The DeWalt 60V is a massive slab of a saw and the heaviest of the five rear-handle saws we tested—even heavier than the 13.4-pound Milwaukee below. If you need that, particularly for making long beveled cuts in rafters or cutting wet pressure-treated lumber for decking framing or landscape work, this saw serves nicely for those purposes. But let’s say that you’re simply a do-it-yourself owner-builder type. This circular saw is a pleasure to use for just about any DIY project. It cuts any typical framing material but also handles the 4 x 6 pressure-treated timber we use to test rear-handle saws, with enough power for full-depth cuts of about 2.5 inches.
You can get the best circular saws from Makita through CPO Outlets’ wide selection, a place where both professionals and homeowners rely on. We don’t see it as a house framing tool where you need a better combination of lightness and power. Of course, probably doing most of your day’s work on a single charge of its whopping 9-Ah battery. The saw is well designed, with a comfortable handle and a magnesium shoe with about as much friction as a melting ice cube; for such an unwieldy saw, it slides pretty nicely. There were “ballpark” prices that seemed to come up for some of the different cordless circular saws and giving you the “big picture” might help some of you out. It has plenty of power to cut through just about anything and really is compared to having a corded model on hand.
The SH02Z is recommended for light duty tasks and thinner materials. It’s compact size and very light frame make it perfect for these types of projects and would be easy to use and way less likely to wear you out. I think that this saw is perfect for beginners, hobbyists, handymen and other people who want to tackle light cutting tasks.
You can’t help but be impressed by this Milwaukee saw’s cutting power and longevity. Slide in a massive 12-Ah battery and you’ve got several hours of carpentry capability unencumbered by a cord. To those makita cordless drill attributes, we would also add that it’s well balanced and easy to handle. While anyone can appreciate those features, it’s especially nice if you use the saw only on weekends for home projects.
I was even able to rip down Corian to make a waterproof interior jamb and window casing for a window replacement in a shower. The results weren’t flawless but there was almost no chip out and the work piece makita angle grinder required minimal sanding to remove saw marks and get to a nice smooth finish. I used dust extraction during this process, it worked pretty well but certainly not as well as a plunge cut track saw.
And given what it costs and its price-performance ratio, it would be fitting for a contractor to keep this saw on the truck as a backup or a tool. Next, we did some hairsplitting crosscuts, guiding each saw along a square held across the wood. If the saw held true along the cut, that told us that its shoe edge and blade are parallel. If the saw moved off the square (and the cutline), we knew something was amiss. The most common cause is a saw motor and body that makes a slightly sloppy fit with the shoe on which it rides. For instance, Makita’s XSS02Z was one of the lowest priced saws in the lineup but also lacked some of the features that one of the top models in the category (XSR01Z) had.
We’ve always liked the brand, and we were very pleased to find this saw carrying on a capable tradition of high-quality power tools. Skil has a long history with the circular saw, and it puts that institutional knowledge to good use with this inexpensive but capable tool. Among the homeowner saws we tested, this one is about as close to pro-grade as you can get.
This is within the expected parameters, if not overly impressive. Some of you might be surprised to learn that the Ryobi One+ HP 18V actually offers 4,900 RPM. Of course, the amount of revolutions per minute required for a given job varies depending on the type of material you’re trying to cut.