If you are looking for the world’s safest mobile saw, then look no further than the SawStop jobsite table saw. In this Sawstop Jobsite table saw review I’ll show you why this is the best contractor table saw on the market.
Sawstop table saws feature a brake cartridge which, when triggered within milliseconds, brings the saw blade to an immediate stop. Preventing any of those life-changing injuries.
If safety is your main focus, and for me, it is, then this SawStop jobsite saw is the best portable table saw for you.
The safety features of the SawStop jobsite saw are enough to impress anyone, but it doesn’t stop there. The build quality of this tool is phenomenal. But before I get deep into this review, I will point out that this table saw does not come cheap.
Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s a damn fine tool, and the cost of a life-changing injury is more than the cost of this tool. Sure, many will say that they’ve never had an issue, and they have all their fingers and thumbs, but a simple mistake can change that. I’d rather have the reassurance that the tool has my back should I make a mistake.
Sawstop Jobsite saw review
When this SawStop job site saw arrives, it’ll come in a box about the size of a chest freezer. This thing is packed with styrofoam to keep it well protected, and we want our table saws well protected.
The included instructions are incredibly clear, even explaining how to get the wheels and saw out of the box. This is so easy that within 5-10 minutes, the saw can be prepared and ready to make its first cut.
You plug it in, let it run its diagnostics, and then it fires up, ready to go. This is a fantastic sounding saw, let me tell you.
The SawStop JSS-120A60 isn’t a new SawStop jobsite saw, it’s been around for some time, but it keeps getting upgrades and improvements, so while it’s not new, it is a new SawStop jobsite saw.
This jobsite table saw has an excellent onboard storage drawer, something you rarely see in portable table saws, the DeWalt DW745 is a good example with fantastic storage, and this is just as good; simply slide open the tabletop to review a plastic storage compartment, flip it open to reveal storage for your blade guards, a few wrenches, a miter block, and there’s even enough room to store a spare blade brake cartridge.
Let’s look at some features of the SawStop jobsite table saw.
SawStop JSS-120A60 Jobsite table saw features
The T-style fence system that comes included is nice and smooth; there’s no complicated rear connection point; instead, the fence rides on a wheel, and it is secured with a top-mounted lock.
This rip fence slides with ease, whether being moved left or right; if you push on the back of the fence, you might notice that there is a little bit of a give. Though even the best fences on the market behave like this.
If your fence is correctly aligned, it shouldn’t take much pressure to slide your workpiece along the fence.
If you need to open your table up, swing open the tab located under the 6-inch left of the blade mark and slide the tabletop to the right until it comes to a firm stop.
Once you’ve opened the tabletop, the red measurements on the front of the table saw now correspond to the correct blade distances. Something to bear in mind when you’re using this table saw.
At a glance features
- 1.5 HP powerful motor (continuous) but can hit a peak of 4 HP, which rivals your cabinet saw.
- 120V AC, 15A
- 4000 RPM (no-load speed)
- 10″ blade diameter
- 8″ max dado stack (you’ll need a dado SawStop cartridge)
- Dado Max. Width:20mm
- Unlike the DeWalt DW745, this accepts a dado blade!
- 25.5″ rip capacity
- Table dimensions: 31-1/4″ W x 24-5/8″ D retracted, 43-5/16″ W x 24-5/8″ D extended
- Weighs 84 lbs (saw only)
- Weighs 113 lbs (with folding roller cart)
- Includes blade guard, miter gauge, riving knife, blade wrenches, push stick, standard brake cartridge, 10″ blade, hex keys for adjustments
- Dust port: 2-9/16″ Outside, 2-1/4″ Inside
- Miter Slots T-shaped Dimensions:19.15mm W x 10.5mm D; “T” 24.25mm W x 4mm THK
- Bevel Angle Range:-1 to 46
Blade and Tool Access and Storage
Accessing your table saw blade should be easy; enabling the safety system should be easy.
With this portable table saw, it is. Removing or installing the blade guard or swapping out the riving knife has been designed with ease in mind; this is a safety system that understands that contractors don’t have the time to be messing around, they need to install these things quickly, or they just won’t.
