12 Inch Miter Saw - which do you like?

[Mike Henderson]

I want to upgrade my 10 inch miter saw to a 12 inch to get more cutting capacity. I do not have room behind the saw for a slider.

Amazon has 20% off on the Dewalt DW716 right now, which gets it down to about $319, delivered, plus you get a $50 gift card which makes it $269. I'd like to buy one that has a double bevel instead of a single bevel.

But what non-slider 12 inch miter saw do you like - and why. I'll be using it for furniture work in a shop. It'll be permanently attached to the bench.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Mike

[Rob Bodenschatz]

The Hitachi slider requires less room in the back since it retracts into itself:

41592

More expensive than the ones you're looking at but I did find a new one for around $500 on eBay a few months ago. I love it.

[Mark Rios]

P. Michael, I have a slider but I did want to chime in on the customer service at Makita.

Without getting deep unto what's wrong with my saw, I am STILL having trouble with the fence not being right. There are three issues that I brought up to the "Factory Service Center" and none of them are right yet. The Sacramento Service Center do NOT have guys working on the equipment that are woodworkers and may not even be "handy" type guys. When they brought out their tools to check my saw when I first brought it in, they used a beat-up framing square (for a straight edge) and an even more beat-up little plastic square to check for square. Neither were close to matching my Veritas steel straightedge or my Woodpecker Precision triangles. To them, close enough is close enough.

At the very best, in my opinion, they are just parts replacers as opposed to "technicians". Customer service on the phone only refers you to your closest Service Center. You can drive it in (like I did, 80 miles each way, two round trips) or you can ship it to them but YOU have to pay the shipping to get it to them. I'm not happy with them at all but I'm not done with them yet either though. I've now got to try to get in touch with corporate and see what they will do.

Anyway, Makita makes a pretty good product but if you happen to get one that needs service, I'd feel bad for you. I won't buy another machine from them that needs precise adjustments. Drivers and drills and such I'd be fine with but, again, not anything that you use where you require precision.

JMO

[Norman Hitt]

P. Michael, I also wanted a double Bevel, but caught a closeout on a DW-705 Single Bevel, and for a single bevel, I really love it. It's solid, holds it's tuning, easy to set up and plenty of power. I haven't used the NEW DW models, so can't answer to them, but if they didn't get any glitches when incorporating the new features, they should be very good. The ONLY thing that is a little weak on mine, is trying to "read" a real accurate bevel angle. Setting the angle is no problem, but the indicator does leave something to be desired, but I intend to "Improve" that with a little in house Modification before long.;) I guess every brand & model have some weakness though from all I looked at.

[Joe Meazle]

I have a Bosch and a Delta. I think the Bosch is a better saw and easier to set up but I really like the twin lasers on the delta. The Delta stays in the shop and the Bosch travels. No complaints either way.
Joe

[Mike Cutler]

I have an older DeWalt 705. It's a little beast, and it's fairly loud. The supplied blades from DeWalt are OK, but if you want it for making furniture put a full kerf 12" blade on it. Less deflection.

Mine sits on a cart permanently also. It's a nice CMS. I use it alot.

[Perry Holbrook]

I've got 3 Dewalts in the shop, 1 slider, 2 double bevels. They have been great saws. As far as service goes, a couple of years ago I did something stupid while using the slider and had a major kick back into the fence. Upon investigation, the fence was not perfectly straight. I called Dewalt service to buy a replacement and the tech gladly sent me one no charge. He doubted I could have possibly bent it and said it was probably not straight from the factory. At the time the saw was a couple of years old.

Perry

[Dan Clark]

Hi. I was going to buy the new Dewalt DW718 assuming that it would be improved over the older DW708. It turns out that the quality went down with the new saw. The DW718 has some nice features, but the castings are not as good and the head is pretty floppy.

Check out the Bosch or Makita, or maybe Hitachi. I found the Bosch and Makita to be much better quality, and their heads are MUCH stiffer at full extension. Test all saws side by side and you'll see what I mean.

If you can find a used DW708 in good condition, that might be another option.

Good luck and regards,

Dan.

p.s., I ended up with a Bosch 10" slider after deciding that it met my needs.

[Bob Aquino]

I have the older 12" Porter Cable which is pretty much the same saw as the newer delta with the lasers. One thing to consider is weight. If the saw will be permananently mounted then weight is not a problem, if you are going to move it around, then take that into consideration. My PC weighs a ton, so it is permanently mounted. I kept my old 10" ryobi just because it is very light and when I want to use it outside or other places in the house its easy to setup and use.

