Metabo HPT 36V MultiVolt™ Pro Sliding Miter Saw | 7-1/4-Inch Blade | Dual Bevel | Tool Only - No Battery | Extreme Precision | Highly Accurate | C3607DRAQ4

I've been a carpenter for about 25 years and I've used just about every miter saw available on the market at one time or another and this beauty blows them all out of the water! Fine tuned and adjustable if needed and has all the bells and whistles. No stress when doing very finely detailed cuts, this saw is pricey but the lack of stress or messing around adjusting other saws or multiple cuts to get it right pay you back for this saw in fairly short order. Really happy I bit the bullet and finally purchased this.

This is an excellent saw. Only problem is it's sawdust evacuation . . . even with a 1,250 CFM "Housed" dedicated 4" collection port behind the unit with a 2" dedicated hose feeding into the front of the collection area. Sawdust builds up on all of the surfaces around the bottom area of the saw cutting discharge, which in my opinion comes from a couple of mis-engineered dust control areas at the lower back of the blade.Bought this to replace a 10" double sliding compound that became too heavy for this old man to continually move around in a small workshop. Under the same operating conditions the 10" Hitachi left about 1/3 of the sawdust blowby.UPDATELast year, or earlier this year, I purchased a Metabo C3607 DRA 7-1/4” (2021-2 – 210003) Cordless Compound Slider on Amazon. It replaced my much larger Hitachi (Metabo) Compound slider because of lifting restrictions imposed my cancers by both my doctor and wife of 50+ years. I have positively reviewed this saw -on Amazon- several times and would do so again!The Hitachi served me well for compound cuts I was making in my small shop at the time I received lifting constraints. The saw functioned very well until I wanted to make some small double compound cuts and needed to readjust the left side fence to avoid cutting its top plate adjustable/sliding section. Admittingly, I had to use a brass hammer to move the top fence section in/out; and could not straighten the blade.While cutting a section of exotic wood I hade a blade kickback and the wood banged into that section and it would no longer slide as engineering intended. Additionally, as you can see from the photo’s that fence is not aligning properly and will not although the right side is square to the fence and square vertical to the 7-1/4” blade.Is this left fence assembly covered by a warranty or is there a replacement kit available?

The quality, fit finish, precision of this saw is on par with festool. It is the only 7 and 1/4 saw with over 12 in travel. It is super light. I cried when I paid $1,000 for this. But I really really love it. This is going to be one of the classics people will try to buy many years from now. I should say, I have more than 20 years of trade experience with carpentry work. I own and operate all of the major brands of miter saws. I buy them with my own money, care for and sell them for good value when I'm ready to upgrade. I'm not one of those guys who throws his tools in the back of the pickup truck. I don't think this saw would last very long in a rough environment.

This saw is a unique blend of portability and precision. Manufactured in Japan, it promises high performance without the drawbacks of other ultra-portable saws.The positives:Battery power is impressive. With a 4.0 AH battery or the plug-in battery adapter, you can achieve close to 2HP of power (1400 watts). This is a commendable amount of power for a battery-operated saw.The unit I received came with a 40T blade instead of the 24T mentioned in the product description. The coloring resembles a Freud industrial blade (silver with reddish thermal expansion slots), but it's branded as Metabo HPT.The precise beveling knob works well. It's fairly easy to dial in a specific angle, provided the tension knob is set correctly. While it may not be more precise than using a magnetic angle finder attached to the blade, it does offer a sense of control and speed.Head and blade deflection are minimal. You may notice some possible deflection at the extreme end of the rails, but this can be managed with proper handling. The handle is in the same plane as the head and blade, allowing for greater control to minimize the chance for deflection.The small blade diameter reduces the likelihood of blade deflection. If you want to all be eliminate blade deflection then get a full kerf blade from Forrest or Ridge Carbide and you'll have to work hard to deflect the blade. Using a full kerf blade will affect battery life, so you'll need to weigh the trade-offs between precision and run time.The neutral: Build quality is on par with other miter saws you would think of as being in the same class as Metabo HPT, such as Bosch or Makita. It doesn't quite match Festool's standards despite the price being in the same range as a Kapex.The negatives:If the manufacturing location is crucial to you and you believe a manufacturing facility outside of China is inherently better due it its geography, this saw may meet your expectations. However, I have spent just as much time aligning and tuning this saw as any other made in China. The miter detents were off out of the box, and the upper fence assemblies aren't coplanar with the lower ones, making them less useful.The rail-forward design should be advantageous for workbench/miter station use, but the balance on the table is inadequate. A 35-inch deep bench is needed to support the foot on the handle, negating the space-saving aspect of the design.This saw is advertised as dual-bevel, which is uncommon for saws below 10 inches. However, the depth of cut when beveling to the right at 45 degrees is only 5/8 of an inch, limiting its functionality.Lastly, it isn't as lightweight as you would hope. At 34 pounds, it falls into the same category as 8 1/2-inch saws with greater cutting capacity. The compactness is negated when considering the necessary measures for safe cutting like bench depth to support the saw properly.In conclusion, this saw seems like a love letter written to users of old Hitachi C8FB models who still refuse anything but that saw for all of their reasons. However, if you're familiar with modern miter saws, you may question the value for money here.