I have just bought the R255SMS + of this model and really like it. Only had it a few days, I'm a left hander and to be honest, I wouldn't use this left handed, especially for smaller cuts of wood as the motor is situated on the right hand side and obviously comes down when cutting and your hand is in the way. I've used an old Makita right handed for years so happy to continue that way. I couldn't believe how smooth the cut was when I first used it, put my old Makita to shame, so so far, very happy with this saw, I hope this continues.
Yours is the only review that advised what the stop at the rear back is for, ie 30 or 33 deg (can’t remember what you said ) 👍 I noted the clamp has a screw where I assume the clip was, it’s now 2024.
Glad i continued to the end. I was litrally ready to press order. Im sick of buying inferior tools due to funds and impatience. Gonna wait. Many thanks
Great review totally unbiased. I have a titan saw so quite cheap, the dust extraction is shockingly bad. So I diverted the flow of air from the two motor air vents, the one facing the saw bed and the one around the inside of the blade. and made a plastic cone to make more of an opening for the dust to flow into. This worked really well, obviously if the saw was been used a great deal over a period of time it could over heat, but mine isn't. Thanks for the video and keep it up.
That's a great idea Lee, I like little hacks like that. I've seen a few cheap fixes that may be able to improve the dust extraction on this, but didn't want to do any till I got the review done. Thanks for commenting.
Great review James as usual. I really appreciate the fact that you use a tool for a good while before submitting your honest conclusion. Hoping you get the chance to upload more projects and reviews soon. Great stuff Cheers.
Hi David, I as always want to share the best possible information I can, I want to be honest in my experience with the tools i review so using them for a while first is something I have to do.Things are getting less busy at work, so should be back to making soon
i ought one in england in may 2021. it broke after 2 months. gutted. took it back to screwfix n there was a shortsge of this model. it was sumthin like 120 quid. just bought one last month n it was 180. lol i did notice 45s are never accurate, theres too much play on the locking position. so to get around this i made a cross cut sled for my table saw.
Your clamp failed because it's not supposed to sit an angle on the end of the wood is supposed to sit completely flat with the wood under both feet. But good review anyway.
Hi James. I've had mine a similar amount of time and you are bang on with you review. For £150 ISH you can't go wrong for the DIYER. And the dust extraction is so bad I don't even bother connecting it. Just clean up at the end with Henry. I found the Lazer constantly gets s##t high and can't see it even in low light areas. But hey, it's still a beast and great on the evolution stand. Karlpopewoodcraft gave me a great tip with his saw and stand. Thanks for sharing
No problem Lee. I agree it's a beast of a saw, i wanted to highlight a few issues with it, but it has loads of power, easy to use and when I'm making straight cuts its perfect. I've not got the stand, I nearly bought it, but yet again for me, I ended up buying an AEG stand reduced to £20. I'm yet to use it yet though
@@karlpopewoodcraft oh hello Karl. 😆 Yes, I like James to. You both are honest new RUclipsrs who are great to watch for tips, reviews and entertainment. Grateful for your time to share.
Bought one (before new aesthetics) but same model. Took one look at the two side parts of the base (actual metal base) and found when a straight edge was put across the two, the main centre rotating pierce was probably 2-3mm lower so if you have a small length of wood that doesn’t stretch all across the two sides of the base you have 2/3rds of the wood with no support underneath and so this will cause vibration and less accurate cuts not to mention possible kick back due to the deflection. Also the adjustable sliding fences pushed out when moved across and didn’t line up with the bottom part (these adj fences are now different on the updated one however). Needless to say I returned it ASAP. I really wanted to like this due to the blade diversity however if Evolution were to be more precise in the base and fence then I could see this being a Dewalt/Bosch etc killer however not a Kapex killer tho 😉
That's annoying to say the least, did you ever consider contacting evolution themselves to see if they could sort out anything for you? I've been told by lots of people they are extremely good with there customer service and 9 times out of 10 can sort issues without a replacement tool
Not a bad saw for the ££££. DIY mostly, but then you’ll already know this if you’re a tradesman. I’ve got one and it struggled to get really nice mitre. I’m hoping to upgrade to a Bosch sliding saw soon. Great review sir.
