Dewalt DW715 Review

Dewalt DW715 Review
Source: dewalttoolsreview.com

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Dewalt DW715 Review

The Dewalt DW715 cuts through stock like a warm knife through butter…

Feeling this saw power up in your hand and glide through stock is immensely satisfying.

It delivers where it matters, too – The DW715 is not only powerful but also reliable and precise.

And OH boy is it precise. It’s a compound miter saw (not sliding), meaning no radial arm – This makes for amazing stability and precision.

In fact, this beat out all the competition to become our pick for best compound miter saw.

After reading this Dewalt DW715 review, you’ll understand why this is an amazing choice for hobbyists and professionals alike.

Pros

  • plus-circle Reliably precise, out of the box.
  • plus-circle Powerful & efficient 15 AMP motor.
  • plus-circle Light, transportable.
  • Easy-to-adjust fence and gauges.
  • Renowned Dewalt build quality.

Cons

  • exclamation-circle Poor dust collection (typical of most miter saws).
  • exclamation-circle Incompatible with Dewalt lasers or LEDs.
  • exclamation-circle Occasional fence defects (which Dewalt will solve).

Overview

The Dewalt DW715 won our award for “best compound miter saw” because quite frankly, it’s an excellent piece of kit from Dewalt.

There’s a bucketload of power to start with, which is the most basic requirement of any miter saw that is to be taken seriously. You won’t run into power issues with the Dewalt.

On top of that, there’s a lot of effort put into ensuring reliable accuracy with the DW715.

This comes not only in the form of the usual build quality that is to be expected from almost all Dewalt power tools, but also in the features they include.With both power and accuracy taken care of, Dewalt go even further with the DW715 to make it also as user-friendly as possible.

A lot of saws out there (and power tools in general) will fight you – they’ll make it difficult to set your angles right, or things won’t lock securely, or there’ll be something slightly off square, or whatever.

They don’t fight you by intentionally, but rather due to unfunctional design or poor construction.But the Dewalt DW715 is the opposite – it works with you.

Everything works as you would expect it to, and this is absolutely one of the most user-friendly and reliable compound miter saws that is to be found anywhere.

Everything is built on the solid foundation of Dewalt build quality. They’re world famous for a reason – and it’s because they make great tools for great prices, which is exactly the case with the DW715 compound miter saw.

Motor

As I find myself saying time and time again when reviewing miter saws – the motor and it’s output isn’t really something you need to spend too long thinking about.

If a motor has adequate power for your needs in terms of amppage and RPM, then you can pretty much trust the manufacturer to deliver on that.

You’ll find very similar motors in most miter saws these days, and they all do the same job. Unless you get into the real nitty gritty of it, it’s very hard to distinguish different levels of motor quality between miter saws.

The DW715 is no different – it’s mounted to the right side of the blade and puts out a roaring 4000 rpm, and you can expect it to deliver on that. It’s as simple as that.

When it comes to choosing the best miter saw for you, it’s best to spend most time considering the features you’ll be using most often and that are most important – the accuracy, the bevel and miter gauges, the fence, safety features, and so on.

It’s in these aspects that miter saws really differ from one another – and it’s getting these things right or wrong that make a miter saw good or bad.

There’s another quick note about the motor on the DW715 – actually, it’s a note about this saws bigger brother, the DW716.

The DW716 is almost exactly the same as the DW715, expect it’s a double bevel – meaning the blade can tilt both left and right.

The reason for mentioning this in the motor section, is that the motor is mounted behind the blade rather than to the side.

This is to allow the blade to bevel both left and right – but, a rear mounted motor can also be desirable as side mounted motors can sometimes interfere with a tall work piece during a cut.

Accuracy

The Dewalt DW715 is very accurate, thanks to the excellent build quality.

It has a stable base, which is also precision-machined and perfectly flat. This is very important, as the base has to hold everything steady – not just the saw itself and all components, but also your material.

A sturdy and flat base is essential for reliably accurate cuts, and the DW715 certainly delivers.

The build quality overall plays a bit role in this accuracy, too. The blade mount, arm, and arm attachment are all expertly manufactured with accuracy in mind.

Other big components of accuracy in a miter saw are all the gauges. The miter and bevel gauges need to be easy to set precisely, and they need to hold securely in place after they’re set.

Another important feature is the fence. If the fence isn’t solid and level, then you’ll have a hard time being accurate with your cuts.

We’ll discuss the gauges and fence more closely in the coming sections.The thing about accuracy in a miter saw, is that it also must be easy to achieve.

Almost any miter saw can be forced to make accurate cuts, with enough coaxing .. but, you don’t want to have to fight your power tools to get the job done right.

This is exactly why Dewalt are a great choice for miter saws and for many other types of power tools – they don’t just do the job right, but they make it as easy as possible for you with their amazing build quality and clever design.In terms of accuracy, thanks to everything discussed in this section, the DW715 is a real pleasure to use.

Miter and Bevel Adjustments

As mentioned above, these are very important for the accuracy of your cuts.

They should not only be accurate, but also smooth and easy to use.

You don’t want to be setting and re-setting either of these over and over again just to get it exactly right.

And of course, Dewalt will deliver once again in this department.

You get the standard -45 to +45 degrees miter range, and also a 0 to 48 degrees bevel capacity, with a left tilt to the blade.

For bevels there’s 4 hardened steel stops, at 0, 33.9 degrees, 45 degrees, and 48 degrees.And for miters, there’s a total of 11 positive stops at common angles spanning from -45 to +45 degrees.

There’s an easy-to-adjust camlock handle for setting the miter angle – it’s sturdy, and makes setting and locking the correct angle very easy.

This is just Dewalt quality at it’s finest – they do everything you’d expect and want in a compound miter saw, and they do it well.

The bevel stops I mentioned a few paragraphs above are a good example of how htey also go above and beyond – you don’t get bevel stops on many miter saws out there, only miter stops.

But clearly bevel stops are a great feature, and Dewalt have done well to include them with the DW715.

Dust Collection

The Dewalt DW715 doesn’t have good dust collection.

The dust collection is actually terrible.

This is the one way this miter saw lets the user down.. by not being able to clean up the mess as it’s making cuts.

This won’t be an issue for everyone, but it’s an annoyance at the very least.

Unfortunately, this is the case for almost every miter saw that you’ll find on the market today.

They all have terrible dust collection, and it’s simply due to the design of miter saws in general. The blade sits right out on top of the base, very exposed – and the dust just goes everywhere.

No miter saw can deal with this effectively because it just takes too much equipment to do so.

You can make the dust collection effective on a miter saw, but it takes a lot of effort. You need a big hood that takes up a ton of space behind the saw to catch the saw dust being kicked off by the blade.

Combined with a good shop vac, a big hood can help quite a lot.. but, it still won’t be perfect.

Dust collection is just always going to be a pain in one way or another when using a miter saw.

Conclusion

Power, accuracy, and user-friendliness.

These are the 3 most important things in a miter saw, and Dewalt nails them all with the DW715.

Not only that, but all of the amazing features are built on the rock solid foundation that is renowned Dewalt build quality.

The Dewalt DW715 is an excellent and effective compound miter saw that will be loved by professionals and hobbyists alike.

Click here to read user reviews on Amazon.

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Categorized as Saws