Portable Table Saws

Benchtop table saws are small and lightweight

For use on jobsites or for easier storage in a small workshop, portable table saws (also called benchtop saws) are either light enough to carry or come with a rolling stand. The main drawback is that their small tables make it difficult to cut sheets of plywood. Nor do benchtop saws incorporate blade brakes like those found on SawStop saws.

Keep in mind, though, that the SawStop Contractor Saw CNS175-SFA30 (*Est. $1,600), discussed in the next section, does include the sensor and brake that prevent cuts. It's available with a jobsite cart (*Est. $200) that turns it into a portable table saw with superior dust control as well as safety.

If the SawStop Contractor Saw is beyond your budget, it's still possible to buy a portable table saw with a riving knife, blade guard assembly and good dust control -- all important safety features. Aside from the SawStop Contractor Saw equipped with a jobsite cart, reviews give top ranking to the Bosch 4100 series (*Est. $540 to $725).

All Bosch table saws come with a true riving knife to prevent kickback, plus a blade guard that flips out of the way easily. A Popular Woodworking reviewer calls this "the most user-friendly system I have seen." The blade guard can be removed or replaced in seconds, and the riving knife can be locked at three different heights (to make it easier to cut rabbets or dadoes). Anti-kickback pawls are also included, and it's easy to make a zero-clearance throat plate for safety when cutting tiny pieces. (Throat plates fill the gap around the blade when sawing very small pieces of wood.) Dust control is good when cutting wood up to 1.5 inches thick.

In addition to these excellent safety features, Bosch portable saws earn praise for performance and ease of use, with soft start motors, excellent capacity and an arbor lock to ease blade-changing. The benchtop Bosch 4100 (*Est. $540) earns top ranking in Popular Woodworking's October 2009 comparison test of portable table saws. The mid-priced Bosch 4100-09 (*Est. $600) is top-ranked at Fine Woodworking.

All three Bosch 4100 table saws provide the same amount of power. When Fine Woodworking tests the top-of-the-line Bosch 4100DG-09 (*Est. $725), the review notes that it easily cuts through 1.75-inch hard maple. The 4100DG-09 also features a rip fence with digital LCD readout (which Bosch says is accurate within 1/64 of an inch), plus metric measurements as an option.

The Bosch 4100-09 table saw (*Est. $600) omits the digital rip fence, but is otherwise the same; both models include Bosch's highly praised Gravity-Rise stand. The stand lets users roll the saw around whether it's folded or unfolded, so it's convenient for jobsites and small workshops. The only drawback is that the Gravity-Rise stand puts the saw table at 38 inches, which could be too high for some users. The Bosch 4100 doesn't include the stand, so it can be used on any bench.

The Ridgid R4510 (*Est. $450) might be a viable, lower-priced alternative. It has a two-position riving knife and soft-start motor, but lacks an arbor lock and is much louder -- 99 decibels compared with 92 on the Bosch. (Experts say that sound level doubles with each 6-decibel increment.) It does carry a lifetime guarantee once registered with Ridgid, however, and earns the Best Value award in the Fine Woodworking review. Testers there find the stand less convenient than on the Bosch, but the Ridgid provides a better miter gauge and dust collection is as good as that of the Bosch.

As a budget choice, the Craftsman Professional 21828 (*Est. $330) is a simple benchtop table saw, but it does have wheels and a handle built in to make transport and loading easier. It comes with a riving knife, and tests at Fine Woodworking say the whole blade guard system is very good. Popular Woodworking notes, however, that users must remove the blade guard and anti-kickback pawls to adjust the riving knife or change the blade. Another drawback is a non-adjustable throat plate.

The Craftsman 21828 doesn't provide the same level of accuracy as the Bosch and Ridgid saws, and like the Ridgid R4510, the Craftsman is noisy (98 decibels). That said, most users reviewing it at Sears.com are happy with it for the price, especially after upgrading its blade. There are some reports of poor quality control; Popular Woodworking got a unit with the two miter slots out of parallel, something that can't be adjusted.