Craftsman CMCS500B Review

Humdrum comes to mind when searching for adjectives to describe this tool. While the Craftsman CMCS500B is competitively priced and offers decent cutting power, it is a barebones cordless saw. In our estimation, this is a good pick for those who are upping their kit from hand to power tools, or for those in need of a lightweight, light-duty cordless circular saw — especially if you already own Craftsman batteries.

Likes

What we like about the Craftsman is that it has a lever for blade depth adjustment — much nicer than a knob to be sure. Also, the angle marker is clearly visible and accurate. The saw cuts to 50º and the max cutting depth is 2 1/8" — pretty good for a 6 1/2" saw.

Another check in this saw's “pro column” is its sightlines. The sightlines allow the user to line up the blade with the marked line at the front of the shoe. We found the Craftsman's open channel sights to be of good depth, and, more importantly, spot-on accurate if not a hair to the left. Finally, this saw is pretty light at 7.4 pounds.

Dislikes

This saw is not what we'd call a powerhouse. First off, it lacks battery power. Despite its 4 amp hour battery, it only ripped 184 linear feet in the battery test — right near the bottom of the class. While the saw will make hard cuts through laminated veneer lumber (a very dense material) and full blade depth crosscuts, it labors to do the work.

Value

In a cost to performance analysis we would venture to say that this saw offers consumers a decent return on their investment. The tool is priced way below the class average and yet performed at or near average in most of our evaluations.

Conclusion