The Best Miter Saw

Building your gardening benches, tool benches, and shelves can be a time-consuming process if you don’t have the correct tools on-hand to help you. The best miter saw can help you make sharp cuts, precision designs, and you can end up with professional-grade products that look like you purchased them in the store.

You can get a shot of pride each time you see them, and you can get a high-quality saw without having to break the bank. But, there are dozens of brands and products available, so finding out which is the best miter saw can be a process. This is especially true if you’re not sure what you’re looking for when you shop because you’ve never had one before. 

Luckily, I did the research for you, and I’ve picked out 10 of the best miter saws available on the current market. I reviewed them for you to highlight everything you need to know about each one, and my categories of sliding miter saws will give you a good idea on whether or not one product is the best saw for you. Once you go through the reviews, you can easily narrow down your choices before having it shipped straight to your door. No matter if you’re a professional contractor, weekend warrior, or a DIY enthusiast, I have a saw for you and we can jump in and get started now!

Miter Saw Example Image 1
A miter saw is a versatile tool that allows you to complete a broad range of cuts to tackle different projects inside and outside of your home.

Bosch Power Tools Miter Saw – Top Pick 

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My top pick for the best miter saw comes from Bosch, and it’s a more expensive option but well-worth the price tag due to everything you get. It comes with an axial glide precise miter system that gives you the ability to create wider cuts when you’re tackling bigger projects like a porch swing bed. It’s a compact system that saves up to a foot of working space, and it gives you very smooth cuts for a nice finish and fit. You can cut 14-inches horizontally with a 6 ½-inch vertical cut capacity, and it’s very easy and quick to adjust your cutting depth and angle while you work. 

You can make quick adjustments with this best miter saw because it has a larger bevel with stainless steel miter scales with marked roof pitch angles and detentes. The bevel detents range from 0 to 33.9-degrees, and it offers a 45-degree left/right for very accurate cuts. You have a 90% dust collection system to keep your workstation clean, and there is a square lock quick release fence that locks at 90-degrees from the table with no adjustments, and it offers a one-touch lock and unlock function for added support. You can also change your bevel settings without having to reach behind the saw. 

PROS

  • Axial glide miter saw system 
  • Can create wider cuts 
  • Compact design 
  • 14-inch horizontal cuts 
  • Quick adjustments 
  • 90% dust collection system 
  • One-touch lock/unlock system 

CONS

  • Detent override switch is missing

 Makita Sliding Compound Miter Saw – Step-Up Pick 

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The step-up pick for the best miter saw is from Makita, and this sliding miter saw has an excellent portability factor that makes it a good choice for contractors or construction crews who need to move it from job to job. The lightweight design is easy to transport, and it comes with a powerful 10.5-amp direct drive motor that means you have to perform less maintenance on it to keep it running in peak performance. This sliding compound miter saw delivers 5,000 RPMs to help you tackle large and small projects around your home or office, and it weighs it at just 31.1-pounds. 

This best miter saw will miter from 0 to 50-degrees left and 0 to 60-degrees right. You get positive stops at 0, 15, 22.5, 31.6, 45, and 50-degrees left and right. To the right, there is a stop at 60-degrees too. This saw will easily cut boards up to 12-inches long at 90-degrees and 8 ½-inches at 45-degrees. This cutting capability gives you the chance to tackle a large variety of projects without having to swap out tools, and the sleek blue coloring makes it very easy to spot when you need it. 

PROS

  • One of the most portable sliding compound miter saws
  • Lightweight at 31.1-pounds
  • 10.5-amp motor 
  • 5,000 RPMs
  • Miters from 0 to 50-degrees left
  • Large cutting capacity 
  • Compact design 

CONS

  • Has plastic parts 

SKIL 3821-01 Compound Miter Saw – Mid-End Budget Pick

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Building raised planter boxes requires the best miter saw to help you get those neat angled cuts, and Skil’s saw won’t break your budget. This is a nice mid-range price point model that offers a unique laser cutline guide to ensure every cut you make is highly accurate. You get nine positive stops that allow you to quickly set up your common miter angles as you work, and this can help keep your project moving along smoothly from start to finish. It has a quick-mount system that comes with the saw when you order it, and this makes it fast and easy to set it up on a Skil miter saw stand. 

