Customer Reviews

Bosch 5412L 12-Inch Dual Bevel Slide Miter Saw with Laser Tracking

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This saw is a typical high-quality Bosch tool. Every tool I've purchased with the Bosch name on it seems to be the best tool I've owned of the breed (from a design standpoint). I mostly work on furniture projects at home, which is why the slider feature of this saw comes in handy (for cutting wider boards). If that isn't a requirement for you, the Bosch 4212L will likely fit your needs (at about 1/2 the price). I upgraded from a Delta chop saw that was not nearly as accurate or easy to use (and was a single, not dual bevel like this Bosch).

The controls are very easy to read (large print) and the adjustment knobs and levers are easy to get to. The bevel adjustment takes more elbow grease to move than you might expect it to, maybe by design. The Delta would just flop over once I loosened the neck. This Bosch takes a good push or pull of the lift handle to move it off of the vertical position.

There are a couple of lift handles on the Bosch which makes it much easier to tote around.

My saw stop (Sawhelper Ultrafence) doesn't attach out of the box to this saw very well. I contacted the fence manufacturer to find out how to attach it, some drilling was required into my new saw, ugh. It would be nice if there were interface standards for attaching extension tables to chop saws. I can't imagine that too many professionals are out there don't use stops to increase accuracy and consistency.

This Bosch saw is the first chop saw I've purchased with the laser, which works well. However, the laser is only on one side (left side) and doesn't turn on until the blade is spinning. It was simply a washer installed (came uninstalled) on the outside of the blade with a laser light which means if you take your old saw and buy the aftermarket laser washer, you've now got a laser-enabled saw. Again, this would have made a considerable improvement to my old saw.

The only real complaint that I have is that they should have designed it so that it was easy to connect a 4" vacuum system. As mentioned by another reviewer, the dust bag is a waste of space. It doesn't collect 10% of the dust. Like many shops, I have a Jet 1100 4" vacuum system, which worked better with the old Delta just by banding the hose to the neck.

With the Bosch, however, the center of the neck of the saw is so wide (like 3-4") all the dust hits the neck and bounces everywhere. All Bosch would have to do is redesign the base of the neck so that a 4" plastic tube could be inserted directly into the neck facing straight at the blade and this saw would be off the hook! I'm sure a decent vacuum system could catch 95% of the dust with this modest redesign of the neck.

I know there are aftermarket dust catchers for chop saws. I found one that had a large bucket design, but I doubt that one would work well given the slider and overall design of this saw, maybe I'm wrong. The least Bosch could have done is to provide some logical hole locations for bolting on a vacuum hose.

Delivery from Amazon was very fast as usual, and reminds me why I buy this kind of stuff from Amazon and not eBay.

I run a small finish carpentry and cabinet installation company. We do the best of the best work for the best custom home builders and the best custom cabinetry and millwork shops. I purchased two of these. Out of the box I made small adjustments to set the first perfectly, it was very close to perfect adjustment from the factory. I was pleased so far. The detents were positive enough and not loose like the new Makitas. I loved having the bevel adjustment up front and looked forward to saving a lot of time because of it.

Let me start by saying I am a Bosch fan. I use the best tools no matter who makes them. Therefore I use Bosch's tablesaw, jigsaw (although Festool's is equally good with better dust collection), palm router, and digital angle finder. I was looking forward to this saw, although I overlooked some negative reviews when deciding on purchasing it and was particularly influenced by the review from R. Clark who claims to own a custom home building co. and demand perfection (he must be an office guy). I wish I had listened to the negative reviews because this saw is completely unsatisfactory for finish carpentry and I have to sell it as a used saw (hopefully to a framer so I don't feel guilty). One other review which had me worried stated that the saw was fine the first month and steadily became worse each month. This is EXACTLY what I experienced, amazingly enough by the time I am disgusted enough with the saw to not want to use it anymore the 30 day satisfaction guaranteed warranty was expired.

