Black & Decker SC500G Navigator Saw with Gel Grips

by Black & Decker

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Feel the power of a great idea with the revolutionary new GelMax Comfort Grips. Black & Decker is the first company to bring the comfort of gel to power tools. GelMax Comfort Grips deliver a new level of comfort for power tools, while enhancing the experience of sanding, cutting and drilling with the Mega Mouse sander/polisher, Navigator powered handsaw/jigsaw, ? sheet Power Sander, and Cordless Drills/Drivers. Filled with a solid gel polyurethane material, GelMax Comfort Grips provide a great feel and a firm grip. Black rubber overmolds fused onto the tools surround the gel grips, adding to their gripping power and comfort. The Navigator powered handsaw/jigsaw provides an easy and controlled cut in wood, plastic and metal. Designed like a traditional handsaw in terms of look and function, the Navigator powered handsaw/jigsaw is a power-assisted saw that provides the advantages of a handsaw in terms of accuracy, but eliminates the physical effort of cutting. The Navigator also converts from handsaw to jigsaw in seconds, without any tools, by switching to a specially designed jigsaw blade.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 3.3 x 12.1 inches ; 6.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0000C6DXF
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: SC500G
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,271 in Home Improvement (See Top 100 in Home Improvement)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is an orange blob of frustration, November 30, 2004

By 

D. Grove "ColdH2Odvr" (Friday Harbor, Wa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black & Decker SC500G Navigator Saw with Gel Grips (Tools & Home Improvement)

I got an older version of this saw (two years ago) and unless there have been significant improvements, save your money. The gel handles are probably a good idea as the unit we have did equal damage to what's being cut and the person doing the cutting. As for the damage it does to whatever you're trying to damage, the word minimal comes to mind. Out of frustration I've turned it off and tried to use it as a standard saw but the blade is too short to be useful. I take it off the shelf every once in a while thinking it can't be as bad as I remember... it is. Each time I've tried it I end up thinking it would be faster to just bludgeon the piece I'm trying to cut but, unfortunately, it's light weight makes it fairly useless as a hammer.

I tried to slip it into a friend's truck after he helped me build a deck. He found it, uttered a few choice words, and threw it back. When a guy turns down a free power tool, that's saying something.

Can't think of one redeeming feature of this tool. I give it one star because zero isn't an option.

Buy something useful with your money like a pet rock.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Navigator Saw is great!, November 17, 2004

By 

A. Dillard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black & Decker SC500G Navigator Saw with Gel Grips (Tools & Home Improvement)

We were remodeling a room-tearing out walls, replacing windows and floors. We happened upon a stubborn window header board. Not having a tool sufficient to get this out, we determined we needed a reciprocating saw. That's when we happened upon the Navigator. It looked like a reciprocating saw, just smaller. It worked great! It cut through the 2x10 header and it cut out all the big nails that were connecting the header. It's great for quick cutout jobs and things that I thought only a heavy duty reciprocating saw would do. The Navigator is 1/2 the price of those big saws and 1/2 the size, but it does all the jobs.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a decent little saw!, November 29, 2004

By 

Scott Pointon "Former Marine, Librarian, Wood... (Crest Hill, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black & Decker SC500G Navigator Saw with Gel Grips (Tools & Home Improvement)

I just bought this saw for an incredible price at a day-after-Thanksgiving sale (Menards). In fact, the $19.50 I paid is 1/2 the normal price in the local hardware stores. As for the saw's performance, I have some mixed feelings.

My motivation for buying this saw (other than the incredible price) was to use it with various blades to cut 4" pvc pipe, tree limbs, etc. instead of using handsaws. It does all of this fairly well, but it would perform much better if B&D came out with a wider assortment of blades. At just 3.4 amps, this saw is not overly well powered and thus it should have an assortment of blades available so as to maximize the efficiency of the cutting action. For instance, the wide woodcutting blade has teeth that are fairly fine - which is good for precise cuts in material such as pvc pipe and lumber, but not so good when cutting tree limbs or any other situation where you want an agressive cut. All I got with the saw was a wide woodcutting blade (the blade that is normally pictured in the saw) and a narrow blade to use for cutting metal pipe. In my opinion B&D needs to come up with some more blades!

Having said all of that, I really like the ingenious design of this saw. The gel grips are great for preventing hand fatigue. Although I will probably never have a need to "convert" this saw to its jigsaw configuration - I have much better jigsaws for that - I think that this feature might be handy to the novice weekend warriors out there.

If you can find this saw at a bargain price I recommend it as worth the money!