High: both DeWalts and Panasonic
The easiest ways to reduce vibration are to secure your work as firmly as possible and to use a lot of force to push the shoe of the saw against the material being cut. Another technique is to reduce your feed speed or motor speed. Often, you can find a sweet spot where the vibrations cancel each other out, and reducing your feed pressure usually keeps the blade from pushing back toward you with so much force.
HOW NOT TO EASE VIBRATION
The Panasonic saw has a feature that causes uncontrollable vibration. Instead of having a rigid shoe to hold firmly against the work surface, this saw actually has little springs inside that provide shock absorber–type suspension to the shoe. This means that whenever the blade teeth bite into the wood and pull back toward the saw, instead of pulling firmly against the shoe’s resistance to rip out the wood, the firmly anchored blade actually jerks the entire saw forward as the flex of the springs allows the shoe to move freely.
This action also makes it very difficult to slowly and carefully start cuts in wood or metal, because once the saw teeth get the slightest bite, the saw just bounces back and forth instead of moving the blade through the material.
Other than possibly replacing the springs with steel pins to negate this ill-conceived suspension design, there is no way around this excessive and needless vibration. Either you have to push forward incredibly hard in an attempt to bottom out the springs, or you must hold the tool back with the minimum amount of force against the shoe. Both ways, at times this saw will practically shake the earplugs out of your head.
ERGONOMICS
Besides vibration, a few other considerations affect the comfort of using these saws. The Metabo and Panasonic saws have a spring-loaded trigger lock-switch that must be pushed in before you pull the trigger. Pushing the switch in before every cut requires you to move your hand from its ideal grip position constantly, which causes grip strain and wastes time.
Another consideration is the shape of the top of the tool’s trigger handle. Tools with a rounded-over profile are much friendlier to your hand and easier to grip than those with a pronounced ridge above the handgrip. When I use a recip saw for extended periods, I push on the top of the tool with my left hand; saws with a ridged-top grip handle are uncomfortable and fatiguing. The Milwaukee and both DeWalt saws provide great examples of this grip surface done right.
ADJUSTABLE SHOES
Adjustable shoes allow you to control the saw’s cutting depth, which is important for plunge-cutting safely into walls, floors, ceilings, or roofs. But just as important, an adjustable shoe allows you to use all the teeth on a blade. When one section of a blade’s teeth get dull, you can adjust the depth of cut and then use a previously unused section with sharp teeth.
This isn’t just a matter of blade economy in dollars and cents, but truly an underused timesaver on the job. When making repetitive cuts, the same teeth are being used (and dulled) constantly, but by moving the blade so that even just a few fresh teeth are put into action, cutting times and therefore practical blade life can improve dramatically.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The overall winner is the Milwaukee Fuel model. It cut the fastest, ran the longest, and managed vibration better than the other heavy-duty saws. It features a sturdy adjustable shoe, a quick-acting blade clamp, a useful hanging hook, and LED headlight.
The second-place tools are the Milwaukee and 20V Max DeWalt saws—both strong and capable where it counts in performance. The Milwaukee lacks an adjustable shoe, but the DeWalt has much more vibration, so their exact placement is a toss-up.
Like its brandmate, the DC5385L DeWalt is a strong performer, but it misses the mark with its low runtime.
Next in order come Bosch and Hitachi—both quality saws that work diligently but more slowly than the top-tier saws. The Metabo saw follows. And low or troublesome performance issues have the Makita, Panasonic, and Ridgid trailing the others.
Test Results
The saws were subjected to two tests. For the power test, each saw was timed, in seconds, making a cut through nailed-embedded, doubled 2x6s. For the runtime test, the number of cuts made with a fully charged battery through nail-embedded, doubled 2x6s were counted. The top-scoring saw is listed first in each set of test results. Lower-scoring saws follow in order.
