10 best circular saws in 2020 from $ 100 to $ 350

What is the best circular saw? The device should have a powerful motor with RPM of up to 5,000, multiple blade sizes, and be lightweight enough for easy handling. Corded models will allow you to work longer and are largely preferred by professionals who need to do a significant amount of work. We are convinced that Makita SP6000J Circular Saw perfectly fits all these criteria.

Why have we chosen this product? This professional-grade circular saw delivers smooth and precise cuts. It comes with a powerful 12.0 AMP motor and perfectly handles many types of materials. With a speed ranging from 2,000 to 5,200 RPM, this tool is a great choice for trim and finish work as well as cutting sheet material. The saw is convenient to operate due to a large handle and electric brake.

I've been thinking a lot about circular saws of late, partly because I made quite a bit of use out of one in working on my MAME cabinet.

We all know the basics of what a circular saw is, of course. It’s a power saw that uses a circular, toothed saw blade, which depending on the application, can vary wildly in size, and the engineering of the saw device too can vary quite a bit.

Gamers are familiar with the cliché image of a circular saw blade from the utter menace they were in “Super Meat Boy”, others are familiar with the trope from horror movies, or more violent slapstick where heroes must escape being sawed in half.

Makita SP6000J 6-½-Inch Plunge Circular Saw - Professional Quality -

Makita is a very respected brand, as are the other two we’ll be looking at. The thing is, casual tool users may not have heard of Makita the same way, these tools are usually reserved for the likes of professional environments, used by skilled craftsmen, carpenters and construction contractors, etc.

If you work in these industries, or are a very serious crafts hobbyist, though, you’ll almost certainly immediately nod and go “oh yeah, Makita tools kick serious butt”, and be eager to hear what their next innovation might be.

What you have here is your quintessential dual-mode circular saw, complete with reverse mode, compatibility with multiple blade sizes and connections, a high-powered motor, solid craftsmanship, and just the right amount of heft to stop it from walking, but not encumber you to the point of fatigue.

This is the costlier of my three recommendations, and as such, it’s not for the first-time user, or casual user who might only need this saw once or twice a year. No, I have an alternative I’m saving for last, that’s “the peoples’s saw” so to speak.

Features

• Power: 110v, 740w electric motor, corded.
• Reverse: Yes.
• Hand-Trigger: Yes.
• Track: Available as small additional purchase - RECOMMENDED.
• Safety Guard: Solid steel.
• Blade Compatibility: Multiple.
• Modes: Hand and stationary plunge engineering.
• Weight: 9.7lbs.

Performance

This saw will last for years if you take good care of it, and you’ll need almost no maintenance if you put good blades on it. I have an older version of this Makita saw, and I bit the bullet and bought diamond blades for it, and I’ve used them for years, cutting nasty material like particle board, vinyl and even thin aluminum without issue.

The heft is just right with these, keeping you from becoming careless, but not so heavy as to be hell to use. I recommend this saw to anyone who needs to regularly use one, but only to people who need to do so, as you won’t get your worth out of it if it’s just an occasional thing.

I love the plunge motion of it, it feels like butter, and makes lining up along guides and channels and routes so much easier. This isn’t an innovation, but man, having used circulars with no plunge motion, I will settle for nothing less than a Makita design like this pretty much for the rest of my time on this mortal coil.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

If you do a lot of work needing a circular saw, this is the saw you want. Seriously, there’s no point in shopping around, get a Makita.

What Types of Circular Saws Are There?

So, let’s discuss the theory of circular saw engineering, and get a bit more understanding of them. At the most basic, a circular saw is an electric motor (sometimes pneumatic) to which a spherical, toothed blade is mounted. The saw will then, usually, spin in the direction the teeth are arching in, chewing into whatever you’re cutting.

Now, there’s a problem here, and I don’t mean the fact the blade could do that to your hand (we’ll get there) - as it cuts into something, that pulls the tool. If not properly weighted down and fastened or gripped, these tools can “walk” and get away from you. Oh, I’ll be sharing what happens when you don’t watch that.

