First Budget Mitre Saw, Weighing Up My Options

[Wuffles]

if its this one then it can be had for less than the £99 stated http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb60 ... 230v/2977f

for your £200 i would get the best you can afford but thats just an opinion from a hobbyist with more Festool gear than sense!

Fr what its worth i would get the metabo and then get down Toolstation for one for the blade with the remaining money http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... ing/p56248

Saw an Erbauer motor burn out on second use by a chippy when he was working on my roof a couple of years ago. I personally wouldn't touch one. They used to offer extended warranty didn't they? Not sure that's still the case.

 

[Chrispy61]

if its this one then it can be had for less than the £99 stated http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb60 ... 230v/2977f

for your £200 i would get the best you can afford but thats just an opinion from a hobbyist with more Festool gear than sense!

Fr what its worth i would get the metabo and then get down Toolstation for for the blade with the remaining money http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... ing/p56248

If I was convinced that the extra money was buying better build quality then it would be an easy decision but I'm not so sure. The 3 year warranty and a parts service on the Metabo is a big plus.

Would slop in the sliding mechanism causing inaccurate cuts be a cause to return it under guarantee/warranty?

 

[Chrispy61]

if its this one then it can be had for less than the £99 stated http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb60 ... 230v/2977f

for your £200 i would get the best you can afford but thats just an opinion from a hobbyist with more Festool gear than sense!

Fr what its worth i would get the metabo and then get down Toolstation for one for the blade with the remaining money http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... ing/p56248

Saw an Erbauer motor burn out on second use by a chippy when he was working on my roof a couple of years ago. I personally wouldn't touch one. They used to offer extended warranty didn't they? Not sure that's still the case.

2 years I think from screwfix

 

[Wuffles]

if its this one then it can be had for less than the £99 stated http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb60 ... 230v/2977f

for your £200 i would get the best you can afford but thats just an opinion from a hobbyist with more Festool gear than sense!

Fr what its worth i would get the metabo and then get down Toolstation for for the blade with the remaining money http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... ing/p56248

If I was convinced that the extra money was buying better build quality then it would be an easy decision but I'm not so sure. The 3 year warranty and a parts service on the Metabo is a big plus.

Would slop in the sliding mechanism causing inaccurate cuts be a cause to return it under guarantee/warranty?

3 years on the Hitachi too. Their service centre is very efficient, sent my 12" in for re-calibration when I realised it was out. Came back all cleaned up, new brushes, the works.

 

[Bm101]

One thing I don't think anyone's mentioned is size. If your'e doing a lot of fencing and you're using 4" posts, might be worth bearing in mind. I have the evolution rage 3s 210mm saw. It will cut 4" posts but you'll have to spin the timber and make 3 cuts. It's close. To give an idea of the blade accuracy heres a few cuts from yesterday. These are the offcuts and I can get the good side a little finer but it takes a little working at. It's not just a case of pulling the blade down and getting 90 degrees with 1 cut. Worth thinking about for the long term if you're going to want greater accuracy in the future?
If you can live with that, I don't think it's a bad saw for the money. If I'm trying to cut accurately I err on the side of caution and put a block plane on the wood after. Would I buy it again or go the extra and jump in quality and price? Honestly? Probably the latter. If it was just for fencing and decking I'd easily live with it. It's more than accurate enough for that. I've used far better saws but they are 3 or 4 times the price.
Have a think about a stand whatever saw you go for. It makes life a lot easier unless you have really tiny legs or love kneeling on the floor. The evo one is about fifty notes.

Cheers
Chris

 

[Chrispy61]

Cheers for the reply mate. I'm cutting a load of feather edge on the fence job then a load of decking after. But once I have the saw I'm going to be making a few picnic benches, plant boxes ect where I will need some consistent cutting of angles.

 

[Bm101]

Tbh I think you'll find it grand for all of that. It's consistent and you're getting a lot for a hundred quid I think personally. I'd probably invest a bit more if I bought one now but I don't regret buying it. It just has it's limitations, at that price it's no surprise.

 

[seb1982]

Just my own personal experience re the Titan:

This was the first "proper" tool I bought, last year, before I knew what I was doing*. I thought, "Ooh, that's got pretty uniformly positive reviews". I can only assume that cutting square isn't high on the list of priorities of those reviewing it :?

Whilst, after fiddling about, it *is* possible to get mine to cut square enough for the first couple of inches, as soon as you try and do a sliding cut on anything longer, it wonders. Nothing to do with how square the fence is - I can only assume the sliding guide rails themselves are off.

Anyway, that's just my experience; I've seen a chap on YouTube whose Titan seems to cut dead square, so YMMV. But I'm going to get something better when finances allow. But, that said, if I was cutting decking or something, I would say it would be acceptable. Just don't expect to be able to switch blade angles quickly and easily between 45 and 90 without a bit of testing and re-adjusting.

*edited to add: Needless to say, I STILL don't know what I'm doing.....

 

[Chrispy61]

Thanks for your honest feedback. That's what I'm worried about but until you try it yourself you don't know how well it will perform.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Have you considered second hand, you will get a lot more saw for your money

I have, but then i have no guarentee. I could shell out and the thing goes caput the first time i use it!

I've used an evo one for an afternoon and thought it was terrible, really just flimsy vand inaccurate. If you're used to a decent mitre saw it just doesn't compare. On the other hand if it's just for cutting feather edge fencing then how accurate does it need to be.
On the second hand point, mitre saws are fairly basic bits of kit really, I bought an old makita on ebay for £60, put a new blade in it and it's been great, very solid and very clean accurate cuts, much better than i think you could achieve on a cheap screwfix special.

