Expensive Chop Saws Better? Evolution Saws Compared in Extreme Detail

Extremely comprehensive Evolution Power Tools chop saw review.
Base Model - S355 CPSL:
Evolution's Site: bit.ly/EvoS355CPSL
Amazon: amzn.to/3PWoU3D
Better Chop Saw - S380 CPS:
Evolution's Site: bit.ly/EvoS380CPS
Amazon: amzn.to/3LIOcjg
Best Mitering Chop Saw - S355 MCS:
Evolution's Site: bit.ly/EvoS355MCS
Amazon: amzn.to/3PF58bN
Learn welding and fabrication in my $39 online courses: courses.timwelds.com
0:00 Background
0:34 Chop Saw Pros & Cons
1:54 Things in Common
4:46 S355CPSL
11:04 S380CPS
14:35 S355MCS
19:40 Recommendations
Evolution S355 MCS Review
Evolution S380 CPS Review
Evolution S355 CPSL Review
**Fine Print: Metalwork can be dangerous. This video is for entertainment and general information. This channel and its owners are not responsible for the outcome of anything you choose to do. Be safe out there. This description contains affiliate links which provide a small commission on sales to support these videos at no extra cost to you.

[@PaulThomas-qo9vy]

Thanks Tim ! Very informative & insightful. I like that you took the time to use them extensively & find the features & drawbacks for each model. Paul

[@1nvisible1]

*The handle cutouts on #2 are nice. For chips I put an old tube sock over a $5 Harbor Freight magnetic socket holder... After a project throw the sock away. And don't cut rebar with these lol*

[@walkingweapon]

Why no rebar?

[@dankent5162]

Thank you for your time in explaining the difference between the saws. Massive help, keep up the good work

[@cameronjacobs3144]

Thank you. Best review on all these evolution saws I have seen yet. I love that you have all 3 to compare.

[@BG-vq9fd]

I have considered buying one of these and you did a good job of explaining the differences. I mainly want to cut round aluminum dock poles at 90.

[@TimWelds]

Thanks! With the right blade, I think it would work great for that.

[@-DIYPRO-]

One game changer I'd add is the stand. Having adjustable supports for long material cuts is awesome. Unfortunately they don't have one yet for the miter saw. If it were up to me I'd go with a smaller base model with the stand and once they come out with the stand for the miter saw that will take the cake for sure. Thanks for sharing Tim!

[@TimWelds]

Thanks! Yeah, their folding stand is pretty good; that's what I used with the S380 when it was my main unit.

[@jamesrichardson1901]

Great, thorough overview. Evolution also makes a 7 1/4 chop saw. No, it isn't exactly feature-rich, but for those of us just getting started or only working on smaller stock, it's a great option to make good, clean basic cuts for just a little over $200. And yeah, the chips are a big problem, especially if you have a Shop Dog. Keeping them swept is a must.

[@TimWelds]

I had a 7" chop saw before any of these and it worked great as long as the material isn't too big.

[@bruced1429]

I have had my EVO saw for 5 -6 years and it is a joy to work with. Been thru one blade, don't cut rebar with it you will knock a tooth on the blade off. I have lost count on how many cuts made on the second blade , and it keeps on cutting. I cut my steel outsdie of my shop as 20 feet of steel does ot fit and I therefore have no issue with the chips. Mine has a cast base and move able vise and seems to be a model between the low end one and the upper 15 in blade model. Great video Tim.

[@TimWelds]

Thanks! I've lost a couple blades over the years to my own errors, but like you, mine work for a really long time when I don't mess them up.

[@erikserafin7886]

Thank you, this helped a lot. Your style of review is outstanding.

[@JMRSplatt]

I love your videos. You and 'Making mistakes with Greg' are some videos I always come back to. This video helped me decide on a chop saw; I bought a band saw however it wanders too much for square tubing and being accurate. It's just a nice time watching a TimWelds video.

