Hitachi job site table saw

[Larry Rose]

My son who is new to wood working wants a small TS for Christmas. He doesn't have enough room for a contractor size. I saw the Hitachi C10FR job site saw in Lowes. Any body know anything about them?

[patrick anderson]

As much as I like hitachi I'd stay clear of the table saws. The fence on it is iffy to say the least. The dewalt with the rack and pinion fence is very nice though.

[frank shic]

the dewalt CANNOT be beat for portability and accuracy but the bosch is a rock solid beast that can easily substitute for a contractor's saw on operations requiring less than 24 1/2" rip capacity.

[Matthew Voss]

Larry-

If you're looking for a smaller portable saw you might consider Jet's benchtop model. I bought this for the jobsite.

While it does have a universal motor (like all saws in this class) it is belt driven so its MUCH quiter than most jobsite saws I've used and cuts cleaner with less vibration. Also, the blade height and bevel gears are metal, not plastic like other saws and has 90 and 45 stops adjustable through the top of the table (nice feature).

I mount mine in a Rousseau stand that I modified, but I bought the model with the steel legs and which also comes with 2 side extensions and a dust shroud with a 4" and 2 1/2" shop vac port. At around 50 lbs, its quite portable and weighs less than the Bosch or Ridgid saws (which I appreciate, in and out of the truck). I just couldn't see spending $500 or $600 on another jobsite saw. I bought mine on sale from Amazon for $200 delivered, but even @ $250, this saw is hands down the best value for a saw in this class.

I have to respectfully disagree with Frank about a jobsite saw with universal motor, plastic housing, and aluminum top easily substituting for a cast iron contractor saw with a 1.5hp belt driven induction motor, but both the Bosch and Ridgid are excellent tools. All jobsite saws are going to have some tradeoffs. I never really liked the R & P fence on the Dewalt, but that's just a personal preference.

After over a year of use, it has held up well and I've been very happy with its performance.

[Bill Ryall]

I have one- emergency replacement for my old tabletop saw that died on site mid job.

It is just a fancier tabletop saw. It has a universal (loud) motor, nifty fold up stand and table extensions. It is not in the same league as a Dewalt, Ridgid, of Bosch job site saw. It is also a lot cheaper.

I would not consider it a "long term" investment. I doubt it would survive long to and from job sites every day, being tossed in and out of a truck. There is also no upgrading it- it is what it is. If all you are looking for is a small footprint for a weekend warrior, then you should be ok. Price and feature wise it fills the gap between the cheap ($99) tabletop saws and a "real" job site saw.

My $.02.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I've had mine for a little over a year and a half:
- Good saw, not real good, but good.
- Ample power for most jobs - with a sharp blade and within reason.
- The fence is one of it's strong points - compared to other saws in the $100 to $200 price range, as is the table.
- The saw is very portable - easy to knock down - easy to setup - easy to transport. Folded down, it fits easily in the trunk of my Accord w/room to spare.
- Low cost.
- The "4th leg" on the back adds stability.
- Blades are simple to change w/the supplied wrenches. It get's trickier if you misplace the wrench and have to use a cresent or open end wrench.
- Hitachi blades are pretty fair blades. The one on mine would still be going strong had I not used it to cut laminate flooring.
- Ripping stock less than 15 to 18 in wide and 4' long or less is fairly easy.
Wider and/or longer, and it get's iffy. Again, it's a job-site saw, not intended to be a central tool in a workshop.

Drawbacks:
- It's a table top saw at heart. It's OK for 3/4" wood (ply or hard). It bogs down on anything much thicker.
- It draws a lot of current. Anything else on the same line, and it trips the breaker on the saw. If there's any line loss, the saw's breaker will trip as soon as there's a load of any kind.
- Forget about any accessories that use a standard 3/4" miter slot - forget about making an "easy" crosscut sled. The miter slot is non-standard. Mine isn't 1/2" or 3/8" - I believe mine is metric. I've measured the slot in 2 different ones at Lowes at 2 different times. 1 was a perfect fit for a 1/2" square steel rod - thinking mine was the same, I bought 2 of the 1/2" square steel rods. Took them home and they didn't fit.
Next time, I tried a 3/8" at Lowes and again, it was a perfect fit in the floor model. Bought one, took it home, and it had too much slop.
- The insert plate is lame. Don't have any illusions about "easy" drop in ZCI's (zero clearance inserts). Ain't going to happen.
- The miter gauge is useless. Most are, but this one is near the bottom as ar as being a useful accessory. <--not a real big issue if you have a decent CMS or SCMS.

