Customer Reviews

- Stout Tool Corp X-Band Cordless Portable Band Saw - 18 Volts, Model# STX-250C

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I borrowed this saw from an electrician friend and made a few cuts and was impressed with how light the saw was, how well it cut and how well it seemed to be made. Based on these test cuts I ordered one, buyin the much more expensive model with the better batteries and one hour quick charger. The first time I used it after fully charging the batteries, I was disapointed that it only cut for about 20 minutes of repeated cutting through 16 ga. tubing. To compound the problem the one hour quick charger seemed to take significantly longer to charge than an hour. Bottom line was that it couldn't keep up with the kind of use I needed it for, so I sent it back. On the bright side, Tool King/Amazon was great about taking it back and promptly processing a refund and didn't charge a restocking fee.

If Stout ever comes out with a Li-Ion version, I will probably buy one.

I bought the handheld bandsaw and cutting station at a local hardware store, and it has come in handy on a number of occasions.

I have three complaints:

(1) The blade life is poor. It may be due to the constant twisting it's subjected to (it runs in a twisted loop). And when it's broken I've found numerous near-breaks along the blade.
(2) The table provided by the charging stand isn't quite flush with that of the saw, so it's necessary to use a piece of wood as a working surface.
(3) If you need to cut long pieces that are more than a couple inches wide, the material will run into the saw.

Battery life isn't great either, but it seems to hold a charge when not used for a while.

I'm an electrician and bought this product from a guy who found it useless due to the batteries.I got 3.5 hrs per charge of light intermittent use cutting 3/4" EMT with the nearly-new 1500mah cells(more like 250mah).I rebuilt first battery pack with 2400mah NICD cells and the 2nd with 8+ year old Dewalt cells I knew were still good.Now I get 3.5 DAYS per charge from BOTH batteries!That's 10x or 1000% better.The trickle charger it came with was a good way to ruin a pack by overcharging,so I made an adapter to plug the batts in to my Makita NIMH charger.Problems solved.
The saw itself is great,works great,lightweight,one-handed,awesome tool for the sparky,but Stout shot themselves in the foot by supplying it with the lowest quality battery cells.They are now selling 2000mah replacements,but still not good enough.
My next move will be to make an adapter to use my 18v Makita lithium-ion packs.Unfortunately for Stout,their competition now includes Makita,Milwaukee,and Bosch,with only the Bosch being comparable in size(small).I'm probably the only one who's really happy with their X-Band!

After having the saw a few weeks i put my hacksaw away. I should have waited cuz it wasn't long after that the stout batteries were garbage. I bought two more and in less than a year they were junk. Now i either have to spend another $150 in batteries or cut my losses and try to find my hacksaw. The blades aren't much better than the batteries. The saw itself is nicely balanced and works great with one hand but knowing what i do now, i wouldn't bother

I'VE HAD THIS SAW FOR SEVERAL YEARS. I LOVE THE SAW. VERY HANDY, ESPECIALLY FOR CONDUIT WORK.
THE BATTERIES ARE USELESS. SHORT LIFE, WON'T HOLD A CHARGE.
IT WAS TIME TO REPLACE BATTERIES, AGAIN. FIRST I THOUGHT I WOULD WAIT, HOPING STOUT WOULD CATCH UP WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD AND GO LITHIUM ION. THEN I THOUGHT AT $69. EACH FOR NI-CAD, LI-ON WOULD BE EVEN MORE. PLUS THE COST OF A DIFFERENT CHARGER.
I'M GOING TO SPEND A LITTLE MORE AND BUY A LIGHT WEIGHT CORDED SAW. NEED POWER ANYWAY TO CHARGE THE USELESS BATTERIES.