Makita LS1019L

Best power tool purchase in ages – I made the mistake of buying an entry level Hikoki (Hitachi) mitre saw online to replace my old commercial grade Hitachi but took one look at it out of the box and thought: nup, not going to do the job. Flicked it and bought this, admittedly for a much higher price. There are several Makita slide compound mitre saws available. This and its big brother 305mm (12”) version have a unique design where the saw comes forward on fixed double slide bars instead of the bar/s sliding through the main body. This is a huge benefit to anyone with less bench space. As long as you’re using the vacuum port rather than the dust bag, you can push it right up against the wall.

Cutting is fast (comes with an excellent stock blade), with soft start and motor kill after handle release. Quiet compared to many others. Slide rail is a dream to use. The base bevels easily on the horizontal, with firm click locking on the most common angles and an easy adjustment to fluid freeform angle setting. Vertical bevel is easy and accurate, designed well so it’s not a huge weight and difficult to set an angle left or right.

The cutting flexibility for a 10” is so impressive, it’s better than my old 12”. No wonder this sells for more than the bigger model. If you’re doing something like decking, this thing is adaptable enough to make tricky compound cuts and even a super long straight cut out to 300mm. It’s also got a really tall cutting capacity, so for narrow wood up to 100mm, you can leave the slide locked for stability and cut straight through, for example, 5 stacked lengths of 19mm dress decking or 3 of 32mm in one cut. Huge time save if you have multiple pieces the same size. For me building a deck around my swim spa, it was an unbelievable advantage.

The horizontal handle works well, making it easier to bring the saw down onto the wood, and it’s not fiddly to start, just a simple thumb press on the safety button to release the squeeze handle. There’s a built-in laser, but for me it’s not that helpful, as it’s only on one side and difficult to see in broad daylight. But at least it’s switchable, so I just have it permanently off.

Only two real downsides for me.

1. With wet wood the sawdust pipe clogs. But then that’s probably the same for any of these types of saws. It’s really set up for a vacuum attachment. Minor niggle, though. A manual vacuum at the end of the day and remembering to empty the dust bag 3-4 times if you’re cutting all day is not a great inconvenience to me. 2. The weight. If this will sit on a work bench it’ll never bother you (unless your workbench isn’t strong enough!) but for moving into cutting site daily it’s a bit of a pain. There’s a solid metal carry grip on the top, but at around 40kg, it’s a big lift with knees bent and requiring both hands. Easiest with two people.

Despite the above, I still rate it 5 stars. Beautifully clean cutting, quick, powerful, accurate, quiet and effortless to use. And the fixed slide rails system works really well.