12 responses so far ↓

• 1 Laporte

  After waiting for years to buy this saw because of all the great reviews I bought the one with the laser. I build furniture and thought this would be the end all of miter saws. First off, the fence was out of adjustment and took some doing to line up. After less than 3 months of limited usage, the electric brake quit braking! I took it to an authorized repair facility, they ordered a switch which came in defective. Then they ordered another switch, armature, and two other items and I got the saw back after about 4 weeks. Less than 10 hours of use and once again, no brake — it just coasts down forever which really makes it totally inefficient. I’d just as soon use my table saw. I contacted Hitachi once again wanting them to send my a replacement but it won’t work that way. I need to take it to another authorized repair place and have them go through whatever the proper channels are to replace this saw. Maybe since it’s “new & improved” I should have gotten the older, proven one or maybe because it’s made in a different factory. Whatever the case, I’m very disappointed with this saw up to now. Purchased the end of October and barely any use.

• 2 Lennex

  I purchased this for my Dad for X-Mas and he loved it! The laser was a nice bonus that he didn’t have from his previous model.

• 3 Danielson

  Having owned 6 Hitachi C8FB2 saws this new version does not compare. Very cheap. Save yourself the time and misery spend the extra hundred and buy the saw built for a lifetime. My shop cuts a million dollars of exotic hardwoods a year with the C8FB2.

• 4 Belew

  THIS WAS THE FIRST CHOP SAW I BOUGHT BECAUSE 15 YEARS AGO IT WAS THE STATE OF ART SAW ALL SAWS TODAY ARE FROM THIS HITACHI.EXCEPT FOR THE CRAZY TABLE IN METRIC HELLO. WE GAVE THAT UP IN THE EIGHTYS.

  FRAME,SIDING OR TRIM THIS BABY IS TUFF AND EASY TO SQUARE IF SOMETHING UNFORTUNE HAPPENS IE FALL OFF YOU PUMP JACKS AT 25′OR OUT OF THE BACK OF YOUR TRUCK, THIS SAW IS THE BEST SAW FOR THE MONEY AND WHO NEEDS DOUBLE BEVEL. IN 15 YEARS THE FIRST 7 THIS HITACH WAS MY ONLY MITER SAW AND I USED IT ALL DAY EVERY DAY MANY MANY HOURS START AND STOP MOVE IT HERE THEN THERE BUMP DROP THE THING IS BOMBER. I HAVE REPLACED THE STATOR ASSEMBLY,THE ARMATURE,TRIGGERS X4, AND MANY CARBON BRUSHES AND A FEW OF THOSE ORANGE PLASTIC BEVEL INDICATORS I FINALLY MADE A METAL ONE . THIS HITACHI HAS MADE ITS MONEY TEN FOLD AND WOULD BUY IT AGAIN WHICH IS MORE THAN I CAN SAY FOR MANY OF THE TOOLS I OWN.
  THERE IS SOMETHING MAGICAL ABOUT HITACHIS’ FIRST GENERATION OF SLIDING CHOP SAWS, I WAS TRIMMING OUT A HIGHEND CONDO COMPLEX “CHATEAU FEW YEARS BACK AND THE OTHER FELLAS HAD THE NEW MAKITA 10″,GREAT SAW HAVE BOUGHT 2 SINCE, BUT ALL OF THEIR MITERS OPENED OVER A FEW DAYS SAME APPLICATION SO IAM THINKING IT MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE BLADE SPEED OR BLADE. I WILL ALWAYS RECOMEND THE CB81/2. LAZERS AND ALL THE BLING ARE FOR SHOW BASIC MODEL COSTS LESS AND LESS TO BREAK.WTM S.S. CO.

• 5 Finnie

  I’ve been using this saw for a week now to cut trim. Assembly was easy, and took about 10 minutes, I did have to consult the manual for the setup. The laser is dead on, and the light is bright and very nice. The cuts are absolutely clean, and it cuts fast. I am a bit concerned about finding a replacement blade, I didn’t see this size in Lowe’s or Home Depot. So far I’m very happy with the purchase, it’s a great tool!

• 6 Ezell

  I just sent back the third C8FSE in a row. None of the three could cut a straight line… I ordered the Forrest bladeForrest CM08H606100 Chopmaster 8-1/2-Inch 60 Tooth ATB Miter Saw Blade with 5/8-Inch Arbor for as clean a cut as possible. I square the fence to the blade, and on small stock it looked great. But when I tried cutting wide stock (12″ or more) for cabinets, the manufacturer defect showed up.