[@jheissjr]

Great review. A suggestion for a video topic - Can you discuss where you get your stock? (sheet, angle, bar, etc) Do you buy it from a local place, marketplace, somewhere else? Can you bring your camera with you on your next trip to the supplier?

[@carpballet]

Thanks. Based on your thorough review I’m buying the middle one. 380cps. With evolution stand.

[@brett_cadillac6590]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the video. Really helped make my decision. 👍

[@Georgiaguntraining]

Looking to get an EVO. This really helped me out. Casual user, looks like the bottom end will work fine.

[@CraigHollabaugh]

Good review, I replaced the middle one with the chop saw. It's great and well worth the extra expense. I have mine mounted on a HF Hercules saw stand. The only gripe I have about the saws is the safety shroud makes LED blade edge light difficult. Thanks TW

[@TimWelds]

Thanks! It would work great on a miter saw stand; the extra supports would come in really handy.

[@CraigHollabaugh]

@@TimWelds yeah, make sure you get the Hercules one (blue).

[@chrisjames6349]

Hey, in the UK we only S355 CPS but it has the cast aluminium base with the chip tray. It looks like they amalgamated the two base models for our marked. We also have the mitre saw which has the same set up by the looks of it.

[@justintasht1067]

Great video and review I have the 1 in the middle absolutely love it done so much work with it would not be with out it now. Really enjoy the videos always look forward to them 👍👍

[@TimWelds]

Thanks! Glad to hear it's working well for you!

[@ninemileindustrial]

I have the middle one. Great saw. I put a welding magnet in a plastic ziplock bag by the saw at it catches a lot of the chips that don’t make it into the collection tray

[@TimWelds]

That's a great idea! I'll have to try it.

[@tedbastwock3810]

Holy crap this is exactly what I need! Just noticed it pop up and cant wait to watch this later!!!!!

[@TimWelds]

Awesome! Glad to hear it!

[@tedbastwock3810]

@@TimWelds Ok, this totally met my expectations. I appreciate the thought you put into this and all your work. You did this very intelligently and really thought this through, as you always do, thanks 🙏 Do you think the extra 22 or 20 lbs compared to the two lower models, respectively, added anything regarding performance? IK the weight isnt meant for stability alone, its more weight because of the added features, but the weight potentially adding stability is something I wondered about. Im VERY glad to know that the motor and gearbox is the same between the three, that is something I had was wondering and have not seen it on their website, maybe its there but I havent seen it. I dont know that I would spring the extra hunddy on the middle model over the lower model for the cast base alone, although I like the cast base, but I probably would for the detent angle settings. You keep scaring me off a little bit saying the top model is for a business shop, and Im at home hobby, as you said here and in a previous video, but I know why you say that, and I agree with you. I think Im going with the top model. Even though the meat and potatoes are the same as the lower two models, even as I was watching you start to show the top model I was thinking, wow, that alone is worth .. idk, but something significant. As I grow, I value time more. I have been fabing a few small projects with a Century 90 and an angle grinder and not much more 🙃what Ive learned so far is that its time for me to up my game. THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO!!!! p.s. ugh after all that I forgot something ........ I will definitely use your affiliate link when i buy 😎 Thanks Again!

[@rock7282]

Well, this is good timing. I have to replace my first generation Evo, due to my garage and house getting hit by lightning last month so I was trying to figure out what to get again so thank you

[@TimWelds]

Thank you! So glad it was helpful!

[@Changtent]

Good video, well covered thanks. I have an older Evolution saw that has a cast iron base. Great saw and wouldn't trade it for the world. It IS heavy to move around, but I like the performance when cutting and more robust than aluminum (in my opinion). WD40 keeps the base from rusting. For cutting angle iron miters, I use wood blocking which grips the angle iron better, holding it securely.

[@thepubliceye]

Evolution says to avoid vertical cuts for longer blade life. Evo also the vice adaptor is for tub or pipe. This was a few years ago so perhaps things have changed.

