Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm looking at a couple of low end 110v 10" miter saws. A Skil and a Ryobi. The Ryobi has an electric brake, spindle lock, and laser, none of which the Skil has. The Skil has 1 amp more power, extension rods on the table, and an inch scale on the fence.

What features have you found to be the most important?

I assume these two low end brands are about the same??

Appreciate your experience here.

Ed

Electric brake is a nice feature to have when you are making a lot of cuts... but for guitar building, the uses are so few and far between that either will be fine. I use mine more for accurate angle for jig making than actual building.

_________________
Don't confront me with my failures--I have not forgotten them.

A brake is nice but the important thing is for the blade to run true which involves the quality of the spindle and bearings. If you can plug them in, see if one is quieter/smoother running. The blade is important too. Since you're looking at budget saws, the budget range blades I like are the Freud Diablo, very good for the cash. It's also really nice if the angle read out on the saw's table, especially the often used detents at 45 and so on, is accurate.

Peace,
Sanaka

_________________
...imagine there were no hypothetical situations...

I have a Hitachi and uses to have an old delta. The one new feature i really like is the laser. Extension rods are a must unless you build a miter stand or buy one which i did to make it portable so i can use it around the house when doing home remodeling. I wish they would actually go back to referencing horse power and not amperage when listing the specs. A unit drawing higher amperage doesn't make for a more powerful machine..Mike

I've got a Ryobi and I like it, though I really don't pay much attention to its accuracy, blade runout, etc since I only use it for chopping 2x4s and similar jobs. Mine was a factory refurbished unit- I didn't pay much for it. The blade on it seems fine as well, though if you are planning on doing 'finish' cuts an upgrade to a blade with more teeth might be in order. I already had a couple of other Ryobi tools and liked them.
I like the 'sideways' handle on the Ryobi, different from my old Delta.
I've never used tools with lasers, so can't comment on that.

Cheers
John

Thanks for the helpful comments.

Ed