# Harbor Freight 10" sliding miter saw



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

I've never had any luck with the Harbor Freight electric tools.
Router vibrated so much your hands went numb. Chuck would come loose and bit would drop.
Bought a hammer drill and it broke the same day.
I do not own the Ryobi slider but have used one, worked fine.
I do own a lot of other Ryobi tools and never had any trouble with them.
Table saw, 12 compound saw, impact driver.


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## 1acre (Oct 5, 2015)

I've had GOOD luck with harbor freight tools - welder, hammer drill and 10" miter to name the big tools. With that said, the miter saw works, but I hate using it. I might as well give it away because I never use it. Part of it is my setup...miter saw in a poor location, my nice table saw, where I do all my cross cuts, is in a good spot, with accessible sleds and is easy to use. 

With that said, I wouldn't say the ryobi is going to be any better than the HF. If you have a nice setup, the saw will be more accurate and nicer to use. Obviously, I'd spring for the HF version unless you were looking to get a real saw. In which case, you would be working with a budget of $600+.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I've found my miter saw about 99 percent more useful after building a portable table for it. Either mounted along a wall on shelf brackets, outdoors across saw horses or transported to another job site when necessary.


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## french_guy (Sep 11, 2012)

SeniorSitizen said:


> I've found my miter saw about 99 percent more useful after building a portable table for it. Either mounted along a wall on shelf brackets, outdoors across saw horses or transported to another job site when necessary.


And is it a Harbor Freight? Do you have picture with the saw on the table?


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

french_guy said:


> And is it a Harbor Freight? Do you have picture with the saw on the table?


It's a Delta 10" non slider. This table is built with about 5 ft. to the left and 3 ft. to the right and just shy of 8 ft. long so it can be stored standing against an 8 ft. wall.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

french_guy said:


> Is the Harbor Freight 10" sliding compound miter saw a good deal at $89?
> Or should I spend more and get the Ryobi from Home Depot ($180)?
> i'm not a pro, just a DIYer...:wink2:
> 
> Thanks



Spring for the Ryobi, you'll be glad you did.


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## Mort (Nov 26, 2008)

From everything I've read it's garbage, just like everything Horror Freight sells that runs on electricity. And a lot of their other stuff.


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## Gymschu (Dec 12, 2010)

I had high hopes for Harbor Freight tools. I had SOME luck with a few things then not so much. I bought a roofing nailer which went bad after one roof. My oscillating tool blew up after 6 months.......well, you get the picture. Now I spring for good, name brand tools and I've had much better luck. Upgrade to the Ryobi.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

From my experience, Harbor tools are mixed bag. Cheap-ass air tools and an angle grinder. But I have a hammer drill and a regular corded drill, work fine for a long time. I have a router too, that I've only used a few times. Works OK, but the design makes it a pain to change bits.

But I agree, Ryobi (or Kobalt) are worth the extra bucks for the next step up.


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## jimn (Nov 13, 2010)

We have one for our community theater . It works ok but it's kind of sloppy but fine for most set construction work .(it needs to look ok from a distance but it's temporary) We have to spend some time repairing it like replacing the power switch, making sure the bolts stay tight, aligning etc. But as a note our regular carpenter always brings in his Delta anytime he has to build a set wit a lot of finesse. That is a lot of compound cuts for molding, Windows , or other more exacting finish carpentry. Spend the extra bucks on a better saw. It's a tools you will use a lot and nothing worse than a saw that won't make an accurate cut.


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## ray989 (Oct 23, 2015)

I have had no problems with most of the HF stuff I own including a chop saw and tile saw.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

The more accurate you are with your work, the more likely you are to find problems with the el cheapo tools (all of them, not just HF).

Novice mistakes in accuracy by the operator often cover the faults of the tool.


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## Scottg (Nov 5, 2012)

I've got the Ryobi and the stand. It's a decent miter saw. Not great. But decent. It does stay square. The stand isn't the highest quality and you can't really use the stops for consistent repetitive cuts, but this is fairly easily solvable anyway.

The only problem I've had with the saw itself is the small plastic pointer that points to the degrees broke. Which was kind of my fault as I snagged something on it when moving it. Though if it were metal or higher quality, that might not have happened.

I'd gone to HF to check out theirs. But it just felt so cheap right on the shelf, I disregarded it as an option.

Which to get? Well, if you need the miter saw as you're major Go To tool, then get something even better like DeWalt, Makita or Bosch. For me, the miter is a secondary tool so I went a bit cheaper. Though with an 80 tooth blade the Ryobi has been good enough to make some nice furniture. So I can't tell you for sure the HF unit is garbage, just that it felt that way to me. And I can tell you for sure the Ryobi is reasonably solid. And actually, in SOME ways it may be better. That is, it might not be as rock solid as more expensive units, but it is also fairly light. So if you have to move it around a bit, it may be a better choice for you.


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## hotrod351 (Jun 15, 2012)

bought a Ryobi from Home Depot, no matter how many times i adjusted it i couldnt get to cut a true and consistent 45 degree angle. took it back and bought the hitachi form lowes, it has worked perfect for years. bought the 12" for under $300.00, assume machine. this is it, it is dual bevel. gone up in price.


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