Thoughts on Hitachi Table Saw....

C10LA 10" Left Tilt 1.5HP cabinet Saw.



I have been kinda quietly looking for a table saw...gotta upgrade from this tiny Ryobi benchtop. I had been kinda looking at one of the Craftsman 22124 cabinet saws...but the price on this Hitachi is MUCH better....and with all the talk of tool prices jumping greatly coming on later this year, I thought maybe I ought to get serious about getting it done.

Anybody have any thoughts on this saw, or any experience with one?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

-Kevin in Indy

Kevin
I don't know anything about that saw but I have generally been impressed with that brand of tools over the years..
Garry

Kevin Vernon said:

but the price on this Hitachi is MUCH better

Click to expand...

Aren't they both right around $1000 plus or minus $100? At any rate FWW liked the Hitachi but I couldn't find any owner reviews. Maybe someone here has one and can comment. I don't think this is the model with the non-standard miter slots but you should check.

There are a lot of good saws in the $1000 arena right now. The Griz 1023 gets a lot of talk as do the zip code, Delta and Steel City versions of the 22124. I'm with you on the prices going up. I just bought a large tool ahead of schedule and that was based on the increases that already happened.

Kevin,

One thing that I would really check out is the fence. I believe it has a "micro adjust" feature that you might like or not... If I got one, I think I would end up changing the fence to a Biese or other brand pretty soon. It just seemed a bit too "cheesy" IMO. I would tend to look at the Delta that Lowes sells next to it.

Best of luck in your decision.

I love Hitachi tools, I've got a few and they have all been good to me, but that saw is one I'd avoid, it did poorly on the FWW table saw test, and I recall that Julio, one of our members had one and had big time trouble with it......

>> Tool Gloat Gone Bad <<

I'd want to see the saw in operation before I'd spend my money on it.

Kevin - There are several good hybrids I'd look at before settling on the Hitachi. Jet Proshop, Craftsman, Steel City, Shop Fox, Grizzly, GI, Woodtek, and maybe even the Delta. All have solid cast iron wings, steel Biese type fences, and more proven track records. The recent FWW comparison uncovered power problems with the Hitachi, and the aluminum fence does not appear on par with the others to me. Unless it's substantially less money than the others, I'd keep looking.

Thanks for the input, guys -

Turns out the price that Recond. Sales has listed is NOT substantially less than the retail Lowes asks for the thing....and from what I've heard & read about it lately, I'm leaning back toward the Craftsman ZipCode (The 224 cabinet saw) I was thinking hard on prior to hearing about this one. Or perhaps the Grizzly 1023 - still kinda undecided. Steel Citys Granite-Tabled saw looks REAL interesting, too - dunno about the price-point, though.

I'll get it figured out sooner or later.

-Kevin in Indy

Kevin - whatever you decide on, I hope turns out to be a decision you will not regret.

Have you thought about scouring the previously loved marketplace and picking up (and maybe restoring) more saw than you could afford new?

Checking CraigsList daily, Mark - so far the only table saws I've seen go by in my area are bitty little benchtop units. But I keep looking.

-Kevin in Indy

Indy is a big place - between Indy proper and the nearby town where Perdue U. is (LaFayette?) don't you guys have a used equipment store?

Hitachi TS

Have a good friend that bought this saw from Lowe's about a year ago. I helped him assemble it. He's really not easily impressed but has not had a negative word to say about this bad boy. We checked the table for flat first thing,... yep, dead flat. i understand the trunion is second to none in strength durability. The fence is among it's bright spots as well. Just showing off I've seen him peel off resawn veneers one could see threw- from 6" wide stock, meaning it had to be flipped and he used the factory fence instead of a taller auxillary as I had suggested he may need. Oh yeah,...not it comes to me, he has complained of one thing, (if you knew him you would say- "i knew he had to have something negative to say"), the dust collection...can't remember exactly but do remember hearing him comment that the plastic apron under the saw would have to go because it seemed to be causing unnecessary build up & this was because he has no dust collection system to connect to. Hope this helps, BTW he would still be using his inherited Craftsman of his grandfather's were it not suffering from unrepairable runnout.