Makita SP6000J 6-1/2-Inch Plunge Circular Saw

I purchased the Dewalt and took it back before using it and purchased the Makita instead. My reason for this is that Makita and Fess use the same track design, which means there are more accessories to make this system even better. Dewalt has discontinued many of their accessories, and aftermarket accessories for other track systems in many cases do not work with Dewalt due to their double sided track design. I really wanted a t-square attachment for the track to make setups easier when breaking down sheet goods. You don’t need one, but it is nice to have. Ok, so what about quality? Both the Dewalt and Makita feel like good products. The Dewalt T is heavier, and feels like it is made from some heavier castings. I did not run the Dewalt but I did adjust the saw and check its ability to slide well. The Makita slid across the track much more smoothly than the Dewalt. Adjustments are similar, so I consider them equal here. The Makita has a track retaining latch that keeps the saw from tipping off the track when doing miter cuts. What about accuracy? I had to square up a piece of 3/8” painted furniture grade plywood that arrived in a parallelogram shape from my cabinet company. How a company with huge panel saws and CNC machines cannot cut a square corner is beyond me. This piece was going to skin the back of a peninsula and join to the face frame of a cabinet, so the cut had to be accurate, clean, and straight. The results were absolutely perfect! I think the cabinet company should buy this saw. The quality of the cut was better in every way. I replaced the factory blade with the 56 tooth Makita thin kerf blade before setting up my track. This added some cost, but I think it was worth it. The saw cut very well with this blade. Makita should include this blade standard. It felt like the motor was coasting, which I can in part attribute to the anti friction coating on this blade. I like the plunge movement better on the Makita too. The Dewalt felt a bit unnatural. Makita has a very nice track bag to hold your tracks too. It is extra but I really liked the quality. The box that comes with the saw is also nice, and has a bit of extra room in it to hold a spare balde or two. All I can say is buy this thing. You won’t be disappointed.

I recently purchased this saw from Amazon. I'm quite happy with it in spite of a couple of problems. First, upon receipt the base was warped. When I set the saw on the track there was a pronounced rocking chair effect. Turns out a couple of screws in the base had been over tightened. Since I (knowingly) bought a saw that had been previously purchased and then returned to Amazon, it's possible this problem did not originate with the manufacturer (although the saw did not appear to have been used). It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, but once I did, it was an easy fix. Second, there is a button/pin you push in to use the saw's pre-cut feature and then pull back out to make the final cut. It pushes in just fine but when you try to pull it back out the small red rubbery cap pulls off. This is a real annoyance. You have to pinch the sides of the button to hold it in place while you pull. There doesn't seem to be an easy fix for this. Since the button is soft, I don't think any glue of cement will help. You just have to remember to pinch as you pull. You could remove the pin from the saw, drill a small hole in it, tap it, and install a screw to hold the cap on but this would be a lot of bother. Third, and last, the blade I received does not cut melamine well. It chips badly on the underside. I replaced it with a Tenryu melamine blade which cuts beautifully with virtually no chipping. The Tenryu blade is slightly smaller than the Makita blade but the pre-cut feature still works although you may need to press down in the saw a little to keep the pre-cut from occasionally skipping. I sharpen my own saw blades so, when I next sharpen blades, I'll resharpen the Makita blade and see if I can get it to cut better. So far I've cut 45 melamine cabinet doors with this saw. I've not yet cut anything but melamine. The chipping caused by the Makita blade resulted in a great deal of ugliness an it all needed fixing which was tedious. Anyway, after a little tweaking, I love the SP6000. I can't well compare it to other track saws since it's the only one I've used. I love how I can accurately cut full 4x8 sheets w/o a lot of lifting and fighting with bulk and weight. My great wish is that I could find a VERY ACCURATE square with which I could easily and accurately layout four foot cross cuts in full sheets. There are gizmos you can attach to the track that are supposed to help you do this but they are so short that I can't see how they could be accurate over a four foot span. There are large collapsible four foot squares but they are for laying out floor tile or other similar tasks where "close enough" is all you need. "Close enough" won't work for cabinetry. Framing squares are neither accurate enough or long enough to work well. Does anyone have any helpful comments they might make?

I bought this Makita track saw to break down 3/4" maple plywood (poplar core) when making cabinets. It works as described: once you make your first cut, which establishes the cutline on the plastic edge, it will cut exactly to that line every time straight as an arrow. I use biscuits, Titebond III, and butt joints to assemble my cabinets, so I obsess about really smooth, perfectly square finish cuts. Therefore, I used the track saw to cut my panels 1/16" oversize, which I then finished on my table saw. That said, by measuring and marking carefully, I was able to achieve perfectly straight, perfectly square cuts using the Makita that were suitable to use against the table saw fence. All my panels, and the resulting cabinets, came out perfectly square. I bought only one 55" track. To cut 4' x 8' sheets lengthwise, I used an 8' straightedge to mark my lines. Yes, I had to move the track saw once to make the full cut, but doing it carefully and using the blade to index to the previous cut resulted in flawless, perfectly straight full-length cuts. A tip: pick up a 4' x 8' sheet of 1-1/2" hard insulation foam, lay it on the floor, and cut your plywood on that. Your back will thank you.

