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(Most of the handful of negative reviews on Amazon are from contractors who may have thought they could just toss it in the back of a pickup or who may not have bothered to read the manual and set up the saw carefully). The major advantage vs. If you don't like it, you can easily take it off. Amazon sells an 80-tooth Forrest Chopmaster that works very well. The handle can be set to any of four positions including two that will make lefthanders happy.
It's expensive and you will not get the most from it unless you read the manual before you use it and follow the set-up instructions. To save on battery power, it doesn't come on until the saw is running and you don't see it on the board until you've pulled the saw down almost to where it starts to cut. (Ridgid makes a 12" saw with similar controls). The saw also comes with an absolutely useless dust collection bag. It puts a thin red line just to the left of a.4 mm pencil line. Remember you need a blade with a 1" arbor.
A 12" saw is a step up from a 10" in terms of the height it can cut, but that blade is *big*. It arrived in perfect condition and I need only one adjustment to set it up. The blade slides easily on parallel bars and it's nicely spring loaded so it's not too hard to pull it down and not too easy. It's so porous that the little sawdust it does collect blows through the fabric. Separately, I had superb customer service from CPO Tools in connection with a return unrelated to this saw, so you can buy through them with confidence. This is a powerful, versatile, well-designed saw. Moving it is awkward. is that the lever for releasing the bevel is up front on the same handle as the release for the miter angle.
The levers and controls feel very solid and they're straightforward to use. Dust collection from a miter saw is difficult anyway, but the bag Bosch supplies is made of a coarsely woven burlap-like material. The fences have removable sliding top sections that help if you're cutting crown molding. If you've never used a sliding compund miter saw you definitely need to read the instruction.
If you're planning to haul it around to jobsites, consider getting a collapsible rolling miter saw stand - maybe a Delta 36-136. I leave my saw in my workshop on a rolling cart. The saw has two well-placed handles that help you pick it up properly, but it's heavy and big. Removing the bag and connecting a vacuum to the port on the back helps a little, but even then at least half the sawdust ends up on the ground. The arbor laser did not work and I emailed Bosch, which replaced it promptly without any questions.
It comes with a pretty good 60-tooth ATB crosscut Bosch blade that's OK for framing, but you probably should buy a good 80-tooth or 96-tooth blade for finish work or fine carpentry.
A side note: I bought a "factory reconditioned" version of this saw from CPO Tools, which is an Amazon partner.
There's no side-to-side deflection even when it's fully extended.
That way it's less likely to be knocked out of adjustment when it's being transported.
similar saws from Makita, Hitachi etc.
Despite the guard, the back 2/3rds of the running blade is exposed as you pull it forward on the sliders, pull it down and push it ack to start the cut, so you really have to be aware of where your arm is - not just your fingers.
(If you slide the top sections all the way in toward the blade, you can probably set a combination of bevel and miter that would bring the saw blade into contact with the fence, so leave the siding sections positioned away from the center line).
The Bosch comes with an arbor laser to the keft side of the blade that some people will like and some won't.
It feels well balanced to me, and I'm short, 140 pounds and eligible for Social Security.
I was using the clamp on the left side position (I'm right-handed) and when it engages, the pressure you are applying suddenly reduces as the clamp engages, this caused my hand to slip off the handle and into the path of the mechanism of the clamp. I'm super careful around all my power tools and especially saws, but it didn't occur to me that the hold-down clamp would be the source of a serious injury. The saw is great but I ended up in the ER with 4 stitches to my finger, and a $1500 hospital bill, after getting it lacerated by the hold-down clamp. All Bosch would have to do is round the edges of the metal bar assembly or put some kind of guard around it. I could still work but my finger was sore for two weeks, and a hospital bill that cost more than two saws. The exposed 90-degree edges on the hold-down clamp can give you a nasty laceration in normal use. I had gotten my hand pinched by this thing and I should have been suspicious.
I have called Bosch with my complaints about the saw since I usually prefer to take it up with thee source of the problem. Bosch makes up stories because they dont know what to say when I tell them they should buy it back from me. The problem I am talking about "doglegging" is not fixed by adjustment. I have almost the exact same story as the previous review. Its fixed by engineering it correctly before its manufactured. You cant fix it. Dont but this saw.
I have brought it to two different repair shops and a total of seven times. Not only is it not user maintainable, but the shop has a hard time working on it. They like the business but dont like working on it. I have owned the saw for a year and a half now. They say its one of the worst designs they have seen.
I have been holding off on the review since I keep getting promises that are none other than lies. The repair shop both have laughed about this saw. Its like having a car that is way out of wheel alignment. They keep saying it just a simple adjustment its the repair shops fault. I cannot get it to accurately and it does what is called doglegging.
It is a little bit better than the one he had but even with some of the extra features, he ended up spending about the same amount as when he originally bought his old saw many years ago. My husband used to have a miter saw and when we had some renovations done to our house, the saw was stolen by the workers working on our house. Thanks. Great buy for the money. We were looking for miter saws and comparison shopping and this one we found to be the best for the money. My husband loves it.
Cuts so smooth, and with such ease.Love the laser also.Also he likes the bigger 12 inch blade.Can't say enough about this saw.REALLY NICE. I gave this saw to my husband as a gift.He loved it.
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