This best miter saw has a powerful 15-amp motor to cut through thicker pieces of wood without stalling, and it puts out an impressive 4,500 RPM. You’ll get a table extension system when you order this product, and it offers both left and right extension rails to accommodate large, longer work pieces. This product is very easy to assemble when you get it, and the saw uses heavy-duty and tough materials that won’t break down or corrode with heavy usage. 

PROS

  • Mid-range price pick 
  • Nine positive stops 
  • Quick to set up 
  • 15-amp motor
  • 4,500 RPMs
  • Table extension system 
  • Tough materials 

 

CONS

  • Difficult to untighten the blade bolt screw

Delta Power Equipment Miter Saw – Bargain Budget Pick 

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The best miter saw for the bargain budget pick comes from Delta, and this is a very lightweight model that is easy to move from job to job or room to room as you complete your project. It comes packed with a host of high-quality features that makes it well worth the price point. It has enough power to handle the demands of any weekend warrior or DIYer, and it can work with virtually all miter saw stands to give it the height you need to work comfortably for hours at a time. This saw will cut bevels to the left from 0-degrees to 47-degrees, and it’ll give you nominal cuts at full bevel. 

This best miter saw has spindle locks that hold the spindle very securely while the blade nut gets loosened or removed. This improves your safety levels when you have it working. The 15-amp motor will easily cut 4-inch by 4-inch pieces of wood and 2-inch by 6-inch boards at 90-degrees and 2-inch by 6-inch boards with a single pass to give you a neat finished project. The laser guide system on this saw ensures every cut you make is highly accurate for a neat finished result. 

PROS

  • Good price point 
  • High-quality features 
  • Laser guide 
  • Cuts thicker boards
  • Attaches to most miter saw stands 
  • Spindle locks 
  • Durable materials 

CONS

  • Doesn’t lock in the correct angles 

CRAFTSMAN Sliding Miter Saw – Best for Large Projects

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Anyone who has larger projects on-deck should look at Craftsman’s best miter saw. This is a professional-grade product with high energy cells that improve the power levels and performance when you cut larger pieces of wood for your potting benches. This is a battery-powered tool that is part of Craftsman’s V20 Cordless Miter Saw System. So, if you have any tools that use a 20-volt battery from Craftsman, you can easily swap the batteries out without damaging the equipment, and this allows you to work for much longer without having to wait for a single battery to charge. 

The 4-Ah high-capacity Lithium battery gives you extra runtime for heavy-duty applications, and this 7 ¼-inch miter saw has a powerful 3,800 RPM motor that can cut through two times the dimensional lumber, baseboard, trim, or hardwoods without stalling out. You can pick from six different styles when you order this product to help tailor it to suit your needs, and you get both the saw and a battery kit when you order. There is charge feedback to tell you when the battery finishes charging, and there is a three-year limited warranty on this product that starts from the time you order it to protect you from damage or defects. 

PROS

  • Cordless Miter Saw
  • High energy cells 
  • Part of the 20V system 
  • Can swap out batteries 
  • 4-Ah capacity Lithium battery 
  • 3,800 RPM motor 
  • Six styles available 

CONS

  • Slightly underpowered 

DEWALT 12-Inch Sliding Miter Saw  – Best for Detail Work 

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DeWalt’s best miter saw has a miter detent plate that ensures you make highly accurate cuts while improving your productivity levels, and it offers a 15-amp motor that puts out 4,000 RPMs with a high-efficiency motor. The adjustable stainless steel miter detent plant lets you override any miter stops to adjust to your desired setting without having the saw accidentally slip into the miter detents. The arbor size on this saw is ⅝-inches, and you get a cross cut capacity up to 2 by 8-inch dimensional lumber at 90-degrees, and it offers a 2 by 6-inch dimensional lumber cutting capacity at 45-degrees. 

There are tall sliding fences on this best miter saw that supports crown moldings upto 5 ¼-inches nested and base molding up to 6 ½-inches vertically against the fence while moving it out of the way for bevel cuts. There is a machined based fence support that helps to maintain the fence’s perpendicularity with the blade to improve your cutting accuracy. This saw will bevel up to 48-degrees to the left and right, up to three degrees. There are positive stops at 0-degrees, 45-degrees, and 33.9-degrees to increase the versatility factor. You get a dust bag, carbide blade, vertical clamp, blade wrench, blade guard and comfortable side handles. 

