Metabo HPT 12-Inch Compound Miter Saw, Laser Marker System, Double Bevel, 15-Amp Motor, Tall Pivoting Aluminum Fence, 5 Year Warranty (C12FDHS)

Good saw. Might be very good, have not used it long enough to be that enthusiastic.For the money, it's a GREAT saw.Pics show the saw as it arrived in the box. My dog, Darcy, approved.Unpacking was super easy. I opened this from the top. You could open from the bottom but there's no point.Several pieces of folded, custom-cut cardboard held the saw safely in place. Zero damage. Just lift them out. No unnecessary plastic or tape. Then just lift the whole saw out and secure it to a bench or stand.The blade was already mounted, and tightly secured.Just one item of assembly. The tag with the green ribbon was hanging from a hex head bolt on the front. The bolt was snug so I used the blade wrench to unscrew it--thoughtful, having the bolt match the blade wrench. With the bolt removed I screwed in the locking handle, which took all of five seconds. That was it for assembly.The directions were good. I've seem many that were not this good.With factory settings right out of the box, the saw was square and true enough to go straight to work for any kind of framing. It was perfectly square vertically (table to blade) and horizontally (fence to blade). The blade tracked perfectly during vertical descent--which is actually normal but I had a saw a few years back that tracked 0.05 degrees left as it descended, which was fine for 2x4s but was NOT fine for crown molding. This Metabo saw passed that test.Miters and bevels all kissed a tri-square head exactly right at 45* left or right.The tall part of the fence swiveled out of the way very easily for bevel cuts. Felt solid.The laser was bright enough in filtered sunlight, under an oak tree. It was a hair off, not even 1/64th to the left, and good enough for today. Adjustable, if I feel the need.Using the included dust bag, I was not impressed with dust collection. The exit hole for dust collection is larger than other miter saws such as my DeWalt. For the Metabo, dust exit hole diameter is 50 mm ID, 60 mm OD. I found a Wood River stepped fitting that fit the OD, then cut it down to receive the 35 mm end of a Festool hose. With a Festool MIDI the dust recovery was MUCH improved over the plain old dust bag. Still, as with almost all miter saws, if you want really good dust recovery you must do more than just hook up a vac to the extraction port.I have at least ten Hitachi tools that have all given me great service. Seems odd to have a new name on the tool but it's the same green and black, and the quality has not changed.Just three things I'd suggest for improvement so far.1. The thumb button on the trigger handle is too small and it's clearly for right handed use only. The horizontal hand position is excellent, the trigger is a good size, but if using in cold weather with gloves, that thumb button is too small.2. The blade wrench is nice. With the angled end you can snug the blade, or check for snug, without going through a whole blade change procedure. But it's a black wrench that looks like all sorts of other tools in a toolbox. At least paint the wrench GREEN so you know it goes with this saw. Much easier to find in a toolbox.3. But why put the wrench in a toolbox? My DeWalt miter saw, at about the same price point, has onboard storage for the blade wrench. Surely that could be done with the next version of this Metabo saw? Too late for this one, but not enough to deduct a star.The saw comes with a 4 mm hex wrench. Mine was lost in the bottom of the box but I went looking for it when I saw it listed in the directions. Keep an eye out for yours.Good saw.

Work great and is nicely designed, it not light in weight, but it well designed. The only thing that has taken me to get use to is the laser light is on it's only switch and after working with the saw cutting out parts I find my self forgetting to turn the laser light till the next day, but that's something I need to learning as part of operation is to make sure the laser it turned off, but also would say that the laser is nice and id bright on the work material and is line up great with the blade.

Great features for price, quality saw. Found this same exact saw for $175 more at big box hardware stores and couldn't believe i got it for such a steal! It went to "not available" once I got it and now shows for a lot more, I got lucky!Made quite a difference to other, old, beat up one i had been using. However reason for a rating of 4 is because it came loosely packaged inside the box and one of the metal blade guards were broken off.I was NOT gonna try to get the saw shipped back to replace whole thing and risk another coming broken.. so I called the manufacture and they sent me a replacement part, fixed with no issues and is working great. If i could give 4.5 stars I would since its so super nice. The line light is awesome!

I love it when a very good product is inexpensive and meets or exceeds your expectations. That is certainly the case here. It needed just the basic setup and I was off and cutting. If I could find any complaint it would be about the weak lazor but that’s almost always the case with less expensive models.

Big bang for the buck! Right out of the well packaged box this saw was and is a really nice one. I don't really need a sliding saw, but I have used the compound option quite a bit. No issues with any cuts at all. No adjustments were needed before the first use...

Cheaper than Dewalt and half the price. Works as well as anything out there. I used the laser and it worked fine. Hitachi/Metabo have served me well in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. P. S. IMHO, you don’t really need a sliding miter unless your a serious contractor.

The miter stops or detents for the zero° (for 90° cuts) to the 45° stop on the left side of the scale all had movement. The detent for the 45° on the right side did not move as it shouldn't - when you put the saw at the any of the detents it shouldn't move or the cut will be off. I tried one at the 45° on the left side of the scale and there was 1/32" difference in where the cut would be made. I don't know why anyone would want to own a saw like this or why Metabo would sell them like this. Also, the miter scale was installed 3/4 of a degree to the left - just poor workmanship. If you're trying to set the saw at a degree marking, you'd have to adjust by about 3/4°. I called Metabo and they hadn't heard of the issue so I returned this saw and ordered a second. The second saw was exactly the same. At Metabo's suggestion, I found one of these saws at a Lowes, it was even cheaper $232 on Amazon and $200 at Lowes. The closest store that had one was 30 miles away. I really like the saw otherwise and it's an amazing value if the quality is there, so I made the trip and the two saws they had in stock were perfect so I bought one. The stops are right on the money - when I got it home I cut a board into 4 pieces at the 45° stops and it made a perfect square as you would expect. I love all the features and it's extremely well made and has a 5 yr warranty. I took shots of the saw name plates and the two saws with the detent problems that came from Amazon were made in 9/2020 in Malaysia. The one that I bought from Lowes was made in 2/2021 in China. It's now 1/2023, so maybe they're discontinuing this saw. If you buy one from Amazon, Metabo warrants them so maybe if you have the time to wait, you can send it back and they'd have to fix it or replace it, but that's not going to be quick. Better to find one at Lowes if they have one left. Good luck.