Makita SP6000J 6-1/2-Inch Plunge Circular Saw

I purchased the Dewalt and took it back before using it and purchased the Makita instead. My reason for this is that Makita and Fess use the same track design, which means there are more accessories to make this system even better. Dewalt has discontinued many of their accessories, and aftermarket accessories for other track systems in many cases do not work with Dewalt due to their double sided track design. I really wanted a t-square attachment for the track to make setups easier when breaking down sheet goods. You don’t need one, but it is nice to have.Ok, so what about quality? Both the Dewalt and Makita feel like good products. The DewaltT is heavier, and feels like it is made from some heavier castings. I did not run the Dewalt but I did adjust the saw and check its ability to slide well. The Makita slid across the track much more smoothly than the Dewalt. Adjustments are similar, so I consider them equal here. The Makita has a track retaining latch that keeps the saw from tipping off the track when doing miter cuts.What about accuracy? I had to square up a piece of 3/8” painted furniture grade plywood that arrived in a parallelogram shape from my cabinet company. How a company with huge panel saws and CNC machines cannot cut a square corner is beyond me. This piece was going to skin the back of a peninsula and join to the face frame of a cabinet, so the cut had to be accurate, clean, and straight. The results were absolutely perfect! I think the cabinet company should buy this saw. The quality of the cut was better in every way.I replaced the factory blade with the 56 tooth Makita thin kerf blade before setting up my track. This added some cost, but I think it was worth it. The saw cut very well with this blade. Makita should include this blade standard. It felt like the motor was coasting, which I can in part attribute to the anti friction coating on this blade.I like the plunge movement better on the Makita too. The Dewalt felt a bit unnatural.Makita has a very nice track bag to hold your tracks too. It is extra but I really liked the quality. The box that comes with the saw is also nice, and has a bit of extra room in it to hold a spare balde or two.All I can say is buy this thing. You won’t be disappointed.

I recently purchased this saw from Amazon. I'm quite happy with it in spite of a couple of problems. First, upon receipt the base was warped. When I set the saw on the track there was a pronounced rocking chair effect. Turns out a couple of screws in the base had been over tightened. Since I (knowingly) bought a saw that had been previously purchased and then returned to Amazon, it's possible this problem did not originate with the manufacturer (although the saw did not appear to have been used). It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, but once I did, it was an easy fix.Second, there is a button/pin you push in to use the saw's pre-cut feature and then pull back out to make the final cut. It pushes in just fine but when you try to pull it back out the small red rubbery cap pulls off. This is a real annoyance. You have to pinch the sides of the button to hold it in place while you pull. There doesn't seem to be an easy fix for this. Since the button is soft, I don't think any glue of cement will help. You just have to remember to pinch as you pull. You could remove the pin from the saw, drill a small hole in it, tap it, and install a screw to hold the cap on but this would be a lot of bother.Third, and last, the blade I received does not cut melamine well. It chips badly on the underside. I replaced it with a Tenryu melamine blade which cuts beautifully with virtually no chipping. The Tenryu blade is slightly smaller than the Makita blade but the pre-cut feature still works although you may need to press down in the saw a little to keep the pre-cut from occasionally skipping. I sharpen my own saw blades so, when I next sharpen blades, I'll resharpen the Makita blade and see if I can get it to cut better.So far I've cut 45 melamine cabinet doors with this saw. I've not yet cut anything but melamine. The chipping caused by the Makita blade resulted in a great deal of ugliness an it all needed fixing which was tedious.Anyway, after a little tweaking, I love the SP6000. I can't well compare it to other track saws since it's the only one I've used. I love how I can accurately cut full 4x8 sheets w/o a lot of lifting and fighting with bulk and weight. My great wish is that I could find a VERY ACCURATE square with which I could easily and accurately layout four foot cross cuts in full sheets. There are gizmos you can attach to the track that are supposed to help you do this but they are so short that I can't see how they could be accurate over a four foot span. There are large collapsible four foot squares but they are for laying out floor tile or other similar tasks where "close enough" is all you need. "Close enough" won't work for cabinetry. Framing squares are neither accurate enough or long enough to work well. Does anyone have any helpful comments they might make?

I was in the "I have a good straight edge and a circular saw" camp for the last 20 years. Simply put, I was a fool. This tool allowed me to break down 3 full sheets of 3/4" ply, on my own, in under an hr. Simply mark your line, lay down the track, and cut away. No more, mark your line, measure back from the edge of the shoe to the, (was it inside or outside?) edge of the blade, hold it tight against the fence, etc.While the Makita and the Festool are very close in features (at the time of this purchase), the price difference was the breaker. The quality is still top notch. It's easy to use, setup and breakdown time is peanuts compared to the old method. The manual is laid out well and easy to read/understand (I'm a tech writer, gotta read someone else's work/validate their job!), though the tool is intuitive enough you hardly need to use it. Changing blades is quite easy too (get a seperate blade for MDF, leave the one it comes with for your ply).I was also fortunate to try the saw before purchasing. My father had just bought one when he came to visit (lives a couple hrs away, otherwise I would have borrowed his). The smooth soft start, plunge action, and accuracy with the track, not to mention no chip out one what is becoming thinner and thinner veneered plywood, sold me.TL;DR - Great saw, worth the price of admission. Go get it.