The top-tier and popular Dewalt DWS780 is currently on sale for $100 off its regular pricing.
A reader emailed in this week, asking for advice on selecting a miter saw for their home workshop needs. That’s a doozy of a question because it’s extremely dependent on one’s needs and wants.
Frankly, a 7-1/4″ slider is good enough for most tasks. But if you need to cut larger workpieces in one go, such as shelving or trim, you’ll want the capacity of a 12″ slider.
Advertisement
If you’re going to get a 12″ slider, the Dewalt DWS780 has been an excellent choice for many years now.
It has a traditional design. There’s no space spacings here. Dust collection is average, which is to say mediocre at best. But you do get Dewalt’s LED shadow sight line system, which is far superior to lasers.
I tested one a long time ago, and found it to be trouble-free.
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one for my own workshop, although I’m not sure it would be my first choice. As mentioned, I find 7-1/4″ sliders – cordless-powered – to be suitable for most of the cross-cutting I need to do. However, the cutting capacity can be limiting.
The Dewalt DWS779 is a less expensive alternative, especially during holiday seasons. There are a few feature differences – the DWS779 does not feature the DWS780’s crown stops or a built-in XPS LED shadow cutline indicator system.
If you’ve been looking for a traditionally designed 12″ sliding miter saw, this seems like a decent deal on a good saw.
Advertisement
Sale Price: $549
Doresoom
This saw is great – I trimmed my entire basement with it last year. The 12″ blade allowed me to stand up 5-1/4″ baseboard and cut using the easier to adjust miter function instead of laying it down and dealing with beveling back and forth. The baseboard BARELY fit, so a 10″ saw wouldn’t be able to do it.
Nice accurate cuts from it too, and the shadow cut line is awesome. The professional painter we hired told my wife it was some of the tightest trim carpentry he’d seen, and that was before she told him it was DIY work! (Of course, I’m sure I took 3-5X as long as a pro would have…)
The only complaints I have are the rails and dust bag need something like FOUR FEET of operating room between the back of the saw and the front. That and the dust collection is terrible. Now that the basement isn’t a construction zone and I have to fit all my tools in a smaller area, I’m switching to a saw that requires less clearance behind it.
Derek
I understand why people buy sliding miter saws but I really wish they would put the 12″ non-slider (DWS716XPS) on sale. I have a 10″ sliding Craftsman that deflects making cutting trim hard. It’s too big with the bars hanging off the back.
Tim D.
I’ve got a 779 that I added the shadow line to. I generally find myself wishing I had a normal chop saw for about 85% of my use. However, the thought of keeping two saws, or dragging out my sliding miter as needed just sounds worse.
I could not agree more on the dust collection aspect of the 779, its pretty terrible. I’ve been considering trying out the Shop Nation dust collection for it.
Munklepunk
I have a Hitachi 10″ dual bevel non slider that I use for 90% of all my work and a 12″ DeWalt for the rest. It’s the 10% rule. Anyone can do the first 90% of a job, the last 10% is gonna cost ya. I just made a home for it and pull it out when I need it, usually 2x12s.
Larger blades do get more deflection if you move to fast and you have a cheaper blade. It can happen even if you have a really good blade and you take your time, but not nearly as much..
I could probably do most of my work with a 7¼ and I would but I’m not buying another chop saw. I used the cordless DeWalt for awhile and really liked it, but it absolutely needs a high output battery or an updated model. DeWalt and dust collection do not compute.
KokoTheTalkingApe
This. There are some sliders with the bars that stay out front and the motor and blade slides on the bars, instead of the bars sliding on a mount. But if you’re trimming out houses and such, the space issue doesn’t matter much.
Also, non-sliders are theoretically less prone to runout, just because they have fewer moving parts, and thus fewer bearings to add slop. And of course they’re cheaper.
I got a DWS715 last year, and so far it’s been great.
MM
I have a 779 that I installed the light kit on. I love it. It was dead accurate out of the box, and that was checked with machinist’s tools not a speed square. I have only two gripes with it: as others mentioned the dust collection isn’t the best, and the blade it came with is much too coarse for trim or precision work.
That said, good point about many jobs being doable with the 7-1/4in saw. I bought mine for just one job but it’s become a very commonly used tool. I had low expectations but that one project was paying for it so I didn’t really care if I didn’t get much use out of it. I’ve been super happy with it–easy to transport, more power than I expected, easy to use, precise. I’ve used it for 2x, trim, hardwoods, 1/4 in thick plastic materials for building instrument panels, aluminum extrusions, PVC, copper and brass… At the moment I’ve got the 7-1/4 set up with a nonferrous blade (Diablo) and a Forrest Chopmaster in the 779 so I don’t have to mess around with blade swaps.
VindalooDiesel
7 1/4s are not great TBH. Basically anything taller than window casing needs to use bevel function AND slide for corners on trim. And because they’re cheaper and cheaper-made, are very sloppy in that mode.
Ended up having to cut trim corners with my friggin track saw.
I guess they’re fine for pure cross or miter cuts tho. But I will NEVER trim with one again.
Josh Walters
Idt Stuart does the 780 enough credit, that’s the saw every trim guy near me runs, durability accuracy everything all in one.
Hans
I’m a master carpenter and I use this saw. But, it’s a poorly designed and poorly manufactured piece of garbage. You have to hold back the blade guard with your thumb on every bevel cut or the saw will not move through the work. The dust collection port is a ridiculous footlong tube that kills the draw from your dust collector. The saw has to be placed 3 feet in front of any obstruction to use the dust bag—let alone attach a vac hose. Tightening the the thumbscrews to lock down the fences tilts them an 1/8+” out of square to the table (UNFORGIVABLE). The right fence had to be removed entirely in order to make common 45 degree bevel cuts. The factory insert has a gaping slot cut into it pretty much necessitating a DIY insert unless you like wood shards flying around the room.
But, you can get used to anything.
It’s more than enough for any DIYer. Except that the blade guard issue makes it pretty unsafe for a beginner user.
Sam
Recently sold mine through Ebay after 4 years of ownership.
It’s a heavy, poorly made, inaccurate saw. Spent more than enough time getting it true before each use and I’m so glad to be rid of it.
Next mitre will be a Kapex.