Makita LS1040

I loved this saw until 3hrs of use time cutting pine skirting, it died. WHAT THE HELL MAKITA? – Brought from Sydney Tools late Aug 2022, didn't get to use it until October 2022 due to landscaping being brought forward. Used only to cut skirting and Archs, total run time of around 3hrs. Saw stopped working but still power to light and laser. Took it into Sydney Tools and they sent it immediately to local authorised repairer. Repairer advised… Read more

that brushes were totally worn out and NOT covered by warranty. At first I think everyone just assumed I was lying and had used and abused the saw, but I asked them to have a look at it and they agreed it was as new and definitely NOT a saw that had been used much at all.

Makita have denied everything and any warranty claim despite the repairer suggesting they should, and the rep won't even call me to discuss. It's not necessarily about the money, but the principle. The saw brushes are obviously faulty.

My Dad had said decades ago that Makita had lost their mojo so I had avoided them for all this time - and I have bought a lot of tools as I regularly move and renovate my homes. So, I finally went out on a limb and back to Makita and this is the result. I am out of pocket for the repairs and totally disgusted in their after sales service. I took the worn brushes back to ST and they suggested that the brushes can sometimes have material contamination which weakens them and they just shatter. Sydney Tools felt my pain, know me well enough and have offered a store credit for the repair costs as I buy a lot from them.

I really look after my tools and I don't flog them. I am sooooo disappointed and based solely on their lack of response, you can be sure that the long list of tools I have on Santas list won't be Makita - its a running joke with the trades on site already. Sadly for Makita I have a wicked sense of humour and they can BANK on me telling my friends and acquaintances (and maybe I'll even go and make new friends just to tell them) how crap this experience has been. Things go wrong with products - noone denies that but its reasonable to expect respectful after sales service when there is a legitimate issue. The rep for Port Macquarie should have just called...

Good value – This is an excellent saw. The detents are accurate. Unlike the Dewalt saw, you cannot alter the detents, but that's only really needed with sliding mitre saws. Mine was assembled in Japan, I think. The sliding Makita mitres saws are Chinese products — stay away from them (I took mine back because the angles were out). To make my saw better, I swapped out the stock blade for a "Bluemak" 64 toothed blade, for finer cuts (I make picture frames). Show details

Really good saw for the money – Very easy to use even for someone with no real skills like me. Makes all my previous mitres & cuts (before buying this saw) look quite bad. No adjustment needed out of the box, plugged it in and started cutting. Clamp system is good, nice positive stops on the angle adjustments. Soft start would be nice but can live without that. Standard… Read more

blade is quite wide & coarse but done a nice job on hardwood so far with little splintering, will change to a thinner higher tooth count blade once this one starts to wear.

Stores away in a compact space on a shelf & light enough to pull out & use without any hassle.

Wish I'd bought this a few years ago.

Missing safety switch – Two days of use and the button for the safety switch fell out! The Makita LS1017 sliding compound saw has the same design. Both models on display in my local Bunnings were also missing these bottoms so obviously poor design. This design defect is disappointing for a $400 product. Shame!  Show details

Wished I had bought this years ago – I was putting up a wall. Had a cheap Ryobi that died, the wife said get a new one, read some reviews, spoke to some friends, bit the bullet and bought it. Words fail me, the cuts were perfect. Put up architraves around 3 windows that afternoon. So pleased! Makita makes great tools, dependable, rugged and do the job. I am no brilliant carpenter but the Makita drop saw makes building so easy.  Show details

Good value for DIY user – Very happy with this saw, the laser helps greatly with cutting where you want to cut and I saved my self a lot of money on the one job I initially purchased this saw for. My confidence has grown as a result and the saw will see more use which will again see me save even more money, and so on! Very happy with this purchase so far. A portable saw stand would be nice to have, but not necessary for infrequent use.  Show details

Great accuracy, effortless to use – I rely on a mitre saw for rail-stile joinery in furniture making. So having a flat and square face on the end of a trimmed piece of timber is essential to keeping things straight and twist-free when gluing up. This is the first saw I've owned which does just that. Despite the large 10 inch blade, there is virtually no wobble (side-to-side… Read more

movement) of the arm relative to the table. This means that the end face is not only square, but flat too, not rounded off at the edges. The mitre angles are all correct (for once). The method of adjusting mitre angles, by depressing the thumb lever, is very easy and quick. Even the kerf plate is at the same height as the table, not 1-2mm lower as I've previously experienced on other saws.

I miss having a laser sight, but have soon got used to it. I wasn't sure about the vertical handle, but once again it's easy to get used to, especially for ambidextrous use. Either the blade is sharper than I'm used to, or the motor more powerful, because it cuts through even hardwood effortlessly. There is so much torque that the arm "kicks" when turned on, something to be wary of. Why they don't use soft starts is beyond me.... The mechanism to swing the blade guard is also internal, not external, so there is less chance of it getting gunked up and jammed.

I've managed to fit this onto a 450mm wide bench too, which butts up against a wall. This side constraint was one of my main concerns with upgrading to a 10 inch saw but there is no problem with mitreing or bevelling, although attaching a vacuum hose is out of the question.

My only problem was that the hold-down clamp didn't come down far enough to clamp 19mm thick timber, which I would have thought would be a common size. So I had to make a wooden plug which screwed onto the hold-down washer to extend its reach.

In general, this is a very well designed and built machine which, without making any adjustments whatsoever, produced a high degree of accuracy straight out of the box.

A good tool from my experience – Borrowed a mate's to use it on some fixes I had to do around the house, it worked a treat. Makes a jigsaw look like a pair of scissors, my jigsaw anyway, and everything is cut smoothly and directly. Bought one and haven't looked back since, a bit pricey but definitely worth it. Reliable, Time efficient (get work done quicker) Bit Loud, Scary if you've never used saws before but it has a guard.

where is my button ? – enjoying my new purchase from total tools... 1 month old.....my button in the hand piece/trigger for safety start...has taken off. where has it gone ? made in china makita....says it all ! where do i get the button /release pin from. no back up service..... TOTAL TOOL.....TOTAL LOSS....IT WON'T GO ! Safety start pin pops off and disappears....goes back to china an you can't use the saw....

Cuts wood good – This was purchased because I was sick of using a hand saw. I wanted a quality product that would last. Makes my wife impressed when I build stuff now, my home renos don't look like homer simpson's spice rack. Is very loud and can be scary if you're not used to power tools Show reply

Excellent – I considered all the compound saws on the market ranging from your 99 dollars bunnigns special through to the 2000 dollar rippers. I made a decision to go for the makita at $899. I'm glad I did cos it's been great. Go the Makita! Without a doubt one of the best compound mitres saws on the market today. The angles are precise and the quality of the… Read more

build is fantastic. The blade that comes standard is sharp and stays sharp for a long time. Nothing apart from the high price of them. They do hold their value well though