Portable table saw

[Doug Keener]

Could I get an opinion on what is a reasonably good but not overly expensive ($250ish tops) portable table saw for on sight installation. The need arises from time to time and so far I just make a trip home to make the cut and go back. Most times I can use my power hand saw or router or miter saw.

I've looked at Makita, Royobi, and Delta and so far I don't like what I see for the money. Maybe I'm being too picky.

If I had to pick one tomorrow I like the Royobi BTS20 the best so far.

Thanks, Doug Keener :cool:

[Jason Roehl]

I don't have a whole lot of experience with them, but from what I've used and seen, they all look about the same. I would say that your best bet is to put some money into a better blade (like a Forrest) and maybe even a small stabilizer. Even stationary saws that are twice that price can leave alot to be desired.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've got a portable for on-site work. My "real" table saw is Unisaw with a big outfeed table, so the portable only gets used in customers' homes.

Here's some opinions --
* Some "portables" are too big to really be called portable (e.g. DeWalt). I wanted something I could safely carry by myself -- and that includes carrying up stairs and through doorways without dinging the house.
* As far as I could see, all rip fences on the real portables are junk. They won't stay parallel to the blade. You have to measure the rip width at both the front and the back of the blade each time you move the fence.
* All saws in this class have a small table, and therefore a short outfeed length. You have to get creative about catching the far end of the workpiece.

I've got the Makita. It does pretty much what I expected it to do.