I lined up some of the best cordless circular saws for 2017 and tried to pick some different choices, in order to appeal to most people out there. I included specific saws like the best 20 volt model, the best cordless saw for those who are on a budget and so on.
It was a fun article to throw together and I really learned a lot in the research part of it. To be honest, I realized just how much the cordless circular saw market grew in just the past couple of years and what was truly out there. I hope this article helps other people out and please, leave me feedback in the comments section. Thanks!
Best Compact Cordless Circular Saw
The Makita SH01W was one of the best compact circular saws out there and had some of the best ratings from DIY'ers, contractors and weekend warriors alike (according to reviews).
It has one of the smallest blades (3 3/8") out of all of the compact circular saws I came across. The weight came in at around 3.3 pounds, also at the top of the list when compared to other models.
With more than 160 ratings online, the Makita SH01W was one of the best rated models in it's class too.
The kit comes with the saw, one battery and a charger and was a bit disappointing considering that there is only one battery and you will have a little down time in between charges unless you get another battery or two. I wish this would have come standard in the kit. It did have a pretty decent cut depth (how to round 1 inch max) for the size of the blade and the overall compact size of the saw itself.
Best Rated Cordless Circular Saw
The Dewalt DC390B had an astounding number of reviews left by people on many different websites including Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, CPO and many other retail websites. It was, by far, the best rated cordless circular saw out there by hundreds of reviews in comparison.Overall, it had nearly 700 ratings in total from the various online retailers.
The Dewalt DC390B was not really that bad of a price, at the time and was on the average to higher side of the pricing Spectrum compared to other cordless circular saws out there. The price was pretty competitive among all of the retail websites I looked at and there was no significant difference that I noticed.
It had an average rating of about four and a half Stars, out of a possible 5 so not too bad that area especially when you consider the high number of reviews left. The negative reviews we're not that bad on top of all of that, some complain that it did not come with a battery which as stated in the description and it is a bare tool with no battery. Other people stated that it did not have enough power for what they needed it for but this is pretty typical for cordless circular saws, seeing as how they are not very powerful at all, just mainly more ideal for the portability aspect of them.
Best Value Cordless Circular Saw
The Ryobi P506 came in on the lower end of the pricing Spectrum, if you were to compare all of the prices of all of the different cordless circular saws out there. Typically, the prices for these types of saws range from about $40, all the way up to $150, or so. It is a pretty decent saw with decent features and functionality, especially for the price and is why I chose it for the best value cordless circular saw.
It does use a little bit smaller blade (5 1/2") then some of the other cordless circular saws out there but really shouldn't make that much of a difference for the average user that intends to buy one.
You will lose it a little bit of maximum cutting depth, compared to a similar cordless circular saw that uses a 6 1/2 inch blade.With a little over 240 reviews on multiple different retail websites and an average overall rating of about 4.3 stars, it was pretty highly rated and people loved the cordless functionality of it and really commented how well the saw worked and the price point it was available at.
Best 36v Cordless Circular Saw
The DEWALT DC300K was the best 36 volt cordless circular saw I found, even though there weren't that many models to compare. Primarily, DeWalt, Makita and Bosch were the only three manufacturers that really offered a 36 volt cordless circular saw and Dewalt and Bosch only have one model that they currently sell, so it wasn't a very hard decision to make.
Makita had many different models to choose from but in order to get the 36 volts necessary to power the saw, you have to use two 18 volt batteries, instead of a single battery which has pros and cons in its own respect.
The DEWALT DC300K uses a single battery, a little bit more convenient when using the tool but will require having a 36 volt battery on hand and having to buy it separately if you don't own any other 36 volt tools. That is the only real downside I could see with using a specialty battery to power the saw, like Dewalt chose to do.
It did have some of the best overall feedback left by people though and had a much better overall rating than Makita did for their more popular 36 volt cordless circular saw. Not a whole lot of ratings in total, but a respectable amount regardless (about 30 at the time). What stood out was the fact that more than 90% of the people who rated the DEWALT DC300K gave it either a four or five star rating.
Best 18v Cordless Circular Saw
Choosing the best 18-volt cordless circular saw what is a pretty tough task because most of the models are 18 volts and there were so many different ones to choose from, all of which had great ratings and functionality.
I chose to go with the Hitachi C18DGLP4 for a couple of different reasons, mainly due to the lower entry price compared to the other cordless circular saws out there and because of the lifetime warranty that Hitachi offers for the tool.
It did not have the most reviews out of all of the cordless circular saws in the lineup but it did have very good feedback for the amount of reviews it did have. It still had a respectable 120 plus reviews and averaged a respectable 4.5 star rating overall. The vast majority of people (about 90%) gave it either a four or five star rating showing quality and reliability in the saw itself.
Best 20v Cordless Circular Saw
Dewalt really dominated the cordless circular saw category, having so many different saw kits to choose from, due to their popular 20 volt tool lineup.
There were a couple of other manufacturers that made 20 volt circular saws but were not really in the same "quality and functionality" category as the Dewalt saw was. The DEWALT DCS391B was my top pick for the best 20 volt cordless circular saw out there.
The reviews and ratings for this saw were pretty decent overall and consisted of nearly 1000 reviews, in total and an average overall rating of 4.7 stars, out of a possible 5. It was at the higher end of the price Spectrum, according to all of the other cordless circular saws out there.
Like I mentioned earlier, you can just buy the bare saw itself or buy a kit that has a battery, charger, etc., so the options are pretty open, which I like. It was the best choice, as far as 20v cordless circular saws go.
