Discount brands and quality

jogdish

So, missed on the lidl mitre saw recently, went looking around at similar ones. Does anyone have opinions on the following brands:


JCB, MacAllister, Evolution, Guild


I know they will never be a DeWalt or similar, but would like a saw blade that is square to a cutting table and a laser that points where it actually cuts.


Reviews on youtube/store pages are all over the place. If anyone knows about their Mitre saws would love to know, but also asking for general feeback.

con747

I bought a Workzone branded one in Aldi 15 years ago and have done a mountain of work with it and still going strong for what it's worth. I have DeWalt, Bosch, Ferrex "Aldi" and Workzone tools that have all lasted way past their price points so I can't fault them. Ferrex is fairly new from Aldi but my drill has done a lot of work in about 18 months. For general diy most of the brands you mention should do.

adocholiday

I bought a Parkside plunge saw in Lidl about 18 months ago and it was great until I had to change the blade. The screw holding it was completely seized and absolutely nothing would free it. Ended up in the bin. I have an Evolution mitre saw I bought about a year ago and the blade came out of alignment fairly quick. If I'm trying to cut a straight edge with it there'll be a 1mm difference between the top and bottom over a 4 inch board. It's even more pronounced with angled cuts.

My approach when buying tools is buy cheap first and if it gets enough use buy something expensive when the cheap one breaks. I replaced the plunge saw with a Makita and the mitre saw will soon be replaced too.

mloc123

adocholiday wrote: »

I bought a Parkside plunge saw in Lidl about 18 months ago and it was great until I had to change the blade. The screw holding it was completely seized and absolutely nothing would free it. Ended up in the bin. I have an Evolution mitre saw I bought about a year ago and the blade came out of alignment fairly quick. If I'm trying to cut a straight edge with it there'll be a 1mm difference between the top and bottom over a 4 inch board. It's even more pronounced with angled cuts.

My approach when buying tools is buy cheap first and if it gets enough use buy something expensive when the cheap one breaks. I replaced the plunge saw with a Makita and the mitre saw will soon be replaced too.

Which evolution saw? You can adjust the saws pretty easily to get them cutting straight and square... Plenty of guides on YouTube.

aFlabbyPanda

I bought an evolution table saw when I was laying a wooden laminate floor in our house. I used it for narrow cuts on the long edge of the planks and later on to halve some leftover rafters to be used in the garden. I paid around 140€ for it and got my money back when I sold it on. It did what I needed and couldn't fault it.

I've also got a large selection of parkside tools I bought when doing work to the house. With the exception of one or two items I'm happy with them. 3 year warranty is handy and I've had a few replaced already with no issues.

Sleepy

Just make sure it has all the features you need or can see yourself needing in the future. I picked up an Evolution Fury 3 compound mitre saw when doing a lot of DIY in the house and, tbh, can see myself replacing it with a better mitre saw as soon as I can. Yes, I can get a straight 90 degree cut out of it when I align the blade with a set square but as it's alignment is held by simple screws it can slip out of the desired angle quite easily and not having a slide arm on the blade severely limits the size of what it can cut. No laser guide on it either so you have to retract the safety and line up the blade with your cut line by eye. Wouldn't recommend it and regret not spending a few quid more for a better tool.

MyStubbleItches

adocholiday wrote: »

I bought a Parkside plunge saw in Lidl about 18 months ago and it was great until I had to change the blade. The screw holding it was completely seized and absolutely nothing would free it.

Quite possible it was a left hand thread. I know my dewalt circular saw is.