PROS

  • 15-amp motor 
  • 4,000 RPMs
  • High-efficiency motor
  • Detent plant overrides miter stops 
  • Tall sliding fences 
  • Machined base fence support 
  • High cutting accuracy 

CONS

  • Expensive for the power

TACKLIFE Sliding Miter Saw – Best for Building Garden Benches

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If you want to create a garden bench or your own giant jenga game, Tacklife’s best miter saw can help. There is a double bevel compound miter saw design that allows you to make 45-degree cuts to the left and 45-degree cuts to the right. It can easily meet any bevel cutting needs you have when you compare it to a single bevel compound miter saw. There is a powerful 15-amp motor with 1,700-watts with a 3,800 RPM motor. It gives you smooth cutting capability that slices through several different materials like metal plates, aluminum alloy, plastics, and wood without slipping or stalling out. 

There is a chop saw that has a very high-grade 40 tooth tungsten carbide-tipped blade, and this gives you more possibilities when it comes to cutting different materials. It lets you smoothly trench and groove, and you get a D-handle design that creates a more comfortable user experience while making it easier to use. The double linear sliding rail design gives you precise, steady, and smooth working power. The laser marker gives you a high degree of accuracy, and there is an extension table with a vice clamp to provide better balance and support to prevent warp. 

PROS

  • 3,800 RPM motor 
  • 15-amp motor 
  • Cuts aluminum alloy, plastics, and wood
  • Chop saw 
  • Tungsten carbide-tipped blade 
  • D-handle design 
  • Extension table

CONS

  • Difficult to get ahold of customer service 

RYOBI Compound Miter Saw – Best for Small Woodworking Ideas

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Ryobi’s best miter saw comes with a 24-tooth carbide-tipped blade that will slice through a variety of wood thicknesses and types without slipping or having difficulty, and this blade will stay sharp through heavy usage to give you fast, clean cuts. The spindle lock makes it easy to swap blades out of the fly to keep up with your projects, and it ensures you don’t have to stop and lose your groove as you work. This product runs on a battery as a cordless system, but the battery and charger don’t come as part of the package when you buy it. Instead, you have to buy them separately. 

There is a machined and cast miter scale on this best miter saw to help improve the accuracy levels of each of your cuts to ensure they fit together smoothly. When you order it, this compound sliding miter saw comes as a bulk packed option to cut down on the packing materials, and there is a three-year manufacturer’s warranty on each purchase that will protect you from damage or defects. There is a dust port connection that helps to suck dust away and keep your workspace clean throughout your project’s duration. 

PROS

  • Three-year warranty 
  • Carbide-tipped blade 
  • Spindle lock system 
  • Machined miter scale 
  • Dust port connection 
  • Work bag included with blade guard
  • Quick cut settings 

CONS

  • Doesn’t work well with thicker boards

Hitachi C10FCG Compound Miter Saw – Best for Building Storage Shelves

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Anyone building a porch can use Hitachi’s best miter saw to help move the project along, and it also works nicely for building storage shelves for your garden equipment. You get a 0-degree to 52-degree miter angle range to the left and right to give you an increased flexibility for the scale and depth of the projects you can take on with it, and the horsepower of the motor is slightly smaller at 2.57-horsepower. There is a 0-degree to 45-degree bevel range to the left to provide accurate and clean bevel cuts. There are thumb actuated positive stops that allow you to make fast miter adjustments. 

This best miter saw weighs in at just 24.2-pounds, and this makes it easy to move from point A to point B without a problem. There is a dust collector attachment included with this saw that minimizes your airborne particles to keep your workstation clean while you cut for your project. There is a 15-amp motor that delivers a lot of power to slice through the toughest cutting projects, and there is a vice clamping system that helps you secure your work piece to avoid slipping. 

PROS

  • Large bevel range 
  • 24.2-pounds 
  • Dust collector attachment 
  • 15-amp motor 
  • Vice clamping system 
  • Two styles available 
  • Large table 

CONS

  • Not for heavy use

Genesis GMS1015LC Miter Saw – Best for Beginners 

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The final product on the best miter saw list comes from Genesis. This saw allows you to make bevel cuts up to 45-degrees to the left, and you can make compound miter cuts quickly and easily. You can use this saw to cut through crown molding, picture frames, shadow boxes, and more while getting a versatile and inexpensive saw that works on small and large projects. It comes with a nice laser cutting guide that ensures you get improved accuracy with a faster alignment capability with each cut, and this can help you achieve professional-grade results every time. 

