Makita LS1018L

Let's be clear here, the LS1018L is a sliding compound mitre saw.

To understand the terminology... Mitre, Vs Bevel Vs Compound Vs Sliding Vs Gliding... not all saws work the same way. You'll find that each term builds on the last, adding some feature. While all of these saws can do mitre cuts, (as it's the most basic function) the term "Mitre Saw" while generically true... might be under-selling many saws that have additional capability.

Mitre? Huh?

A non 90 degree cut, whether that's 5, 10, 30, 45 degrees or anything else.. is a mitre cut....

I’ve had this saw for 2 years and it’s had an easy life.
It doesn’t cut square, bits break and fall off it regularly. I have fixed it a few times. 2 weeks ago I had to buy new bearings on the slide guard be said they exploded, and now 2 weeks later the rest of the guard has broke. The button for slide adjustment is plastic and broke, the bearings are cheap and gritty, doesn’t slide well, despite adjusting and calibrating it I can’t get it to cut square.
This is the last makita tool I will buy and it’s now in the bin!

We had to send this drop saw back before even using it. You could see the something definitely wrong with it the blade didn't spend right the plate was crooked the rails went straight. We waited 2 weeks to receive the item back can proceeded to cut a total of 3 length of Mirboo on the third peace it jumped and blade jammed in the timber blowing out the back fence considering and is made from very cheap material. We even went to the extent of using the clamps that was provided with the drop saw.
FYI I have been a carpenter 20 years this is the worst drop saw I have ever seen

The worst mitre saw I have ever used.
On first start up the blade was wobbly and 0 was more like 4mm on the base plate. Sent it in to Makita to get fixed and ended up having to fix 9 issues.
After getting it back, I used it to cut a length of merbau, and the blade jammed and flung the timber at me. I inspected the saw and could see that the metal fence and the actual frame of the saw had snapped. Sent it back to Makita and they tell me the damage is my fault and won’t replace the saw.

I cannot believe Makita is putting their name on this. Not aligned straight out of the box. That's ok, did my own adjusting. All looked good. After a few cuts, checked the alignment and it was out again. Click stops were out by 1.5 degrees. Not something that can be adjusted at all. 45 degree stop showing 46.5. Did a warranty claim, had to wait a month before getting it back. Finally got it back and all they did was to adjust the pointer on 45 degrees so now the 0 degree stop was out. I showed it to the guys at the store. And they couldn't beli...

Not a precision saw at all! Click stops all off the marks by up to 1 degree in different directions. Even 0 degree cut was out by 1mm on crosscut

On opening the clear plastic blade set broken under the heavy saw, rusting rail after two months & compound adjustment frozen in place. Please consider buying @ this level anything that isn't assembled in china.

I purchased this tool from Sydney Tools. Bunnings has the LS 1017L at the same price, which has a bevel cut only on one side (or some other limitation which i cant remember now).

Out of the box, you have to set up the Makita for accuracy, which is bloody unfortunate. It would seem tedious, but must be done. You must align the blade to the table top and the blade to the fence. There are some videos on you tube and this one is really helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGQmHPS4nU0

50% or less of the dust is actually collected in the dust ba...

I don't understand what all the negative comments are about for this machine. I think it's quite adequate. I'm an engineer/home handyman and wanted something of reasonable quality.
To begin with, you can't expect a $500 saw to be as good as a $1200 saw by the same manufacturer right?
So how can you expect this saw to be 'as good as the old days'.

I'm very impressed with this saw. It's quite versatile which is exactly what I needed. Great cutting angles (from both sides and inclines), reasonably quiet, accuracy is awesome (checked with straigh...

Really disappointed with this tool, I purchased because of the Makita supposed good name, so I did not even check quality before buying.
The rails all rusted up within a couple of months, when it starts up sounds like it will explode, really cheap quality tool.
Old Makita tools were made in Japan according to the label, and they were the best quality bar none .
I wanted to replace a ancient Makita one that I have had for 20 years, it never let me down once, always started took a heap of rough treatment, so I just bought a Makita again, but since buying I have noticed Makita quality has gone downhill, castings rough, slide rails grinding, etc, so I now have a Bosch Slider, could not be happier.

After setting the unit up as per the manual to register all cutting planes at 90 degrees, no problems.

The issue is with the quality of the materials:

I brush the saw off at the end of each day's use, then vacuum to remove sawdust in hard to reach places. After far less than half a year, rust started forming on the rails and some of the screws. (The screws are coated for rust protection (resistance??).)

Just under a year since purchase, and the rails are covered in rust. Sliding the cutting unit causes the rust to transfer onto the bea...

I purchased my LS1018L a few years ago and have nothing but trouble with it. I could not cut a accurate mitre to save it self. I now use my Hitachi saw for everything now and just keep the Makita for cutting fire wood.
This is a real shame how Makita quality has gone from number 1 to last in the pack in only a few years.
I would never buy another Makita product after this piece of rubbish.

I was building a picket fence and though I should upgrade from my circular saw. I bought this from Sydney Tools at $489. You could buy nearly exact same model from Bunnings - LS1017L for $30 less. This one does both left and right bevel whilst Bunnings one only do one side. I haven't used bevel cut yet so could have saved the $30.

The calibration out of the box is good enough for my purpose - mitre cut, 90 degree cut. I do understand some of the comments about accuracy of the mitre and bevel cut as the indicators are plastic and rather flim...

This unit is incredibly flawed. The actual base plate is out as far as I can tell and I have carried it around with me to numerous jobs hoping that I am an idiot and letting another chippee show me my errors - none can and all agree the unit is faulty. It won't even go past 27 degree for angled cuts so 45 mitre is not happening. I will go with Hitachi from now on.

I bought the LS1018L a few years (5 ??) back when I needed a drop saw for the construction of a couple of decks. I checked all the angle setups immediately after taking the saw out of the box and set them correctly. I didn't really expect them to be exact right out of the box. Since then I have used the saw many times as a simple drop saw and as a mitre saw - even made numerous compound cuts. All turned out fine! I always follow the old rule - measure twice, cut once and that includes the saw setup.

Otherwise the unit has run well, with...