Some explanation of why this is not a saw which can be used for finish carpentry, LET ALONE SOMEONE WHO DEMANDS PERFECTION! After about 2 months (second job) the miter detents are sloppy and wiggly--exactly what I didn't want in a miter saw. The table got so tight it was almost impossible to use to fractions of degrees, and just a royal pain to use to 0 and 45. After cleaning out, lubing and loosening the miter table mechanism, it slides better, but the miter detents are still sloppy and wiggly--fractions of a degree (ie fine tuning your miter) are very time comsuming because the table moves when you try to lock it down, and wants to return towards 0 (though perfect 0 is equally hard to hit because the detent is wiggly and the lockdown moves the table!!!). It is very difficult to get the actual angle you want to cut. Not to mention even when you spend the considerable time to lock the table down where you want it, it is still hit or miss because the scale is the most clumsy of all saws--the marks are cast 1/16" wide--it seems this saw was only intended to be a framing saw. The bevel capabilities are also inadequate (although the adjustment up front is a time saver it is not worth it!--maybe for a framer...maybe). The up front lock doesn't stay tight and you have to tighten it each time you go to use the saw. When set to perfect 0 degree bevel, the scale reads slightly differently left and right 45 degree bevels (by about 1/4 degree). The laser is the aftermarket washer type which runs on batteries (another pain). Both sets of laser batteries which came with the saw died within 1 month. On the third job with the saw (a high quality blade was put on immediately) cuts are even worse, I'm not sure if it is blade deflection, bearing wobble, or something else (I don't care to troubleshoot it because the saw is not worth troubleshooting), but if you place a straight-edge against your cut piece you can see daylight where the cut is not straight. The millwork shop I'm doing a job for now has the same saw at the job I'm at with a service tag on it to be returned because theirs doesn't cut plumb--ie, where the blade starts is not in line with where it finishes once you have plunged the blade--so their cuts are never 0 (90) degree bevel. We are back to using the Dewalt 12" (new style, yet older than this Bosch) which one of my guys owns which is completely superior--the detents are rock solid, the scale is fine and you can actually guess what fraction of a degree you are set at, and when you lock it down it stays there. I didn't like this Dewalt at first because I was a little biased against the old style Dewalt from my days in a cabinet shop where blade deflection made it hard to cut a long miter. Also the capacity of the dewalt is partly achieved by a deep well to keep the slide short--which I don't like. But in all truth the Dewalt which I don't like is superior in every way. I am going back to the redesigned 10" Hitachi which I have used a lot in the past, and has the kind of accuracy I need.

Stay away from this saw. Bosch has made a complete lemmon, it must be redesigned. The 10" has the micro-adjust, I don't know why they didn't put it on the 12"--is it because they made this saw to be a framing saw with no need for it, or because the table/detent system is too sloppy to work with a micro-adjust?

I own a company that builds exclusive custom homes, and prides itself on custom finish work. Our customers demand absolute perfection, and this saw delivers exactly that.

When I took the saw out of the box, I was instantly amazed at the quality compared to other miter saws I own. And I own several-Hitachi, DeWalt, Makita. This saw doesn't compare. As for accuracy, as another reviewer stated, this saw is perfect right out of the box. And it stays accurate. I haven't had to make any adjustments since I purchased it. And this is after hundreds of hours of use. This is the only miter saw my company now uses.

If you are looking for the best 12" sliding compound miter saw, this is it. Bosch offers an 30 day money back guarantte, so if you're thinking about another brand, try this saw first. You'll be amazed at the difference.

I've been using this for three weeks now and it rocks. Most of the time I use it in a stand in my shop but I have used it on site.

The dust bag really isn't very good. I'd say it collects 20% of the dust produced.

But everything else appears to be designed by someone that actually uses a mitre saw. The side table extensions are nice for use on the job site. They make it much easier (surprisingly) to hold a long workpiece in place.

The swivel handle is a surprisingly nice feature. I thought this feature wouldn't be noticable but it really does make operation easier.

The detent overrides work well. There is a depth stop that allows the operator to use the saw to cut only halfway through a board, so this saw can be used to cut half-lap joints.

I've never been a big fan of lasers and the laser on this saw didn't change my opinion.

My boss picked up one of these for us four months ago, mainly for finish/trim work. Out of the box, it seemed like a great saw, fully loaded with features. It's a very intelligently designed saw. However, as time went on, we found more and more problems with it, and some of the guys have chosen to go back to the old DeWalt rather then to deal with it.

First, the good: Dual bevel is extremely handy... all top-level saws should have this feature. Another feature I really liked were all the upfront controls, so there's no leaning over the table to adjust the bevel. It makes working with the saw and adjusting much quicker. It also gives you quite a lot of table width for working on.

