming from a novice!!
However I noticed that it "tore" the wood slightly on cross cuts. My neighbor's saw did the same when I had it but the tearing was worse on his. For some of the finer things my wife wanted me to do (homemade picture frames), it caused a bit of a problem. Not knowing exactly what the heck was going on since I'm new to the realm of saws, I had to do research. So I started looking around on Google and learned multiple factors of the blade affect the outcome of the cut. Without going into too much detail, generally the more teeth, the smoother the cut. I knew I needed additional blades, so I browsed a couple forums for the best saw blades with a greater tooth count and the opinions were all over the place. Some said the Freud blades were the best while others mentioned Infinity, Ridge, and Forrest. I was a bit overwhelmed because I'm not a lumber guy or a shop master. In the end, I thought "since the original blade this does a good job, then Hitachi surely should make other blades with more teeth." I went to Hitachi's page, looked at my C10FCE2 saw and found the accessories list and BAM, I found the part number Hitachi 310878 40-Teeth Tungsten Carbine Tipped 10-Inch ATB 5/8-Inch Arbor Finish Saw Blade and the Hitachi 725206 72-Teeth Tungsten Carbide Tipped 10-Inch ATB 5/8-Inch Arbor Finish Saw Blade. The most awesome part is that compared to the Freud, Infinity, Ridge, and Forrest blades, the Hitachi blades were a FRACTION of the cost. The 40-tooth Hitachi was $22.63 and the 72-tooth was $35 at the time of purchase. The cheapest Infinity was $65 while the other brands were up close to $100). You woodworkers might argue against me but since I'm a novice, you can't argue at least testing out these blades.
All I can say is wow, these blades are awesome with my miter saw. For picture framing, I use the 72-teeth blade and that thing made amazingly clean cuts. The outside of my wood doesn't tear and the wood along the cut is smooth as if I sanded it. Even though I'm a novice, I know that saw blades don't last forever (you either sharpen them or discard them) and I didn't want to use my 72-teeth blade for everything, so I resorted to the 40-teeth blade for everything else (stuff that didn't require miter/finishing/wife projects). This isn't to say I won't use my 24-tooth ever again. I will for other projects (like replacing boards on my fence). But with all three in my arsenal, I don't see a reason to have any other blade and my saw does everything it needs to do with flying colors.
Honestly, I have 0 experience in woodworking. The most woodworking I've done is sanding and staining. So you can understand I was a little bit hesitant. I was doing it the old fashioned way (with a regular hand saw). I didn't know miter boxes existed and my neighbor saw me sawing 1x2 lumber for over an hour. He came over with his miter saw and let me borrow it. I was amazed how easy it was to use. Of course his brand was some generic one called "Workforce" that he said was under $100. But after the "success" of my first project, my wife started piling them up (damn PINTEREST!). I told her I wasn't going to ask our neighbor to borrow his saw every time she had another project for me to do. I said, "our anniversary is coming up and if you really are serious, then you'll buy me a miter saw." I sent her a link to the one I saw on Amazon that was top-ranked under $200. It was this saw I'm reviewing, the Hitachi C10FCE2. Well, unfortunately she didn't buy from Amazon, but Lowes. Regardless, the saw from Lowes is the exact one from Amazon.
Since owning the saw, this thing is a LOT better than my neighbors and the 24-tooth TCT (tungesten carbide-tipped) saw blade that came with it performed better than my neighbor's saw. It just felt sturdier and better made. Plus the FIVE-YEAR warranty is amazing. Warranties are hard to come by these days, especially ones that are beyond 1 year. So with this saw, everything about it is just solid and easy to use. Again, this opinion is coming from a novice!!