Yes, it's a little fiddly to get a perfect mitre set up. I'm surprised by the amount of workman I see with this saw, admittedly they were using the older version, but not seen the many people with other saw
Can the mitre cuts be altered to get 4 pieces to fit. Is there any better saw in the price range. If you had £275,what would you go for? Understand if difficult to answer.
The problem is with the notches on the base plate, they are already pre set, so when you turn your saw to a certain angle it will lock into position, so you cant really adjust it. As regards other options, there are so many mitre saws out there that without knowing your exact needs I couldn't answer that
Says “Made in PRC”. Sounds better to some people than “Made in China” but means the same thing. I’m not fussed about it from a quality perspective. The quality is either there or it’s not. It’s just that some people may not want to get their stuff from China at the moment. Just saying.
Sound video, question on the item , if u just wanted to do a little DIY, saying won't use it much so not worth buying expensive do u no of a alternative
It all depends on your needs, you can buy some saws cheaper that don't slide or bevel, there are lots of other cheaper brands out there, but I only ever bought/used Evolution mitre saws until recently
Hi James first of all I have just found your channel and subscribed second is thanks for your review, I recently purchased this saw and released a video on the problems I've been having with the base not looking into position accurately and having quite some play in the turntable! Do you have the same issue of having to constantly check for square and if say cutting a 45 having to check with a 45° bevel? Mine has gone back to evo today for investigation so let's hope it gets sorted. Cheers for the videos Im now catching up with some. 😊
Hi Karl, thanks for the sub. I've just had a quick look at your video you mentioned, hmmm, well, I can't quite believe your saw passed quality control, obviously a fault with it. I'd say it's something simple like a compression/flange washer missing when they assembled it, as you don't seem to be able to tighten the bolt without it locking up the base. Mine isn't like that at all, mine actually clicks into position quite well. In fact all 3 evolution mitre saws I've owned, I've never had an issue like that. I think you have done the right thing in sending it back, and i hope you get your saw (or new and perfect working order one) soon.👍
@@JamesManCave thanks James that's really good to hear that I've made the right decision to seak evolutions advice and get it sorted. I actually like it apart from that issue. 😁
@@karlpopewoodcraft I agree, the only thing I wish they had of made an improvement on is the dust collection. It's pretty poor which is a real shame. 😔
Great video, but for me the real issue with this saw, would be buying a mitre saw that doesn't cut accurate mitres! Is there no way to adjust the mitre cuts?
I think you will find many of the non professional saw don't cut at try angles. I know the fence is square, so to me it's not creating a tight joint due to the blade being worn, and the 45 degree mark being out. You can adjust the pointer, but I think it may need more twerking then that. If you spent some time you could get it closer then it was for me
Yes...I want one for picture framing, but with capability for bigger jobs once in a while....so I worry also about the less than perfect mitre angles. Half a degree out multiplied up by three joints means the closing/last joint of a frame has 2 degrees missmatch. Filing the locating spigot and its matching detent could in theory adjust the 45 degree setting by a small amount..maybe enough to make it correct? My 0.02. The saw also needs a LOT of front to back space...it might not fit on a 600 mm wide work bench!
Hi, yes it is. It's the brushes on the motor bedding in, it will take a little bit use before this disappears. I've had it on drill and a track saw in the past
@@JamesManCave thank you I have just bought it off a friend who used it very little maybe done 20 cuts with it so still bscially brand new it will get a lot more use with me that's for sure 🙂
Hi, no I haven't. The blade wouldn't be big enough to cut a 4 X 4 post, for that you would need a 305mm blade on a bigger mitre saw to be able to make that cut
@@JamesManCave arh ok thanks for the advice. I had the same problem when tried to cut a 4 by 4 post. But one person on RUclips managed to cut a 4 by 4 post with the exact same model. How was this?
