Circular Saw Reccomendations

[Dan Mages]

Good afternoon all! I recieved my $50 amazon coupon today and I want to spend it on a good circular saw. Any reccomendations? I looked at the Porter Cable, and it looked nice. I want to keep my budget below $150, so Festool is out of the question... darn.


Dan

[Greg Heppeard]

PC is a good one, I own the DeWalt...it's treated me fine so far, but I don't do much framing with it.

[David Wilson]

If you don't need to cut 4x4's check out the PC Saw Boss. It uses a 6" blade, is light weight and does a very nice job. I have one and love it.

[Tom Hintz]

I have tested and reviewed the new Porter Cable 423MAG and Bosch CS20 offerings in circular saws. Both are very nice pieces of equipment. See the links below for the reviews.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/pcmag423rvu.html

http://www.newwoodworker.com/bcs20rvu.html

[Ron Jones near Indy]

blade is on the left, light weight, easy to change blades

[Dan Mages]

BTW... I'm a lefty, so I will need it to be blade right.

Dan

[Dave Sweeney]

A few years ago I picked up a Milwaukee Tilt Lok and haven't looked back since. With a 15amp motor it has plenty of power and the 8 position adjustable handle has come in handy on many occassions. It also is available with either a blade left or blade right configuration.

[Dan Mages]

bump.

Dan.

[Glenn Clabo]

Milwaukee Tilt Lok is the best circular saw I have ever used. It's tough... smooth... powerful... comfortable and the Tilt Lok feature is used a lot more than I ever thought I would.

[Thomas Canfield]

I spent a day on a Habitat for Hummanity house last fall and the permanent crew had a lightweight Makita saw that I thought was well balanced and quiet. I think it was a model #5740NBX1 that Amazon has for $89.99 including a 24 tooth carbide blade extra. It is only a 11 amp, but I used it for cutting 2x4s and some siding and liked it a lot better than the Skil I have. It is not the super quality of the better saws, but would be more than adequate and handy for breaking down sheets of plywood or general use around the shop. Probably not a production machine for the long use.

[Perry Schmidt]

I did this exercise on 'what circular saw' a few years ago. Results? PC got great reviews, found very few (anyone??) who didn't like them. Rated best by a number of mags. Milwaukee had JUST came out w/ it's tilt handle - got great reviews all around, the tilt feature was really liked, but durability was a question b/c it JUST came out. DeWalt also got many good reviews, as did the Hitachi. Not quite as many as PC, but both considered very good. I would have gone w/ the Milwaukee if it had been out longer and the 'tilt' feature had some time on it. I liked the feel of the DeWalt a little better than the PC - personal preference. Went w/ the yellow saw, and I like it very much. Used it to build/add on about 800sq ft on the house, and use it now to cut sheet goods. No complaints. If I'd buy today I'd probably look at the Milwaukee saw again and go w/ that or the DeWalt again.

my 2 cents.

Perry

[Don Selke]

Hi Dan:
I have had the PC for 4 years now and have had no problems with it. I use it to pre-cut all my 4 X 8 sheet goods oversize, then complete the final cuts on the table saw. Used to be able to cut all my stock on the table saw but have more respect for the weight now that I am older, especially when working with 3/4 MDF.
I really like the dust pick up option on the saw and use it all the time. It does not get all the dust but 80% is better then none especially with MDF. I have a fine tooth blade on the saw but again, I pre-cut oversize and complete on the table saw. My days of using the warm drives are over and I do not throw around 4 X 8 sheet goods any more.

Good luck on your pick

Don Selke

[William OConnell]

For strictly shop work I like the dewalt. But if I needed to own just one{I have 3 PCs, 1 dewalt and 1 Makita} it would be a PC. Its unbelievable the hours of use i get out of these saws before the need for service. By the way when they quit working is when I bring them in for service and they seem to always be repareable at an inexpensive fee.