The throat plate is made from non-conductive materials and lifts off easily; there’s then ample room for your hand to access the release lever inside for removing the riving knife. Not something you often can say when talking about a portable saw.
If you are concerned about your blade and tool storage, again, this portable saw has you covered. There’s a spring-loaded pin system that pulls and turns to allow you to store an additional 10-inch blade and two blade tools. Personally, I’d love to be able to store another blade as well, but I can’t complain; this is an amazing feature.
Safety features are the main selling point of a Sawstop jobsite table saw, or any Sawstop table saw; as such, it comes as no surprise that the push stick, rip fence, and power cord wrap are located on the right side of this table saw, and everything locks in nicely for when you are moving this jobsite saw around.
A downside to the push stick is that it had a shallow lip which isn’t ideal but works well in a pinch.
Bevel cuts and depth adjustments
Adjusting the depth of the blade is ridiculously easy; unlike most jobsite saws, the depth adjustment wheel is geared in such as way that a single revolution raises the blade fully up or down.
The blade tilt adjustment is just as easy; simply grab the back of the wheel you use to adjust the depth and pull, then slide it to the angle you want. There’s a red marker that shows the bevel of the miter gauge. Align this to the desired angle you want in 1° increments, and you are done. Once you’ve set your angle, you can then use a micro-adjustment knob located up to the right to achieve the fine adjustment, though I do prefer systems where there is a hard stop at 45 and 90.
The controls for this jobsite saw are very intuitive, and I love the big paddle off switch, which is easily triggered by your knee, perfect for preventing any serious injury.
A dual-LED indicator shows you the status of the system using a variety of different combinations. These lights have a combined total of 12 different combinations to tell you exactly the status of your new saw. That’s a lot to remember, so thankfully, SawStop provides a nice guide as to their meaning.
One of the most important statuses is the one that indicates that you’ve put the table saw into bypass mode; what this does is turn off the conductive test on the SawStop blade, which allows you to cut conductive materials without triggering the aluminum brake cartridge.
What I love about this mode is that you can run your wet pressure-treated lumber through it, and it’ll indicate whether or not the blade guard would be triggered; this means that you’ll know whether you can use the SawStop’s safety system without accidental triggering.
I love the blade brake and how it keeps my body in one piece, but when it triggers, the saw blade and the brake are consumed, both requiring replacement; this isn’t cheap, but better than the alternative. Being able to test beforehand will save you some money if you know that your wood is wet.
SawStop dust collection
Dust collection with most portable table saws always proves to be well crap. While this SawStop jobsite saw does a decent job of collecting larger dust.
I found that even when hooked up to my Bosch VAC140A dust extractor shop vacuum and the back of this SawStop jobsite table saw still generated a rather impressive amount of fine dust.
This could be to do with the amount of spinning blade that needs to be exposed underneath to allow for the safety cartridge/break to work. But even the dust collecting blade guard didn’t catch fine dust.
For most people, the SawStop jobsite table saw will do very well and beat out the competition in all things, including dust collection, but fine dust irritates me, so I do whatever I can to mitigate it.
I will say that the optional (and well worth getting) SawStop saw dust collection blade guard JSS-DCG did significantly reduce the fine dust, but it needed a fair amount of tweaking to fine-tune it to get it right.
Using the SawStop JSS-120A60 Table Saw
To test the Sawstop jobsite table during my tool reviews, I initially ran 3/4 inch plywood through the blade; this was no problem for the stock blade; in fact, I was surprised by SawStop’s jobsite table blade; it chewed through even hard and exotic woods.
I ran beech, oak, and maple through the SawStop JSS-120A60 Jobsite table saw, and it plowed through the lot. The saw itself has very little vibration and didn’t get bogged down by the materials.
Even when ripping a laminated beech countertop proved to be no problem, and let me tell you, other saws can’t match the smoothness of the cut, this table saw really impressed me.
