DEWALT DWS779 Sliding Compound Miter Saw, 12"

Update 3-15-2019--Great price on this saw on Amazon right now at $334. Perhaps best ever. Buy it! ________________________________________________________________________________________ DeWalt does not list this model (DWS779) on their web site, probably because this saw is the top-of-the-line DWS780 corded sliding compound miter saw without the DWS780's superb XPS guide light. Right now on Amazon (as of January, 2017) and elsewhere (Home Depot online) the DWS779 is selling for $200 less than the DWS780--a substantial savings if you can do without the light. DeWalt used to sell an accessory XPS light for older saw models, but no longer. Though the accessory lights can still be found on Ebay, the electrical coupler for the accessory is no longer built into newer saws. Youtube has guides to ordering the relevant parts off the DWS780 parts list and hacking them onto the DWS779. It will set you back a bit less than $70 and a little work. My wife bought me a DWS709 12-inch sliding compound miter saw at Home Depot on Black Friday. It was advertised as a $549 value being sold as a "Special Deal" at $399 (with an additional $25 taken off at the register from manufacturer). When she gave it to me at Christmas I looked it up and found that it was a substantially different saw than the DWS780, and that it was then selling (post-Christmas) for $349 at Home Depot. Home Depot's Black Friday advertising led my wife to believe the saw she was buying was the DWS780, DeWalt's top-of-the-line saw. The Black Friday ad didn't mention model number, nor was it on display in the store, suggesting an intention to mislead potential buyers. The saw she actually received (the DWS709) is a twelve-inch sliding compound saw. But though it superficially resembles the DWS779 and DWS780, it has diminished cutting capacities along with several other more minor deficiencies (handle placement, miter-angle adjustment release, etc.). Despite Home Depot selling the DWS709 as a Black Friday "special" for $399, the store routinely sells the saw for less than $399 on its web site. This saw, the DWS779, is routinely sold for $399 on the web. That's what I bought it for from Amazon, and that's its price at Home Depot online. It is the DWS780 without the XPS light, possessing the same motor, fence, blade, stops and capacities as the DWS780. Home Depot occasionally offers a special combination of a DeWalt 12-inch sliding miter saw with a stand for $599. However, the saw sold with the stand in my experience is not the DWS780, but the DWS779 and sometimes the DWS709. Purchasers who aren't aware of the different models (and I think DeWalt intentionally obscures model differences to enable such marketing ploys) don't realize that they could buy the same saw for $399. They think they're getting the top-of-the-line DeWalt DWS780 sliding miter saw with a free stand (about a $200 value). Instead, they're getting as a package a DWS779 or DWS709 saw and a stand that they might be able to purchase separately for cheaper.... Finally, as to the tool itself (the DWS779), if you can live without the XPS light, it's everything people write about the DWS780. Good saw. Heavy. I mean, HEAVY. I'm amazed at how much heavier it is than my 20-year-old DeWalt miter saw. But a great machine. You will want a rolling stand for it if you intend to use it on sites. Trust me on this.