Bosch CRS180 KBattery: 18 volts; 4.0 Ah Blade clamp: External metal twist collar; one-hand operation Comments: Medium-duty saw with medium-high vibration—the best saw outside of the heavy-duty models. Pro: Long running. One-handed blade changes. Lower speed setting nice for controlled cutting. Comfortable one- or two-finger trigger. Con: Fixed-position shoe limits versatility, blade performance, and economy. Have to touch hot metal clamp collar to remove blade. Difficult to steer at times—cut crooked more than other saws in the test. Longest charging time at 2 hours, twice as long as most others. |
DeWalt DCS385 LBattery: 18 volts; 2.0 Ah Blade clamp: Recessed with lever release; two-hand operation; 4 position blade slots Comments: Heavy-duty saw with high vibration—gets the job done but doesn’t do it for very long. Pro: Flexible-fuel tool—comes with Li tower pack but also compatible with brand’s common NiCad batteries. Excellent blade economy with very few of the teeth wasted behind the shoe. Nice handle comfort with rounded top for different handgrip positions. Con: Shortest runtime. Lowest amp-hour battery in test. High-vibration tool. No battery gauge. Loose shoe wiggles around in use and can contact blade |
DeWalt 20V MAX DCS380 M1Battery: 18 volts; 4.0 Ah Blade clamp: Recessed with lever release; two-hand operation; 4 position blade slots Comments: Heavy-duty saw with high vibration—a capable second-place tool that’s a little rough around the edges. Pro: Fast cutting. Long running. Excellent blade economy with very few of the teeth wasted behind the shoe. Nice handle comfort with rounded handgrip top for different thumb positions. Con: High-vibration tool. Loose shoe wiggles around in use and can contact blade. |
Hitachi CR18DSLBattery: 18 volts; tested with latest 3.0 Ah slide-pack battery Blade clamp: External clamp with small release lever; two-hand operation Performance: Power—tied for last place, 46% of best; runtime—seventh place, 64% of best Comments: Medium-duty saw with low vibration—slow, steady and reliable. Pro: Gentle, low-vibration saw especially comfortable to operate Con: Cuts slowly. Requires loose hex wrench to adjust shoe—tool-free adjustment is preferred. One- or two-finger trigger has a hard edge below that pushes into finger during two-finger use. |
Makita BJR181Battery: 18 volts; 3.0 Ah Blade clamp: External rubber-covered twist collar; one-hand operation Performance: Power—tied for last place, 46% of best; runtime—ninth place, 46% of best Comments: Light-duty saw with medium vibration—doesn’t have enough to offer. Pro: Easy one-handed blade changes with comfortable rubber-covered collar. Nice hang hook and headlight. Long case allows storage with 6-inch blade attached to saw. Short battery charge time, just under the one-hour time of most others. Con: Cuts slowly and bogs down under pressure. Short runtime. No battery gauge. |
Metabo ASE18LTXBattery: 18 volts; tested with latest 5.2 Ah slide pack battery Blade clamp: Recessed with lever release; two-hand operation Comments: Light-duty saw with low vibration—runs forever, but a bit too slowly. Pro: Long running. Low vibration. Con: Cuts slowly and bogs down under pressure. Have to hold in safety lock-off button every time you want to pull the trigger. Requires hex wrench to adjust shoe—tool-free adjustment is preferred. The combination of a rear-facing battery-release button and battery removal direction toward the front of the tool causes the battery to disengage and sometimes fall out dangerously whenever your body pushes forward against it while cutting. Long charging time of one hour, 55 minutes—almost double that of most others. |
Milwaukee FUEL Brushless 2720-21Battery: 18 volts; 4.0 Ah Blade clamp: Recessed with slide release; two-hand operation Comments: Heavy-duty saw with medium vibration—this high-tech brushless motor tool is top performer all around. Pro: Fastest and longest-lasting tool in test. Most manageable vibration among the heavy-duty saws. Nice hang hook and headlight. Con: Longer-than-average charge time of 1 hour, 20 minutes, one-third longer than most others. Heaviest tool—a negative for portability, but extra mass a plus for faster cutting and vibration reduction. |
Milwaukee 2620-21Battery: 18 volts; 3.0 Ah Blade clamp: Recessed with slide release; two-hand operation Comments: Heavy-duty saw with medium-high vibration—a refined second-place tool that only lacks an adjustable shoe. Pro: Fast cutting. Nice handle comfort with rounded handgrip top for different thumb positions. Con: Fixed-position shoe limits versatility, blade performance, and economy. |
Panasonic Dual-Voltage EY45A1 LS1GBattery: 18 volts; 4.2 Ah Blade clamp: External rubber-covered twist collar; two-hand operation Comments: Medium-duty tool with very high vibration that makes it difficult to use. Pro: Long running. Flexible-fuel tool—fits several of the brand’s 14.4- and 18-volt battery packs for more versatile use as an add-on tool. Best tool case in the test. Con: Have to hold in safety lock-off button every time you want to pull the trigger, which is a constant hassle. Fixed-position shoe limits versatility, blade performance, and economy. No battery gauge. Shock absorber design adds excessive vibration while robbing control. Have to touch hot blade when changing. |
Ridgid R8641 BBattery: 18 volts; tested with 4.0 Ah battery Blade Clamp: External metal twist collar; two-hand operation Comments: Light-duty tool with low-medium vibration—has nice features but the overprotective battery won’t let them work. Pro: Orbital action speeds up the performance. Nice shoe angle locking feature and headlight. Con: An unpredictable performer plagued with sudden stalling. Too finicky in use as the battery pack’s protective circuit shuts down often. When all is going well, it will cut at a fast pace—especially in orbital mode—but it is always right on the edge of unexpectedly stalling with no warning, so it’s difficult to get much done with this saw. Have to touch hot metal clamp collar to remove and install blade. |
Michael Springer is the former executive editor of TOOLS OF THE TRADE Special thanks to Lenox for providing the blades used during testing.
