Customer Reviews

Hitachi C10FSH 10-Inch Sliding Compound Miter Saw with Laser

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I purchased this saw today after weeks of shopping around. It seems that all of the contractors I spoke with have the 8 inch Hitachi slider and swear by it. I was looking for a bit more capacity but with the same reliability, accuracy and the advantage of a laser guide. This saw is extremely well made and accurate out of the box. While it has a bit more plastic than it's 8" counterpart it is still made like a tank at less weight than the competition(44lbs I believe). The slide, bevel and miter functions are all smooth and the preset angles are easy to set but not to stiff that they don't allow you to set angles close to the presets without accidentally "clicking" into them when tightenned. The fence seems to be improved over previous models and is a bit higher. It will also flip out for longer workpieces. As for the laser guide, I was skeptical of their accuacy but I couldn't be more wrong. It was dead on out of the box and easily adustable depending on you personal preferences. Some people seem to have complained that the laser line disappears as soon as the blade is lowered, but it is so accurate that it doesn't matter. Once you match your laser to your line, there is no need to follow it through the actual cut.

There is not one flimsey piece on this tool. While not overly heavy, it is very solid. The only drawback to this saw that I can see is the relatively small table area. If however weight and portability is important to you, this could be seen as an advantage. The standard blade is acceptable but the 72 tooth blade that comes as a "bonus" is excellent. Some people have complained about the dust collection. I found it to be adequate but not great. In all fairness, I have never had a tool with a system that was much better. I have heard that the rear rubber blade guard (to aid dust collection) has problems when using a powerful vac. for the collector but I have not tried that yet. If you are looking for a slide compound miter saw with a laser, this is the only one as of now. Compared to other quality 10" sliders, the Hitachi C10-FSH is priced towards the high end of the scale at between $499 and $530 but based on my initial impressions, worth every penny.

I recently purchased this saw, and boy am I impressed! I do tool testing for a large Orange Home Improvement company! I have tested dewalt, bosch, makita, and other hitachi mitre saws. This time Hitachi is a cut-above the rest! They made some worth mentioning improvements over the C10FS. Most notably, they have increased the left / right fence's aluminum thickness; the older version has a problem with fence cracking! The dust collection (how much dust actually goes into the dust bag) of this new saw is nearly double (if not more) than the C10FS.

The dust collection is large and can accomidate a wide range of vacuum systems. Worth mentioning, the vacuum mount (where you attach you vacuum hose) is aluminum, not plastic as in the case of most saws! The rubber thinggy behind the blade does its job well. The flip fence is nice and sturdy; while easy to move out of the way if not needed! Mine did not come with the dust sleeve for the rails (as many have wrote in their reviews here as well).

The only downfall is the laser position! It is accurate and it lets the operator know precisely where the blade will cut, the fine adjustment laser knob works great for tweaking the laser if needed! However, I have noticed that as soon as one starts to cut, the black rubber dust guide (right behind the blade) gets in the way of the laser beam! Meaning that one is able to see the line before you start cutting, but once you start, the line disappears behind the black rubber! I have also noticed that the bevel stops were removed! The C10FS had like 5 bevel stops, now it only has three (90, 45 left / right)!

The saw has incredible smoothness and a nice slide action. The recoil has been reduced immensely; thanks in part the poly v-beld driven motor! One other thing worth noting, like the C10fs and other hitachi's, the left and right fence's are independent of each other! This has always been a hitachi marvel! This little detail allows one to recalibrate the fence easier, rather than the half moon piece of aluminum that usually joins both left / right fences! I have heard cases where (makita, dewalt, and bosch) fences have warped due to the fact that they are one piece!

If anyone is in the market for the most accurate and most consistent saw period, look no further than the C10FSH!!!...

After reading reviews here I was concerned about purchasing this saw. I took the plunge today and went and grabbed it from a local store.

My main concern was the accuracy. When adjusted correctly, the saw should cut so that the kerf ends where the laser mark lands. It does exactly that. I used a Starret combo square to mark a 90 cut and lined it up with the laser and sure enough, this thing is dead on. I also used this same sqare the check run out of the laser since some of the reviewers here mentioned it was off 1/64th and the end of the cut. No its not. I set the square on the fence and checked the laser at 2 feet and its less then a 64th at that range.

BTW, I own a DeWalt 708 (12 inch slider). This saw is better in every way with exception to slightly less cutting capacity.

After looking around for a couple of weeks and reading all the reviews on the miter saws, I narrowed the list down to the Makita 10" slider and the Hitachi 10" slider. I went with the Hitachi and have not regretted it. The laser feature is great!! Definetly speeds up the cutting, I just lay my tape measure on the stock, line up the laser and lock it down. The cut is dead on! No need to break out the pencil and square or to visually align the blade to the mark. I also read reviews about the dust collector with miter saws and how they were basically worthless, so I did not hold much hope that this would be any better. I couldn't have been more wrong! The dust collector, while not perfect, is very effective! I would estimate it collected 80-85% of the dust from the saw. I emptied the bag three times while cutting a load of 2x6 for my front deck. If I had attached a vacuum, I'm sure it would have been near 90-95% effective. The slide is solid and very smooth. Adjustments are as easy as any other saw. I also thought the saw was very quiet as well. The table is a little small but I wanted a compact setup due to limited space in my garage. I did not use any equipment to verify accuracy but the cuts were right on and fit well. All in all, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I'm sure you will too.

