Howard Ferstler

I am not sure if this saw is still available with the exact specifications and model number as this one, but they do have one in the same price class: $99.00.

As with all models in this size class, the saw can cut a 2x6 at 90 degrees and a 2x4 at 45. The miter-lock handle in right in front and the bevel release is in the back. It can bevel in one direction out to 45 degrees and the motor is a decently powerful 14-amp job. It comes with a decent carbide blade and the throat plate is a zero clearance job that you slot cut yourself once the saw is ready to go. To make blade changes easier the unit has a button-operated spindle lock. The saw comes with a useful horizontal clamp (although I prefer vertical ones like what I have with my big Ridgid 1290 slider) and a dust bag. The handle is a horizontally oriented type that I prefer to vertical versions. The motor has an electrical brake that stops it in a few short seconds after the trigger is released.

I mounted mine on a board that can easily be clamped to a bench or miter stand with its own clamping system. However, the saw is stable enough on the board (which has rubber feet underneath) to just let it sit on a table or bench without clamps. It came with outboard stabilizers that are not shown in the attached photo.

Ryobi makes a somewhat more expensive version of this saw that, I believe, comes with a laser guide, but other than that I cannot see a big advantage to the more upscale version - at least for those on a budget.

OK, $99 is cheap for a miter saw, and I would be remiss if I said that this was a superior saw that will work wonders for any serious woodworker out to do precise cabinet or furniture work. It will not. It is not all that exact when it comes to angle settings (although the settings can be decently changed for more exactness), and the miter pivot tends to bind after a fair amount of use. It still moves OK, but it is not as butter smooth as with my Ridgid 1290 12-inch sliding model that I have also reviewed on this site.

However, what do you want for ninety-nine bucks? Some time back the wife and I were having a major-grade addition attached to our house and one of the super carpenters on the job (there is always a super carpenter or two on projects like this, in addition to the regular group of grunts, and thank God for that) had one of the things in addition to the big DeWalt sliding unit he kept stashed in his truck.

I asked him about it and he said that one simply could not lose with a saw that cost only a buck less than a C-note. He said he could lob it into the back of the truck, leave it out in the rain, and never worry about somebody in the area stealing it when it was left unattended. Yet, he said that he had owned his for eight months and that it still worked just fine, and was a great tool for some of the rough and tumble miter and cross-cutting framing work he had to do. When it finally broke he intended to just go get another just like it and soldier on. In the meantime, if really precise work was required or he was dealing with wider boards he would use the DeWalt slider, but for not quite so serious cuts the little Ryobi was a workable tool.

I probably should have let him write this review, but a secondary source is better than nothing, and, besides, I have also used mine for some on-site work and it did fine for me. I helped a buddy do a church/charity project a while back where an individual could no longer use the stairs on their backyard deck. We built a ramp for their new wheelchair and the little Ryobi made all of the necessary cuts just fine.

Hard to beat that.

Howard Ferstler

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jdixon

Howard, Thanks for your reviews. Always well written and interesting! I picked up a cheapo 10" miter saw with a 15 amp motor from Tractor Supply Company on Black Friday for $49. I just couldn't pass it up. I'm saving for a Dewalt or Hitachi slider but it was an uprade to the non compound Delta miter saw I was using. It actually cuts surprisingly well and I think it will have it's uses even when I do upgrade in the future.

John

wrc.six.eight

I've had this same saw for a few years now and have gotten some good use from it, but it is nowhere near precise. I was putting a good speed square trying to check the accuracy of the 90 and the 45 on each side of the fence while trying to Dial it in with my new 60 tooth blade for a new job with some expensive wood.

After scratching my head for a while about this seeming impossibility I put a good straight edge across the fence and found a gap of nearly 3/32 of an inch between the straight edge and the fence closest to the blade on both sides of the blade.

I was able to take the fence off, rest it on a good flat piece of oak and hit the middle lightly once with a 10 pound sledge on the cast aluminum and get it very close to perfectly flat. My belt sander with a wornout 180 grit belt got it to near perfect. My friend's 12 inch Ryobi Miter is worse

I also wound up taking the belt sander to the base because it was lumpy and bumpy and raised slightly on the round rotating part.

After these modifications I was ably to cut good clean 90's and 45's in a 2x 10 stock having to flip the stock over and around, but before the mod it looked like a hack job by a tweaker and a handsaw. The blade that comes with it one should save for cutting nailed scrap demo wood for the firepit. It deflects on any knot and causes the saw to bog down.

It engages with a clunk with the trigger pull and makes strange noises if you push too hard to cut fast. With wet wood unless you go real slow the vibration harmonics like noise make it sound like smoke is gonna start pouring from the motor, even with a good sharp quality brand blade.

On the plus side, it is compact and easy to drag to the jobsite and despite the strange noises under stress, and years of it, it is still going strong. So for 99$, and some fine tuning modification, it is not a Bad saw, but out of the box it is not fit for finishwork.

Howard Ferstler

I agree with your points. My own unit seems to have no problems, but we can attribute both my good luck and your bad luck to budget-oriented assembly line tolerances. We live in a universe of chance when it comes to budget-grade tools. Chance favors the prepared mind, and in your case you were prepared to fix things and did that just fine.

I would suggest to most individuals who want to do serious work with expensive wood as you were doing (even if they own a version of this saw that lines up OK) that they also invest in a somewhat more upscale version and leave the rough-and-tumble operations to the little Ryobi. I lug this unit to remote projects when I have to, but back in my shop I used my Ridgid 12-inch slider (which I have also reviewed on this site) for more precision operations. That Ridgid unit also has a good Freud crosscutting blade.

Howard Ferstler

wrc.six.eight

Most of the motivation I had for posting in this thread was to inform others about the likelyhood of the fence not being very flat, because I've seen it on my friends 12 inch Ryobi as well.

I've also put a straight edge on the display models I've seen at home stores, and 1 out of 2 times, the fence was not flat.

So I do recommend taking any intended purchase out of the box and checking the fence for flatness, Or just know before use that you might have to do some fine tuning.

This saw, before I tuned it in, caused many of my projects to take longer and come out sloppier because I could not count on the 45 stops being accurate on each side of the fence, or the 90 for that matter. I was having to put a speed square on it for each cut, and lock it down just outside the stops. After the cuts I'd sometimes find the vibration caused it to fall back in the stops, and intended 45 was now actually 44.X.

I would love to be able to afford a better miter saw, and have a nice workshop to set it up in, but I've been making my living doing handyman work for a while, and this small Ryobi fits nicely in my Van, and on my portable tables, and now after fine tuning it can make clean fairly accurate cuts with a nice blade on it.

It has also survived a lot of abuse in cutting up scrapwood and wet pressure treated all day long.

So it is a good saw for the money, just be aware it can be improved upon pretty easily. I wish I had done it when I first got it every time I see that first project I did with it at my friends house.