Craftsman Nextec 3 3/8” Circular Saw - Review

Craftsman Nextec 12 Volt Circular Saw

I’ve owned a couple of 18V cordless circular saws, and I really like them.  I don’t do a ton of framing, so most of the time, a cordless circular saw works just fine for the projects that I have.  But a 12V circular saw?  Would that really work? The answer is Yes, in certain applications.  If I was ripping a lot of plywood, I think this saw would get old pretty quickly, but it’s great for smaller jobs or jobs where cordless tools are a must.

For instance, I was helping my friend Gael put shelves in some already existing closets.  We weren’t ripping out what was already there and starting from the ground up. Instead, we were taking existing shelving made from 1x12 boards, adding to them and custom creating additional shelves, one at a time.  So we knew there’d be a little re-vamping and adjusting along the way. Oh, and did I mention, Gael lives in a downtown penthouse apartment with just one elevator and not a lot of area for tools?

This small circular saw was perfect for making some “adjustment” cuts on the shelves we were putting into spaces with not-so-square walls.  It also was great for cutting our 1x2 boards we used as supports and trim in some places.

Would I use this saw to frame a house?  No, but it was perfect to pick up and make a cut here and there.  And in the week we worked on the closets in her house, I didn’t have to charge the battery once.  And if I had needed to charge it, since it goes with the Nextec system, I would have used the Nextec QuickBoost Charger and had a battery ready in minutes.

Craftsman Nextec Saw Features

At only 3.8 pounds (Craftsman says 3.83 without the battery, but you’ll see in my picture it came out 3.8 with the battery with my luggage scale), it’s very lightweight, but the way the body of the saw is designed, it puts the weight directly over your work, so it’s not “too light”.

Another plus in my book is the easy-to-attach vacuum adaptor.  I never used it with a vac, but the dust cleared easily with this adaptor in place.

The red knob on the front makes bevel adjustments easy and the Bevel scale is clearly marked and easy to read.

It's always a good thing to be able to see your work piece.  Craftsman put an LED worklight on the front of the saw that illuminates the work.  I didn’t notice it the first few times I used the saw, but when I made a cut in my somewhat dark basement the light definitely helped.

Craftsman Circular Saw Pros & Cons

I like the idea of the Fuel Gauge, but I’m not sure this one is done exceptionally well.  For starters, I’d prefer the fuel gauge be on the battery and not the tool, but I also understand that with these smaller batteries, that’s a bit trickier.  However, they put it on the front of the tool, and the only way to see the color that the gauge is lit (green is battery life left, red needs to be charged), is to depress the trigger.  And it’s not a half depress and check.  It’s push the safety lock in, pull the trigger all the way with the blade spinning, and then you can see the fuel gauge.  For most of the positions I was using to work with the tool, it made it very tricky to see.  Glad it’s there, but I’d like to see them re-work it a bit.

I read a user review that said the battery ran out quickly and only lasted about 5 minutes.  As I stated earlier, I didn’t use it constantly when building the shelves, but the battery life was fine for my purposes.  I also had some old particle-board shelves that I was throwing out so I decided to cut them just to test the saw, and had no problem cutting them in small pieces.  I got bored cutting and the battery was still going strong.   The one thing I did find was that it was imperative to keep the base flat to the work piece.  If it moved at all, the saw stopped.  Once I slowed down put the base on as it should be, it finished the cut easily.

Craftsman Circular Saw Opinion

Overall, I like this tool.  You should note that it is sold as a bare tool, meaning the battery and charger are sold separately.  So, add that into the price if you don’t already own Craftsman Nextec 12V tools, but if you do, it’s a good addition for light DIY work and cutting smaller pieces and trim.

For more info from Craftsman: CLICK HERE