Customer Reviews

Hitachi C10RA3 15 amp 10-inch Benchtop Table Saw with Stand

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

While shopping for table saws the most important factors I considered were: value, portability, ease of use, and accuracy. After comparrison shopping I found this saw to be an incredible value at $279. As for portability this saw without stand weighs in around 53 pounds which makes it easy on the back. All the controls are upfront and easy to use and I had no problem setting this saw up right out of the box without the manual. The only draw back... accuracy. After attaching the factory blade and ripping a few boards I was fairly disappointed with my cuts, however realizing that the factory blade was rather cheap, I went down to the local hardware store and picked up a freud diablo blade and slapped it on and realligned everything. After that this saw cuts like a dream. In conclusion you get a lot of bang for your buck with this saw, I would just recommend upgrading the cheap factory blade for a better one.

First of all there is a universal truism: A good carpenter never blames his tools.

The Pros:
I have been able to produce several pieces of furniture for use around the house with this saw. The saws greatest assets are its portability without having to purchase aftermarket lifts (I can fold it up and stow it away against a wall in under 2 minutes clearing the space for other operations), its small footprint (approx. 30" x 20" without extensions), dust collection bag (for those without dust collection systems), fairly accurate / easy to use fence, 1 - 1.5 hour assembly time, and its price. Everything was aligned right out of the box, and the directions were clear during assembly.

The Cons:
A large part of the saws portability is attributed to its weight. This attribute is an unfortunate double-edged sword. Because the saw is so light, it has a tendency to move back when ripping long (greater than 3 foot) boards. Should you run into some resistance when ripping a board (like going through a tough knot) the saw will tip up and away from you (the additional foot provided in the back of the saw will prevent the table from tipping over however). The miter gauge requires you to square it to the blade each time you use it. The anti kickback splitter requires a large amount of adjustment to get correctly aligned each time you place it back on the saw. All parts are metric, making replacement difficult to impossible unless you order directly from the company. Lastly, as I am now discovering, you cannot upgrade the saw with aftermarket parts (i.e. no zero clearance inserts, no riving knives, no splitters, no featherboards, no miter gauges, no jigs, not sure about aftermarket fences, but I am guessing no on that one). You either have to find a way to alter the parts (like featherboards because the miter slots are on the table saw are not standard) making them more expensive, or, you simply build them yourself.

Conclusion:
If you are looking for something simple, ultra portable, and you plan on using it for simple ripping operations or just plan on pulling it out occasionally: this is your saw. For beginning furniture makers, this saw will make your entrance into the hobby a little more difficult than other saws would, and you would be best advised to look elsewhere.

For the price the saw is not too bad but I was very unhappy with customer service at Hitachi. My saw came missing the two dome nuts for the hand wheels and a slightly bent mounting flange at the rear of the stand. When I called Hitachi customer service and explained the problem they suggested I send the saw back to Amazon for an exchange. I explained the saw would cost $99 each way to ship so it did not make sense to spend $198 in shipping over a few dollars of parts. The customer service rep said that was Hitachi's policy. I told her I would never buy another Hitachi product as I felt that was not fair to Amazon to which she replied "that's fine".

I have been a contractor for 35 years and buy tons of tools for my business. Stuff happens and I understand that but I guess Hitachi has more customers than they need. They now have one less customer.

Mark

Update: Because Hitachi would not take care of the problem Amazon sent out a new saw and told me to return my first saw after the second one arrived. With the new saw still in the box I set the two saws side by side and as I removed a part from the box I replaced it with a part from the old saw. After I was done assembling the second saw I realized it too had some flaws. Between the two saws I had enough parts to make a 95% saw so I shipped the extra saw back to Amazon and ordered a Bosch stand for my Hitachi saw. Now the Bosch stand is the best part of my Hitachi saw.

I purchased this saw as my first own table saw. After using my father's craftsman table saw for years, I moved out of state and no longer had a table saw at my dispense. I did a lot of research, and was stuck on purchasing a craftsman table saw. After seeing this saw, and it's price I decided to take a chance. Hitachi is slowly becoming a big player in power tools. I've used a couple of their items before (roofing nailer, miter saw). The thing I like most about Hitachi is how light weight (but not a "cheap feeling" light weight) their products are. I got my saw about a month ago, pulled it out of the box and set it up. I absolutely think this saw is a great value. This saw performs as a $500.00+ saw. The only thing I changed on it (as with any cutting equipment provided) was the saw blade. I purchased a higher end saw blade, and the saw gained even more in value. I recommend this saw to any "at home, do it yourself'er". This table saw alone is great for any framing cuts you may need to make, and if you change out the blade for a nicer one you can make any fine / finish cut you will ever need.

Probably the biggest problem with the Hitachi c10ra3 lies in its non-standard size parts. Forget about replacing the miter gauge, or getting any sort of miter slot accessory, because the hitachi slot is 5/8" instead of 3/4". The screws are all metric as well (which makes sense, I guess). This wouldn't be a problem except that as far as I can tell there's NO WAY to get the blade guard/spreader on the saw without taking the thing apart. In the process of which I managed to break (yes, break in half) a couple of these crappy screws. You may say, "But I'm not even going to use the blade guard." Oh, but you need to, because the blade is so misaligned that you'll have kickback with just about every cut. Look, it's probably not that bad a deal, but for the trouble it's given me I might as well have bought the $99 special at the local hardware store.

