Ryobi TSS120L 12-Inch Sliding Compound Miter SawHobbyist

The TSS120L is the cheapest 12-inch slider that owners don't write off, and reviewers report it cutting accurately out of the box with plenty of power. The tall fence handles most crown nested. It's single-bevel with some rail and fence limits, and the stock blade is loud, so it rewards a blade upgrade.

• A reviewer said it cut with outstanding accuracy out of the box and stayed accurate through the test, and an owner checked it dead-on both ways with a combo square
• The tall aluminum fence lets you cut most crown nested with clean sightlines to the blade
• The 15-amp motor plowed through cedar and pressure-treated 2x4s, with an electric brake that stops fast
• It's the cheapest 12-inch slider in its class that owners consider worth buying

• An owner cutting a 1x12 found the miter about a sixteenth out of square and reported a little wobble and slop in the rails
• The plastic miter pointer is wide, so it's hard to set angles under a degree precisely
• The single-cast fence angles back toward center on some units, throwing end cuts off a few degrees, and it can't be fully dialed out
• It's single-bevel, the laser drifts when the head is pulled down, and the dust bag leaks

It takes standard 12-inch, 1-inch arbor blades, and owners say a quality blade basically makes it a new saw. The 1-1/2-inch port hooks to a shop vac, and it fits universal stands or its saw-and-stand bundle. It's mechanically single-bevel, so there's no dual-bevel conversion.