However I noticed that it "tore" the wood slightly on cross cuts. My neighbor's saw did the same when I had it but the tearing was worse on his. For some of the finer things my wife wanted me to do (homemade picture frames), it caused a bit of a problem. Not knowing exactly what the heck was going on since I'm new to the realm of saws, I had to do research. So I started looking around on Google and learned multiple factors of the blade affect the outcome of the cut. Without going into too much detail, generally the more teeth, the smoother the cut. I knew I needed additional blades, so I browsed a couple forums for the best saw blades with a greater tooth count and the opinions were all over the place. Some said the Freud blades were the best while others mentioned Infinity, Ridge, and Forrest. I was a bit overwhelmed because I'm not a lumber guy or a shop master. In the end, I thought "since the original blade this does a good job, then Hitachi surely should make other blades with more teeth." I went to Hitachi's page, looked at my C10FCE2 saw and found the accessories list and BAM, I found the part number Hitachi 310878 40-Teeth Tungsten Carbine Tipped 10-Inch ATB 5/8-Inch Arbor Finish Saw Blade and the Hitachi 725206 72-Teeth Tungsten Carbide Tipped 10-Inch ATB 5/8-Inch Arbor Finish Saw Blade. The most awesome part is that compared to the Freud, Infinity, Ridge, and Forrest blades, the Hitachi blades were a FRACTION of the cost. The 40-tooth Hitachi was $22.63 and the 72-tooth was $35 at the time of purchase. The cheapest Infinity was $65 while the other brands were up close to $100). You woodworkers might argue against me but since I'm a novice, you can't argue at least testing out these blades.
All I can say is wow, these blades are awesome with my miter saw. For picture framing, I use the 72-teeth blade and that thing made amazingly clean cuts. The outside of my wood doesn't tear and the wood along the cut is smooth as if I sanded it. Even though I'm a novice, I know that saw blades don't last forever (you either sharpen them or discard them) and I didn't want to use my 72-teeth blade for everything, so I resorted to the 40-teeth blade for everything else (stuff that didn't require miter/finishing/wife projects). This isn't to say I won't use my 24-tooth ever again. I will for other projects (like replacing boards on my fence). But with all three in my arsenal, I don't see a reason to have any other blade and my saw does everything it needs to do with flying colors.
By Jon-Michel Seman
If you're buying an entry level saw, it might be safe to assume you're just entering into miter saw ownership for the first time. So I'll let you know what kind of saw this is, and what its limitations and capabilities are.
If you need a miter saw for carpentry, framing, or other home improvement tasks, this saw is a great value. But if you need something for cabinetry, furniture making, or other fine woodworking, save your money for something more precise and with more features.
My 5-star rating for this tool assumes you fall in the former category -- DIY, home improvement, or general jobsite use, etc.
Pros:
-Great price on a name-brand miter saw
-Set up and square right out of the box
-Dust collection bag works surprisingly well
-Amazon has great customer service (as of 2013), should anything be wrong
Cons:
-Blade should be upgraded unless you're just doing framing or using this as a chop saw
-Bevel adjustment is unintuitive (the screw turns backwards)
-Miter adjustment is a bit sloppy
More detailed review:
First of all, know what a "single-bevel compound miter saw" means before you buy. If you can accept the limitations, it's an incredibly good value. One limitation is the cutting depth. With a ten inch blade and no sliding function, you're limited to about 6" at 90 degrees. If you're making a mitered cut, that depth goes down, because you'll be cutting along the diagonal/hypotenuse. The saw is also a single-bevel setup. This means that you can only bevel ("lean") the blade in one direction. The easy way to overcome this is to flip the workpiece over if you need a bevel from another direction. Note that while the saw only bevels in one direction, it can do miters ("rotate") in either direction, and as a "compound" miter saw, it *can* both miter and bevel at the same time, which is necessary for certain applications, such as crown molding. If you've got a circular saw as well, you can probably just use that on the rare occasion when this miter saw proves too limited. If you need a sliding and/or dual bevel miter saw, you'll pay a lot for those features.
So how does the saw perform in its class? Extremely well. The base is metal and doesn't move around during use. If you want to be sure, there are holes for bolting the base to your table, too. The saw arm action is smooth and consistent. The dust bag on the back collects a lot of dust, and what isn't collected usually accumulates near the fence, and can easily be pushed aside when the saw is off. The dust collector is also a standard size, so you can hook your vacuum up to it if the bag is not enough. However, I've run the saw for dozens of cuts in a row and not had the bag fill up.
For an entry level saw, you want the cost of entry to be low. And it is, both in terms of money and ease of set up. The saw comes set up right out of the box, in the sense that the miter and bevel gauge are accurate, and the fence is square. This saves you a lot of fussing, and is not something you'd expect out of an inexpensive saw, but it's definitely a selling point. With use things will loosen up or become out of square, and realignment is easy and intuitive, assuming you've got a speed square or protractor to check your realignment.
