Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 3700L 10-Inch TWINLASER Compound Miter saw

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Square out of the box, laser shows both sides of blade kerf (thus the TwinLaser designation.) A decent blade is included-- I cut numerous boards for a hardwood floor repair, no problems, and a nice clean cut. The fence is nice and sturdy, with a good extension attachment, setup was easy enough and intuitive.

With the laser, you can cut larger stock by cutting half and then flipping the workpiece to cut the other half. By showing the kerf, you can see where you are going and line it up well. It's not a perfect cut, but if you don't have a table saw or a circular saw nearby, it works in a pinch.

Compared vs. the DeWalt, Ridgid, Bosch and Ryobi and felt that the build quality was better, as was the price to feature ratio. The laser is an extremely nice feature for the type of work this saw does. Also, by showing both sides of the kerf, what you see is what you get.

Things I wish it had: A clamp for pieces closer to the blade. For shorter workpieces the included clamp won't hold them, although you could rig something up with some quick clamps. .

Batteries are not included, which is a bit of a buzz kill when you get your new saw and want to see the laser!

All in all, a great saw, and well worth the $$$.

If your looking for a very affordable and reliable 10" compound miter saw, you can't go wrong with the Porter-Cable 3700L 10" TWINLASER ! And the price will still leave you enough money to buy a High Quality Freud blade!

It will out perform every other major brand on the market! Don't just buy a compound saw because it looks fancy, is painted yellow or has a combination high tech color scheme of green and black. This saw will out cut any thing DeWalt, Makita, Hitachi and Sears has on the street!

When we are out in the field installing we often see the other saws that contractors are using. Every single sub or contractor will ask if they can try out the 3700l 10" Twin laser. In fact they often just continue to use the 3700L while we are working next to them! The first thing they notice is how accurate the laser's are! The second is just how perfect the cuts are made! Next they are blown away by the price. And of course it's a Porter Cable!

This saw just feels right in your hands. I do agree with other reviews, that a top handle would have made this saw so much more the better to carry. But like most saws it takes two hands to carefully pick up and set down anyway. This is a high tech saw! you don't want to get into the habit of just throwing this bad boy around! Take care of it and it will make you MONEY!!!

The first thing we did after buying ours, was to install a brand new Freud 10" Diablo Ultra Finish Circular Saw Blade - D1080X You will notice a 100% rise in performance in the 3700L.

This will add an extra $50.00 to the total purchase of your system but with the D1080X blade you will amaze everyone with the smooth flawless miter cuts this saw can produce!

You can also mount this unit in your shop on a miter saw extension and stand for a small price.

Lastly, you may want to use a tie strap on the sawdust bag to fully seal it in place. This will keep 100% of the dust from getting around the clamp and openings in the cloth. The bag has a nice zipper on the bottom to dump out your dust.

Added Notes on 5/12/06 as follows:

As far as what reviewer Pete R. is talking about, we can't see this happening! First of all the saw creates "SAW DUST" not wood chips! Unless he just decided to blaze and blast his way thru the wood with a "RIP" blade this can not possibly happen!

As I suggested in my review; "REPLACE" the factory blade with a
Diablo Ultra Finish Circular Saw Blade - D1080X ! The 3700L Miter saw is a "cross cut" saw not a table saw or rip saw!

No problems of this kind with any of our 9 field saws, and we use them for 4 out of 8 hours a day on each saw!

Just wanted to give a quick thumbs up for the Porter-Cable 3700L. I have been looking for a 10" compound Miter Saw that would fit the bill for portability, ease of use, and accuracy.

This unit fit most of the bill. Having just went through a Ridgid MS1065LZ I needed something better. The Ridgid, though built like a tank, had a very hard start, almost jumped if not bolted/clamped, laser was OK, (not big on arbor lasers) and the guard design got blown away after 3 days in mid cut. That will wake you up :). Decent machine but lacked in several departments.

The Porter Cable: First off, the twin lasers and the ability to adjust them...fantastic. Hard to imagine going back to none. One of the best features of this saw and wish other manufacturers would wake up. The right laser was a huge time saver. I hear so many people say "I never use them". Use them, and enjoy that they are there. It speeds things up tremendously and guess what....they are more accurate than your eye and bending over, lowering the blade, looking at the teeth adjusting, bending over...you get the idea. Start up was semi soft, brake was good. Noise was minimal in comparison to many others. Plenty of power. Dust collection not bad. A bit of blowback but better than most. I replaced the stock blade with a Ridgid 90 tooth carbide and the cuts were glass smooth. A quick tweak on the lasers and they were dead on both Kerfs of the new blade. Very rarely did I use a sand block to clean them up. Left fence was fairly high and slides smoothly. Right fence could use a bit more height. Left extension was nice to have. Lightweight. Accurate once adjusted. Do adjust the bevel angle and make it dead on. Pretty standard cut capacity for a 10" Compound Miter. Handle well placed in a comfortable forward position. Blade guard was smooth and flawless. Release was smooth and adjustable, it did not fly up when released.