[@Isaacmantx]

at 7:00 I had the exact same problem... Have to have the fence in the closest to you position to cut a 45

[@DILLIGAF1177]

My cut station is on a small roll around tool box with 2 stands, one on each side. The tool box have all the caster as rotating casters, so I can rotate the tool box easily on angled cuts.

[@TimWelds]

That sounds like a perfect setup! Much better than sliding the base around on a workbench.

[@DILLIGAF1177]

@TimWelds it was just a cheaper husky tool box from home depot. Wish I could send picks. I turn old boat trailers into utility trailers for a living.

[@steelwood74]

Nice video. Though only two of these models are available in Australia 🇦🇺

[@takundamadambi7044]

very insightful thanks

[@bernardmauge8613]

excellent review thanks!

[@christianwood7432]

Awesome review. Thanks.

[@user-sc1qf6sq3z]

I was planning on buying the mid grade saw until I saw your review on them and decided on the 355 instead. Thanks for the unbiased review, I'll buy it thru your affiliate. Have you noticed any excessive wear on the blade by not cutting on the diamond? Who in the world would cut a 45 in angle or tube like they suggest? I think I'll see a unicorn first!

[@bobzigon7916]

Hey Tim. I really like your welding table. Who makes it?

[@ShawnColeman01]

Have you done a video on welding aluminum and aluminum alloys no heating vs pre-heating?

[@EdwardRoss-tb5hz]

Thanks good comparison. Need a band saw comparison also.

[@JCWren]

If you're talking about the portable bandsaws, check out the Swag Off Road bandsaw table. You can mount a bunch of different saws with the v2.0 version, and gives you a nice but smallish bandsaw. It's not going to replace a DoAll saw with a 20" throat depth, but it'll do quite a bit. And at the price point, it's easier than fabbing your own.

[@TimWelds]

Thanks! I did one on portable bandsaws a while back comparing DeWalt, Milwaukee and Bauer. At the end of the day, they all worked equally well except that the Bauer had a little less power and thus cut very slightly slower. I haven't done anything with horizontal or vertical bandsaws.

[@baar6892]

I bought the base model and love it but i will admit, I do kinda regret not getting the miter model. The only reason I didn't get that model is I didn't like the clamping process.

[@jasonvandervalk3679]

I really want to try the miter saw

[@gx.santiago9604]

I bought the smallest version ,7 1/4 saw and really like it as a diy’er the miter version look awesome but I am not cutting metal daily or even weekly

[@ELECTRICEYE1776]

Great review

[@christee5772]

We have the 380 at work, can't fault it for operation but the problem I've come across is that the top part of the clamp, the quick release thing, does wear out over time and here in the UK it's impossible to get hold a new replacement.

[@TimWelds]

Bummer! Their customer service seemed to be good in the US the one time I called them. I thought they were based in the UK, so I would've expected their service to be good there as well.

[@christee5772]

@@TimWelds Yeah, I don't know what's going on, they are UK bases AFAIK, maybe souring parts from Europe....

[@sebastjansslavitis3898]

how many cuts do you get out of it?

[@christee5772]

@@sebastjansslavitis3898 Blade usually lasts about six months.

[@sebastjansslavitis3898]

@@christee5772 yeah that really tells me nothing, you may cut one cut a day or one cut an hour EDIT: and you can cut rebar or railway tracks

[@rtz549]

Would be neat if someone sold those material adapters for the clamp. I'll build some for my own use.

[@ilifirdaushamzaah95]

Hi tim. Update belt grinder that you build please. Any upgrade?

[@garytodd5605]

Being a machinest i thought making chips was the purpose of the trade.