Despite being a good value, there are a couple of cons even within this saw's class and price range that you might want to consider. I don't think any are major enough to make you look elsewhere, or even to dock a star from the saw's rating. But just so you are aware, adjusting the bevel and miter can be a bit clunky. You wouldn't expect super smooth operation from a saw at this price, but there are a couple of questionable designs. The bevel is adjusted by turning a handle behind the saw and tilting the saw arm to your desired bevel. The handle turns the opposite way from what you would expect, that is, you have to turn left to tighten and right to loosen. I understand the space limitations behind the saw are causing this clunkiness, but given that it's the opposite of almost every other tightening operation you've ever done, and the adjustment uses plastic handles, it seems like a break waiting to happen. The miter adjustment is adequate if you're doing common angles. There are notches that help you quickly find common angles. But if you're doing anything in between, you'll need several tries to dial things in. Not because the measurements are weird, but because the handle that looses the saw (the black handle protruding from under the base) tends to pull the saw in one direction or another as you tighten it. In other words, you set the angle, get it just right, then tighten the handle back up, on to have the saw pulled a degree or two to the side. Again, this is not an issue with the common angles, for which there are little locking notches. And neither of these complaints actually compromise the saw's function, they just make certain tasks trickier than others.
So if you know what you're buying, this is a great saw. A few design quirks should be ironed out for the next model, but none of them prevent the saw from being a great buy as it stands now. This is a fantastic value for general use.
If you need a miter saw for carpentry, framing, or other home improvement tasks, this saw is a great value. But if you need something for cabinetry, furniture making, or other fine woodworking, save your money for something more precise and with more features.
My 5-star rating for this tool assumes you fall in the former category -- DIY, home improvement, or general jobsite use, etc.
Pros:
-Great price on a name-brand miter saw
-Set up and square right out of the box
-Dust collection bag works surprisingly well
-Amazon has great customer service (as of 2013), should anything be wrong
Cons:
-Blade should be upgraded unless you're just doing framing or using this as a chop saw
-Bevel adjustment is unintuitive (the screw turns backwards)
-Miter adjustment is a bit sloppy
More detailed review:
First of all, know what a "single-bevel compound miter saw" means before you buy. If you can accept the limitations, it's an incredibly good value. One limitation is the cutting depth. With a ten inch blade and no sliding function, you're limited to about 6" at 90 degrees. If you're making a mitered cut, that depth goes down, because you'll be cutting along the diagonal/hypotenuse. The saw is also a single-bevel setup. This means that you can only bevel ("lean") the blade in one direction. The easy way to overcome this is to flip the workpiece over if you need a bevel from another direction. Note that while the saw only bevels in one direction, it can do miters ("rotate") in either direction, and as a "compound" miter saw, it *can* both miter and bevel at the same time, which is necessary for certain applications, such as crown molding. If you've got a circular saw as well, you can probably just use that on the rare occasion when this miter saw proves too limited. If you need a sliding and/or dual bevel miter saw, you'll pay a lot for those features.
So how does the saw perform in its class? Extremely well. The base is metal and doesn't move around during use. If you want to be sure, there are holes for bolting the base to your table, too. The saw arm action is smooth and consistent. The dust bag on the back collects a lot of dust, and what isn't collected usually accumulates near the fence, and can easily be pushed aside when the saw is off. The dust collector is also a standard size, so you can hook your vacuum up to it if the bag is not enough. However, I've run the saw for dozens of cuts in a row and not had the bag fill up.
For an entry level saw, you want the cost of entry to be low. And it is, both in terms of money and ease of set up. The saw comes set up right out of the box, in the sense that the miter and bevel gauge are accurate, and the fence is square. This saves you a lot of fussing, and is not something you'd expect out of an inexpensive saw, but it's definitely a selling point. With use things will loosen up or become out of square, and realignment is easy and intuitive, assuming you've got a speed square or protractor to check your realignment.
