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Hitachi C10FCE2 Review
Welcome to our Hitachi C10FCE2 review – The winner of our “best budget miter saw” award.PROS
Pros
- plus-circle Powerful 15-amp motor which runs at 5000 RPM
- plus-circle Great bang for the buck
- plus-circle Will reliably make precise cuts
Cons
- exclamation-circle Dust collection is pretty awful
- exclamation-circle Pretty bad setup guide
Overview
The Hitachi C10FCE2 may not come from a renowned powertool manufacturer, but it really doesn’t matter.
Hitachi have put together a great 10 inch single-bevel compound miter saw with the C10FCE2, and it’s a great choice for professionals, hobbyists, or homeowners alike.
Hitachi offers a no frills compound miter saw with the C10FCE2, which delivers incredible funcitonality, but at an amazing price.
This saw is powerful, accurate, and easy to use.
It has a great range of capabilities – and best of all is that it won’t fight against you to get quality results, as many other miter saws in this price range would.
Many comparable compound miter saws have issues with accuracy, ease of use, and so on.
What we have here is a truly quality saw, for a great price. There’s some serious bang for your buck with the Hitachi C10FCE2.
Setup
One of the very few downsides of this saw is the setup guide – it’s pretty awful.It doesn’t really matter, as it’s good enough to get you through the job. Plus, the setup itself is very quick and straight forward.One person should have the C10FCE2 up and running in under an hour – and with perfect accuracy out of the box, there’s not much more you can ask for!
Motor
This Hitachi compound miter saw is powerful, with a 15-amp motor which runs at 5000 RPM`.Power is of course very important in any saw, as a lack of power can pretty much make any other functionality of the saw useless.Thankfully, most manufacturers include very capable motors in miter saws these days.. and for the most part, they all do what they say on the tin.
5000 RPM is generally the top of speed range, so this is basically as good as it gets.The C10FCE2 produces plenty of power to deal with most jobs you’ll throw at it. You’ll get especially good results if you use a quality blade that’s designed for the purpose of your cut – a many-toothed, thin-kerf blade for precision woodworking, for example.The last thing to mention about the motor is that it’s designed to use replaceable brushes. This makes maintenance easier and means the motor will ultimately have a longer life than others.
Accuracy
You’d imagine that all compound miter saws would be perfectly accurate, right?That’s actually not the case with many of the options out there, especially in the lower price ranges.That’s why it’ll be a pleasant surprise to hear that the Hitachi C10FCE2 will be perfectly accurate out of the box. The blade or arm won’t wiggle around on you during use, and the saw will reliably make clean, precise cuts.
Miter and Bevel Adjustments
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For miter adjustments, you get the standard 0-52 degrees in both directions.I’m glad to report that the adjustments are not only reliably accurate, but also very easy.The adjustments can be made with a handle on the side, or with a flick of the lever with your thumb. Very easy and quick.
Lastly, there’s some lock positions at common angles to make them even easier – they’re at 0, 15, 22-1/2, 31-1/2, and 45 degrees.The bevel adjustment on this compound miter saw is also very smooth and accurate to use, like most other things on the Hitachi.This is a single-bevel saw, which means it’ll only tilt 45 degrees in one direction (left). You might want to consider a double bevel miter saw if you think it’s needed – but they’re gonna be more expensive, and there’s nothing wrong with the ole “cut and flip”.
Usage
There’s a really nice fence on the C10FCE2, and that’s one of the reasons it won our “best compound miter saw” award.It’s sturdy, and extends up to 4 inches to support those high materials such as crown molding.If you need to go even higher, there’s handy holes on the fence where you can attach a piece of wood to extend the height further.The usage overall, is very easy, safe, and pleasant.There’s plenty of power, so the blade spins up to 5000 RPM in no time, and tackles anything you throw at it. Needless to say, this power combined with the accuracy of the saw makes cutting a dream.The handle is an anti-vibration design with an excellent power trigger, which makes for very comfortable and safe usage.
Dust Collection
The Hitachi comes with a dust bag… but, I’ve got some bad news in this department.The dust collection on this compound miter saw is awful.This isn’t so surprising, as the dust collection on most miter saws is pretty bad and it takes a lot of effort and setup to do it effectively.So there is a dust collection bag, but you might as well not use it at all.. it won’t catch 99% of the dust you make while cutting.Again, we can’t really deduct points from this, as the dust collection on almost all miter saws will be pretty bad unless you put in a lot of effort post-purchase.
Other Features
The Hitachi C10FCE2 also has some nice additional features that many buyers are likely to find useful.These are a stand and a laser guide. Of course, they cost extra, but may be worth it depending on how you’ll be using this compound miter saw.The laser guide is pretty simple and does what you’d expect – it’s perfectly accurate and serves as a guide to help you make accurate cuts. Not an essential feature, but can definitely be a time saver and a good way to double check the precision of your cuts.The stand weighs in at 50 lbs and is constructed from heavy-duty steel.This sturdy construction means it can support up to 400 lbs, which is more than enough to securely support the lightweight Hitachi C10FCE2 and whatever you’re working on.There’s also extension arms to support wider materials, adding an extra 8 inches of support.Another noteworthy feature are the treaded wheels on the stand – these make transport very simple, even when your miter saw is still attached.
Conclusion
This is a great compound miter saw that packs a great bang for your buck.It’s a no-frills tool that delivers over and over again in terms of functionality and features, while also keeping the price affordable. That’s especially great if you’re looking for a more affordable alternative to something more expensive like Bosch GCM12SD. Accurate, powerful, sturdy, and comfortable to use – a great choice for professionals and hobbyists alike, or anyone who has need of a quality compound miter saw for a great price.