The bad: During the first month, we quickly grew tired of the fact that the saw seemed very stiff when adjusting the bevel. I read through the manual and even tried adjusting the nut in the back, but nothing worked. It's just a very stiff saw to work with. Not a big deal when jumping from 0 to 45 degrees, but when you try to adjust it 1 degree, the saw has a tendency to stick, then jump a few degrees when more pressure is applied.

The second month, we started noticing inaccuracies in the cuts... cuts weren't square when they were suppose to be. Sometimes the cut was perfect, and other times the cut was out of line, suggesting there was some play between the saw guide and the blade. Also, the laser tracking began a 'delay' between when the saw was started and when the laser would turn on. It used to turn on with the saw, but it began turning on after the saw was running for 2-3 seconds.

The third month, the inaccurate cuts became more frequent and the laser tracking delay was up to 5-7 seconds. In addition, the belt was apparently loosening because when starting the saw you can here a bit of a 'chirp' and cutting through thick wood on a bevel sometimes cause the blade to stop spinning, which included a very loud 'screeching' noise.

As of today, the laser tracking only goes on intermittently, often not at all. There is also quite a bit of side-to-side play in the slide, which the manual doesn't seem to explain how to fix. This has caused inaccurate bevel cuts. Aside from the dual bevel feature, it's now on par with the five year old DeWalt saw we have, which has now quickly becoming our main saw again. The Bosch saw just doesn't seem to be able to keep up with extended and frequent use.

Bosch has made a saw with a lot of intelligent and useful features. If they can find a way to bring up the overall quality, this would definitely be an outstanding product. Until then, this is not something you should use in a professional environment.

Im a contactor and we do all our trim work in house. After 10 great years of service, our Dewalt 708 finally kicked the bucket. After reading all the reviews I could find and talking with other trade workers, I limited my choices to the Dewalt 718, Makita 1214, and the Bosch 5412.
I thought the new Dewalt was a step back from our old 708. The head seemed to flex more , the rails are smaller diameter, I just didn't care for it. I liked the Makita, but just didn't care for the placement of the mitre scale over to the side.
That left the Bosch. After reading some reviews of arbor problems on this saw, I contacted Bosch to find out if this was a common problem. They admitted that they had had an arbor problem early on but had resolved it about a year ago. So I bought the Bosch.
First the cons:

1) First off the blade that comes with this saw is a joke. It had so much run out I thought the saw had the dreaded arbor problem. But after replacing it with the blade from the Dewalt it ran true and smooth.

2) I didn't care for the laser. In projects its line slightly to the side of the actual cut line. I felt more comfortable doing it the old fashioned way and just eyeing the blade to the cut line. Therefore the laser now resides in my glove box.

3) The mitre table was dead on out of the box. But the bevel was out 1.5 degrees. Setting the bevel on this saw is a little more difficult than it should be. It involves loosening 2 bolts, a set screw, and turning another bolt for the actual adjustment. I will say that once its set it should stay set for a long time.

The pros:

1) What a sweet cutting saw, with the correct blade and the saw adjusted correctly this is one fine trim saw. Plenty of power and very accurate.

2) The front bevel control is great. Time will tell how it will hold up on the jobsite, but this is really a nice feature for repeditive bevel cuts. I dont think it will be long before other saw makers will start offering a similar feature.

3) The adjustable handle,extending table, and detent overide are all nice features that make using this saw even more efficient.

All in all I really like this saw so far. Its almost made me forget the sad demise of my trusted 708, almost. But I can highly recommend this saw, just count on replacing the blade.

Update: Well, I've returned the saw to Amazon. As the poster a couple of posts above mine has mentioned the cuts on wider boards (6" to 11") left small gaps in the middle of the cut. At first I thought I might have had some blade deflection, but after changing blades ( I only use full Kerf blades) a couple of times the cut remained gapped at the same place in the cut. The first 2 to 3 inches the cut was perfect after that it was simply off. If for example you cut across an 8" piece of 3/4 birch plywood
then butted the cut edges together you would end up with a gap 2 to 3 inches long in the middle of the cut. Not a large gap, but large enough to require some filler. Not what you need for stain grade cabinets. Also, at least on my saw the slides were very temperature sensitive. At 40 degrees the slides were very tight. At 60 degrees and above it was fine. My Dewalt never did this.
Its really a shame, I liked the features of this saw alot. And weather my problem was caused by an slight arbor problem or a minor slide problem it just isn't do for my kind of work. I am now in the process of ordering a Makita LS1214. It dosen't have all the features of the Bosch, but hopefully it will be more consistant in its cut. Therefore, I have to lower my rating to 3 stars.