As a result, the engineering of circular saws has integrated a standard swivel motion with the handle, as well as a trigger to fire the motor, that allows you to pull back and shut the motor off should it decide to try and go for a stroll. Along with this, they also tend to come in two basic form factors, with some being modifiable to either direction.

The first is the stationary circular saw, which fastens down to a saw horse or work bench of some sort, with a track to slide the thing you’re cutting along, which is often the far safer option. While you shave to watch your hands as you guide the material through, the saw is unlikely to get out of control.

The other is the “handheld” variety, which is indeed the more dangerous of the lot. The thing is, though, sometimes you need the ability to guide the saw, not the material, when cutting complex paths along larger pieces of material. While a channel saw or jigsaw is often a better choice for complexities like that, you’re more likely to have a circular saw in hand, due to the wider versatility that comes with that.

Why To Buy A High-End Circular Saw?

A common additional feature that either type must have, is a reverse. Blades do get stuck sometimes.

It’s also not just about the saw, but the quality of blades. While they cost more, diamond-tipped or laser-etched blades are always your best bet. It may seem like resistance to the cutting motion makes it safer, but that’s actually the opposite of the truth.

So, we understand that a properly-weighted, full-featured saw, preferably one that can do stationary and hand-guided cutting, is the best choice - and you’re only going to get that from a good brand that packs power and conscientious safety design into their saws.

Let me share with you the dangers, and why you should never remove the guard, or get too impatient with your saw. I have three stories to share briefly about this, one of which happened when I was little, to my grandpa, one of which happened back in ’01 to my friend Mickey, and one that just happened to me.

I don’t remember what my grandpa was cutting, but he was cutting it in our kitchen, with a circular saw. It was a good model, but ancient even then, probably from the 50s. Still, tools from that time were built to last. The thing got away from him because it hit a weird density, and lacked the hand trigger stop mechanism of modern saws. He went to grab for its guard, and the saw cut deep into his finger. I’d never seen human bone before... and while I’ve seen far nastier accidents since then, especially after working in a morgue at one point, wow, that stuck with me because of who it happened to.

He was okay, his finger healed, though with a permanent scar, and it reinforced just what a tough mofo my grandpa really was. He just bandaged it, casually drove to the hospital, got stitches, came back, and finished the project. Rest in peace grandpa... you tough son of a gun.

Mickey was luckier, but he was almost far less fortunate than my grandpa. We were cutting a door to allow enough floor clearance, and he had the bright idea to take the guard off his saw because it was loose and annoyed the blade. When it slipped, because he didn’t fasten it to the sawhorse properly, his dumb ass tried to catch the saw. It had jammed enough the blade merely scratched him... but he almost lost a finger if not his hand. Use the guard.

Lastly, we come to my recent adventures with circular saws, building my MAME cabinet. What the heck is a MAME cabinet? Put simply, I built an arcade cabinet with PC hardware that ran an emulator called MAME, thus allowing pretty much every arcade game ever to play on it. This is a common nerd project, so it’s not something innovative, but being a former arcade manager, it was a deeply personal project.

I should have used a jigsaw to cut the rounded edges, but I thought the circular saw would handle it fine. Instead of making room, and using the track, though, I just braced part of it with my hip… there is now a very deep cut on my right hip - far from medically urgent, but painful, and with multiple stitches. That was really stupid. Follow OSHA safety regulations, even in your garage, with power tools, everyone. I literally built my MAME cabinet with blood, sweat and tears.

DEWALT DWE575SB 7-¼-Inch Lightweight Circular Saw with Electric Brake -

Now, everyone who knows even the tiniest iota about tools has heard of DeWalt. They've long ago made a name for themselves, being quality and affordability fairly equally-balanced. They’re no Makita, but they’re also no Makita where price is concerned.

This acceptable compromise has led to them being very common on construction sites and being very popular among armchair craftsmen who do semifrequent hobby projects. Were I not constantly fabricating computer cases and the like for people as a side gig, I’d probably have a DeWalt for my own projects.

