Life just keeps getting better on the framing site. Last year, I reviewed Skilsaw’s 10 1/4-inch cordless wormdrive saw, which allowed us to finally unplug the last of our corded tools (see “Skilsaw 10 1/4-inch Cordless Beam Saw,” Feb/21). Now Makita has introduced another entry in the big, battery-powered, rear-handled beam saw category: The GSR02M1 40V Max XGT 10 1/4-inch circular saw kit, part of the tool maker’s XGT line of cordless power tools.
Features. The saw features a brushless motor that spins a 10 1/4-inch blade at 4,000 rpm, giving it a 3 3/4-inch cutting capacity. It has an electric brake to stop the big blade, an important safety feature, especially with large blades that can take a while to wind down without a brake. Makita says to expect up to 150 cuts per 4.0-Ah battery charge in 4×4 SPF lumber, which—based on our experience with the saw—sounds about right. This saw will bevel to 56 degrees, with positive stops at 22.5 and 45 degrees, and it has a rafter hook that’s large enough to fit over 2 1/2‑inch I-joists.
The Makita 40-volt XGT beam saw can cut through 4-by lumber in a single pass, and has an electric brake that reliably stops the big 10 1/4‑inch blade after the cut.
One of the saw’s best features is that it weighed in at only 13.6 pounds—with the battery!—on my scale. This is a lot less than the Skil beam saw that I reviewed last year, which weighed in at 18.6 pounds on the same scale, and even lighter than the corded 7 1/4-inch Skil wormdrive that I started with in the mid ’90s. And not only is it light, but the balance is perfect.
The saw includes Makita’s AWS auto-start wireless system, which allows it to communicate using Bluetooth to a dust extractor (we didn’t test this feature, as we rarely use dust collection on our jobsites).
The kit comes with a 4.0-Ah 40-volt battery and a charger with a claimed recharging time of 45 minutes. It also includes a saw blade, wrench, and tool bag.
The rear-handled saw has a brushless motor and is fitted with a rafter hook large enough to fit over an I-joist.
Power. After using the saw for a few weeks, the only negative that I can think of—at least for now—is that the kit comes with only one battery. I never ran out of juice and didn’t have a second battery, but for crews that are cutting a lot of beams, I-joists, or blocking out of 4-by material, two batteries would be a must. Of course, if the crew is already invested in Makita’s XGT platform, this wouldn’t be a problem.
I also noticed that this saw did seem to lack some power, though maybe that was a function of a feature that the company calls “Automatic Torque Drive,” which it says adjusts cutting speed under load to optimize cutting performance. I’ll be interested to see if future, higher-Ah batteries will help with this. But it was never a major problem; it just meant that on certain glulams, I had to slow down during cutting.
We also had Makita’s smaller, 7 1/4-inch XGT saw on site during our testing, and we noticed that the bigger saw seems to draw down the battery a little more quickly. That said, I would absolutely recommend this tool. It saves time since you can cut thick stock or double plates in a single pass instead of two, even beveled rake wall plates. It’s available online as a kit with charger and 4.0-Ah battery for about $500. makitatools.com
Photos by Tim Uhler.
