DEWALT 60V Circular Saw with Brake Kit

I ran an 18v circular saw for a long time and was always disappointed. I could only get a few cuts before the battery went dead, and there just wasn't enough power which meant the saw would kick-back frequently with even the slightest binding. After I started converting my tools to 20v (and the much improved 20v Li batteries), things improved, but still sucked. I still could only get about 1 cumulative minute of cuts before a 5AH battery was completely drained. This year I finally had a project where I could justify upgrading my old 18v saw to the latest and greatest. I considered switching from Dewalt to Bosch, but in the end decided to try out the new 60v Dewalt with a new 20/60 9AH/3AH battery. I am finally happy. I worked over 3 hours cutting a bunch of Doug Fir 2x6s for my first use. The pros: you notice the power. Granted, my old 18v saw is ... old, but the new saw has far more power to the blade. I didn't have a single kick-back from the saw. Next is the battery life. With each cut I paid attention to whether or not I could feel a change due to battery power loss. I could not. The battery is much larger, but even still I was impressed. This may sound minor, but one of the improvements they made to this saw compared to my old 18v saw is that the battery slides down the battery holder rather than up, or straight in when the saw is in the upright position. This makes changing out batteries much easier and faster. Finally, I still had all the functionality that I've gotten used to with Dewalt tools. I easily adjusted depths and angles and was able to put things back to normal settings with minimal time and effort. Cons: Heft. Largely due to the Flex battery (~2x larger and heavier than a regular 5AH 20v battery), this saw takes a little more muscle to move around. It's still far more convenient than a cord'd saw, but after a few cuts the extra weight is more than apparent. Visibility. This might just be me... as a weekend warrior and not a professional contractor - This saw did change the visibility of the cut lines. Lining up the blade to start the cut, and using the front of the saw to finish the cut is 'different' than my old 18v saw. In the beginning, cuts were taking much longer due to me orienting the saw before pulling the trigger. Throw in the extra weight, and this is not a great user experience. My guess is this will improve over time.