This DeWalt saw is actually quite nice, and while I would argue the Makita is better in most regards, the gap of quality and user experience between it and this one is surprisingly narrow.

I do like the electric brake on this one, compared to the dead man's switch approach to the engine trigger / button on most, though I worry that if you’re used to just releasing to stop a saw, you could hurt yourself forgetting to deploy the brake on this.

Features

• Power: 230v electric motor, corded.
• Reverse: Yes.
• Hand-Trigger: Yes. Also electric brake.
• Track: Separate purchase.
• Safety Guard: Solid steel.
• Blade Compatibility: Multiple.
• Modes: Hand and stationary with integrated guide plate.
• Weight: 8.8lbs.

Performance

I spent a lot of time talking about how much I like Makita over all other brands, that I feel I haven’t been entirely fair to DeWalt. They’re not trying to be Makita, and where it counts, in safety and durability, they’re in the same league really. The electric brake is a great idea, and something that too few saws, including my Makita, actually have.

This is a durable, easy-to-use saw, a little lighter than others, but still with enough heft to keep you in control. What I don’t like personally about this saw is the lack of plunge motion, which can make biting into some materials a pain.

In fact, part of why my grandpa almost lost a finger was a lack of plunge motion on his saw, causing him to misalign it, which made it bite into part of the wood he wasn’t intending, and then chaos ensured. However, lots of people prefer non-plunge saws, and there are various projects where it’s a better choice.

The lack of articulation to support that plunge is where a lot of the price reduction of this saw comes from, and better it come out of that, than overall safety and quality.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

This is a good saw. If you’re okay with the lack of plunge, and it being a customary saw with most measurements on the guide (despite it claiming to be metric), then you’ll be happy with the price and what you get out of this DeWalt. Perfect for intermediate hobbyists, or as a saw you don’t mind having to repair when abused on job sites.

Bosch CS5 120-Volt 7-¼-Inch Circular Saw -

Bosch is also a pretty highly-regarded name in power tools, though this is my recommendation mostly for novices, or people who only occasionally need to make use of the tool. It's affordable, and it's a no-frills design, which is fine for what your average Joe or Jane needs out of something like this.

It has no plunge, it has only the most basic guard and guiding plate, no electric brake, and a bit of a sluggish trigger, which means it could be dangerous if mishandled. If you’ve never used a circular saw before, someone experienced should supervise you your first few times. It doesn’t matter how old, nor how intelligent you are. This is a basic saw, which is all well and good, but it also means it’s the easiest one to injure yourself with. Respect these tools.

Features

• Power: 110v, 740w electric motor, corded.
• Reverse: Yes.
• Hand-Trigger: Yes. Also electric brake.
• Track: Available as small additional purchase - RECOMMENDED.
• Safety Guard: Solid steel.
• Blade Compatibility: Multiple.
• Modes: Hand and stationary with integrated guide plate.
• Weight: 9.3lbs.

Performance

I’ve used a saw like this, and yeah, it’s fine for the occasional need for adjusting a door, or cutting some boards - basic carpentry stuff. I wouldn’t say this is for a professional craftsman nor a heavy hobbyist - I wouldn’t have wanted to use this one to work on my arcade cabinet, for example.

This doesn’t make it a bad saw. This is the saw that average, usually not-handy people should have in their garage, for those simpler projects we should all know how to do, to save ourselves money. It's a solid saw, with a nice weight, dependable engineering, and well, Bosch is no slouch. Their demographic are average people, and they still take safety and quality seriously.

It’s a barebones design though, so just… please do be very, very careful with this one, it’s the more dangerous of the three. Don’t be my grandpa, or Mickey... or me ...

Pros and Cons

10 Best Circular Saws Comparison Table

Conclusion
I spent a lot of time pointing out the basic nature of this one making it dangerous, but I still feel confident by price and quality, in recommending this to anyone who just occasionally needs a saw, but isn’t using it weekly nor daily like I or others might.

You’d be surprised how happy you’ll be to have this saw, when the time comes you do need it, and the price is right for something that’s better to have and not need than to need and not have.

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Best compact circular saw