It was not so long ago that the idea of a competent cordless saw was more wish than reality. Many was the time I heard the sad whine of a weak saw bogging down in a piece of 1″x pine at the lumber yard. Now tool and battery technology has advanced to a point where some cordless saws are as strong as their corded counterparts. One of the saws at the top of the heap is the Makita 36v Cordless, Brushless Rear Handle Circular Saw. (XSR01)
In the US, circular saw users appear to be divided into three camps: Blade Right Sidewinders, Blade Left Sidewinders, and Rear Handled (worm drive form) Blade Left Saws. There is a subset of people who want Blade Right Rear Handle saws, likely because they’re left-handed, but I don’t think anyone makes them. These camps are largely geographical. Worm drives predominate on the West Coast while sidewinders left and right are prevalent on the East. One mid-western wag claimed to be waiting for a blade-center saw.
Cordless saw makers have been providing both types of sidewinders for a number of years, but the rear handle folks have had to do without until now. Makita’s 36v saw is the saw they have been waiting for. It’s not a worm drive, as the motor armature is 90° from the blade, but it has the form of the classic worm drive, including blade visibility, weight, and balance. It also has an abundance of power. This is a saw that rips pressure treated dimensional lumber and LVLs with ease, better than my previous corded saws and much better than my first cordless circs.
I have always been a sidewinder man even though I started in the trade with my father’s handful of Skil Model 77 worm drives. Years of working on New Jersey framing crews got me used to blade right saws and I hadn’t looked back until the arrival of the Makita. The strength and the obvious build quality have me now making the adjustments I need to be at home with it. There are some advantages to each form. The rear handle saw, with its in-line body, makes it easier to make long, straight rips with less effort to keep it on the line, and for right-handed use, it allows unobstructed blade visibility. The forward handle allows a strong two-handed grip for secure operation.
There are, in my opinion, a couple of drawbacks to the rear handle form. The main one is that for crosscutting as a rightie, the larger part of the saw’s shoe (and therefor, weight) will be resting on the off-fall, the piece that will drop. This requires the user to “catch” the saw instead of letting the workpiece support it. Makita’s manual actually says not to do this! But if you avoid that by crosscutting on the left end of the piece, you give away a favored feature of a blade left saw, the visibility of the cut line. And if you’re right-handed, you’ll be giving up use of your dominant hand. Another drawback is the weight of the saw that must be cantilevered forward of the user’s hand. That requires either a very strong wrist or two-handed operation, disallowing the use of a free hand to steady the workpiece. These are not characteristics exclusive to Makita, and I will say that they have done an excellent job producing a powerful, well built saw. And as far as my opinions? Try selling them to the untold thousands of users since the early 1920s who have wanted nothing else!
Part of the XSR01’s performance can be credited to the Makita blade that comes with it. The 7¼”, 24 tooth blade is “Ultra-Coated”, a finish that reduces heat and prevents pitch build-up. The two-pointed tooth design leaves a very nice finish on the material, particularly for a general purpose blade. I believe they are the first blades I have seen with finish and graphics on both sides. That makes the blade easily identifiable when on a blade left or blade right saw.
The saw kit comes with a dual charger and the requisite two batteries, all in a very nice canvas bag. I say very nice even though I’m not a big fan of bags over good tool cases, but this bag is a step above the usual fare from other companies.
From Makita’s web site:
-Brushless Motor delivers 5,100 RPM for maximum performance and 50% longer run time per charge
-Retractable, extra-wide tool hook secures the tool when not in use
-Cuts 3X material in a single pass with a large 2-9/16” cutting capacity at 90°
-Built-in tether notch (tether sold separately)
-Includes (2) 18V LXT® 5.0Ah batteries, dual port rapid charger, 24T blade, wrench, bag
Even as one who has used sidewinders almost exclusively, I know I will do a lot with this saw, and I don’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a strong, cordless, brushless circ.
-dvl
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