@@mattseymour8637 the only way possible to do it, is to cut in to it one side, flip it over then cut from the other side. If you use a stop block at the end of the post this will ensure you get a perfect cut.
terrible blades. they leave a messy jagged edge and are good for less than half dozen cuts if that and that's on 1/8 steel only can't even get dozen cuts on 1/16 square tube not even using cutting lube. how can they sell this junk. Saw itself is nothing to write home about fence is so off, they have to go through a dozen before they can send you a marginally usable replacement.
Their blades are complete garbage! My slugger blade lasted years! After 2 blades making 40 cuts maybe put this on the shelf bought a SLUGGER but going to try a Diablo blade with it
I have just bought the R255SMS + of this model and really like it. Only had it a few days, I'm a left hander and to be honest, I wouldn't use this left handed, especially for smaller cuts of wood as the motor is situated on the right hand side and obviously comes down when cutting and your hand is in the way. I've used an old Makita right handed for years so happy to continue that way. I couldn't believe how smooth the cut was when I first used it, put my old Makita to shame, so so far, very happy with this saw, I hope this continues.
Yours is the only review that advised what the stop at the rear back is for, ie 30 or 33 deg (can’t remember what you said ) 👍 I noted the clamp has a screw where I assume the clip was, it’s now 2024.
Glad i continued to the end. I was litrally ready to press order. Im sick of buying inferior tools due to funds and impatience. Gonna wait. Many thanks
Great review totally unbiased. I have a titan saw so quite cheap, the dust extraction is shockingly bad. So I diverted the flow of air from the two motor air vents, the one facing the saw bed and the one around the inside of the blade. and made a plastic cone to make more of an opening for the dust to flow into.
This worked really well, obviously if the saw was been used a great deal over a period of time it could over heat, but mine isn't.
Thanks for the video and keep it up.
That's a great idea Lee, I like little hacks like that. I've seen a few cheap fixes that may be able to improve the dust extraction on this, but didn't want to do any till I got the review done. Thanks for commenting.
Great review James as usual. I really appreciate the fact that you use a tool for a good while before submitting your honest conclusion.
Hoping you get the chance to upload more projects and reviews soon.
Great stuff
Cheers.
Hi David, I as always want to share the best possible information I can, I want to be honest in my experience with the tools i review so using them for a while first is something I have to do.Things are getting less busy at work, so should be back to making soon
Great review. I bought one today and the clamp design has now changed from a circlip to a screw and washer
That's good to hear, once I repaired it, it never happened again. Hope you enjoy your new saw 👍
i ought one in england in may 2021. it broke after 2 months. gutted. took it back to screwfix n there was a shortsge of this model. it was sumthin like 120 quid. just bought one last month n it was 180. lol i did notice 45s are never accurate, theres too much play on the locking position. so to get around this i made a cross cut sled for my table saw.
Hi. Can you please tell me what is exact size for table top ? Length and width. No handles. Steel to steel. Thanks
Your clamp failed because it's not supposed to sit an angle on the end of the wood is supposed to sit completely flat with the wood under both feet.
But good review anyway.
Hi James.
I've had mine a similar amount of time and you are bang on with you review. For £150 ISH you can't go wrong for the DIYER. And the dust extraction is so bad I don't even bother connecting it. Just clean up at the end with Henry.
I found the Lazer constantly gets s##t high and can't see it even in low light areas.
But hey, it's still a beast and great on the evolution stand.
Karlpopewoodcraft gave me a great tip with his saw and stand.
Thanks for sharing
No problem Lee. I agree it's a beast of a saw, i wanted to highlight a few issues with it, but it has loads of power, easy to use and when I'm making straight cuts its perfect. I've not got the stand, I nearly bought it, but yet again for me, I ended up buying an AEG stand reduced to £20. I'm yet to use it yet though
Hi lee fancy bumping into you here 😂
@@karlpopewoodcraft oh hello Karl. 😆
Yes, I like James to. You both are honest new RUclipsrs who are great to watch for tips, reviews and entertainment.