I, like many other reviewers, make my living using miter saws, so I have tried almost every one available. I chose the Bosch because my experience with their products in the past has been flawless. The thing that first attracted me to this miter saw was the 60 degree miter capacity, which is worth the price of the saw by itself when siding on the gable.

When I received the saw, it had some issues. I would suggest every owner check their fence to be sure it is true(I had the same problem with my Makita). The "uni-fence" design is a great idea, but the manufacturers seem to have a difficult time making them straight. This can be fixed with a little trial and error by clamping across the table and pulling the fence back and forth until it is right. (Don't forget to loosen at least one of the fence bolts, the outside ones are almost impossible to loosen) It doesn't take much force, and the magnesium (I think) has almost no rebound. Once this is fixed, there is a glimmer of hope, but the problem is hard to catch at first. Even a 1/32" gap behind the straght edge will cause the blade to burn when cutting wide pieces. My saw table also had an alarming amount of wobble in the table, but tightening the pivot bolt on the underside of the saw helped to correct this some. (Again, there is a fine line, tightness here also makes the table difficult to turn.) The bevel/miter controls are where this saw really stands above any other. They are intuitive and positive. The dual compound feature was a quantum leap in miter saw technology, but most other saws make it cumbersome. This saw makes it really easy. The knob to the left of the lock lever allows positive control and locks the blade square(plumb) if you want it to. Here again, my saw may not work correctly, because it looks like there are 3 positions, but mine only engages 2. Still, it is easy to release, and return to square.

My advice to any potential buyer is to ponder whether you really need the 12" size. When cutting large crown molding, it really shines, but the larger diameter blade deflects significantly more than the 10". This makes the 10" more accurate for most cutting. The 12" blades also cost almost twice as much, and cannot be used for crosscutting on the tablesaw. The cutting capacity of the 12" is about 5" x 12", and the 10" is 4" x 12". Either will cut a standard 4x4, and neither will cut a 6x6.

I gave it three stars because it is disappointingly inaccurate. I thought I had finally found the perfect trim saw, but it really is an average performer in a really sweet package.

The accuracy on this saw was perfect right out of the box. All angles were dead accurate from the factory. It arrived in only 3 days. I use it to make various joints including dovetails, miters, and other compound joints in my work. I was first introduced to this saw when one of my workers purchased it. I tried it out and I was placing my order that same day. After I received mine and worked with it a few days, I moved it to the front page of my website. Only the best tools can earn that spot!

I have used a lot of saws over the last 15 years and I have to say this is the best miter I have ever used. I give this one a 5-star rating, and all my employees agree. It is all you could want or ask for in a miter saw and then some!

As others have mentioned the dust collection isn't the greatest but this is a very minor point on such a well built and accurate saw.

Pros

-Adjustable Handle

-Built-in extension slides

-Micro adjustment knobs

-On board tool storage

-Up front release for bevel/compound cuts

-Max bevel override

-Quick and fine adjustment for depth of cut

Cons

-dust collection is marginal

My experience differs from some of the other reviewers. First, adjustment was not great right out of the box: both bevel and miter were almost 0.5 degree off. I found adjustment slightly tedious, but who cares, the adjustment mechanism provides for great precision and strength. Took me about twenty minutes to get it perfect. Second, I can't produce the gap in the middle of a cut that other reviewers found to be a problem. Eight to twelve inch cuts in mahogany ply, 3/4 and 4/4 cherry, white oak, and mahogany have been dead on (placing the cut edge on my table saw table shows no detectable gap, and miters show no gap). Third, I've made a couple of hundred cuts or so in the above woods using the blade that came with the saw, and they are smooth as glass, allowing clean miters with no gap. Many of my miters involve odd angles and often I need to swing the miter both left and right (for hatch covers on a yacht), and I find the miter lock override very easy to use, and the scale to be accurate. When I use the 45 degree left and right stops, the 90 degree joints are perfect.

So far, I have used the saw only in my shop, where it glides beautifully; have not had an opportunity to test the cold weather problem mentioned by another reviewer.

I like the laser as much as I like any laser; handy for some cuts in oddly angled pieces (e.g. hatch covers), but, whenever practical, lining the blade up with a marked line is still the most reliable way, in my judgment.

