Best portable table saw?

[J.R. Rutter]

I have been spoiled with good cabinet saws at work, but now I need to get something to have around the house for weekend projects when I don't want to drive to the big shop. Price is not a big factor. I might have an old T-fence that I can re-purpose (if it will even fit on a small saw). Is it possible to get smooth, accurate cuts from a portable saw? Which one?

[John Michaels]

I have the Bosch 4000, and couldn't be happier. Sure I'd like a nice cabinet saw, but this saw has worked great for me. The fence is very accurate and with a good thin kerf blade I can cut through 2 inch boards no sweat.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
My question would be, why a portable if it's for around the house?

Portables are great - if - you need to take the saw to the work place.

For the most part, they don't take up less room than a contractors saw.

They can if you fold them up after each use - but- that gets old in a hurry. It didn't take long for me to quit stowing mine & leave it setup. that plus, like any other horizontal surface, it quickly became loaded with - "stuff".

P.S. - Don't get a Hitachi portable!
I have no regrets that I got one, especially not now that I've supplanted it with a Ridgid TS3660 and a Festool TS55EQ. It's got a full 15 amp's of power and the fence is dead one accurate & it stows easy in the trunk of my Accord. It's just not made to accept standard miter slot accessories.

[John Callahan]

The Bosch 4100 would be at the top of my list if I were in the market again for a jobsite saw followed closely by the DW744X. I own neither- I have a Porter Cable 3812S which I've been very pleased with but it has been recently been discontinued. You may find one on clearance ........... a local Menard's had one for $350 a few months ago. I prefer it to the Bosch 4000 which I've spent some time on. The 3812S has soft start, and electric brake, a full size table insert, uses a t-slot for the miter gauge (probably my main beef against the Bosch 4000) , decent fence, and has been reliable. Downsides- it only comes with a folding stand. Jobsites I've worked on the last couple of years always seemed to have two, three, and four flights of stairs- a folding stand didn't cut the mustard. No RK- it uses an easily removed splitter. Not an issue for me but it may be for you. I've added a Rousseau MobileMax stand (great stand -rock solid when set up) and an Incra V27 miter gauge- plenty accurate. Hope to add Rouseau's outfeed table later this year. If a folding stand fits your needs and you can find a 3812S on clearance-snag it. Otherwise the Bosch 4100. The Gravity Rise stand is a thing of beauty, a good RK/guard set up, and it has t-slots now. The DeWalt imho, has the best fence. I think any of these saws should be plenty accurate; their main weakness is the abilty to handle sheet goods.

[Tom Esh]

Ditto on the Bosch. The portables are all a bit limited on space in front of the blade, so if you plan to crosscut much in the 6"+ range a simple sled will be very handy.

[John Callahan]

I've found the t-slot helpful in that regard; the miter guage doesn't wan't to fall to the floor if you pull it back past the table. A sled I suspect would be better yet.

[Loren Hedahl]

When I downsized from a Ridgid contractors saw to a portable what I really wanted was a Bosch with a DeWalt fence and a modified table sized to rip up to a 12 inch wide board, i.e., long and narrow.

OK -- such an animal hasn't been created yet, so I settled on a small DeWalt 745.

The fence is excellent.
Power is great.
Dust collection is more than adequate.
Weight is such that I don't mind storing it under the bench after each use. Noise is annoying.

I wish the base were deeper and fence longer.
I wish the base and fence were magnetic.

All-in-all I am very pleased. With a premium blade, clean and freshly sharpened, it will produce a cut every bit as smooth as the tuned up contractor saw I gave to my son-in-law and not leave a mess of sawdust on the floor and everywhere else.

And did I remember to mention that the fence is better than any I've used before?

[J.R. Rutter]

Thanks - I guess i should go out and try to see and touch the DeWalt and Bosch.

As to the why, this has to go into a little loft workshop over my garage. After having a full shop in it for 4 years, there is no way my wife is going to let me put anything in there except cars and a lawn mower! The loft is only 10 ft wide x 24 ft long. . .

[Karl Brogger]

Is it possible to get smooth, accurate cuts from a portable saw? Which one?

Not really, they don't have enough power, and the biggest thing is have a stable work surface. Tough to do if you throw a 95lb sheet of MDF at a 40lb saw. Having a decent outfeed table is nice too.

I've used and like the Bosch models, the only others that I can remember using is DeFalts, and I wasn't impressed at all.

I agree with Rich, and that is they're only good for worksite applications. I'm possibly doing a really big job that is 6 hrs from the shop in Omaha, I've been debating on what to bring with for tools and material should there be an oops. Driving 12 hrs to replace a shelf seems a bit foolish.

[Rick Lizek]

http://www.norsaw.co.uk/
A bit extreme but a remarkable saw...

[Charles Shenk]

Look for a used Craftsman homeshop tablesaw from the 60's. They are good little saws and people practically give them away.

[Steve Southwood]

I had a 745 and it was a very nice saw. Great fence, light weight. Wish I still had it.

[Paul Greathouse]

I just did a quick search to try to find it but couldn't. A while back there was a thread discussing portable tablesaws and several people were praising either the Rigid or Milwaukee, I can't remember which. There were comparisons to the Bosch and Dewalt but the majority of the thread seemed to favor the R or M.
Does anyone else remember that thread?

[frank shic]

the ridgid is solid but very heavy although the rolling base helps a great deal but it doesn't fold up as easily as the bosch 4000 which i originally bought and then craigslisted because i hated the flimsy fence. my favorite thus far is the smaller dewalt portable tablesaw with the rack and pinion fence which ensures straight cuts and is only approximately 35# so you can actually carry it with one hand although i wouldn't recommend walking around the block with it lol.

[J.R. Rutter]

http://www.norsaw.co.uk/
A bit extreme but a remarkable saw...

Is this a cross between a jump saw, miter saw, and table saw? Do you know if there are any videos around? I'm surprised they don't list cove cuts as a feature. Very interesting...