Makita 216mm Slide Compound Saw LS0815FL

Great accurate little saw – I bought this saw both for its cross-cut capacity to cut wide board up to 300mm, but also to cut timber to length to create legs and rails for furniture. It does both very well. My main concern with a sliding compound saw is whether or not the rails rust and if so, how much that would impede its operation. Well, I've had the saw for almost a year… Read more

now and there isn't the slightest bit of rust. The sliding mechanism is very smooth. There is a trenching function, although due to its design, cannot necessarily be operated for beveled trenches. The angles are all very accurate. The fence is adjustable to move it out the way when beveling, which I accidentally forgot about. The dust collection is okay, although the laser sight gets clogged up and stops working after a few cuts, particularly with damp pine dust.

My only complaint is that the mitres have detents for 15, 31.7 and then 45 degrees. I'm vaguely aware that the 31.7 is used for cornicing compound cuts, but it's worth keeping a mental note that it's not 30 degrees. It does mitre to 60 degrees which is very useful. The max depth of cut is about 70mm too allowing you to cut small pergola posts to length. It only bevels to the left, but that doesn't bother me.

I was considering buying a 10 inch version, but have found this saw to be accurate and adequate for my needs. The only comparable model is the Bosch GCM 8 SDE which has a similar cross-cut capacity but is much more expensive.