There is no better miter saw out there, period. I have owned all of them, and this is by far the best. Mine is almost 2 years old and is still perfect, as it was right out of the box. I bought a Forrest chop master blade for it that cuts without chipping, and I think this combination is the best possible. The laser is just for lining up your cut, once you begin you should not move your part so no need to see the line. If you have it adjusted correctly it will cut where the line was. I find that I can split a pencil line or cut to either edge of the pencil line if I want to simply by lining it up first. It is really great when cutting an angle that is undetermined, just mark it and line it up with the laser line, then cut. If you need the line on the other side of the blade just make a cut in a piece of scrap while holding it still and adjust the laser line to the cut.
After almost 2 years of constant use, this saw is still right on the money. I will buy it again if I need another.

I have been a carpenter for twenty years building high end homes on Marthas Vineyard. I have used Hitachi compund saws on all of them. If you are into quality. This is your saw. In my opinion there is no other manufacturer of slide compounds that can compare. They never develop slop (like the Makita) in the positive stops .I can set it to a 1/8th of a degree and not fall into a positive stop (like the Dewalt). So Every time I pull up this saw out wheather its a 22 million dollar house or a 200.000 dollar house this saw with its razor thin laser will show me what accuacy really is. Buy it. It wiil last for years and years. I give it 10 stars

As a finish carpenter maximizing time coupled with quality is is paramount. The laser is single greatest feature saving you from the "double cut effect" of looking where the blade drops before each cut. The only gripes are the detents on bevel cuts... there are none, except at the 90 and 45 degrees angles. For crown moulding.. the marks are there but no detents for beveling and the angle lock is in the back unlike the new Delta which are in front.The electronic start/brake is very smooth.It miters at 45 degrees left and over 50 degrees right. Both Hitachi blades provide excellent finishes and the detentes work cleanly. It's not a light piece of equipment and after lugging it around from truck to jobsite purchasing a miter stand with wheels is a must. The only other piece with a laser on a miter is the 12' Rigid. Lowe's also carries this locally and is a little cheaper but Amazon shipped free to the doorstep with no tax.

I've been trimming custom homes with this saw for several years and I'm generally happy with it. It is powerful without being a brute (think: Dewalt) and simple enough to let you do the thinking (contrast: Bosch). However, there are several flaws that I have noticed, probably irrelevant for the homeowner but important for the finish carpenter who needs dependability and precision from their saw.

The most glaring flaw is the denet mechanism, which consists of a STEEL pin (probably costs $3 to replace) which fits into the ALUMINUM denets that are cut into the underside of the main table (a couple hundred to replace). Obviously the aluminum wears out faster than the steel, creating slop in the denets and thereby rendering them useless. Mine became problematic after about a year of use (I could have been gentler with it).

A second and related problem concerns the fence. Because there isn't an adjustable denet plate (as with the Dewalt), the only way to ensure that your 0 degree denet puts the blade at a 90 degree angle to the fence is to adjust the fence itself, which is a huge headache. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there are actually two fences, left and right, which aren't connected, so you have to do this adjustment twice. The Dewalt system is much easier to adjust. (That's not an endorsement of the Dewalt, which is an inaccurate brute suitable only for framing or trimming track homes.)

Another problem with the fence is that it warps easily - especially the one on the right side which is secured to the table by two bolts far to the right side of the fence itself, leaving the part closer to the blade unsupported. The result is that if your material ever binds up against the blade (admit it, it happens) you wind up with a banana shaped fence, which of course renders the thing useless. I've taken to carrying around replacements and find that I need one every six months or so.

The left side of the fence has another sort of problem:
if you forget to flip the adjustable fence out of the way when the bevel is set around 22 degrees left, there's nothing to stop you from cutting into the fence itself - not a tragedy, but you'll ruin your blade (don't ask how I know). The saw would benefit from some idiot-proofing here. Really though, I probably know ten guys with this saw and every one of them has done this.

Less important but also noteworthy is the lack of a second laser for the other side of the kerf mark, and the tendency of the single laser to break - not surprising, but annoying and prohibitively expensive to replace.

I don't mean this to be a negative review - I'm about to buy another C10FSH to replace the worn one that I've got - but the saw's good points are obvious while these flaws don't tend to make themselves felt until you've had the saw a while. Overall this is the best saw in its price range for high quality finish work.

Bought the C10FSH as an upgrade to the DW703. Would say that
the other reviews are right on the money. Saw was set up
properly right out of the box, and makes fine and accurate
miter and bevel cuts. Very solid, no slop. Soft start is
excellent.

Before you buy, you should be aware of the following shortcomings:
*the safety switch takes some getting used to. To me, it is a pain.
*the laser does in fact have about 1/64" of run-out. It is
correct at the fence side of the cut. Since this problem
has been mentioned by so many reviewers, I have to assume that
Hitachi considers this a feature. To me, it is no big deal.
*My biggest beef is that there is no vernier on the miter
table. On the DW, it is very easy to change the miter angle
in accurate 1/4 degree increments. Not so w/ Hitachi.

All in all, I got what I expected.

Just bought this product, and oh, boy! I believed it....the reviews are right on the money. Have been looking for this kind of power tool for a while after I gave my old miter saw (not Hitachi) to my brother. My old miter saw was not even close to this thing.

I tested how good this saw by having a 1" x 20" board cut on one side and the other side by flipping over the board in order to cut across. The cut looks like it was cut by just one pass only---this thing never ever happened with my previous miter saw. And this is just only one thing I really like about this saw among others.

Over-all I give this power tool a 5 star for quality in every aspect. This probably is a little expensive, but you get what you pay for---every penny of it.

If there is something wrong with the cut, I think the reason is human error, because this machine is perfect.