Tough to beat a Makita. I use mine on the job day in, day out and one I have is probably 15 years old. Good ergonomics, power and cost.

Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Tough to beat a Makita. I use mine on the job day in, day out and one I have is probably 15 years old. Good ergonomics, power and cost.

Grizz

Yeah, me to Grizz. Makita is the tradesmans choice here in NZ be a long margin. My 9inch has been a stella performer for nearly 20 years but a 71/2" model has done most of the work over the last few years. Very good gear.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
I use the Porter-Cable as well. Best saw for the money for sure. Lasers? Nope, a portable/adjustable full length fence, clamped to the stock being cut to run the base against is fool proof and exact to your setting. The best way to get the straightest and most accurate cut out of a portable circular saw...period.

Bet you never tried one

A clamp fence is a time consuming waste on non cabinat grade projects.

Makita was the saw of choice 20 years ago. Light and well built was the reason. They have changed the design and they don't last like they used to. Times change.

A lot of brands will get the job done but if you want the best built, longest lasting look at:
Porter-Cable for your circular saws
DeWalt for all your cordless stuff
Milwaukee for your recipricating saws and 1/2 drills
Makita for your miter saws
Delta for table saws

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:


Bet you never tried one

A clamp fence is a time consuming waste on non cabinat grade projects.

Hey you can put me down in the camp that lasers are a bunch of gimmicky bs until you actually use one as well.

This year a group we are in built a float for the county fair here, and someone brought a circular saw with a laser, I think it was a Milwaukee but don't remember. Anyway, what a gimmick for using on 2X4's and stuff, but then I had to make a long cut on plywood just like TC1 and holy cow, what do you know it IS a handy thing to have! It was also handy for rough stuff where you just needed to eyeball a line, put the laser where you wanted to go and keep it there. If had to use a circular saw to make money the laser would save a noticeable amount of time by the end of the day IMHO.

Anyway, I have a couple circular saws so hopefully I won't need to replace them anytime soon, but if I did I'll probably look for one with a laser as well.

Makita

DaWalt, and never look back. It will outlast you. It and a carpenter's square and you can build about anything out of wood.

Bosch owned Skil until recently and one can assume that the designs and technology was shared. Having said that, I fretted over what saw to get and eventually settled on a Bosch cordless saw some two years ago. It has served me well. It uses the 18/20v batteries, which I already had and has a brake.

I have a Ryobi with the laser cutting guide, also have a Ryobi 3/8" variable speed cordless drill. Both have great ergonomics, used to be a Makita guy but have found Ryobi tools to b superior.

I used an inexpensive B&D for a long time, still have it.
A worm drive Skilsaw came up at a yard sale for $5 and I could not resist that.
I put a new cord and blade on it and changed the oil, now the B&D sits gathering dust.

Funny -- I just replaced my 20-30 year old Craftsman with a Skil SPT67WM "Sidewinder" with magnesium housing. The thing practically drives itself--and very smoothly.
The Craftsman is a boat anchor in comparison, although it gave good service.

I have been using 18V Milwaukee tools 1/2" Hammer drill, 1/4" Impact driver and angle grinder Impact .The batteries are amazing. I used the 1/4" impact that has been sitting in my truck for a year without being recharged. I used it this weekend to change tire, still plenty of charge left. Worked great. I gave a Milwaukee 7 1/4" rear handle circular saw to my framing carpenter he uses almost daily an really likes it

I just completed my new home. I havent framed in 20 years, but had to do this one as no one wanta to work at any price it seems.

I purchased the Big Milwaukee Fuel 18v and made every cut on this house with it. It outruns anything I ever owned. It wasnt cheap, but it was worth it.

As a contractor, I've used nothing but Makita for the last 30 years, still have my first one.

Grizz

I have had great service with Porter Cable.

While I like Porter Cable battery tools, I am a big believer in Bosch power tools.

Several years ago, professional carpenters in many areas of the country started shifting rather quickly to recip saws for daily work on construction sites. There was a feature article on the trend in Fine Homebuilding magazine. I became interested and bought a Bosch unit that was highly recommended. I was shocked by its performance. With the many blade choices you could do well at almost task. My all around choice was some of the skip tooth designs, but I also found fine tooth and reversed pitch blades; along with several styles of metal blades. Blade changes tak 10 seconds. THe big thing was that I found no difference in cutting speed compared to circular saws. The only thing they fall short on is cutting a lot of heavy timber. The fact that they are smaller, quiter and easier to handle an carry were big benefits.

When my then current circular saw gave up the ghost, I didn't replace it. When I did, I bought a large heavy saw and use thwe Bosch for normal portable work. It cuts square. smoothly and fast.