  The arbor on the first saw was bent, making blade visibly wobble. I returned it for replacement.

  The arbor was good on the second, but the entire head was cocked out of parallel alignment with the slides. With the factory blade installed, the maple veneer would slightly tear out on the left as the blade exited the ply. With the Forrest blade there was no tear out, but after completing the cut my co-worker and I could both see a belly that let in daylight between the cut and a straight-edge.

  I had the same problem with the last replacement.

• 7 Arroyo

  I’ll break it down simply put, the good and the bad. I was not sure if this saw would replace the older version and be as well built. It’s not the same quality as the older one. Hitachi designers did a good job making this saw very light weight, but sacrificed some of the quality with plastic and a thin casted table. The saw was dead on with the cross cut set at 0 degrees. Miters came out fair when cutting large crown but were off by maybe a 1/32″-1/16″ every time. Here is what I found out. I took a framing square and checked the relationship between the left and right fence. That was on the money. I then checked the table and realized that the miter center table sat below the left and right outside support tables a whole 1/16th. There is no adjustability to raise or lower the miter table and that’s why my cuts are off slightly. That combined with the play of the head and rails having some slop and being able to freely clunk the head to the right and left a 16th. The best way I can describe it is it feels like the head doesn’t ride on the right rail snuggly, and by the time you tighten the slide action so you don’t have any play its very stiff to slide. Also the blade guard stays low when you bring the head down and doesn’t allow you to start your cut with a back stroke and then to finish your cut with the forward stroke with ease. The kerf insert is also another big 1/32 below the already low miter table. That’s 3/32nds out of level. The good is that it is very light, portable, decently accurate and it has a rebate as of right now for a Hitachi 2 1/4hp router. I work in very high end homes working with prefinished huge crown molding and paneling, etc and need the accuracy to be within a 1/32th. If you don’t need this kind of precision then this saw is a decent unit. If the table wasn’t out of level with the base I would have worked it out. But because you can’t adjust this problem I am sending it back. It’s also kind of cheesy to be blunt. As an alternative I bought the Hitachi 10″ slider which is a Japanese made unit and is proven to be accurate from my experience. Hope this review helps some finish carpenters out there

• 8 Vela

  Flawless saw. Mine saw 8 years of tough duty before it crapped out, but was deadly accurate for about 7 of its 8 years.

• 9 Futter

  I like the saw, it is light and powerful and works smoothly. My only complaint is there are no vision slots in the saw guard so you can see where you are cutting.

• 10 Hillman

  This is my second purchase of the Hitachi Saw, now for my son, who started using mine over 15 years ago when he was in high school. The saw is the most precise miter saw I have used (I once bought a cheaper saw for off-site work and discarded it as unsatisfactory), much less bulky than a 12 inch saw, has more cut capacity than the larger blade models and has smoother travel along its double rails than comparable sliding saws. Yes, it looks expensive, but, after 15 years, I’m glad I stretched my saw budget a bit to get a good one. Naturally, since my son learned on the Hitachi saw, a dad can’t gift him an inferior grade.

• 11 Siraganian

  I’ve waited about six months before I wrote this review and I’ve put the saw through some work. The adage “you get what pay for” is remarkably true for this product. I purchased this at when Hitachi had a special for under three hundred. I also got a router. At the time I thought it was a good deal. Now I realize this will not be my final shop mitre saw. That says alot doesn’t it.

  The problem-this saw cannot cut a 4×4 without flipping. Without modification this saw cannot cut a 4×4 at all. In order to cut a 4×4 I had to permanantly take off the blade guard and bend the blade guard holder back(it is held to the body of the saw by a small easily stripped phillips screw. If this saw could cut a 4×4 in one pass I would give it five stars because in others respects it really is solid.

• 12 Harmon

  I’ve owned this saw for almost 4 years, and it has earned a quite a reputation among “loanees” including a professional cabinet maker and a flooring contractor. It’s admittedly not the most feature laden, and you can’t cut 4X4’s in a single pass, but for me and my needs it just keeps getting the job done, time after time. It’s my wife’s favorite power tool, primarily because of it’s light weight and quick setup. I’ve added a Forrest blade, removed the dust bag and rigged a vacuum port in its place. I guess a laser guide would be nice, but it’s easy to see exactly where the cut is going to go by touching the blade to the stock. I was a little tenative when I decided to buy a miter saw, so I went for this model due to its low price and I couldn’t be happier.

You must log in to post a comment.