BOSCH GCM12SD 15 Amp 12 Inch Corded Dual-Bevel Sliding Glide Miter Saw with 60 Tooth Saw Blade

We have had the saw for about three weeks. It arrived via delivery without any damage. Before purchasing this machine I researched Milwaukee, Hitachi, Freud, Dewalt, Makita, Festool & Jet saws. Here in Columbus we have a Woodwerks store that features Festool and I was given a hands on demonstration. At $1,400 it seems to be a great machine. But, the Bosch is also a great machine and the there is a substantial price difference. My Son and I have a cabinet shop and needed something to replace my 35+ year old Makita Model 2401 10" miter saw. For some time we have been cutting off hardwood boards that were beyond the ability of the small saw to accomplish safely. For over a year I was considering this machine. But at $750 I wanted to be sure it was durable, accurate with repeatability and user friendly. Two months ago Woodwerks raised the price to $799. I had decided that it would be a good idea to purchase it before the price went up again. Then I found Amazon had the saw for $599 including delivery. I have purchased several machines from them: 15" Jet Planer, 14" Jet Lathe, 18" Jet Bandsaw, Bosch Barrel jigsaw and others. All have arrived as promised without damage. So I have a high confidence factor with Amazon purchases.It was easy to spend this money on this saw.Others have criticized the weight, the noise, the inaccuracy, etc. I would like to comment on each of these points:WEIGHT: The Makita 2401 weighs in excess of 50#. It was one of the first Japanese Miterboxes to come to America. It has been virtually indestructable. The Bosch 12" Saw weighs less. But because it is larger, there is a physical handling aspect that you should respect if you move it from site to site. It is certainly not as light as my Son's DeWalt 12" box. Don't let negative reviews scare you.ACCURACY: I have never purchased any piece of equipment that didn't require final adjustments. The factory settings are usually quite good out of the box. However, if you have to turn out superior work, each tool will require setup. Taking the time to go through the process provides you with knowledge of how to make the adjustments. It also allows you to understand when something is not right. Plan on spending 2 hours to make the needed adjustments to: 1. the miter detent plate and 2. the vertical scale. The manual is well written and relatively easy to understand. I used a 4"x4" cherry piece to check/adjust the horizontal and vertical cuts. I found that by adjusting the vertical indicator arrow to the left side it is easier to achieve a more accurate and repeatable angle adjustment since the vertical angle is not detented.NOISE: The belt driven saws, like the Hitachi, are quieter since there is no gear clash. The Bosch is extremely quiet in comparison to the Makita 2401. I wear hearing protection when using machinery but this saw is much more ear-friendly than other saws I have used.CUTTING HEIGHT ON MOTOR SIDE: One review complained that the saw was limited to 4.5" in height on the motor side. Anyone who has ever used the old Rockwell Sawbuck will remember the 7.5" blade. Yet we were able to make wide cuts in trim materials simply by taking advantage of the long range of motion when the workpiece is laid horizontally on the cutting table. The purpose of any SCM saw is to allow these cuts to be made by taking the time to understand the way to set angles in the flat plane. Cheat sheets are available on the internet to show you how to utilize this powerful aspect of the tool. If you do not intend to use this function, then this saw is not for you and you would do well to buy a DeWalt 12" miter saw.KICK FROM NON-SOFT START MOTOR: try an older saw like the Makita. You will quickly understand that this is nit-picking in the extreme.SAFETY SWITCHES: The saw has two safety switches on the top of the handle. You can cut from either side and find a easily located safety switch for either hand. Like any tool, there is a learning period. I know a man with 2 and half fingers missing who decided to defeat the safety switch on his miterbox. Learn to use it.TABLE NOT FLAT: this table is flat.UNPUBLISHED MEASUREMENTS: I mounted this saw on the left side of my workbench. I had to wait until I had the saw in my shop to get the measurements needed to set the height to match the workbench. There is no way I would ever take a written measurement as something to set a critical height. From unpacking to setting the saw's mounting surface (bench) and setting the saw in place took less than an hour. The reviewer used this factor as a reason to "knock down" the rating. This is unreasonable and shows that the review is flawed and unreliable at best.DUST COLLECTION: There are few dust collection systems on any of the machines in my shop that would satisfy some of the ardent critics of this saw. Even the Festool at more than twice the price can't do that.LASER - DIM: If you are novice, then the laser is important to you. If you are a craftsman, you rely on your eyes. I have not found a laser that can be as sharp as my old eyes.Conclusion: this saw is the best of the type under $1,400. Woodwerks' repair department is full of DeWalt and Hitachi SCMs. The repair tech said that the Hitachi was the quietest and easiest to repair. The filled shelves speak volumes to me. Looking at the display models utilizing the two round tracks to support the sliding mechanism, I found side to side movement that was not present in the Bosch. I learned a lot about reading the various reviews, especially the writers who complained about things that are not really part of the machine. 90% favorable reviews to 10% disgruntled only proves you can't make everyone happy. If you need this type of machine, buy this one.

Just received the product unpackaged it holy smokes is it fancy. The only thing I see it missing that I would’ve expected is the laser line. But that’s not that big a deal. I’m still trying to figure out all the fancy features of it but it’s well built, heavy duty, emphasis of heavy! You definitely gotta put it on a stand, but I would recommend it. It was an upgrade from a 25 year old rigid 10 inch for me thumbs up wish I would’ve gotten this a couple years ago when I started my siding project.

