Ridgid 12" sliding miter saw.

[Dave Lehnert]

Anyone own one and your thoughts? On sale right now at a very good price.

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/3f/3f1689dc-2958-4463-b98f-4169d47f73f1_300.jpg

[Bill White]

I've not heard anything bad about the slider. My thought would be to tune it up and use a good blade (don't know that the included blade is junk). I use a Freud 80t thin kerf on my 10" non-slider DeWalt with great results.
Set up is gonna be the trick. It might be dead on out of the box, but I wouldn't bet on it 'till I checked it.
I use a draftsman's square. Accurate and not expensive.

Just my opinion.
Bill

[Dave Lehnert]

I've not heard anything bad about the slider. My thought would be to tune it up and use a good blade (don't know that the included blade is junk). I use a Freud 80t thin kerf on my 10" non-slider DeWalt with great results.
Set up is gonna be the trick. It might be dead on out of the box, but I wouldn't bet on it 'till I checked it.
I use a draftsman's square. Accurate and not expensive.

Just my opinion.
Bill

A little concerned because of some reviews say it does not track properly. I know some may like other saws better but at the new lower price and I have $150 worth of HD gift cards. Makes it $250 out the door for me.

[Greg McClurg]

Dave,

I've owned one for several years and haven't had any problems. I consider myself a bit of a tool snob so I don't think this is the best one on the market, but for the price I think it is decent. Personally I don't care for the thin kerf blades because they deflect too easily. Again for the price and the life time warranty I think it is a good deal.

Greg

[Mark Ashmeade]

I've had a shop full of the orange tools. The routers and sanders are good. The band saw was garbage. Table saws were OK. Planer was OK, but loud. Jointer was good, but small.

The warranty is garbage. I had a lifetime warranty "grey" RAS. Motor went out "sorry, no parts, no service". My sander needed a new hook/loop base. Took it to the repair shop. "We need a $50 bond to do the warranty work".

Just my experiences, but I shall not be buying any more orange tools.

[Greg McClurg]

Mark,

Thanks for the information regarding the warranty.

Greg

[Timothy Wolf]

I think the saw is fairly nice it isn't the best one but it will generally work well for most tasks I have a few friends that use it professionally. I definetely would not use a thin kerf on it, as was already mentioned by Greg (I have found that they deflect way too much otherwise especially on a 12" blade). I Have noticed the saw is pretty heavy so unless you are parking it in your garage on a bench, I would probably buy the Ridgid stand too. As for me I'm waiting for someone to put a 10" Delta Radial arm saw on craigslist for next to nothing so I can do Dado work and I will use my non-sliding makita until that day and possibly keep it afterward as well.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

I had one for about 3.5 years. Like you, I could not pass up the price - $350 on Black Friday. Mine tracked perfectly the entire time. One of the things I liked about it was the size of the guides. As stated before, it is really heavy; but I has mine on the MSUV so it was fairly easy to transport.

I just sold it this past summer because it was too large to fit into the miter station I was building. Honestly, I was a little sad to get rid of it. It is a beast - it chopped through 2 deck builds without a wimper and then did a beautiful job on the trim work for my entire first floor.

[Joseph Tarantino]

....and the life time warranty I think it is a good deal....Greg

for the record, the orange ridgid tools DO NOTcarry a lifetime warranty. they carry a 3 year guaranty and are eligible for registration into the Lifetime Service Agreement (LSA) which provides free parts and labor for the life of the tool to the original owner of the tool. the unfortunate part of ridgid's LSA is that your individual experience with it can often times be a function of the authorized repair shop you use. as they are all independent businesses, the quality of their service varies from place to place. my own experience with ridgid, both it's lifetime guaranty (on gray tools) and the LSA for newer (orange) tools has been entirely satisfactory. they have yet to turn down or not cover anything.

[Dave Lehnert]

I never understood what the difference is. 3 year warranty +"Life Time service agreement" vs "Life Time Warranty". Has to be a legal issue but what???

I know a lot of people has had problems with the Life time service agreement (per Ridgid forum) But I look at it this way. If I buy any other saw it has a 3 year warranty or less just like the Ridgid. If I have problems in say 10 years, I am out of luck with Dewalt or or Bosch or pick your name. I have "maybe" a good chance getting it fixed for free. The LTSA is nice but not a factor in my purchase.

[Dave Lehnert]

I picked the saw up tonight. I will give it a going over and report back.

-Thanks to the manager who knocked off another $79 because I said "Don't know if i want this Ridgid or the one I saw on-line for same price"

[Joseph Tarantino]

I never understood what the difference is. 3 year warranty +"Life Time service agreement" vs "Life Time Warranty". Has to be a legal issue but what???

I know a lot of people has had problems with the Life time service agreement (per Ridgid forum) But I look at it this way. If I buy any other saw it has a 3 year warranty or less just like the Ridgid. If I have problems in say 10 years, I am out of luck with Dewalt or or Bosch or pick your name. I have "maybe" a good chance getting it fixed for free. The LTSA is nice but not a factor in my purchase.

as it's been explained to me by the head of CS for ridgid, the LSA is an agreement to repair the tool for free, regardless of the nature of the defect, excluding abuse. the lifetime guaranty is against manufacturing defects. e.g., should a tool with brushes in the motor need new brushes, it's covered by the LSA, but not covered by a lifetime guaranty.