Budget mitre saw with forward facing rails

[kgill]

I'm in the market for a mitre saw and was looking for buying advice. I'm just a hobbyist, but I cut everything from picture frames, segmented bowl turning blanks, 2x4 studwork, oak beams, garden sleepers and pretty much everything in-between

What I want is a Bosch glide or Festool kapex or even a Makita LS BUT what I need is something accurate, versatile and compact in the sense of forward facing rails, but most importantly AFFORDABLE ! I've a budget of about £250

I'm all for buying second hand but its so random I'm now looking at buying new. I've narrowed things down to the following makes;
DeWalt
HiKOKI
Metabo
Hyundai
Excel
Scheppach

So the question is out of the above makes which would you buy/recommend? Lets run this as a vote - just list in order of preference your top 3. Then I'll give it a few days and see what gets the most votes

I know there are far too many variables to ask such a broad question without more context and I very much value everyone's views and opinions etc etc I'm just trying to get a general consensus to help me decide on a manufacturer as I've no experience with any of them.

Many thanks in advance to all of you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience.

 

[Etaf]

just a DIYer
i have a dewalt DWS778 , with the larger extendable stand for around £450 - i think 250mm and its brilliant , and was on offer - BUT now very very expensive
my daughter does picture frames and my son-in-law has an evolution Miter saw - BUT soes stick out the back and he has made a lot of furniture and daughter does picture frames - BUT now he also has a table saw and track saw - so not sure how much use that gets , not as much as it used to

i love the forward facing rails - so when i put the saw on the stand - i can put up against the garage wall and still have space to work - its where the car would go

as you say - 2nd hand maybe an issue , as may have been worked really hard - you probably need someone like me , invested in a lot of tools but used very little - like the mitre saw and for whatever reason getting rid of , I used it to lay ground floor house laminated floor - twice and then loads of DIY jobs

not sure what £250 will get you
£325 gets the 216mm dewalt model
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/dewalt-dws777-216mm-xps-crosscut-compound-slide-mitre-saw

I know screwfix are doing a deal on Dewalt at the moment - but this is not in it £229
https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-d...e-bevel-sliding-compound-mitre-saw-240v/9008j

I had freud blades (and had sharpened) - but now I use saxtonblades , cheaper than a sharpen and as good - 60T 80T

 

[kgill]

Thanks Etaf!
That's a vote for the DeWalt

Any more for any more???

 

[Yojevol]

I bought a Hyundai about a year ago. I haven't used it a great deal but it seems a competent machine. I had to do a bit of fettling to get the table angle detent mechanism to work satisfactorily. The peg wasn't locating in the detent socket properly allowing a bit of angular play. The cause was the plastic operating lever which has a travel limiter on it. A bit of judicial filing away plastic on this limiter now allows full travel and secure locking of the table at the required angle.
I put this problem to Hyundai with supporting photos but only got a computer generated acknowledgement. After a few weeks I chased them up for a response but got nothing. So their CS dept doesn't seem much good.
Brian

 

[Sachakins]

+1 for the dws773, got one last year and find it really good.

 

[Stevebod]

..do you need a trench cut facility??.....don't think the Dewalt has this feature??

 

[Sachakins]

Correct, it doesn't.

 

[BucksDad]

I have the cheap Hikoki. Works well but a pain to get the laser line square.

Would prefer the shadow line of the dewalt

 

[fleyh]

but I cut everything from picture frames, segmented bowl turning blanks

budget of about £250

Unless you get very lucky, I seriously doubt that £250 will afford you a tool capable of cutting reliable and accurate mitres suitable for multi segment items.

DWS773 was mentioned a couple of time above, so I thought I would share my experience with it.
I purchased the DeWalt DWS774 (DWS773 with shadow line) a few years ago and have used it extensively. It's a good saw for light construction and basic DIY tasks, but I wouldn't buy it again.

Good:

• Lightweight - this is the main reason I'm not eager to replace it. My workshop space is tiny, so I have to rearrange tools frequently for various operations.
• Shadow line - useful, but a zero clearance insert is more accurate and convenient.
• Dust collection can be easily improved with the addition of a simple shroud.
• Precision is good enough for skirting, coving, etc.

Not so good:

• No trenching capability.
• Coving can only be cut flat (i.e. involves mathematics and reference tables).
• skirting - also only flat
• aftermarket of accessories (including 3d print models) for DWS773/774 is pitiful compared to more expensive and more widely used saws.

Bad (reason I wouldn't buy it again):

• Despite spending a considerable amount of time setting it up, I haven't been able to achieve accurate and reliable mitre angles. I've managed to cut passable picture frames with it, but anything with more than 4 parts is a waste of time on my saw due to the lack of precision.

 

[kgill]

I bought a Hyundai about a year ago. I haven't used it a great deal but it seems a competent machine. I had to do a bit of fettling to get the table angle detent mechanism to work satisfactorily. The peg wasn't locating in the detent socket properly allowing a bit of angular play. The cause was the plastic operating lever which has a travel limiter on it. A bit of judicial filing away plastic on this limiter now allows full travel and secure locking of the table at the required angle.
I put this problem to Hyundai with supporting photos but only got a computer generated acknowledgement. After a few weeks I chased them up for a response but got nothing. So their CS dept doesn't seem much good.
Brian

Thanks Brian!
DeWalt 1
Hyundai 1

 

[kgill]

+1 for the dws773, got one last year and find it really good.

