Cordless circular/trim saw recommendations?

[WellsWood]

Has anyone got any recommendations for a cordless trim saw out of the cheeper ones on the market, Ryobi, Draper, PPro etc.?
I've decided I need one but cannot justify the price of DeWalt, Makita etc. but also don't want a white elephant. Is this too tall an order, or are there cheaper ones that are worth having? It doesn't need to run all day, it'll have a very easy life (mostly), but it needs to be capable of cutting 18mm MDF once in a while.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Mark

 

[jasonB]

I've had a B&D 14V one for about 4 years and wouldn't be without it now, hardly use my mains one. The supplied battery didn't last long so I us emy 12V dewalt ones and it seems fine, will do about 6-8 8ft cuts in 18mm MDF per charge.

Jason

 

[LeeElms]

I have the SIP '18 Volt Cordless Circular Saw' which I recently bought from an e-bay store for £30 (+£10 postage). It comes with 2 batteries and a fast charger. I haven't used it very much yet, but for the money it seems to do a good job.

 

[dedee]

I also bought that SIP 136mm Trim Saw although I did replace the blade with a Trend 24t.
I've used it a fair bit but only on 1/2" ply and calcuated that I get about 20' of sawing per charge. Which is adequate for my purpose.

I know that Tom aka WiZer has one and was less impressed.

Andy

 

[johnemtee]

I have a "Challenge" 18Volt which , I think, is an Argos one.
It was useless with its original blade but now with a new one it is nearly useless. Seriousy tho' it is OK for very thin stuff but not 18mm. longer than a few feet.

 

[Alf]

I got a PPro one for the odd "once in a while" cut. Inevitably it's sufficiently once in a while that the batteries are always flat when I want to use it. :roll: Last time I got out a sharp panel saw instead, and frankly it did a better job.

Cheers, Alf

 

[innesm]

I got an 18V one from B&Q a while back. I think it is a 'performance pro' model. The model number is NLE18VTSB. It is a bit rubbish: the base is way out of alignment with the blade, and it's slightly tricky to get the base 90 degrees to the blade. If I bought it nowadays it'd go back, but back then I was (even more) clueless than I am now.

Funnily enough I just got another (corded) saw today from Axminster, with some of the same problems. If anything that one is worse, and it's definitely going back. Beware :shock:

 

[dexteria]

Hi,

I also had the SIP version but found that the battery life was not that good when cutting 18mm veneered MDF. Eventually the charger gave up. Others have good things to say about this saw so maybee the charger I had was dodgy from the begining.

Mark

 

[wizer]

yes i wasn't too impressed with my SIP but then I think I was probably expecting too much of it. Should be fine with sheet materials..


what did u go for Mark?

 

[Jake]

I got a PPro one for the odd "once in a while" cut. Inevitably it's sufficiently once in a while that the batteries are always flat when I want to use it. :roll:

I know that feeling - not helped by the 36000 hour charging cycle, either.

 

[dexteria]

yes i wasn't too impressed with my SIP but then I think I was probably expecting too much of it. Should be fine with sheet materials..


what did u go for Mark?

Not got round to getting a new one yet. I think when I do then it will have a Lithium battery. I have the little Bosch 10.8V driver and its been one of my best purchases. so may look at the Bosch offerings.

Mark

 

[WellsWood]

Well thanks everyone for your input. Unless I'm guilty of hearing what I want to hear it seems that the lower priced ones can still perform up to a point.

Based on that I decided on a Ryobi. I found a place online called Ryobi Direct, and bought what seems to be "last years model" from their clearance section. As far as I can tell it's pretty much the exact same saw as the current One+ range which retails around £70 bare. Seems to be pretty well made, there's nothing obviously shoddy about it, and a bit of a bargain (on paper at least) since I got the saw with 2 x 2.0Ah batteries (the One+ bateries are rated at 1.7Ah), charger and case for £85.

Sadly, I haven't actually cut anything with it yet beacause I've been laid up with back trouble for a couple of days since it arrived. I did charge both batteries before I locked up and retired to the pavillion though, and when I get back in the ws I'll give it a workout and report back.

Cheers all
Mark

 

[andycktm]

I'm tempted with the ryobi also, but what's with the left-hand drive bit? :? Does it make any difference to r/h user's

 

[WellsWood]

I'm tempted with the ryobi also, but what's with the left-hand drive bit? :? Does it make any difference to r/h user's

Actually it's one of the reasons I went for it. I'd have bought a corded one if I could have found one with a left hand blade, nobody seems to make one, but for some reason almost all cordless ones are "left handers".

Mark

 

[andycktm]

Seem to be designed for single hand use,being battery/ small?

 

[wayne kerr]

I have the ryobi & it's not bad if you as long as you don't expect it to cut what a 240v one will cut, fine for sheet material. I don't use it that much, main reason I bought it was to sit just inside the back door of the van so I could cut something quick without having to get an extension out, handy if you are at the timber merchants & need to cut something. Only problem is finding a new blade for it, 150mm ultra thin kerf with 10mm bore, I can't find one anywhere.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Wayne,

Trend stock them, and Tooled-up.com have them on sale
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?Referrer=IndexSite&PID=31777

Andy

 

[andycktm]

Andy ,noticed you said Hi wayne and not Hi wayne kerr :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

well, I did think when I read it that he should maybe be in the thread about names in the off topic section... :lol: :shock:

andy