Just a few down sides.

No real carry handle makes it awkward. You have to use the forward facing main handle, forcing 2 hand carry for a lightweight unit. Plus you are depressing the power switch while lugging, just doesn't feel right. An extra top handle for carry would really help.

Rubber feet would be nice. Of course you can always bring a no slide mat in situations where it's hard to clamp.

The miter adjustments seemed very rough, not smooth. Even when fiddling with the tension it still felt forced and grindy. Adjusting to 45 degree right butts your hand into the base every time, a bit annoying but workable. It also covers the scale so I always second guessed and re looked and moved it to make sure. Got over that after a while.

Adjustments to the pointers seemed a bit on the cheesy side, could be beefed up a bit.

Lasers do shift just a tad and widen when lowering the blade so rough place it with the saw upright and tweak it once the blade is lowered a bit. Once again...very minor.

All in all, for the price, free shipping, $179 is a bargain for this machine. Is there one better out there in this price range for a 10" CMS..not that I have seen or tried. Remember, this is not a $500 heavy tool. If your looking for that, go look at SCMSs from Hitachi, Makita, Bosch and you'll find some smoother machines with great capacity and all the bells and whistles.........but no twin lasers. If Porter-Cable ever came out with a seriously engineered Dual compound, SCMS with twin lasers, I'd be all over it in a heartbeat.

I Strongly recommend this unit and with a few tweaks would be 5 star.

This is a good saw for the money. I took the time when I first set it up to carefully level the extension table with the main table and to square the fence with the blade. I made several cuts with it during the process and checked each cut with an engineers square until everything was good. Contrary to what others have written, the laser does work. The switch for the laser has a synthetic removeable cover to keep the dust out. This makes the switch a little tricky to use at first but after using it a few times you learn where to press on it and it works fine.

This saw was great right out of the box. Having the twinlaser is great. It shows where the kerf of the blade will be on the piece you are cutting. The laser was dead on, which is great since I never used a miter saw before. However, the switch for the laser does not work well. The switch is spring loaded to keep the drain off the batteries. You need to "flick" it the right way to get it to operate. This is a pain because it is under a dust cover, probably to prevent sawdust from getting inside.

Overall the switch problem is overcome by the fact that the saw had all of the features I wanted It does a great job for the price.

Out of the box, this machine would do a deck justice. As a cabinetmaker, I took a machinists sqare, and had easy time adjusting for sqare, as the stop pin has a camlike action, for perfection, (if desired). The laser, swept (slightly) to the right as the cut was made, but even that was adjustable to dead on. What I was most impressed with, was after some fine laser adjustments, I can sight the laser acuratley to a knife line, and hit the mark.

As many have mentioned in their reviews, the twin lasers are an excellent feature. And, yes, the laser switch is not up to the quality that I have come to expect from Porter-Cable products - I finally removed the laser switch dust cover which makes it easier to depress fully and now the laser works flawlessly after this modification.

Despite my initial irritation with the laser, the saw itself works wonderfully. It was square out of the box, and everything has a very solid feel to it.

Truth be known, I would have paid the $199 for the saw, even if it did not have the laser feature. Having used it now for several months, I could never go back to one without the twin lasers!

Overall, an excellent saw for the price.

Laser switch didn't always work at first. Better lately. Now the laser line for the right side of the kerf is half as bright as the left laser line. Or less. I tried blowing the sawdust away. No effect. I am a little disappointed. It also seems like the aux fence doesn't want to align properly with the main table.

Fudge. I thought Porter-Cable was a good brand. Now I wonder.

Despite some of the earlier reviews I ordered this PC saw based on my experience with other PC products and the fact that the 12" saw got great reviews. The motor is strong and cuts through wood like warm butter. The adjustments are positive and easy to make. I did have to adjust the sliding fit of the table/base a little as it was slightly tight. Everything else was correct right out of the box. As for the laser I have had no problems with it. Mine did not come with a cover over it, so maybe PC changed that design a little. I will say that the switch is very positive; it's either on or off and it's on at the very end of it's travel. All in all I am very happy with this saw and would recommend it.

I needed something a little more sophisticated than my old 15" Makita chop saw for some trim work. I have had good luck with other P-C tools over the years and the price was great on this one. Because of a promotion, it was $165.00 on my front porch.

Assembly instructions were a little vague, but it is really obvious how the thing is supposed to go together. Took about half an hour to get it setup and lasers were perfectly aligned to the blade, cuts were square, angles were right on.

Perfect saw for stuff you need to do when you live in an 85 year old house that was attacked by farmers for the first half of its life.

Highly recommend even when not part of a special promotion.