Metabo KGS305M Sliding mitre saw

What is it? What can you do with it?

A single bevel sliding mitre saw.
So, to start with, it’s a circular saw mounted on a pivoting bracket on a base. You put the wood underneath it and pull it down on the wood to cut. In the UK if it only did this it would generally be called a chop saw.
But this does a lot more.
You have the mitre element of it: This means you can move the blade to an angle left and right of 45-50 degrees to allow you to make a mitre (angle) cut.
Then depending on the model you may also have:
The bevel or tilt element element which will tip the blade to one side if it’s single bevel or both sides if it’s double, again to about 45 - 50 degrees which can also be used to make a mitre cut. And if you tip it to the side and rotate it to the side it’ll make a compound angle cut (angles on two directions)
Finally the sliding element which allows the saw to slide back and forth to give a greater cut capacity.

There are also other functions that you might look for:
The Metabo is a nodding head model which means it slides back and forth parallel to the base, I also have a smaller DeWalt which is a fixed head and pivots at the back of the sliders. So what? On the Metabo and other nodding head models you can set the cut depth and cut channels in your timber, also good for tenons. You can’t do it on a fixed head
Then there’s things like laser lines, LED lights and all manner of fancy extras.

As explained in the raised planting beds video, I got the Metabo to cut the sleepers. I already had a little DeWalt and had no plans to replace or supercede it but it was no good for the sleepers, they wouldn’t even fit under it. The Metabo has a good cutting depth (about 106mm) and I’ve found it accurate. The adjustable cut depth I’ve found more useful than I expected but the laser cut guide is hopeless. The LED work light is ok but I really like the other manufacturers that have the shadow line setup.
Overall I’m more than happy with it and the DeWalt only gets used when I need to drag it to somebody else’s house.
Would I buy it again? Yes, sure, the nearest competition is about £100 more and I wouldn’t get that much better a saw for my needs. Although if any of the guys on YouTube that criticise the Festool want to pass one on I’ll be happy to “struggle” with it 😁

Want to buy one? Click on the buy button or the main image to go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Want to know more? If I've done a full YouTube review you can get to that by clicking the YouTube review buttoN