It's a $200.00 saw. Don't expect $500 features or performance or accuracy from it.
It's ~ $100.00 better than the $99.00 table top models,,BUT,,it's still only a $200.00 saw.

Would I buy one again?

Probably. For $199.00 it did all I asked of it. I would make sure I got one with a 1/2" miter slot though, even if I had to open every box on the shelf.

Note - -I have to add that I bought mine mainly as a job-site saw. It spent all last winter in a vacant house my wife and I were rehabbing. Since we do that sort of thing fairly often, and the saw will spend quite abit of time unattended/unwatched, low cost was and is a primary concern.
The other's - Bosch and DeWalt and Ridgid are much better saws. They also cost twice as much. You're nudging the cost of a half-ways decent "real" table saw at that point. (IMHO) While the bare DeWalt is a lot more portable by itself, it needs a solid stand. That adds to the bulk.

One last thing. Should you go with one, don't diddle with the factory set centerline marker (the round plastic thing with the red line). It's preset at the factor to be aligned with the right side of the blade or the center of the blade - depends on how they felt that day I guess. If you fiddle with it, it won't ever go back to where it's supposed to be set.
Make a test cut to determine where you particular saw is set for. I read a few dozen online reviews of this saw before I bought it. Some were set center blade, other left side of the blade. I read (too late) that you don't want to try to change it.

HTH

[Jim Heffner]

Probably be better off buying the Ridgid 2400 or Bosch 4000-09 these seems to get the better reviews from users, just good quality dependable
saws for their intended usage.

[Randy Carnley]

I have the Bosch with the gravity stand and absolutely love it.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

My son who is new to wood working wants a small TS for Christmas. He doesn't have enough room for a contractor size. I saw the Hitachi C10FR job site saw in Lowes. Any body know anything about them?

I hear the Bosch is rather nice.

[Jim Becker]

All of the contractors working on my addition project are hauling around the Dewalt...

[Ben Grunow]

After 3 Dewalts, I will have to move on. They have really changed and not for the better.

THe fence seems to be getting cheaper every year and now, with job site use, they rarely hold alignment with the blade. I stripped the blade wrench that comes with the saw when installing the blade for the first time as it is cheap, thin steel.

They dont look any different, just dont last as long or take the abuse they did when they first came out. I wish I had something more concrete to gripw about but IMHO they are going down in quality.

I do think, for weekend work or small shop it is a good saw as we have been known to (gasp) rip 2xs with concrete on them etc.

Bosch, here I come. Where is that Sawstop contractor saw anyway?

[Jim Andrew]

I have both the Dewalt jobsite TS and a Unisaw. No comparison. But I won't be dragging the unisaw to a job. The Dewalt is very good for a jobsite saw, only because of the fence and the stand. Other than those things, they are just a skill saw mounted under a sheetmetal top.

[Declan James]

both Dewalt saws 744, 745 are excellent for what they are intended for.
I recently used a 745 for cutting 1/4 maple strips for edge banding and they came off the saw not needing any further work before gluing up.

i'd pick the Bosch or the Dewalt but the Bosch is a much larger saw.

[Jim Kountz]

I cant seem to keep motors in the Dewalt saws, went through two of them in less than a year. Keep in mind though that my saws (jobsite that is) run many hours a day five days a week so they see alot more than the occasional use. I have two of the Ridgid saws now that come with the built in stand/dolly and so far so good. I ripped some PT 2x10x16's yesterday on a 12 degree bevel and it did a fine job. Funny thing is, this is the exact thing I was doing that killed my last Dewalt saw. The motor said "screw this I give!"

