Amazon has this Metabo HPT 10″ single bevel compound miter saw on sale as part of their early Black Friday deals.
I’m not sure how to describe it. Entry-level DIY miter saw? Beginner’s saw? Popular? Reputable? It’s a basic miter saw, but all of these descriptors apply.
My first miter saw was a lot like this, except I paid a bit more and it was for a DIY brand – Craftsman – rather than Metabo HPT, which is more of a professional power tool brand. This one is priced at $119 with free shipping.
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Until this post, I had been completely unaware that Metabo HPT built an “Xact Cut” shadow line feature into this saw. That’s where the “surprising feature” part of the title came from.
With a “shadow line,” a bright LED light casts a shadow of the blade directly onto your workpiece. As you bring the blade down close to your workpiece, it shows you the exact width of where the kerf will be – the material the saw blade will cut away from your work. This makes it so much easier to line up your pencil marks.
The saw has a maximum cutting capacity of 2-5/16″ deep x 5-21/32″ wide at 90°, a miter range of 0-52°, and bevel range of 0-45° to the left.
Alternatively, the spec sheet also says it can cut a maximum workpiece of 3-1/2″ x 3-31/32″, which suggests it should be able to cut a 4×4 in a single pass.
The max cutting depth at 45° miter or 45° bevel settings is 1-5/8″, which is still enough for working with 2x lumber.
It seems like a great basic or first-time DIY, homeowner, or woodworking saw at a good price. It took me a while to outgrow my single bevel 10″ saw. Some users will need a larger saw, but there are many others who are well-served by what this can do.
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If you’re in the market for a smaller miter saw from a reputable brand, this looks to be a good deal.
Deal Price: $119
I never saw an LED shadow cut line feature on a miter saw at this price – well done Metabo HPT!
Metabo HPT has had a 10″ miter saw Black Friday and holiday deal for as long as I can remember, and I’ve always included them in my roundups and deal coverage. I don’t think I’ve heard a single bad thing about them from readers.
This one’s a relatively new model. I assumed that the update was motivated by cost-cutting or similar. Only when taking a closer look for this post that I saw it had a feature that’s typically reserved for more premium saws.
For example, most Dewalt saws don’t have this, even their DWS779 at $449. The Dewalt DWS780, which is discounted to $499 for Black Friday sales, does have a shadow cut line feature.
Blocky
I’ve had two of these 10” HPT saws. One is the primary miter saw in a crate building shop. It is locked in at 90degreees for gang cutting battens, has not shifted for 2 years and does not break a sweat.
I think this is a lightweight, basic professional saw. Like other tools I own that are not meant to be disposable, it has externally-accessible user-serviceable brushes.
I’m looking to pickup 2 more for picture framing to lock in at complementary 45s. Excited for the cut line feature.
MattT
My first miter saw was basically this one, but before they added the shadow line. Great saw, everything square out of the box. A real bargain at around 100 bucks when I got it on sale. Mine is not exactly what you’d called a soft start, though, so maybe they’ve improved that, too.
I had another project come up that this saw wasn’t quite up to, so I bought the Metabo HPT 12″ compound sliding miter saw. It’s also a great saw, but it’s pretty huge–especially when mounted on a Ridgid mobile miter stand. Too big to keep around, really, so now that that project is done, I’d like to downsize again.
So what I’d really like now is a corded 10″ compound sliding miter saw. Metabo has one of those apparently, but it’s surprisingly expensive. I’m only finding few in stores to take a look at, and mostly store brands (Kobalt, Ryobi (yes it is)), or second- and third-tier brands (Evolution, Skil, and white labels like Wen, Bauer, etc).
Jim
I installed a Dewalt shadow-line module onto my DW716 as soon as it became available 10-15 years ago (or more). I still don’t understand the shadow line use case. You have to bring the blade down pretty close to the workpiece in order for the shadow to be sharp enough to line up your cut. Too far away and the shadow is too diffuse and fuzzy to be useful. But it seems to me if you’re going to bring the saw close enough to the workpiece so that the shadow is sharp, you may as well bring it all the way down and line your cut up with a tooth so that you’re -precisely- on the cut line.
What trick am I missing?
conrad
I feel it’s about ergonomics. I had the DWS779 and purchased the shadow line kit later on. Before the shadow line, I was crouching down to precisely line up my cuts, but the shadow line meant everything was more accurate, and I could eyeball 95% of my cuts without crouching down. Basically, I’m lazy, and it made everything faster and more accurate. For the most perfect cuts, I still cut a bit off the mark, adjust a bit, and “sneak up” to the mark, but most of the time, the shadow line is good enough.
JoeR
Wow, yes this looks exactly like the Craftsman I bought years ago on clearance (I think $45), only difference was mine has a red laser line. There is small crack now in the base (cast aluminum) where the angle set lock is, otherwise OK for a saw now well over 20 years old. Someday I’ll replace with my dream Makita compound miter saw.