Grateful for your time to share.
Nov 2020 here...so this kit has gone up 35 quid in a year......prolly due to currency exchange rates cos that’s like 20% inflation huh!
Bought one (before new aesthetics) but same model. Took one look at the two side parts of the base (actual metal base) and found when a straight edge was put across the two, the main centre rotating pierce was probably 2-3mm lower so if you have a small length of wood that doesn’t stretch all across the two sides of the base you have 2/3rds of the wood with no support underneath and so this will cause vibration and less accurate cuts not to mention possible kick back due to the deflection. Also the adjustable sliding fences pushed out when moved across and didn’t line up with the bottom part (these adj fences are now different on the updated one however). Needless to say I returned it ASAP. I really wanted to like this due to the blade diversity however if Evolution were to be more precise in the base and fence then I could see this being a Dewalt/Bosch etc killer however not a Kapex killer tho 😉
That's annoying to say the least, did you ever consider contacting evolution themselves to see if they could sort out anything for you? I've been told by lots of people they are extremely good with there customer service and 9 times out of 10 can sort issues without a replacement tool
Did you find the arbour lock button to work ok on yours when changing the blade? there is no positive indent on mine, quality seems really poor.
Not a bad saw for the ££££. DIY mostly, but then you’ll already know this if you’re a tradesman. I’ve got one and it struggled to get really nice mitre. I’m hoping to upgrade to a Bosch sliding saw soon. Great review sir.
Yes, it's a little fiddly to get a perfect mitre set up. I'm surprised by the amount of workman I see with this saw, admittedly they were using the older version, but not seen the many people with other saw
Can the mitre cuts be altered to get 4 pieces to fit. Is there any better saw in the price range. If you had £275,what would you go for? Understand if difficult to answer.
The problem is with the notches on the base plate, they are already pre set, so when you turn your saw to a certain angle it will lock into position, so you cant really adjust it. As regards other options, there are so many mitre saws out there that without knowing your exact needs I couldn't answer that
I have one it sounds rough as it spins, the laser is useless. Cut ok fairly accurate out the box back fence on mine isn’t straight.
Hmmm thats odd, shouldn't sound like that. Back fence wasn't perfect on mine, but now it is and for stright cuts it perfect
I agree James dust collection is very poor but on the hole it works very well great for diy not so for top end work
Yep, so for us wood butchers, it's a great tool 😂
Says “Made in PRC”. Sounds better to some people than “Made in China” but means the same thing. I’m not fussed about it from a quality perspective. The quality is either there or it’s not. It’s just that some people may not want to get their stuff from China at the moment. Just saying.
I hadn't noticed that to be honest, but then again I hadn't looked for it either
Chines knockoff rubbish as per usual.
Sound video, question on the item , if u just wanted to do a little DIY, saying won't use it much so not worth buying expensive do u no of a alternative
It all depends on your needs, you can buy some saws cheaper that don't slide or bevel, there are lots of other cheaper brands out there, but I only ever bought/used Evolution mitre saws until recently
Super video.
Thanks buddy, 👍
Hi James first of all I have just found your channel and subscribed second is thanks for your review, I recently purchased this saw and released a video on the problems I've been having with the base not looking into position accurately and having quite some play in the turntable! Do you have the same issue of having to constantly check for square and if say cutting a 45 having to check with a 45° bevel?