I purchase this saw after I burned by Ryobi motor out. I'd worked it hard for a number of years. I bought this saw after looking over all the available saws at a local Lowe's and choose this one as the best for price. I find it lacking in power. I just doesn't cut it. The depth of cut is weak. I was used to being able to rip a 4" piece with my Ryobi. Wish I'd done a better job comparing before I purchased.

Before I go bashing this saw, I should clarify that this saw is a jobsite table saw. Meaning it was designed to be lugged around to and from a construction site and make cuts that require little precision. Having that information in mind this saw is adequate for it's intended purpose.

I don't use this saw for framing or jobsite construction of any kind. I do use it for furniture and cabinets. For these kind of projects, accuracy is extremely important and accuracy is what this saw lacks.

The first thing I noticed when using it was the miter gauge has a sloppy fit in the slot. You can wiggle it side-to-side nearly a 1/16 of and inch! "No problem" I thought, "I'll buy an aftermarket gauge." WRONG! This saw used a 5/8" T-slot as opposed to the standard 3/4" slot that nearly every other manufacturer uses. This means that you're stuck with the factory gauge as nearly nothing is made to fit a 5/8" slot.

Next I checked the rip fence. It was way off too; again about a 1/16 out of square to the miter slot. The manual states you are to loosen the bolts/screws that hold the gauge together, push/pull on one end until square and tighten the fasteners. That technique only works if the fence is off a tiny bit, like .050 or .060 of an inch. To get the fence even close to square, I had to disassemble the entire thing, file some aluminum off one side of the fence, enlarge the bolt holes and crank the thing in the vise before tightening the bolts down. Even now it's not perfect, but pretty close. I've resigned myself to the fact that I must measure the fence to the miter slot at both top and bottom before ripping to ensure the fence is square. What a pain!

The blade guard and splitter have never been installed on this saw. Both are designed to attach to a post at the back of the saw, under the table. From the factory, the post is so mis-aligned that the splitter misses the blade kerf entirely!

One last gripe is about the table inserts. Both the dado insert and the regular insert leave huge gaps on all sides of the blade. This is fine if you're just ripping a two-by-four, but try ripping something narrow and you'll be in for a surprise when you stock drops into the table along side the blade and either comes flying back at you (because the guard/splitter/kickback pawls don't align) or it gets chewed to bits by the blade! Of course Hitachi does not offer any other table inserts. I had to make my own zero-clearance insert from a couple pieces of 1/4" plywood.

All things considered, for not much more money, you can have a far superior saw than this one. Don't buy a tool you'll hate, buy one you'll enjoy using and will have for many years.

This isn't a $25,000 saw or a $2,500, saw, it's a $<omitted> saw, at least where I bought it. Set your expectations accordingly.

Positives: Adequate results, as long as you don't expect the sawn edge to be smooth. It's affordable and easily capable of more than the factory configuration.

Negatives: Lots, including the throat plate. I imagine I can shim it up flush, but haven't taken the time yet, and it's nowhere near tight enough for really thin cuts. BTW, a throat plate not flush to the table surface makes measuring the dado depths a royal pain - it's trial and error, not machine tooling. Getting the splitter straight to the blade is time consuming and aggravating - and especially aggravating because I do so many rabbets and dadoes. Each one needs the guard off, and therefore (we're good boys and girls, right?) back on again, with the same tedious alignment each time. The mechanism doesn't hold the old alignment settings, they have to be redone each time. Also, I found the setup instructions for the table extension grossly inadequate. When I realized that I had not understood the incomprensible setup instructions correctly, I had to remove one of the end clips - and broke it in removing it, because it was engineered only for people who do everything perfectly the first time. Sorry, I'm just human. I know there's an adjustment to get the blade parallel to the miter slot - when I get the right measuring tools, I'll try to get all that straight.

I'm sure that, with a new blade, a half-day of fussing, and a lot of patience, I can get all the results I paid for from this tool. Still, I expect to spend a lot of time making up for my budget limitations. And that guard - well, I keep telling myself I really should use it, when applicable, but it keeps arguing against me. Going through all that again, every time I need the guard on again after being off, seems more than daunting. I'm pretty sure the Hitachi lawyers added it to the parts list, not the engineers.

I'm not an advanced woodworker, so I'll use this saw and enjoy it, to a point. Still, it will help me look forward to that day when I decide to trade up. It also makes me look forward to installing dust collection, since this kicks up a cloud that's hard to believe.

-- wiredweird

(PS: One of the attachment screws in the throat plate was so glued in place with black paint that I stripped the Phillips part of the Phillips/straight head trying to unscrew it the first time. Grr.)

The saw is fine for small jobs for flooring and such. Not any serious woodworking or load. I used mine for ripping stretcher bars for canvases. I take a Kiln Dried 2x4 and rip it at a 35 degree angle. Well the first Hitachi lasted a month and I returned it for another one at Lowe's, the assumption being that saw was faulty. The replacement has just burnt out on me two years down the road. I'm shopping for something better, just thought I'd post a warning.

I was foolish enough to purchase this saw because I always thought Hitachi made good products, guess again. The so called riving knive never lines up with the blade creating a potential scary kickback and couple that with the cheapest fence system I have ever seen, workpieces get jammed up in the middle of a cut. The throat plate is a disaster as well it is almost impossible to get the plate flush with the top which will throw off your square at the end of a cut. DO NOT BUY, buy a Delta or a Jet and save your sanity and money.