Thread: Best compound mitre saw for under $1000

I am a big fan of DeWalt drop saws. I find their handle orientation quite useful and have been using the 10inch for building houses for the last 10 + years so quality is there.

Just my 2 cents

Sadly, the De Walt quality of 10yrs ago is not the quality of today. The Bosch GCM 12 GDL is, IMHO, a better saw than anything in the yellow colours.

The two I would look at are the 10" Bosch glide saw and the Metabo KGS254 Plus. I have the 12" Bosch glide, and it deserves the praise it gets for its accuracy, and the space saving but the dust collection leaves a lot to be desired. But for a stationary saw they're great. The Metabo has much better dust collection, and variable speed electronics with soft start. It's also about 5kg lighter, which makes a big difference if you want some degree of portability.

If you can wait for a bit and want absolute accuracy, go for the Omga T50350 or T53370, it can cut 171mm but it doesnt slide.

Whole thing is made of cast iron except the power on/off and blade guard

A non slider will always be more accurate than a slider.

New price is between $4300USD to $5800 for saw ONLY. its made in Italy. best of the best.

I bought my T50 2nd hand for $400NZD, later sold it for $1000NZD

The Omga T50 might be beautifully constructed Albert, but you should have mentioned it's a pure mitre/docking saw and doesn't have any bevel capability. It does nothing you can't do on a table saw with a decent mitre gauge. Sure it's accurate, but they are a production tool for repetitive cuts. The T53 at least does bevels but if you're going as far as a 4hp chop saw with a 14" blade, you may as well have a radial arm saw.

ah, yes, Omga is a production machine. and yes its a docking/mitre saw.

I sold my Omga shortly after I got my panel saw. But later bought another Omga, but this time a Double Mitre saw its so much more efficient when you have a lot of repetitive cuts.

Thanks guys but you're getting a bit (lot) off topic. Remember my request was for hobby use and for less than $1000. A $4000 to $5000 machine does not fit and a production ("professional") machine does not fit.

It looks like the Bosch GCM GDL is the best fit for my needs so I'll be buying that today from Total Tools. The dust collection is not very good but I can modify that. The price is $1099 which is good enough. The size is 12" rather than 10" but that just means I'll sell my other 12" saw.
It generally gets very good reviews but if I find anything bad about it I'll report back here within the week. Then others can benefit from my experience.
Thanks for everyone's input.

Good choice, you'll be able to find plenty of hints from others users too. Helps to have another person to lift it onto the stand though, portable it ain't at 32kg and an awkward lift.

I'm using the Bosch Glide Saw. It's got plenty of power, accurate and lots of cutting room. Dust collection is a pain. I've hooked up a cheap workshop vacuum that turns on when I use the saw.

I've also got a port at the back that's inside a hood. Doesn't get it all though. I'll get a pic later and show you.