DAAAAMN! This thing is a beast!

A few weeks ago Home Depot had a HUGE DeWalt sale.  All DeWalt tools were 20% off.  Nice, The Bastard likes.  My feeble $199 Ryobi 10″ sliding miter saw had had its day.  It performed well, but never up to The Scot’s normally high standards for such pieces.  The saw would easily fall out of square and I’d have to adjust the fence once every 75-100 cuts.  Not ideal.  Plus, at 10″ it could handle most, but not all the cuts I wanted.

DeWalt DW718

When the DeWalt sale came up, I jumped in the car and hit the Depot.  Managed to walk away with a brand-spanking-new DW718 for $519.

The saw was ready to rock right out of the box, although one thing puzzled me. Why, on their top-of-the-line saw would DeWalt leave the power cord dangling in a spot that could easily become pinched over time in the sliding arm mechanism?  They knew this was a problem because they wrap some protective plastic sleeve over the cord on the interference points. C’mon guys, a saw that normally retails for $800 and you can’t figure out how to keep the cord from getting in the way?  A 30 second hack with a zip-tie fixed that problem.

Performance

It’s great! Smooth, accurate cuts and a quiet motor make this saw a joy to use.  There are pre-defined angle detents on both the miter and bevel for just about any cut, but you can also move each to any angle you like.  Please keep in mind that I’m not a professional and I’m sure the pros out there will find much to bitch about this saw, however I find the performance to be more than I expected and way more than adequate for the jobs that I frequently do; framing, trim, shelving, etc.

The DeWalt warranty is worth considering as well; 90 day money back, 1 year free service, 3 year limited.  It’s better than most, but Ridgid’s lifetime service agreement could factor into your decision as well.

If you can find this saw on sale I’d recommend you pick one up, however be aware that it doesn’t come with a laser guide as most other saws in this price range do. Yeah, what’s with that?  Again, something that DeWalt could easily include for the price instead of requiring you to install a separate kit that runs upwards of $80!  My $199 Ryobi saw had one…