Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I wanted to give five stars. This is clearly an amazing tool. Small, light, and effective. I’m perplexed at all the reviews stating this saw won’t cut stuff or is too weak. It’s a battery powered saw with a 3-3/8 inch blade! Smaller, lighter, and less powerful than larger saws. Simple logic tells us it’s not going to cut nearly as fast or with as much force as a corded 7-1/4 inch or larger saw. I’ve used it a few times on some 3/4 inch common wood, cutting and ripping. It takes longer than a bigger corded saw, but it gets the job done with less noise and less hassle (cords and sawdust spray.) That said, I have an annoying peeve and why I’m giving it four stars. The manual clearly describes two optional accessories: a rip fence and a vacuum attachment or “dust nozzle”. But the manual doesn’t explain how to obtain these accessories or what the part numbers are. The manufacturer’s website is equally useless. I was left with searches across the Internet. Nothing concrete like with other tools and other manufacturers. When the company’s support department opened Monday morning, I called them. The rip fence was found and sent along with the extra thumb screw that is not included with the saw or the rip fence. I can see why it isn’t included with the rip fence – the rip fence is compatible with different saws which means different screws for each application. Just be sure to get that screw when you call the support folks. The rip fence and thumb screw work nicely with the saw. The rip fence part number is 164095-8 and the thumb screw part number is 265756-4. Now to the vacuum attachment. Get this: after about 10 minutes on hold, the support technician tells me the part IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATE! Seriously? And, because it isn’t available in the United States, he has no part number to give me! His best idea when I asked “then how do I get one?” was to call the Canada support department! The Canada lead was a dead end. So now I start using Google image search looking for anything that looks like the drawing in the instruction manual. I finally found something on ebay from Finland and I ordered it. Three weeks later it arrives and it’s the right part (part number 452237-9) but there is no screw (and I’m not surprised at this point in this Alice-in-Wonderland adventure.) A trip to the local hardware store and an M4 x 16 .70 pitch Phillips pan head machine screw with M4 lock washer and that part of the task is done. And then I discover why they don’t sell the vacuum attachment in the United States: it has a 2.12 cm outside diameter and a 1.7 cm inside diameter - it isn't compatible with anything that I can find. I’ll rig something up eventually by modifying a 1.25 inch reducer but I’m done with this report. Bottom line: Makita makes an amazing saw, but the documentation people screwed up and created a minor mess. A few minutes editing and all this would be resolved, and I would have saved a few hours of research and phone calls. I included the part of the documentation that shows the saw being attached to a vacuum with this so-called “optional accessory”—it’s on page 9 of the English section of the manual! Note the ease at which the saw with the accessory is attached to the vacuum—one has to wonder who makes such a hose that attaches so seamlessly to both ends. Epilog: One more Amazon order (Multi-Fit Wet Dry Vacuum Accessories VT1215 Vacuum Micro Cleaning Kit) and a trip to the hardware store for some 1/2 inch vinyl tubing and I have a working vacuum solution! I used the 1.25 inch reducer from the accessory kit and six feet of vinyl tubing. The tubing fits over the unmodified end of the reducer and fits snugly into the top of the Makita vacuum attachment. The nice part of this solution is that we can get as much tubing as we need to give us ample working room with the saw. Get the braided vinyl tubing as it resists deformation when the vacuum is on. One final note: If you don’t want to use your shop vac and you have one of those foreign made vacuums like a Miele or Bosch, then you will need a 35 mm to 1.25 inch converter like the EZ SPARES 35 mm to 32mm Vacuum Hose Universal Adapter Kit.