 

[Logger]

I would recommend the erbauer mitre saws from screwfix as a good choice. I got one a few months ago to use as a site saw as i got annoyed to keep moving my dewalt from my workshop.

I am really impressed with it, it is well built and is accurate. I got a new blade for it, but other than that, i reckon it will compete with £200 models.

Reviews all good.

I have to say that erbauer tools are generally pretty good, i have a couple of other friends who rate them as well. I have their impact driver which is great.

They all have 2 year guarantees and screwfix are really good if anything does go wrong with items.

Good luck

 

[Chrispy61]

Just poped into b&q to see what they had and one of the macallister saws is almost identical to the Eubaur one in screwfix! So that has given me some idication of the quality. Tbf the mac one wasn't to bad, seemed fairly solid which was surprising. Don't know how solid it would stay that being said.

 

[Logger]

The erbauer tools are 20% off at the moment, not sure how long for. 8 inch sliding saw for £88.

I just picked up their multi tool for £55.

 

[DiscoStu]

I have a Macalister one about 8 years old so no idea about build quality of newer ones but mine has taken a lot of abuse and use. I've decked 4 gardens with it, built my spa house with it and loads of other stuff and it's been great. It's even accurate. I check it with an engineers square from time to time. I am considering replacing it but that's only really for 3 reasons:

1 I'd like a bigger cutting width
2 I would like a saw that doesn't slide back on rails so that it takes up less bench space (so that severely limits my options)
3 I want one with better dust collection.

For decking and fencing my saw has been great, with a new fresh blade it's been fantastic.


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[Petey83]

I have a Macalister one about 8 years old so no idea about build quality of newer ones but mine has taken a lot of abuse and use. I've decked 4 gardens with it, built my spa house with it and loads of other stuff and it's been great. It's even accurate. I check it with an engineers square from time to time. I am considering replacing it but that's only really for 3 reasons:

1 I'd like a bigger cutting width
2 I would like a saw that doesn't slide back on rails so that it takes up less bench space (so that severely limits my options)
3 I want one with better dust collection.

For decking and fencing my saw has been great, with a new fresh blade it's been fantastic.


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You are indeed limited to 3 i know of and only one of them does everything you list Stu

The Dewalt DWS778 which i looked at but discounted as you can't trench cut and i decided i may want to trench cut one day :? . Also dust collection looked average.

Their is a new Metabo saw that's caused a stir over on the festool owners group that looks to meet your first 2 points but no real world feedback i can see. Think its called Metabo KGSV 72

The Festool Kapex Meets all 3 but is also very very expensive and if you have a look on the festool owners group there is a lot of talk about the long term reliability of the motor. I have one and love it, it was a criminal over indulgence as i am only a hobbyist but i don't spend 40 hours a week sitting in an office because i enjoy it so nice tools are me weekend rewards.

One last thing i will say is the Dewalt shadow cut system they use instead of a laser look pretty good

good luck whatever you decide on.

 

[pcb1962]

I have a Macalister one about 8 years old so no idea about build quality of newer ones but mine has taken a lot of abuse and use. I've decked 4 gardens with it, built my spa house with it and loads of other stuff and it's been great. It's even accurate. I check it with an engineers square from time to time. I am considering replacing it but that's only really for 3 reasons:

1 I'd like a bigger cutting width
2 I would like a saw that doesn't slide back on rails so that it takes up less bench space (so that severely limits my options)
3 I want one with better dust collection.

For decking and fencing my saw has been great, with a new fresh blade it's been fantastic.


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You are indeed limited to 3 i know of and only one of them does everything you list Stu

there's also the Hitachi C12RSH and the Bosch GCM12GDL that don't have rails at the back

 

[Wuffles]

I have that Hitachi. I think it's good. Dust collection isn't though.


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[Petey83]

I have a Macalister one about 8 years old so no idea about build quality of newer ones but mine has taken a lot of abuse and use. I've decked 4 gardens with it, built my spa house with it and loads of other stuff and it's been great. It's even accurate. I check it with an engineers square from time to time. I am considering replacing it but that's only really for 3 reasons:

1 I'd like a bigger cutting width
2 I would like a saw that doesn't slide back on rails so that it takes up less bench space (so that severely limits my options)
3 I want one with better dust collection.

For decking and fencing my saw has been great, with a new fresh blade it's been fantastic.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You are indeed limited to 3 i know of and only one of them does everything you list Stu

there's also the Hitachi C12RSH and the Bosch GCM12GDL that don't have rails at the back

i thought about the Bosch as soon as i posted my last comment and logged off. It looks good but is pretty heavy looking at the specified weight so guess it depends if its workshop or mobile use

 

[DiscoStu]

Thanks guys, I feel I may have hijacked this thread. I was / am aware of all of the models you guys have listed - except for a Dewalt that doesn't need to have slides at the back. I do use the trenching feature on my current saw so would still like that.

I mainly waiver between the Bosch and the Kapex. I have had a play with them and the Bosch seems smoother. However I believe the Kapex has the best dust collection which is very appealing. The new Metabo looks very interesting and the price point might be very encouraging.


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[pcb1962]

Thanks guys, I feel I may have hijacked this thread. I was / am aware of all of the models you guys have listed - except for a Dewalt that doesn't need to have slides at the back. I do use the trenching feature on my current saw so would still like that.

I mainly waiver between the Bosch and the Kapex. I have had a play with them and the Bosch seems smoother. However I believe the Kapex has the best dust collection which is very appealing. The new Metabo looks very interesting and the price point might be very encouraging.

I believe Steve Maskery has the Bosch if you want an expert opinion. I would buy it if they did a 10" version, it's too big for my shop.