DEWALT Miter Saw, 12 Inch Double Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw, Blade Wrench and Material Clamp, Increased Crosscut Capacity, Powerful 3800 RPM Motor, Corded (DWS779)

Update 3-15-2019--Great price on this saw on Amazon right now at $334. Perhaps best ever. Buy it!________________________________________________________________________________________DeWalt does not list this model (DWS779) on their web site, probably because this saw is the top-of-the-line DWS780 corded sliding compound miter saw without the DWS780's superb XPS guide light. Right now on Amazon (as of January, 2017) and elsewhere (Home Depot online) the DWS779 is selling for $200 less than the DWS780--a substantial savings if you can do without the light. DeWalt used to sell an accessory XPS light for older saw models, but no longer. Though the accessory lights can still be found on Ebay, the electrical coupler for the accessory is no longer built into newer saws. Youtube has guides to ordering the relevant parts off the DWS780 parts list and hacking them onto the DWS779. It will set you back a bit less than $70 and a little work.My wife bought me a DWS709 12-inch sliding compound miter saw at Home Depot on Black Friday. It was advertised as a $549 value being sold as a "Special Deal" at $399 (with an additional $25 taken off at the register from manufacturer). When she gave it to me at Christmas I looked it up and found that it was a substantially different saw than the DWS780, and that it was then selling (post-Christmas) for $349 at Home Depot. Home Depot's Black Friday advertising led my wife to believe the saw she was buying was the DWS780, DeWalt's top-of-the-line saw. The Black Friday ad didn't mention model number, nor was it on display in the store, suggesting an intention to mislead potential buyers.The saw she actually received (the DWS709) is a twelve-inch sliding compound saw. But though it superficially resembles the DWS779 and DWS780, it has diminished cutting capacities along with several other more minor deficiencies (handle placement, miter-angle adjustment release, etc.). Despite Home Depot selling the DWS709 as a Black Friday "special" for $399, the store routinely sells the saw for less than $399 on its web site.This saw, the DWS779, is routinely sold for $399 on the web. That's what I bought it for from Amazon, and that's its price at Home Depot online. It is the DWS780 without the XPS light, possessing the same motor, fence, blade, stops and capacities as the DWS780. Home Depot occasionally offers a special combination of a DeWalt 12-inch sliding miter saw with a stand for $599. However, the saw sold with the stand in my experience is not the DWS780, but the DWS779 and sometimes the DWS709. Purchasers who aren't aware of the different models (and I think DeWalt intentionally obscures model differences to enable such marketing ploys) don't realize that they could buy the same saw for $399. They think they're getting the top-of-the-line DeWalt DWS780 sliding miter saw with a free stand (about a $200 value). Instead, they're getting as a package a DWS779 or DWS709 saw and a stand that they might be able to purchase separately for cheaper....Finally, as to the tool itself (the DWS779), if you can live without the XPS light, it's everything people write about the DWS780. Good saw. Heavy. I mean, HEAVY. I'm amazed at how much heavier it is than my 20-year-old DeWalt miter saw. But a great machine. You will want a rolling stand for it if you intend to use it on sites. Trust me on this.

I'm comparing this to a DW70 sliding miter saw by Dewalt that's about 16 or 17 years old. A few years ago the retractable blade guard quit working correctly on it so I shoved a screw in the guard and locked it in the up position so I could still use it. This worked ok and yes you're right it is a little dangerous to use it this way. But I have it mounted permanently to a bench so no one uses it but me. Enters my youngest grandson who is now 20. Gramps, help me build some tables, which is teenage for "let me borrow your tools". So not wanting to have him go through life thinking Grandpop was responsible for him loosing a finger I opted to replace it and very happy I did. This is a great saw with a few better features than the old one. First it does come with a decent 12" blade, designed for crosscutting. Its not the best but defiantly decent. Most DIYers will find it most adequate. It's able to cut 4 x 4's in a single cut, which a 10" saw cannot. By the way it does have a 5/8" arbor so if you upgrade to a 12", 60 tooth blade, you'll need to buy an adapter ring. About $7 on Amazon. Any brand name will work as long as its a 5/8 x 1" adapter. It just a washer that fits inside the blade hole and over the arbor on the saw. This keeps the blade centered. Many 12" blades have 1" holes so they will fit sloppy without the adapter on this saw. By the way the guard retracting mechanism is all together different on this saw and will not have the same problems my old saw has, ever. Much simpler and cleaner. The saw also has an a safety switch built into the on switch in the handle. The DW70 did not have this. Unlike other tools with safety switches this one isn't a pain in the butt to use. You just have to get use to it. I's 3.5" wider than my old one which isn't important to me, since I have it built into a bench with an 8' long fence. But if you're using it portable an extra long fence is nice to have. Also the instruction book (yes I read it, well most of it) mentioned the fences are individually adjustable to keep you work perfectly in line. I have a different brand small miter saw that if you hold the board to the left of the blade it cuts perfectly but you hold the board to the right side of the blade it cuts about a degree off. since its not adjustable it can make for some sloppy, out of square miters. Talking about miters the adjustment mechanism is much better than the old style and this saw's stops came dead on, I didn't have to fine tune it all but it has the ability to fine tune it if it gets out of wack. It has a tube protruding out the back to exhaust sawdust and look like you can attach a vac to it or they include a dust catcher bag you can hang on it. That's a nice perk. My old saw blew sawdust everywhere. Of course there's no laser but I haven't convinced myself I need one. I had an add on, on the old saw, the little disc kind that fits on the arbor bolt next to the blade. You need the blade spinning to have it working and by then you really should have you board cut mark lined up anyway. So like most other woodworkers I set the stopped blade down on my cut line then raise the saw a bit above the board and turn it on then make the cut. I suppose its reassuring to see the red laser mark especially if it's a wide board and you haven't checked your miter alignment recently but really its just fluff. For $150 bucks more as a built it accessory its not worth it to me. As for the arbor disc gidgee, maybe I'll put it on when I change the blade to the 60 tooth, maybe? Right now it's in a drawer under the saw. My grandson, he went home with 2, 8 ft beer drinking frat tables and all 10 fingers and me I spent 2 great days with my youngest grandkid and hope he learned a couple tricks from his grumpy old grandpop. What a great saw