The Best Mitre Saws For Precision Cutting

Running on DEWALT's 18V batteries, the DCS365N-XJ cuts the cable altogether, which makes a real difference when you're working your way round a house fitting skirting. You can carry it from room to room or out to the garden without trailing an extension lead, and at 11.5 kg it's light enough to do that comfortably.

DEWALT quotes up to 250 cuts per charge, and a light flashes when the battery is running low so you're not caught short mid-cut. The 184 mm, 40 tooth blade gives a clean finish on skirting and architrave, and the mitre range runs from 0 to 60 degrees right and 0 to 50 degrees left. A dual fence keeps the workpiece steady. Run time depends on the battery you fit, so a spare charged battery saves a wait on a long day of skirting. It's sold as a bare tool, so unless you already own DEWALT batteries, the cost climbs once you add a battery and charger.

We owned the Evolution 3-DB for a few years before upgrading, and it earned its keep on plenty of renovation jobs. Its big selling point is the 255 mm multi-purpose blade, which Evolution says cuts mild steel, non-ferrous metals, wood and plastic without swapping blades. That's handy when a job throws up a metal threshold strip in the middle of a skirting run.

The double bevel lets you tilt the head both ways, so you can cut matching mitres on mouldings without flipping the workpiece over. There's a 320 mm slide for wider boards, a laser guide to line up the cut, an adjustable depth stop and a selection of accessories in the box. It comes in 110V and 230V versions for site or home use, with a three year warranty. It's not as refined as the Bosch or Makita, but for a saw that's done years of mixed renovation work for us, that's a fair trade.

The Bosch GCM 8 SJL is the saw for wider work. Its long slide takes laminate, parquet, floorboards and decking in a single pass, with 312 mm of horizontal capacity, and the 1,600 watt motor spins the blade at 5,500 rpm. Bosch says that's 100 watts more than the model it replaced.

An integrated laser marks the cut line, and the improved dust extraction keeps more sawdust off the floor of a room you're working in. At 17.3 kg it's heavier than the Makita or DEWALT, though the carrying handle helps. You can buy it in 110V or 240V, and our testing photos show ours set up on a stand with a site transformer underneath. It's relatively expensive next to the alternatives.

Makita's LS0815FLN is built around twin steel slide rails running on linear ball bearings, and that's what gives it such a smooth, precise sliding action. It's the saw we'd pick for finished joinery, where a tiny wobble shows up as a gap in the mitre.

The soft start 1,400 watt motor runs a 216 mm blade at 5,000 rpm, and there are positive stops at 0, 15, 22.5, 31.6 and 45 degrees for the angles you use most. A laser guide and an LED job light make the cut line easy to see. It weighs 14.5 kg with a soft grip handle, and it comes as a kit with a dedicated stand. The 2.5 metre lead is short, so you'll need an extension, and it's one of the dearer saws here.

The R210CMS takes the same multi-purpose blade idea as the 3-DB and puts it into a smaller, cheaper saw. One 210 mm, 24 tooth blade cuts wood, steel and aluminium, so there's no blade change between timber and metal. It runs on a 1,500 watt motor and comes in 110V or 230V versions.

Quick click mitre stops make common angles fast to set, and it's light enough to carry to wherever the job is. In our testing, though, it needed a lot of adjustment before it would give a properly square cut, so set aside time to check it with a square before you start on anything that shows. Once it's set up square, it suits decking, fence rails and rough carpentry.

The TC-MS 2112 is a straightforward chop saw at a low price, and it doesn't pretend to be anything more. A 1,600 watt motor runs a 48 tooth blade at 5,000 rpm, and angle scales on both the head and table make it simple to set up a cut.

The feature we liked most in testing was the workpiece supports on both sides of the table. They hold long lengths like skirting steady, so the cut stays accurate. It's compact and light with a carrying handle, there's a chip collection sack to catch some of the dust, and the blade is easy to get at when it needs changing. It's a basic machine, with no slide, laser or double bevel.