[@MattChase907]

I'd watch another video like this on metal cutting skill saws

[@SouthernGround]

I just bought the 380 last night and noticed the sliding acme shaft pivot sucks badly, it binds something awful, so today I took it apart and noticed the pivot shaft has a SAE washer and that's it, the pivot pad is sloppy and if you tighten the nut underneath it won't slide, the factory had the nut loose in order for it to move, I wondered if any part's were missing, quick look at parts list showed everything was in place. On my saw I noticed the pivot pad shaft stuck down about an 1/8" into the table slot, when you attempt to tighten the hand wheel the pad tilts forward and binds the vice making tightly difficult. Then I had an idea, between the pivot pad and the table I placed a 1" standard washer, the pivot shaft will hold the washer centered and the large washer gives the pad support, the I used a 7/16 in place of the small SAE washer underneath and used the locking nut. now it works fantastic, there is no slop between the pad and the table, it's doesn't binder anymore, a bit of dry lube makes it slicker and does not collect chip's. It's a fantastic saw but they need to rework the design, in order for a vice to work properly the moving jaw needs to slide easily, not flop around binding. I was even able to clamp a 1/4" rod in the vice it held in perfectly no tilting at the top. A dollar worth of washers fixed a $500 saw in fifteen minutes.

[@SouthernGround]

Sorry about the bad grammar, you tube won't let me edit shit, it's been sucky for the last month.

[@skewcrap]

Is there any Blade out there for stainless which lasts longer than a few cuts? The saws are great for steel and would be even better with the possibility to cut stainless…

[@JCWren]

Buy once, cry once :). Mitre saw unless you really need that portability.

[@TimWelds]

I think it'll run for a long time to come.

[@carlosmayorga4721]

Portability hands down, if the only difference is the base.. the cheaper the gooder!!

[@stevefavela9179]

You can’t just throw a metal blade with usually max rpm of 1800 on a miter saw that spins up to usually 3600 rpm without the danger of creating a carbide teeth grenade , there’s a reason cold saws are low rpm

[@JCWren]

@@stevefavela9179 You misunderstand the word miter saw in this context. It IS a cold saw, but it's capable of mitering, as opposed to the portable saw, which is not capable of mitering. No one was advocating putting a metal saw blade on a DeWalt DW716XPS or such.

[@Sosant260]

Hey Tim I have a yes, welder 135 with AC stick mode, light work which electrode should I use

[@Sosant260]

Thanks

[@TimWelds]

Most likely, it’s DC output. It depends on what you want to do, but I would probably just get some 3/32” E6013 electrodes for general purpose light work.

[@Sosant260]

@@TimWelds thanks for your help 👍I’m learning a lot from your channel

[@zombieresponder]

I ain't him, but I'd recommend 7014 for general purpose use. I hate 6013 as it's a very low penetration electrode. 7014 is all position, will run on any polarity, and easily delivers a nice finished weld bead.

[@jvazquez53]

What is the difference between these an the Evolution orange one?

[@TimWelds]

The orange one is a multi-material saw and is built with cost in mind. The vise doesn't have a quick release nut, so you have to turn it all the way out and in unlike the blue saws with a nut that allows you to slide the vise jaw up to the material quickly. The clamp on the orange one is fabricated from sheet metal rather than heavy cast material that is on the blue saw. The orange saw requires the Allen wrench to adjust the fence angle, where the blue saw has a built in handle. The blade is a multi-material universal blade rather than a dedicated steel cutting blade. Other than that, I believe it's similar to the S355CPSL. I'm sure it'll work good, but the features on the dedicated metal cutting chop saws do a lot to save time.

[@19672701]

Evolution is in my town,after my Rage 2 died, I wanted to see what they had,and got to see the new miter type before it was released. I still decided on the 480 as the new one took too long to clamp down,and I only use 90 and 45 degrees,very rarely 30. I made several videos about thier Rage 2 I told them,but they wouldn't even give me a discount,was actually cheaper to get it at my welding supply. All my future videos will have thier name blocked.but still I believe the best of this class.

[@TimWelds]

Glad to hear it's working well for you too!