There is an electric brake on this best miter saw that stops the blade within seconds, and you get an Arbor lock to help you make fast blade changes without losing your groove as you work. You get a 60-tooth Carbide-tipped blade, blade guard, dust bag, hold-down clamp, two extension wings, two AAA batteries for the laser, and a blade wrench when you order this kit. There are nine position stops at the most commonly used angles, and you can make miter cuts 45-degrees to the left and right. 

PROS

  • Compound miter cuts
  • Versatile and inexpensive 
  • Laser cutting guide 
  • Electric brake 
  • Arbor lock 
  • 60-tooth Carbide-tipped blade 
  • Dust bag included 

CONS

  • Need a better clamp system 

Best Miter Saw Buying Guide 

Finding out which is the best miter saw out of all of the options available on the current market can feel impossible, especially if it’s been a few years since you purchased your last one. But, if you have a lot of DIY projects coming up like building an extension or putting together garden shelves, you’ll want the right tools for the job. This short guide will help you find the best miter saw for your needs. 

Types of Miter Saws 

Your miter saw can fall into one of three types of miter saws, and you want to choose a saw type before you shop. The categories are a stationary compound, sliding compound, and a sliding dual bevel compound miter saw. As the saw gets more sophisticated in the design, the price goes up. A stationary compound saw can make bevel cuts in one direction and miter cuts to the right and left. A sliding compound model can do those cuts, plus move backward and forward along the rails. A dual bevel sliding compound miter saw can also do everything the other two can do, but it can make bevel cuts to the left and right. 

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Picking out the correct saw type can help you narrow down your choices right out of the gate, and there are three broad categories to choose from. Your budget will impact the one you pick. 

Power

A lot of the best miter saws are corded tools, and they come with 10-amp, 12-amp, or 15-amp motors. If you’re using hardwoods for your project or doing a lot of wide cross cuts and compound cuts like you would for building a garage, you’ll need a much more powerful motor with your saw. If you plan to cut composite or thin trim pine, you’ll get away with a less powerful motor on your miter saw. 

Blade

Traditionally, speaking, the blade on your miter saw comes in 8 ¼-inch, 8 ½-inch, 10-inch and 12-inch diameters. A bigger blade allows you to make a wider cut and bigger crosscut. If you want to cote wild molding, you’ll need a blade that exceeds the width of the wood. A 10-inch blade diameter is something you can use interchangeably with a table saw. You can swap the blades out for different projects. However, the 7 ¼-inch blade is more readily available if you only want to make smaller cross cuts. 

Cut Guide

Many of the best miter saws come with laser guides. These guides help ensure you’re making completely straight cuts when you make entry tables or take on bigger projects. Double-check the cut guide when you look at the different compound miter saws to ensure you pick out a quality product. If it doesn’t have a laser guide, you may have etched places on the saw to help guide your cuts. You want to be able to make accurate cross cuts, compound cuts, square cuts and bevel cuts. 

Miter Saw Cutting Molding Image 3
Having a cut guide on your saw will help reduce your mistakes by helping you make precise cuts on different materials without the blade slipping or you second-guessing yourself. In turn, you’ll end up with a professional-grade finished product. 

Fences 

The fence on the best miter saws help to keep your wood secure when you cut. You want to press your material against your fence when you cut to stop the saw from grabbing and jerking it forward. You can choose from different heights, and some fences will slide out and give you support for longer pieces of wood. If you’re going to cut tall crown molding, get a taller fence. Also, make sure that there are material supports on either end of the table to keep flimsy stock on a solid surface. 

Dust Extraction 

Finally, the best miter saws have something in place to help perform dust extraction. You want to keep your workshop tidy, and having a dust extraction port is one easy way to do so. This will stop the best sliding saw from shooting dirt, debris, and dust back at you or out to the side of the saw when you work, and not all compound miter saws come with it. If it’s important to you, make sure the best sliding saw you pick has it. 

Bottom Line 

The best miter saws are very versatile tools that allow you to complete a huge range of precise cuts. I’ve outlined 10 of the best miter saws on the market, and you can use the reviews to help narrow down your choice. The buying guide on the best sliding miter saws outlines important things to keep in mind when you shop, and you can choose to have Amazon ship your best sliding miter saw to your door so you can tackle all of your projects in short order. 

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