I decided to purchase this over the battery version and over other brands to save a couple bucks. I watched lots of videos and read reviews and landed on this as a cost-effective and quality saw. And I can confirm that it does stand up to the reviews. If I already had Makita batteries, I likely would have gone for the battery version but after using it for a while the cord doesn't bother me at all. The saw and track were straight out of the box and I made some 90 degree cuts that were spot on without any adjustment. I just set up the saw on the tracks and tightened the adjustment screws to get a good fit to the track without any wobble. And you can see from the picture, it cut 7/8" black walnut no problem and left an almost perfect finish. It's actually on par with my table saw with a glue line rip Freud blade. Thanks Makita for including a quality blade, not some trash like a lot of brands. The track is grippy, even on a surface with a little sawdust but we will see how that holds up over time. So far, very satisfied with the purchase and I'll update this review as I get more use out of it.

Exceeded my expectations in quality of cut. I cut 3/4 plywood in one pass and got a perfect cut with zero tear-out. The connectors for my two 55-inch rails was flawless and provided a smooth transission from one rail to the other. There was no sign of being underpowered but I took two passes on hardwood. So far, I'm extremely happy with my seventh Makita tool. I'd recommend it to anyone whose budget won't allow a Festool track saw whose price is hundreds more. I did not opt for the brushless track saw due to cost.

Very nice saw. Cheaper alternative.

Here is my review on the: Makita SP6000J1 6-1/2" Plunge Circular Saw Kit, with Stackable Tool case and 55" Guide Rail I purchased this with my own money. This is the corded model. I don't have a dust collector so I cannot speak to that. In short, I love it and although I have never used Festool I feel this is the tracksaw/railsaw for me. I have no complaints whatsoever with the operation, quality, or overall appearance of this saw. What I love about it is the rail/track is compatible with Festool stuff and unlike DeWalt and many others proprietary in nature. So accessories from Ali Express or Festool or TSO, etc. will all work with this track/rail. I purchased rail clamps but I've never had to use them because the track is grippy! I couldn't believe that when I was considering the purchase of this saw, but keep the back side of the rail and your work blown off with compressed air and you'll have no slipping! I used this Makita system to build kitchen cabinets. And, prior to that, to make a straight edge on 8-foot-long poplar for door and window casings in my cabin. It's a high-quality piece of gear like all Makita stuff is. The track is heavy and nice aluminum. What I did was purchase (2) 55-inch Powertech rails that I keep fastened together for long rips, then I use the 55-inch Makita rail with this set for cross cuts. I bought an inexpensive rail square to help with that which works wonderfully. Very accurate cuts, very easy to accomplish. The hard case is nice to store the saw in. The soft start feature is very nice, the plunge feature works very smoothly. The Makita blade is exceptional. Exceptional. In fact, this blade, along with the rubber strip on the rail prevents tear-out better than some of my very expensive blades used on my Delta 3 h.p. Unisaw. I should have bought this a year or two ago. It's an expensive purchase, yes. But if you use it only 3-4 times (you'll use it much more!) I feel it has paid for itself. I love it. I highly recommend this Makita corded track saw.

The saw has a short learning curve as to what all the buttons and screws do, but it is relatively intuitive. The shroud around the blade does make for good dust ejection. The saw has a fine blade that made very clean cuts. Using this I was able to break down a couple of birch and poplar plywood sheets more quickly and easily than using other guide systems with a regular circular saw. The big advantage is the guide that let's you set up without having to account for the offset between the blade and edge of the foot plate of a regular circular saw. Riding in the track the saw cuts the sacrificial splinter strip at precisely the cut line of the blade. Of course there is nothing magic about this, and you could make your own cutting guide for much less than this set up will set you back. I even have one for my worm saw. It works but is heavier and still requires more set up time than this system did. The depth of cut gauge is metric, but does not account for the thickness of the track either, so I found it easier just to set the blade depth experimentally. I did have some concern before buying this saw with the track.Many review criticize the quality control of the Makita track. I may have gotten lucky but had no problem once I got my hands on a track (not received with the saw, contrary to listing but remediated by Amazon with a discount equal to the price of a track that I bought from a different vendor). The 55 inch track is good for cross cutting sheet goods. Either two short tracks or Makita 118" track are needed to rip sheets. I went with two shorter tracks to save money. The two tracks connect at only one point with a steel rod that fits tightens in the same extrusion used by the optional track clamps. I opted for the Dewalt clamps because of their quick adjustment and they fit and worked without a problem. Anyway, some attention is needed that the cutting edge of the two rails form a single straight line before tightening. Also care needs to be taken putting on and taking off the joined tracks to and from the work between cuts not to stress the connector and throw the separate tracks out of alignment. After my initial experience I'd say this is not a necessity, could be imitated by anyone budget conscious with a shop made cutting guide, but that it does speed up breaking down sheet goods and has features like soft start that my stable of circular saws at least does not offer. In my case going with the two shorter tracks made sense. If you do a lot of ripping of sheet goods it might be worth swallowing hard and getting the long track.