I need a new miter saw

[Joe Von Kaenel]

I have a Makita 1013FL it is a very accurate and easy to use sliding Miter saw. The Makita blade if good quality also. Hope this helps

You can find more reviews here: http://www.toolcritic.com/brand/makita

[Greg R Bradley]

I agree, I just sold the 12" version of that - the 1214FL. It was very accurate for a 12" saw. If I had understood at the time that a 12" saw is less precise and bought the 10" version, I might have kept it. I suppose a super thick blade would help the precision. Still throws dust everywhere, though. And needs a 3' deep work area.

[John TenEyck]

If you want one dedicated for the shop look for an old Dewalt RAS.

I agree, a used Dewalt (cast iron arm) radial arm saw is a thing of beauty. Very high precision, larger crosscut capacity, and can usually be found quite cheaply (I paid $175 for mine about 15 years ago). I have a Bosch 12" dual compound miter saw. Nice tool after I got it square and set the angles correctly (don't believe any review that says a saw is perfect out of the box, like I did), but it's nowhere near as nice to use as my Dewalt radial arm saw. For me, the Bosch is my jobsite saw. Nearly everything I cut in the shop I cut on the Dewalt. I have mine built into a bench with cabinets underneath. If I need an extra work surface I just swing the radial arm to the side and I have a great big bench to work on. I have it hooked up to my central dust collector as well, so dust collection is a non-issue.

Something to consider. Spend less, get more.

[Jay Jeffery]

A couple years ago I tried to get something to do picture and mirror frame miters and had the following not work:
1950's era RAS that I could not keep tuned
12" Hitachi dual bevel non-slider (I took to call the piece of junk the "hibachi")
Well used OMGA 12" chop saw (direct drive)
DeWalt 12" dual bevel non-slider

My neighbor's old 12" DeWalt single-bevel non-slider worked okay and I got a few frames made.

But the saw that finally met my needs was a Milwaukee 12" slider. It makes miters that are perfect. I couldn't' recommended that saw enough.

In case anyone is curious, these frames were not simple 45 degree miters and I did not have a table saw capable of making accurate cuts.

[Dave Lewis]

I just bought a Makita LS1016L from HD.

My last SCMS was a Makita LS1013 that worked well for 6 years. I made the mistake of cutting PVC pipe - it grabbed and screwed up the arbor. After getting advice here to replace parts, I didn't feel like messing around.

Anyway the new saw works fine, square out of the box. I did look at the Bosch and you may also want to loo at the new 12" Milwaukee its heavy though. Note that the new saws have sliding fences so I had to modify my stand and Kreg trac. Read Amazon reviews for input too. (HD price = Amazon)

I've had luck with Everlast blades.

[bill schmoott]

I purchased the 1016l two months ago and have been very, very pleased with the saw.
My saw was not set to my satisfaction out of the box, but I have never found this to be the case.
My saw fence was easy to set if I worked the lockdown nuts in an "out to in" fashion while slowly tightening the lockdown/positioning knobs. makita numbered.jpg

Once I had the fence set, the precision and accuracy have been phenomenal.
I placed a cardboard box behind the saw, connectecd a dc hose to the bottom of it and bam, low cost hood. It doesnt look the greatest, but works fantastic.

Good Luck