I was really hesitant about buying this with some of the reviews I read. I went to every store I could but no one had this type of miter saw. I felt the action on the rod style units and was not impressed. This miter saw came UPS and was packaged like a brick poop house. The action from what I read is fully adjustable although I might put an 1/2 thousands indicator on it later I don’t believe there is any slop in the incredibly smooth action. I bought this for $549 , it’s built like a $1,200 dollar saw. I’m so pleased I went with my gut feeling.

Firstly, I knew full well the involved risk of mail ordering an 89 lb. package with a precision machine inside. UPS and others push the limit requiring their drivers to lug this thing around. I decided to roll the dice anyway, and got snake eyes... at first. In the end it still cost me less than purchasing at a local distributor.The first saw arrived in two pieces, one large and one small. A three inch chunk that used to be the left/rear foot of the base was sliding around in the box. You know, the box with no Styrofoam in it, only cardboard uprights to ensure the saw lands on a fragile corner, and half an inch of rigid cardboard between $800/65 lbs. of miter saw and the concrete floor. The box did not appear unusually damaged (because it flexes so well), but the edges and corners were pretty beaten up. When I saw the damage, I felt like a nine year old who just dropped his ice cream cone. I picked my lower lip up off of the floor and I politely emailed Bosch about the substandard packaging. I'm sure they jumped right on the matter with lightning speed...Amazon was great and I had a replacement two days later. I was out at the UPS store paying $120 (Reimbursable through Amazon) to ship the broken saw back. Meanwhile, the UPS man was delivering the replacement saw to my home. The UPS man asked my wife, "Didn't I just deliver one of these?" My wife told him where I'd gone, and that the first saw had arrived in pieces. She told me the UPS man looked "sheepish" as he "gingerly" placed the new saw on the floor of my garage/shop. We had a chuckle over the phone at his expense and I hurried home to open the new saw.Setup:The second saw arrived undamaged, but the box looked like someone had lived in it for years. I mounted a Freud thin kerf blade and squared it up. Adjustments are easy. Even easier with a Wixey, or other magnetic digital angle gauge. The Bevel detent does not quite line up with the 33.9 degree mark, but the bevel scale is as accurate as the Wixey will measure (33.9/56.1 degrees). Everything lined up nice and square. The glide action is solid and smooth. Adjusting the tension of the glide action is easy with the supplied wrench. At full extension, there is very little side to side slop. You can force it to move side by side, but in use there is no hint of slop.While shopping for a new saw, I tried just about all of the sliders from the reputable brands (Except Festool, don't want one). The Bosch has the least slop out of all of them.The table:The miter table (the part that turns) is flat. The outer support tables are not. They angle downward at about 0.3 degrees. At least thats what the Wixey shows. A straight edge across the entire table reveals about 1/64th or so of a gap. The outer edges of the support tables are coplanar with the miter table, but the inner edges of the support tables are not.Even so, every single test cut I made was square and accurate with both long and short boards. The tiny variances on the table do not apparently effect the saw's accuracy. The miter table of my DeWalt 703 miter saw is positively convex, but it produces square and accurate cuts every time. I suspect that some folks complain about thousandths of a inch simply because they own the gadgets to measure that small (Dangit! Its three microns off! Burn it and get a better one!). No offense meant to anyone. I'm a woodworker not an eye surgeon. Forgive me if I'm out of line by .000000006 of an inch or so... give or take.Mounting:I removed the old DeWalt from my Lowe's clearance Bosch Gravity Rise Stand (gloating) and attached the mounting brackets to the Bosch. I found that when the saw is securely attached to the mounting brackets, the sliding material supports get jammed in the closed position. The mounting brackets flex under tension just enough to cause the supports to become stuck. I found that strategically placed shims (3/4" washers) between the base of the saw (near the material supports) and the mounting brackets allowed full use of the supports.Summary:I'm extremely pleased with this saw. It is solid if you don't throw it out of a truck, and it performs magnificently. I have a dozen or so Bosch tools and this one is by far my favorite (and the most expensive). If a lighter 10 inch version comes out, I will be very tempted to get one.My only caution to buyers is regarding the packaging. Understand the risk of mail ordering this saw. If you do not order from Amazon, only order from a company which has a return policy at least as good as Amazon. Be prepared to spend out of pocket in order to exchange a broken saw. The packaging for this saw is simply not designed to withstand anything more than sitting on a pallet... in zero gravity.FYI: The following parts do not fit on the GCM12SD Axial Glide Miter Saw:BOSCH MS1226 Vertical Quick Clamp for 4412 4410 5412L 4410L Miter SawsThe new taller fence is too high. The quick clamp mechanism will not clear the top of the fence.BOSCH MS1228 Crown Molding Stop Supports Pair for 4412 4410 5412L 4410L Miter SawsThe new design of the material support extensions do not allow mounting of this accessory.Bosch MS1223 Length Stop Kit for 4412, 5412LThe mounting holes are closer together than the 4412/5412/5312 saws and do not allow mounting unless you drill a new hole in the accessory.I was disappointed when I tried all of these accessories, but hopefully Bosch will have new ones out soon.

Very solid. Very smooth motion and cutting. seems very repeatable. Accuracy? it;s all about the user and making sure it set up right. Powerful. I leaned toward this one because the clever design requires less space (which is what I needed). Very happy with this one! Hopefully it will last forever!!!