Mine has gone back to evo today for investigation so let's hope it gets sorted. Cheers for the videos Im now catching up with some. 😊
Hi Karl, thanks for the sub. I've just had a quick look at your video you mentioned, hmmm, well, I can't quite believe your saw passed quality control, obviously a fault with it. I'd say it's something simple like a compression/flange washer missing when they assembled it, as you don't seem to be able to tighten the bolt without it locking up the base. Mine isn't like that at all, mine actually clicks into position quite well. In fact all 3 evolution mitre saws I've owned, I've never had an issue like that. I think you have done the right thing in sending it back, and i hope you get your saw (or new and perfect working order one) soon.👍
@@JamesManCave thanks James that's really good to hear that I've made the right decision to seak evolutions advice and get it sorted. I actually like it apart from that issue. 😁
@@karlpopewoodcraft I agree, the only thing I wish they had of made an improvement on is the dust collection. It's pretty poor which is a real shame. 😔
Great video, but for me the real issue with this saw, would be buying a mitre saw that doesn't cut accurate mitres! Is there no way to adjust the mitre cuts?
I think you will find many of the non professional saw don't cut at try angles. I know the fence is square, so to me it's not creating a tight joint due to the blade being worn, and the 45 degree mark being out. You can adjust the pointer, but I think it may need more twerking then that. If you spent some time you could get it closer then it was for me
Yes...I want one for picture framing, but with capability for bigger jobs once in a while....so I worry also about the less than perfect mitre angles. Half a degree out multiplied up by three joints means the closing/last joint of a frame has 2 degrees missmatch. Filing the locating spigot and its matching detent could in theory adjust the 45 degree setting by a small amount..maybe enough to make it correct? My 0.02. The saw also needs a LOT of front to back space...it might not fit on a 600 mm wide work bench!
ruclips.net/video/-3FSLNnj8tk/видео.html
Sorry for delayed response but I noticed yours sparks from the motor when you release the trigger mine does the same as well is this normal?
Hi, yes it is. It's the brushes on the motor bedding in, it will take a little bit use before this disappears. I've had it on drill and a track saw in the past
@@JamesManCave thank you I have just bought it off a friend who used it very little maybe done 20 cuts with it so still bscially brand new it will get a lot more use with me that's for sure 🙂
Thanks for sharing that
No problem, thanks for commenting
Great review ( As normal )
Thanks buddy 👍
8:34 cricket report in the background?
Ha, very brief update, but yes. I believe it was an England test match
Nice, man. I recived it too, and i'm super happy with it. One more subscriver
It's a powerful saw, that has the potential to be fantastic with a few tweeks. Thanks for the sub 👍
can you put the evolution blade in any mitre saw to cut wood and metal ?? can this be done ??
Hi, no you can't. The arbour hole is 25.4mm which means it won't fit on pretty much any other mitre saw apart from a Bosch one I believe
@@JamesManCave so, in turn, does it mean that most other blades wont fit into the Evolution mitre saw?
@@marcusregan4815 no, you can buy a spacer on Amazon for like £3 add it the centre hole of any 30mm hole and it will work fine on the evolution saw
@@marcusregan4815 There is some kind of reducer or summit you can get to match the bore to the arbour. Sorry i cant remember which video i saw it on.
Have you cut any 4 by 4 posts or wood on it? Have you managed to cut it in one pass?
Hi, no I haven't. The blade wouldn't be big enough to cut a 4 X 4 post, for that you would need a 305mm blade on a bigger mitre saw to be able to make that cut
@@JamesManCave arh ok thanks for the advice. I had the same problem when tried to cut a 4 by 4 post. But one person on RUclips managed to cut a 4 by 4 post with the exact same model. How was this?
@@mattseymour8637 the only way possible to do it, is to cut in to it one side, flip it over then cut from the other side. If you use a stop block at the end of the post this will ensure you get a perfect cut.
terrible blades. they leave a messy jagged edge and are good for less than half dozen cuts if that and that's on 1/8 steel only can't even get dozen cuts on 1/16 square tube not even using cutting lube. how can they sell this junk.
Saw itself is nothing to write home about fence is so off, they have to go through a dozen before they can send you a marginally usable replacement.
Their blades are complete garbage! My slugger blade lasted years! After 2 blades making 40 cuts maybe put this on the shelf bought a SLUGGER but going to try a Diablo blade with it