Your day-to-day pressure-treated timber wasn’t a problem, and when bypass mode for the safety feature was enabled, even the wettest wood when through with no problems.
Flesh Detection Technology
There is no SawStop jobsite table saw review in the world worth its salt if it doesn’t mention the flesh-detection safety system. Tool reviews of this job site saw have to point this feature out; it’s there to ensure that when you make a mistake that you don’t lose anything important, that you go back home with a small scratch, and that your significant other is called from the emergency room.
Should anything conductive hit the blade, then a brake will engage within a few milliseconds bringing the blade to a dead stop; the blade will also retract to prevent injury. This system is patented, which is why it’s only on SawStop saws.
There are times when you need to cut wet wood, and if you are cutting wet wood or anything that contains metal, the SawStop jobsite table saw includes an override mode which, when turned on, turns off the normal mode SawStop system safety mechanism.
Something you don’t need to worry about with other table saws, but then they aren’t as safe as this old portable saw! When you are in bypass mode, you can cut any conductive materials like wet pressure-treated lumber, aluminum, foil insulation sheets, or anything else that passes electricity, just like any old saw.
Some other conductive materials include:
- Green or very wet wood
- Pressure-treated wood – contains copper solution
- Aluminum or other metals
- Foil
- Materials with Carbon
- Some laminates – with copper flakes
I’ve seen many people forget to enable the bypass mode before putting a super wet piece of pressure-treated 2×10 through the blade, only to be met with the safety feature triggering and a destroyed blade, and a need for a new cartridge.
The serial controlled brake mechanism is entirely replaceable and comes as a single piece that is easy to install, which it really does need to be to be practical, though I was still very impressed by its design, like the rest of this table saw from its compact design through to all of its features, everything has been well thought through.
When the brake triggers, the blade is stopped and tucked down to avoid injury; this turns a serious injury into a small scratch.
There are plenty of videos online showing the flesh detection capabilities at work; I personally don’t hope to ever put it to the test, but happy to know it works and works well.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you’ve seen in this, and other tool reviews that this SawStop jobsite saw is more than capable of functioning as a pros portable table saw.
This is a premium product which, given its performance and features, justifies the money spent on it.
SawStop JSS-120A60 Saw additional features
- One turn blade elevation
- QuickTilt w/micro adjust
- T-Style fence with ErgoLock
- Low profile blade guard
- Tool-free zero-clearance insert
- Accessory storage drawer
- Extension clamp
- Includes: Collapsible rolling cart, miter gauge, JSS micro blade guard, riving knife, (2) blade wrenches, push stick, 10″ carbide-tipped blade, standard brake cartridge, 3/4/5 mm hex keys
SawStop Jobsite Table Saw Specs
- Motor: 15A, 120 VAC 60 Hz, Universal
- Peak HP 4.0 HP rivaling a cabinet saw
- Blade speed: 4,000 RPM (no load)
- Restart protection
- Dimensions (saw): 15-1/2″ H x 31-3/4″ W x 28-3/4″ D
- Dimensions (w/cart folded): 45″ H x 26-1/4″ W x 28-3/4″ D
- Weight (saw): 79 lbs
- Weight (w/cart): 108 lbs
- Blade Diameter: 10 in.
- Dado Diameter: 8 in.
- Max. rip right of the blade (extended): 25-1/2 in.
- Dust port: 2-9/16″ Outside, 2-1/4″ Inside
For me, this is the best tool on the market if you want a powerful and portable jobsite saw that accepts a dado blade and is also the safest table saw in the world.
The SawStop jobsite saw really is one of those table saws that you have to get when compared to others in the market. The SawStop job site saw just matches or exceeds the performance of the competition while also providing unrivaled safety.
Even the wheels used to adjust the blade depth are fantastic, with no real gripes for depth adjustment. The superb fence meant that my cuts were accurate, and adjustments were easily made.
This really is an amazing and safe table saw, you’ll still need to use a riving knife, take care not to stand directly behind the workpiece to avoid kickback, but it’s done everything it can to help you keep safe.
I highly recommend this to any DIY’er and professional if safety is a true concern.
