12 Inch Sliders – Bosch vs. new Hitachi
12 Inch Sliders – Bosch vs. new Hitachi
Looking to upgrade from my 10in. Hitachi to a 12 inch.
Has anyone heard any good things about the new Hitachi 12 in. Slider??
Bosch seems to have it sewn up.??
Thanks
Replies
I look at all the new Hitachi tools and I can't help but think they have forsaken thier simple reliability for some bling to attract the easily wowed DIY horde.
oooh look at the shiny plastic flames..oooohh......
?oO
I don't Know what I am doing
But
I am VERY good at it!!
I just bought the Bosch 12 slider. I thought the Hitatchi looked like an alien. And I cant see the digital readout of the miters lasting too long on the jobsite. The Bosch has all of the bells a whistles without too much fuss. All of the controls are up front and it all works well.
Good points about the digital readouts...
I can see them getting damaged as the saw is
hauled from job to job.
My 10in. has been just super, however, Bosch
is a proven performer. Don't like to
spend big $$$$ on tools nobody has used yet.
Thanks for the input. Cheers.
My wife liked the looks and bought me the Hitachi as a surprise gift.
My initial reaction was "I will never use this, I love my Makita ls1013".
Six months later I step on and break the plug on the ls1013 so out comes the 12" Hitachi.
I must admit after using it everyday for three months It is growing on me. The laser Which I thought was useless is actually really handy and speeds up my process.
The digital readout has also came in pretty handy for unusual miters and quick checking my settings on fast repetitive (changing 45 left /right) cuts
This saw has made me not miss the ls1013 and IF IT DID NOT WEIGH A TON I can see it as an everyday saw-
edit I did upgrade the blade-supplied blade would splinter jello
Edited 4/21/2007 9:30 am ET by maxp
Robo,
I've got the 12" Bosch and it's great, it's also heavy. JLC did a short write up on the Hitachi a month or so ago that was favorable.
PaulbnyThanks for the note in JLC...I'll track it down.Cheers,
Hitachi has too many electronics that could fail. I have two 12 inch Bosch set up with Rousseau rolling collapsable tables and extentions.I have been in the industry for more than 30 years. Bosch in my view is very progressive. Regards, Rossco.
I bought the Hitachi about 9 months ago because we were cutting 4x6 rafter tails. I went with the Hitachi because it had the largest capacity to the all the other saws. Iwas skeptical about the laser and the digital readout. The laser is great and very accurate. It really speeds up scribed cuts. I am not so fond of the digital readout nor the layout of the angles on the deck. They have it filled marks on 3/10, 4/10, 5/10 etc. Not very useful since our angles are on units of 12. The other draw back is the table is very small. Lastly, it is freaking heavy. I now have it set up in my shop-won't be moving it either.
Bruce
Thanks for the input -
you highlighted two of my concerns...
the excess weight and the tiny table, I guess I'm going to have
to try out the Dewalt and the Bosch.
I really like my Hitachi 10in. Slider with the laser,
but cutting larger crown is a hassle, I really prefer cutting
crown at a 45 Deg. vs. flat.
Thanks again.
Cheers!
I'm Bosch guy if you look at most of my tools, but when it came time to pick up a new 12" slider, I bought the Dewalt 718.Compared to the Bosch, I think it's almost 22lbs. lighter and it's amazingly shallow front to back compared to the Bosch models which seem like aircraft carriers in comparison.Had a Bosch 4412L CMS, and it was a great saw, and I wished my dewalt had the built-in extensions and crown stops, but the size and weight were huge things for me, and I like that it can do crazy cross-cut capacities if needed by removing the main fence - something like 16" I think. I do not care for the cheese wiz rotating handle of the Bosch's - seem like a sure thing to break off one day.Lot of folks have bashed the new Dewalt for castings that are a bit rough, but that doesn't bother me much.Didn't hurt that I got it for $499 and that included a NIB Dewalt 9.6 drill kit and a $65 Dewalt high-quality woodworker's blade.Costo deal there - made for a great buy and I might have returned the drill kit to Lowes for a $89 giftcard making the saw and premium blade for $410.00