[Scott Thornton]

I'd highly recommend the Bosch 12 inch. I have the SCMS 12 inch, but without the slider the standard Bosch is the same saw.

It's very easy to use, has upfront controls, looks great and cuts great. If you get one that's out of alignment, you can get a brand new one very easy, or they're simple to adjust. The handle is also adjustable, that's a cool feature.

The only thing bad I can say about them is the dust collection doesn't work really well, all of that engineering in the saw and they turned the dust collection over to an intern! hehe, I don't know that, but it sure appears so, most of the dust doesn't go into the bag...hook a dust collector up though and it fixes that problem.

I am extremely happy with my purchase and upgrade from my 10inch Makita slider...the Bosch is a much better saw, I wasn't really happy with the Makita...

HTH.

[Mark J Bachler]

Had my Bosch for 4 years. No complaints.

[Louis Brandt]

I just bought the DeWalt DW716, the 12 inch, double-bevel non-slider, and I think it's great. It took me only a couple of minutes to true it up, and it's been right on for every cut that I've done. One thing that I did before I started using it was to order a blank kerf plate from DeWalt, so that I'd wind up with a narrow kerf. The plate that comes with the saw has a wide precut kerf.
Louis

[Mark Rios]

One thing that I did before I started using it was to order a blank kerf plate from DeWalt, so that I'd wind up with a narrow kerf. The plate that comes with the saw has a wide precut kerf.
Louis


That's interesting. When I bought my 708 a few years ago it came with a blank plate and the instructions told how to make the first cut.

I wonder why they wouldn't just send blank plates to begin with. :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Mike Alagna]

I have a 12" dewalt single bevel and love it. It is about 12 years old now and I use it all the time. I do some custom moulding work and custom cabinetry and it has been great. I may upgrade to the slider for additional capacity since i am starting to do more 8" and 9" base which I need the addition slider capacity.

[Louis Brandt]

An interesting note about the DeWalt DW716 12 inch double-bevel miter saw is that it has a wider 90 degree crosscutting capacity than its DW715 12 inch single-bevel brother. That's because of the design of the back fence on the DW716.
Louis

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'm going to go look at the Dewalt and the Bosch before I make a decision.

One big factor is service. I had a problem with a Bosch router and when I contacted Bosch, they replied, "Take it to the local service center and we'll replace it." No questions, no issue with the age, condition, usage, nothing - just "We'll replace it."

I haven't had any bad experiences with Dewalt service, but I was really impressed with Bosch.

Mike

[Mark Pruitt]

Mike, just caught your thread. Sounds like you're pretty well settled on the Bosch, but just to add .02, I've had the Delta 12" for a few years and it has never disappointed me. Dust collection is outstanding when connected to a vac or a DC system, and it's even reasonably effective with just the bag. The saw was easy to set up and has kept its alignment.

[Don Baer]

I have had the DeWalt 705 for a number of years and it's been a great tool. One of my neighbors has the Ryobe which I borrowed yesterday (mine is in AZ do to the move) and It is not the same saw at all. Another neighbor who is a cabinate installer bought the Boshe and told me he wishes he had the DeWalt.

[tod evans]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'm going to go look at the Dewalt and the Bosch before I make a decision.

One big factor is service. I had a problem with a Bosch router and when I contacted Bosch, they replied, "Take it to the local service center and we'll replace it." No questions, no issue with the age, condition, usage, nothing - just "We'll replace it."

I haven't had any bad experiences with Dewalt service, but I was really impressed with Bosch.

Mike

mike, for what it`s worth our local service center who handles bosch, milwaukee, portercable, hitachi, makita, ect.... refused to do business with the "new" dewalt. prior to the "new" company this service center did carry b&d industrial tools and serviced them so the infrastructure was in place........food for thought.....02 tod

[glenn bradley]

To your question, Bosch and Makita keep taking top honors in the bake-offs. By more capacity I assume you mean height since you're not targeting a slider. If you're after length of cut I wouldn't spend money ona non-slider, IMHO. Of course you don't see me running out and getting one when you know I would love to upgrade my 10" DeWalt.

[Mike Henderson]

Glenn, I'm after length of cut but I can't fit a slider on the bench where I have my miter saw now. I have a VERY small shop.

Another factor is that I want to replace the 10" Hitachi that I have now. It was a cheap saw to begin with and it's been beat up pretty bad so I really need to replace it.

I wish I could fit a slider. Someone posted earlier about an Hitachi slider that didn't stick out so far in the back. I need to see if there's a 10" verison of that and how much room is required in back.

I don't need the depth, I need length of cut - but I don't have a lot of room.

Mike