A local Hardware shop has this Makita 10" sliding miter saw for $599 with a free miter saw stand.
Does anyone have any knowledge or reviews of this saw?
I have an old Crasftman chop saw that I want to upgrade
They also have a Dewalt DWS780 12" with a free stand for $599 but i wasnt really looking for a 12" saw.
Any thoughts from Y'all?
I just purchased the 12" version of this saw (LS1219L) and I can say that is it a good saw. I had a 12" Dewalt 780 for years and was extremely happy with that saw but now that I'm building a miter stand that will sit up against a wall I couldn't afford the extra depth that the Dewalt required with it's rear projecting slides.
I gave my Dewalt saw to my son and actually purchased a Festool Kapex last month. That saw was incredible but I wasn't able to get the 2020 model (575306) because no one has them in stock and Festool is way behind on their deliveries, most places are showing a May or June delivery. I ended up getting the 2019 model (T31769) which along with the older models are known to have motor problems. My new saw worked great for about a week and then something happened with the motor where it started bogging down even cutting just 1/2" plywood. It got so bad that if you took the blade out of the cut when it bogged down the motor wouldn't speed back up. I ended up returning the saw and after a failed search to find any of the 2020 models I opted to go with the Makita.
I will say that the power of the Makita saw is very good. My saw required no tweaking on the fence or the blade angle...it came perfect from the factory. The slide operates very smoothly and there is no play in it whatsoever. The saw is very easy to operate and the construction on the saw is solid. As far as negatives go there are a few.
The dust collection on this saw is pretty bad. I think it could be much better with some slight modifications. There is a fixed collection port mounted at the back of the saw base that is stationary and another one at the back of the blade that moves with the saw as it slides out. There is a single small dust port (less than 2") that feeds both collection ports on the saw off of a T section. I think I'll replace that and feed two 2" hoses and directly connect to each port on the saw which I think should help things out.
The angle stops on the base of the unit is made of aluminum. It sounds like that can wear out pretty easily which will make it more difficult to get precise cuts as you change angles on the blade. There are a few companies that make replacement stops for the saw that runs around $45 and I think you may have to invest in something like that eventually. It does sound like Makita will send you replacement stops for free so you could just keep replacing it as it wears out.
The laser on this saw is just OK. It's not nearly as nice as the light that created the blade shadow that my old Dewalt saw had and it's no where near as good as the dual lasers on the Festool. The projected laser is a bit dim and for some reason my eyes have a very hard time focusing on it.
Changing the tilt on the saw is fairly easy but like my old dewalt it has a very small angle gauge at the back of the saw so it's not that easy to be extremely precise. If I hadn't owned the Festool Kapex for a few weeks I wouldn't have known how much better it could be.
The final issue is the fence extensions. They can only be removed...they cannot be slid back and forth like on most saws. I don't ever cut crown molding so this won't be much of a problem for me but it could affect other users. With the tall fence extensions installed dust collection is really negatively impacted. I run my saw with those extensions removed.
This review may seem overly negative. I think I'm more critical of what a miter saw can be after having worked with that Kapex for a few weeks. The Festool Kapex is truly in a league of its' own which is probably why they can get away with charging so much for it. If a 2020 Kapex had been available I would have definitely went that direction. That being said the Makita is half the price, has much more power and makes extremely clean and precise cuts.
For the price your getting with the included stand I think the Makita is a good choice for you. For others considering this saw I would recommend buying it locally and not having it shipped. The packaging protection is mainly pieces of cardboard with a few small pieces of foam. Many people that ordered this saw on-line and had it shipped received the saw damaged.
