What’s the Big Lebowski of all power tools? Easy…a sliding-compound miter saw. And if you are like me, you will have to read 19 different miter saw reviews before heading to your local home center to make a purchase like this. And for good reason — Today you can easily spend over $800 on a 12-inch slider. It’s a big ticket item that you will (hopefully) be using for years to come, so it pays to get it right the first time.

Every manufacturer is known for a certain type of tool: Milwaukee is famous for the Sawzall. Porter Cable for routers. Makita has always been an innovator in cordless technology. Hitachi is known for it’s miter saws…and for good reason. They introduced the first sliding compound miter saw 25 years ago, and today Hitachi makes one of the best 12-inch sliders around…so let’s have a closer look at the Hitachi C12LSH 12-inch sliding compound miter saw.

This saw looks mean right out of the box! The funky green and black styling struck me as pretty exteme when I first saw this machine…Call it a mid-life crisis, but I’m really digging it now. And after taking this tool out for a spin I didn’t care if there were polka-dots painted on it, because it delivered the goods.