Hitachi C8FSE 8-1 2-Inch Sliding Compound Miter Saw

Customer Reviews & Comments
I'll break it down simply put, the good and the bad. I was not sure if this saw would replace the older version and be as well built. It's not the same quality as the older one. Hitachi designers did a good job making this saw very light weight, but sacrificed some of the quality with plastic and a thin casted table. The saw was dead on with the cross cut set at 0 degrees. Miters came out fair when cutting large crown but were off by maybe a 1/32"-1/16" every time. Here is what I found out. I took a framing square and checked the relationship between the left and right fence. That was on the money. I then checked the table and realized that the miter center table sat below the left and right outside support tables a whole 1/16th. There is no adjustability to raise or lower the miter table and that's why my cuts are off slightly. That combined with the play of the head and rails having some slop and being able to freely clunk the head to the right and left a 16th. The best way I can describe it is it feels like the head doesn't ride on the right rail snuggly, and by the time you tighten the slide action so you don't have any play its very stiff to slide. Also the blade guard stays low when you bring the head down and doesn't allow you to start your cut with a back stroke and then to finish your cut with the forward stroke with ease. The kerf insert is also another big 1/32 below the already low miter table. That's 3/32nds out of level. The good is that it is very light, portable, decently accurate and it has a rebate as of right now for a Hitachi 2 1/4hp router. I work in very high end homes working with prefinished huge crown molding and paneling, etc and need the accuracy to be within a 1/32th. If you don't need this kind of precision then this saw is a decent unit. If the table wasn't out of level with the base I would have worked it out. But because you can't adjust this problem I am sending it back. It's also kind of cheesy to be blunt. As an alternative I bought the Hitachi 10" slider which is a Japanese made unit and is proven to be accurate from my experience. Hope this review helps some finish carpenters out there