Thanks Sachakins.
DeWalt 2
Hyundai 1

 

[kgill]

..do you need a trench cut facility??.....don't think the Dewalt has this feature??

Nah, I can probably get away without trenching

 

[kgill]

I have the cheap Hikoki. Works well but a pain to get the laser line square.

Would prefer the shadow line of the dewalt

I've never really been a fan of the laser line and no experience of shadow line.
Thanks Bucksdad.
Dewalt 2
Hyundai 1
Hikoki 1

 

[kgill]

Unless you get very lucky, I seriously doubt that £250 will afford you a tool capable of cutting reliable and accurate mitres suitable for multi segment items.

DWS773 was mentioned a couple of time above, so I thought I would share my experience with it.
I purchased the DeWalt DWS774 (DWS773 with shadow line) a few years ago and have used it extensively. It's a good saw for light construction and basic DIY tasks, but I wouldn't buy it again.

Good:

• Lightweight - this is the main reason I'm not eager to replace it. My workshop space is tiny, so I have to rearrange tools frequently for various operations.
• Shadow line - useful, but a zero clearance insert is more accurate and convenient.
• Dust collection can be easily improved with the addition of a simple shroud.
• Precision is good enough for skirting, coving, etc.

Not so good:

• No trenching capability.
• Coving can only be cut flat (i.e. involves mathematics and reference tables).
• skirting - also only flat
• aftermarket of accessories (including 3d print models) for DWS773/774 is pitiful compared to more expensive and more widely used saws.

Bad (reason I wouldn't buy it again):

• Despite spending a considerable amount of time setting it up, I haven't been able to achieve accurate and reliable mitre angles. I've managed to cut passable picture frames with it, but anything with more than 4 parts is a waste of time on my saw due to the lack of precision.

Fleyh thank you... I think
I'm going to count that as a vote for dewalt

Dewalt 3
Hyundai 1
Hikoki 1

 

[Jameshow]

Fleyh thank you... I think
I'm going to count that as a vote for dewalt

Dewalt 3
Hyundai 1
Hikoki 1

I don't think the Hyundai will be as good as the DeWalt / Hitachi machines. More likely rebadgee chinesium. More like excel machines...

 

[ey_tony]

On a £250 max budget the best machine for value would undoubtedly be the Metabo KGS 254. I've had one since 2016 and it's had really heavy use during parts of that time period and it's still doesn't show any signs of wear. Even after extensive use there is no discernable shaft wear/ blade wobble and is tight now as the day it was delivered.
Having used both types, as a product I'd say it sits nicely between amateur and professional tools
It's very well put together piece of kit and reliably accurate and I regularly cut down timber ends to the accuracy of the thinnest of pencil lines and once set up will give precise cuts accurate to within thousandths of an inch.

It will cut timber to 92mm depth and has a jaw width of 300mm (max cut width) so pretty useful.
There's a decent choice of blades available though Metabo (branded) themselves are both cheap and very good at cutting and will stay sharp for ages.

The only downside is that it's not soft start machine but I can live with that as I make sure I keep the blade away from the workpiece until ready. Other than a failed LED work area light it's as good today as it was back in 2016.

 

[PDW125]

The Rutlands one is a Chinese clone but tbh it’s pretty well made - spend some time setting it up and it’s accurate and currently on offer for £150 so you can buy a decent set of Saxton blades for it and it will probably work fine.

https://www.rutlands.com/products/sliding-mitre-saw-210mm?_pos=1&_psq=mitre+saw&_ss=e&_v=1.0

 

[BucksDad]

@ey_tony Unfortunately the KGS 254 does not fit the criteria of forward facing rails

 

[Spectric]

I think for your budget you are asking for to much, I would want accuracy and repeatability at the top as being most important and I would sacrifice the forward rails if it compromised that criteria. I am in the same boat in that I want to replace my old Bosch saw which is working perfectly ok with something that can fit against the wall, for me the only saw which meets my requirements is the Bosch GCM 12 inch glide but at nearly a grand it does not come cheap.

 

[Yojevol]

The Rutlands one is a Chinese clone but tbh it’s pretty well made - spend some time setting it up and it’s accurate and currently on offer for £150 so you can buy a decent set of Saxton blades for it and it will probably work fine.

https://www.rutlands.com/products/sliding-mitre-saw-210mm?_pos=1&_psq=mitre+saw&_ss=e&_v=1.0

From what I can see from the advertisement photos the 'unique' design of the Rutlands is the same as the Hyundai. Perhaps the 'Rutlands' nameplate makes it unique!
At 150 quid, the Rutland version looks particularly good value at the moment compared with the Screwfix price.
Beware the Screwfix title refers to it as a single bevel machine but it's definitely a double bevel.
Brian