Despite being a good value, there are a couple of cons even within this saw's class and price range that you might want to consider. I don't think any are major enough to make you look elsewhere, or even to dock a star from the saw's rating. But just so you are aware, adjusting the bevel and miter can be a bit clunky. You wouldn't expect super smooth operation from a saw at this price, but there are a couple of questionable designs. The bevel is adjusted by turning a handle behind the saw and tilting the saw arm to your desired bevel. The handle turns the opposite way from what you would expect, that is, you have to turn left to tighten and right to loosen. I understand the space limitations behind the saw are causing this clunkiness, but given that it's the opposite of almost every other tightening operation you've ever done, and the adjustment uses plastic handles, it seems like a break waiting to happen. The miter adjustment is adequate if you're doing common angles. There are notches that help you quickly find common angles. But if you're doing anything in between, you'll need several tries to dial things in. Not because the measurements are weird, but because the handle that looses the saw (the black handle protruding from under the base) tends to pull the saw in one direction or another as you tighten it. In other words, you set the angle, get it just right, then tighten the handle back up, on to have the saw pulled a degree or two to the side. Again, this is not an issue with the common angles, for which there are little locking notches. And neither of these complaints actually compromise the saw's function, they just make certain tasks trickier than others.
So if you know what you're buying, this is a great saw. A few design quirks should be ironed out for the next model, but none of them prevent the saw from being a great buy as it stands now. This is a fantastic value for general use.
By Cody
As a beginner and miter saw newb, this is all I could ask for. It's not fancy or decked out, but I wouldn't know what to do with one that is, so I give it 5 stars. The laser is dead on and can be turned on or off - fantastic newb option. Also, I wonder how many negative reviews these saws have about burned out motors bc people don't use the proper extension cords for a 15 amp saw. You cannot use these with a standard cord you use for your Christmas lights. The longer the cord the more power in line loss you have. The smaller gauge the less power is transmitted which results in a stressed out motor not being supplied enough power to do the job it was created to do. Buy a 12/3 or 10/3 outdoor cord for this saw and you won't burn your motor up under a load. The shorter the extension cord, the better for your saw and less line loss is created. See my picture of recommended gauge for amperage levels by Milwaukee Tools.
By Kailey Castro
Love this saw. It was perfect for building my first woodworking project and I was happy with the cuts it made. Great product!!
By H. Sachan
This was my first miter/chop saw and I looked around alot before buying it. I compared Dewalt 723, Craftsman and couple of other models from home depot.
Dewalt was twice as expensive ($209) and Craftsmans from Sears was pretty darn cheap and althoug you could buy a sliding compound miter for less that $200, the quality wasn't good. There were many complaints about cheap plastic parts and even cheaper angle/cut quality. Other Ryobi and Makita were similar to Hitachi and Dewalt, but werent' that popular and couldn't find many reviews.
After all this analysis and talking to couple of contractors, they suggested that Hitachi is equally good and I ended up ordering one from amazon.
I arrived in 2 days (with free shipping) and since the blades are new you could you use it to cut moulding right out of the box. But may be when you cut 2x4s for few months, you might need a newer blade with more teeths. The construction of the saw itself is strong and it comes with few accessories.
Dust bag isn't very useful as it captures only part of the dust, but that's true with all other brands as well. I haven't tried mounting it on a stand, but have heard people complain about incompatibility with Dewalt miter stand.
Used it couple of time for miter and compound miter, and all the angles were perfect with fine cuts.
I highly recommed this saw.
BTW, its cheap @ $125, but the price here fluctuates alot and I was able to get it for $99 + taxes + free shipping.
Dewalt was twice as expensive ($209) and Craftsmans from Sears was pretty darn cheap and althoug you could buy a sliding compound miter for less that $200, the quality wasn't good. There were many complaints about cheap plastic parts and even cheaper angle/cut quality. Other Ryobi and Makita were similar to Hitachi and Dewalt, but werent' that popular and couldn't find many reviews.
After all this analysis and talking to couple of contractors, they suggested that Hitachi is equally good and I ended up ordering one from amazon.
I arrived in 2 days (with free shipping) and since the blades are new you could you use it to cut moulding right out of the box. But may be when you cut 2x4s for few months, you might need a newer blade with more teeths. The construction of the saw itself is strong and it comes with few accessories.
Dust bag isn't very useful as it captures only part of the dust, but that's true with all other brands as well. I haven't tried mounting it on a stand, but have heard people complain about incompatibility with Dewalt miter stand.
Used it couple of time for miter and compound miter, and all the angles were perfect with fine cuts.
I highly recommed this saw.
BTW, its cheap @ $125, but the price here fluctuates alot and I was able to get it for $99 + taxes + free shipping.
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