Skil SPT77WML-01 Review
Our Verdict
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Skil SPT77WML-01 | |||||
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| Awards |  Best Circular Saw for Professionals |  Best Circular Saw for Most | Best Battery-Powered Saw for Most |  Best Light Duty Saw | |
| Price | $199 List Check Price at Amazon | $149 List Check Amazon (on sale!) | $70 List Check Price at Amazon | $159 List Check Amazon (on sale!) | $60 List Check Amazon (on sale!) |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | A torque-forward saw with a durable magnesium housing that has well-designed features that professionals and novices alike will appreciate | A useful, versatile tool, perfect for tackling basic or rough-cutting projects, but lacks the high precision necessary for intricate tasks | A corded saw with ample power, on-tool storage for quick blade changes, and a variety of convenient features, including a laser-cutting guide | A battery-powered saw that fits comfortably in the hand, has intuitive controls, and a lightweight magnesium base with an easily visible sightline | A lightweight, budget-friendly saw that excels at quick, small tasks that don't require pinpoint accuracy |
| Rating Categories | Skil SPT77WML-01 | Bosch CS10 | Skil 5280-01 | DeWalt DCS391B | Ryobi PCL500B |
| Bevel (35%) | |||||
| Cross Cuts (30%) | |||||
| Ripping (20%) | |||||
| Metal Cuts (15%) | |||||
| Specifications | Skil SPT77WML-01 | Bosch CS10 | Skil 5280-01 | DeWalt DCS391B | Ryobi PCL500B |
| Blade Side | Left | Right | Right | Left | Left |
| Blade Size | 7-1/4 in | 7-1/4 in | 7-1/4 in | 6-1/2 in | 5-1/2 in |
| Corded or Battery Powered | Corded | Corded | Corded | Battery | Battery |
| Blade Brake | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Brushless Motor | No | No | No | No | No |
| Measured Max Depth of Cut | 2-1/4 in | 2-3/8 in | 2-1/3 in | 2-1/8 in | 1-11/16 in |
| Rafter Hook | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Bevel Positive Stops | No | Yes 22.5° 45° |
Yes 45° |
No | No |
| Measured Weight w/o Cord/Battery | 11.6 lb | 10.5 lb | 8.1 lb | 6 lb | 4.3 lb |
| Battery Used in Testing | N/A | N/A | N/A | 5 Ah | 4 Ah |
| 2" x 12" x 10' Rip time | 11 sec | 12 sec | 13 sec | 43 sec | 55 sec |
| 6" x 12" Cross Cutting Time | 2.34 sec | 2.52 sec | 2.65 sec | 5.00 sec | 5.54 sec |
| 6" x 12" Dense Wood Cutting Time | 2.33 sec | 3.20 sec | 2.49 sec | 6.58 sec | 6.55 sec |
| 2" Wide Galvanized Steel Pipe Cut Time | 5.87 sec | 6.60 sec | 7.14 sec | 8.87 sec | 9.20 sec |
| 16 Gauge Sheet Metal Cut Time | 16.0 sec | 16.0 sec | 18.5 sec | 27.0 sec | 40.0 sec |
Our Skil SPT77WML-01 Experience
The Skil SPT77WML-01 is a professional-grade tool with the features and build quality to prove it. We love its magnesium housing that provides exceptional durability and helps dissipate heat to keep the saw cool during long cuts. This saw was great for long hours out on the job, and worked perfectly for heavy construction tasks like long rip cuts where power and torque were a necessity. While it's a bit heavy to use and made our muscles tired hauling it around, the extra weight also helped us to have better control when making cuts.
If you're considering a battery-powered saw, the DeWalt 20V MAX DCS570B is a comfortable choice with a solid set of helpful features like positive angle stops and easy blade changes.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Bevel
The angle (bevel) measurements on the Skil SPT77WML-01 are very clearly marked in black, providing great contrast against the gray magnesium base of the saw. The angle indication scale ranges from 0 to 53 degrees, with a tick mark for every degree and a number indicator every 5 degrees, which makes it highly customizable. We feel like it's a bit of a miss that this saw doesn't have an indicator for 22 1/2 degrees, and we wish the angle adjustment indicator were a bit more precise. We appreciate the useful positive stop at 45 degrees and the easy-to-use, quick-release lever for making angle adjustments. All told, it's well-designed and a great fit for those who want the most out of their tools and expect highly accurate, easily repeatable angled cuts.
Adjusting the blade depth on the Skil SPT77WML-01 feels smooth and consistent, and uses a similar high-quality quick-release lever to the angle adjustment. The channel the saw base slides on is marked with common wood thicknesses, making it easy and convenient to set the blade depth. This was one of the few blade-depth indicators we found truly useful among all the saws we tested. The sight line on this saw is excellent for both visibility and accuracy, cutting dead-on at 0 and 45-degree angles.
Cross Cuts
The Skil SPT77WML-01 is powerful enough to cut faster than many people might feel comfortable cutting. We cut through a 12"x6" header beam at an average of just over 2 seconds, making it one of the fastest saws we tested. Even at its maximum cut depth of 2 1/4-inches, it cuts through wood effortlessly. We like this saw for all-day cutting jobs, especially when making deep cuts in thick materials.
All of that beastly power comes with the trade-off of weight. The Skil SPT77WML-01 weighs in at 11.6 pounds, making it fairly heavy, though not the heaviest saw we've had our hands on. Given its weight, we appreciate that this saw has a rafter hook, and although it is heavy, we feel most people will grow accustomed to the weight and value its cutting capability over a few extra pounds.
Ripping
Ripping is where many saws we test struggle, but the Skil SPT77WML-01 seemed to hardly notice as we effortlessly ripped through the lumber with impressive control and speed. Sometimes, a saw being on the heavy side isn't all bad, and we feel that this saw's weight helps it feel secure and inspires confidence while cutting, especially at the high speeds it's capable of.
This workhorse saw made cuts at almost a foot per second on a 2"x12"—making it one of the fastest ripping saws we've used.
Metal Cuts
The Skil SPT77WML-01 handles metal cutting quickly and efficiently, making it great for any metal-cutting project, whether it be sheets of aluminum or thick steel pipes. Using a 48-tooth metal-cutting blade, the Skil managed to cut through 16-gauge sheet metal faster than most saws we tested in just 16 seconds, and was one of the fastest at cutting through a 2-inch steel pipe in just 6 seconds.
Blade Change
When changing the blade, we appreciated the included wrench, which is securely stored on the saw when not in use. The wrench was long enough that we had plenty of leverage to break the blade bolt loose and tighten it. We prefer this type of wrench over the Allen wrenches included with some saws since it gives us better control when changing the blade. Our only gripes with blade changes for this saw are that the blade spindle lock is in a weird location that can be a bit awkward, and the blade bolt isn't marked to indicate that left is tight and right is loose.
—Kolby Anderson, Austin Palmer