[Dave Trask]

I have a small shop that has to be a, mechanical, electrical and hobby woodworking shop. The size and portability of the TS2400 was the ticket for me. I have had this saw for a year now and it is a workhorse !

The table is nice and flat, It was fully assembled and perfectly aligned right out of the box. There is plenty of adjustments on this saw even if it wasn’t. It has an aluminum table, you need not worry about constantly cleaning off rust and putting a protectorate on the metal to keep it from rusting.
The soft start motor ramps up nicely and has plenty of power for everything that I’ve thrown at it so far, which includes ripping and crosscutting soft and hard woods.

It was a hard decision between the Bosch 4000-09 and the Ridgid TS2400LS. They both are really nice portable saws.
I did a lot of online research and did a lot of playing with the display models in the stores.
Here are some reasons I bought the Ridgid instead of the Bosch..

Ridgid has a nicer fence, super accurate, very smooth and easy to remove.
The Ridgid has a nice one-piece tape measure type fence-measuring guide.
I didn’t like the Flunky two-piece measuring guide for the fence on the Bosch, it just seemed awkward to use to me.

The Bosch has less table space in front of the blade and a no tee slot miter gauge.The Ridgid’s table has the feel of a bigger table saw with more table space in front of the blade and a tee slot miter gauge as well. It is easier to handle boards when there is more table space in front of the blade.

I like the having choice of either using the gravity drop or the crank option to crank the blade for making angled cuts.
The Bosch maybe that way too, I can’t remember.

The Bosch seemed to have a better fit and finish an attractive looking cart with nice rolling pneumatic tires.
I have enough tires in my shop to worry about keeping pumped up. The Ridgid cart is a cinch to setup and has solid tires. The TS2400 saw sits rock solid.

The blade guard on the Ridgid is real easy to remove and put back on, Just knob screw on and off.

The Ridgid has the lifetime warranty and was less money than the Bosch.

I do wish HD would carry all the accessories for this saw.

If you have room buy a full size table saw, but if you are like me buy this one you won’t be sorrI have a small shop that has to be a, mechanical, electrical and hobby woodworking shop. The size and portability of the TS2400 was the ticket for me. I have had this saw for a year now and it is a workhorse !

The table is nice and flat, It was fully assembled and perfectly aligned right out of the box. There is plenty of adjustments on this saw even if it wasn’t. It has an aluminum table, you need not worry about constantly cleaning off rust and putting a protectorate on the metal to keep it from rusting.
The soft start motor ramps up nicely and has plenty of power for everything that I’ve thrown at it so far, which includes ripping and crosscutting soft and hard woods.

It was a hard decision between the Bosch 4000-09 and the Ridgid TS2400LS. They both are really nice portable saws.
I did a lot of online research and did a lot of playing with the display models in the stores.
Here are some reasons I bought the Ridgid instead of the Bosch..

Ridgid has a nicer fence, super accurate, very smooth and easy to remove.
The Ridgid has a nice one-piece tape measure type fence-measuring guide.
I didn’t like the Flunky two-piece measuring guide for the fence on the Bosch, it just seemed awkward to use to me.

The Bosch has less table space in front of the blade and a no tee slot miter gauge.The Ridgid’s table has the feel of a bigger table saw with more table space in front of the blade and a tee slot miter gauge as well. It is easier to handle boards when there is more table space in front of the blade.

I like the having choice of either using the gravity drop or the crank option to crank the blade for making angled cuts.
The Bosch maybe that way too, I can’t remember.

The Bosch seemed to have a better fit and finish an attractive looking cart with nice rolling pneumatic tires.
I have enough tires in my shop to worry about keeping pumped up. The Ridgid cart is a cinch to setup and has solid tires. The TS2400 saw sits rock solid.

The blade guard on the Ridgid is real easy to remove and put back on, Just knob screw on and off.

The Ridgid has the lifetime warranty and was less money than the Bosch.

Just my three cents....