[@rafaelherrera8985]

Nice

[@imadog131]

i have the bottom of the line saw and it does cut well but the blade is off square by 1/16th of an inch. There is no adjustment . I cut up 4 pieces of tubing before i realized that it wasnt me measuring wrong. It was the blade. I have a email in to evolution to see if it can be fixed but in the meantime I wish you would have put a square on the cuts you were making... Why make a saw that cant be adjusted? Its just stupid...

[@DILLIGAF1177]

I have the old orange 14'' evolution that came with the multi use blade. I have had it over 8 year with out issue. Been through 25 blade and I cut a lot of 3 and 4 inch c channel. 1/4 thick square tubing. It has never gave me a bit of trouble. I like the new clamping mechanism on the new blue saws. Would love ro upgrade but this one still has so much life in it.

[@TimWelds]

Cool! No reason to fix what isn't broken; I like to run things into the ground.

[@DILLIGAF1177]

I love the next best thing but just can't afford them now a days. So, yes, run into the ground. Plus if it ain't broke don't fix it. Love the video. Been hoping someone would do a comparison of these saws. Wish I could have seen your original one you use all the time.

[@grippgoat]

I'm still slumming with a little 7" Evolution Rage somethingorother. I chipped up the multi-material blade that comes with it pretty fast. The replacement steel cutting blade is way better. I'm pretty limited on how big my stock can be, though. But I got it because it was cheap, small, light (I have to pull it out and put it away all the time), and I didn't see myself doing more than like 1.5" tubing anyway. I had to make my own v-block by cutting one side out of some square tube and laying some angle in the opening. I didn't do a very good job, but it gets the job done. I do have to leave a bit of extra length to clean up my miters, though, because the fence tends to move a bit.

[@TimWelds]

Nothing wrong with a 7" saw, and a good blade makes a huge difference.

[@paulnewton943]

😊

[@agrajag4224]

Why would they put that drawer in the back? It should be accessible from the front.

[@TimWelds]

It would be easier to access from the front. I'm not sure why they didn't do that.

[@sebastjansslavitis3898]

8:50 you not gonna get thousands of cuts out of it. I have one - 200 is about max (for 480 square mm of material per cut).

[@TimWelds]

Thanks for the info. I get thousands of cuts, but I am working with smaller material, so I suppose it depends on the application.

[@sebastjansslavitis3898]

@@TimWelds like what? 480 is already small.. square inch is 645

[@keshavkadu2144]

Bharat mein kahan mil sakte hay

[@torowazup1]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👌🏼🤓

[@absolute___zero]

Can't buy from Mexico. It sucks when a manufacturer thinks USA is the only country in the world. Luckily there are other brands.

[@frigginpos]

I purchased an Evolution Rage chopsaw not knowing it was lacking a quick adjust. So, each time I changed different sizes of material, I had to crank the holding jaw in or out, and that was not a good thing. I talked to Evolution and was informed that I could not purchase the adjustment piece. I won't buy anything from those as*holes again! EVER!!!

[@Nicola_Colonna]

minute 10:19 exactly what happened to me (having little experience), fortunately I only ruined the record and it was fine with me 💪

[@alfredocuomo1546]

Sorry but for $850 dollars they should have Laser line or Shadow line for making the cut and the slide should have detents for when your cutting larges items that require the blade to be moved front or read of the fence to completely cut the item. Also why didn't the best saw have a tray to catch the chips like the middle one had? Ah I'm just bitter because I don't have one LMFIAO Nice video Tim.

[@alfredocuomo1546]

Italian@@tedbastwock3810

[@TimWelds]

It would be nice to have a laser line, for sure!

[@alfredocuomo1546]

The negative part about the laser line is it's off if you cut from two directions because it's on one side of the blade but I can't see why you can't add a Shadow line except you have to drop the blade enough to move the guard out of the way to see the shadow. They are easy enough to make, I would if I owned an Evolution saw, hint ,hint Lol@@TimWelds