Everyone is right about dust collection. The bag misses most of the dust, and with the port connected to my shop system probably ten percent of the dust escapes.

I really like the upfront controls and the adjustable handle. The quiet power and the fast acting blade brake are nothing but pleasure. All in all it's one of my favorite tools, and I love using it.

I couldn't wait to brag on this saw! Bought this saw just before Christmas and have done 2 major projects and numerous small jobs because I can't take my hands off of it.

It setup in less than 15 minutes (and that consisted of screwing in the miter lock knob, installing the laser, and clearing a spot in the garage). Cut PERFECT 90 (zero) degree out of the box in locked position. I've now done everything this saw has to offer and it's DEAD-ON as it FLOATS through the cut.

I've done depth-of-cut (dado) cuts at 45 degree bevel (left and right) to create shop jigs. Already done 4x4s and 1 x 12s at 45 degree bevel. Did floor molding miters standing upright against back fence (sliding arm feature is awesome for this). Cut free-form angle miters and 45, 22.5, and 60 all in the pre-set locking stops - this saw is TIGHT. No play in the dual arm slider - solid. Bevel and Miter functions both utilize pre-locking stops. Miter adjusts left and right by simple trigger button then locks into place. Table turns smooth and with little effort. There is NO play in the mechanism. The dual bevel and dual miter feature is a DEFINATE plus - have already used both when I wondered if it was ever necessary.

Back fence is single piece to maintain accuracy from left to right side as it goes around the blade. Left and right fences slide in and out independently to accommodate bevels/miters - but a short 1 inch piece (unifence) stays in place so you always have a true back plane to square the work piece. The top part of the fence adjusts easily by loosing one knob - slides very easily in a groove and stays TRUE. Doesn't fall off and it's not clumsy.

Have never had a cut-off jam in blade slot or against fence due to misalignment. Side extensions are helpful. Never had a work piece hang or snag on the side extensions or on the fence as I was sliding it across the table. Everything about this saw is clean and smooth and well aligned.

It's got carry handles that seem to be placed in a balanced configuration although I've only moved it short distances (but MANY times). Has depth-of-cut setting (with quick release) which works on bevels and miters. Has a locking pin to lock the head in the down position for chop cuts or sliding cuts (or BOTH at the same time). Can also lock the slider at ANY distance from the fence. You can make any conceivable combination of cuts with this saw. This saw does not create saw dust - it creates saw "powder" and lots of it. Never seen anything like this before. RPMs are dead-on to make this saw glide through every cut. By the way, I used the standard blade that shipped with my unit in regards to all the comments in this review.

Laser is accurate but personally I line the blade teeth up on the cut line before powering up the saw. Blade guard has NEVER gotten in my way - including 45 degree bevels - will likely be the FIRST blade guard I've ever left in place. Blade brake is very nice! Base has numerous mounting holes for when the day comes. I've actually used the left handed operator feature a few times (which requires no adjustment - has dual buttons). This was handy when the best/safest way to hold the work-piece was on the right side of the table.

I built two large lofts for the kids' rooms. Serious projects with large (4x4, 2x8) to small (3/4" molding) lumber. Railings, ladders, bookshelves, tables, small hobby pieces, base molding (around 8 corners), and window sill - all using standard cutoffs to 45 degree bevels on up to 1x12" deep shelving. Cedar, pine, MDF, oak. All with perfect accuracy and perfectly flush joints! Including a couple of butt joints which are never a good idea, but were dead square with flat faces on this saw.

I've been getting by for years with a top-notch table saw and circular saw - debating too long whether to add a radial-arm-saw or sliding-compound-miter. I grew up with a radial arm available for cross cutting - but have been paralyzed for some time to make a decision between the two. After reading NUMEROUS opinions on the web, I decided on SCMS. WOW! What a waste of time the last few years have been. The price of this saw is immeasurable to the headaches you will save and accuracy you will gain. I paid $560 with free shipping and didn't have to pay sales tax. It was WELL worth it. Now I just noticed that Amazon has $110 discount for $500+ power saws. I used my hard earned Christmas bonus to help purchase the saw but missing out on the $110 savings doesn't even phase me as this saw is a steal at $560 without any discounts.

I could write more, but I've already spent so much time with my saw that I need to spend some time with my wife.... Family time tonight consisted of the kids helping dad screw some new (Bosch) shelves together in the living room while mom watched from the couch.