This saw, like its sliding brother, comes with a couple of great features I particularly like. First is the digital miter angle readout. It’s coupled with an over-ride of the standard detent mechanism and gives you fine miter adjustments. It’s claimed to be accurate to 1/10th of a degree. Working in any environment where things aren’t exactly square (which is every structure ever built) this is a life saver.

The other feature I really like is the paddle-shaped bevel release lever. It’s a 3-stage lever: pull it part way up and it releases the bevel lock and lets you go to the next standard setting. Pull it all the way up and it totally releases and lets you go to any angle you want. Push it down again and it locks the bevel setting.

The miter and bevel scales are stainless steel and easy to read and the odd-looking handle/trigger is comfortable and easy to use with either hand. And it has two built-in lights, one on either side of the blade to light the way. As a few buyers who have reviewed this saw suggest, other manufacturers would be wise to include this feature on their saws.

When you combine the lights with the clear blade guard, you get excellent visibility at your cut point. Even in bad lighting.

Most buyers have said this saw comes out of the box ready to use – no adjustments necessary. Although you’ll probably want to upgrade from the 60 tooth OEM blade, especially if you plan to do any trim work.

Both Milwaukee miter saws have a depth of cut stop system that allows you to cut trenches or dados and that would be handy if you need to notch a stud for a pipe or something.

The power comes from a 15 amp, 3.3 hp max direct drive motor with both soft start (to eliminate jumpy starts) and electronic speed control to maintain blade speed at any load.

For dust collection, the 6950-20 has a shroud behind the blade that picks up sawdust from both sides of the blade and routes it to a chute behind the saw. It comes with a large cloth bag that hangs from the chute.

Overall, this is a very precision, solidly built and heavy duty saw and is quite easy to operate. Plenty of power and a good selection of features. However, it also comes with the same drawbacks as the sliding model.

Drawbacks

1. The Milwaukee 6950-20 has no laser guide (which may or may not matter to you) and surprisingly, both models lack any kind of hold-down clamp for your material. Milwaukee doesn’t offer one and there’s no way to mount one.

2. While the left fence slides for bevel cutting, the right one has to be removed to bevel right-to-left. Why they didn’t make that one slide too, I’m not sure.

3. A common complaint from buyers is the weight and bulk of this saw. At 55 pounds, it’s heavier than some dual bevel sliding saws, such as the Makita LS1216L at 52 pounds. And it’s bulky: As one buyer said, if you have to carry this saw around an inside job site, you’re going to build some muscle and ding some walls. The size also means you need lots of space to set it up and use it. So the conclusion is, it’s not really a great job site saw, but good for a shop.

4. Another commonly mentioned shortcoming is the dust collection setup. While it may work well if you’re set up with it on a saw stand where the bag can hang freely, if you’ve got it on the floor or on a big table, it kinks the bag so the dust can’t get in it.

5. Also, the sawdust outlet on this saw is rectangular so there’s almost no way to adapt a shop vac or dust extraction system to it. If you had some suction working, this would be a great design. Two years ago Milwaukee said they’d be coming out with an adapter to connect a round shop vac hose but I can’t find it on their web site.

Specifications

Conclusion

Even though most of the buyer reviews I found were 1-1/2 to 2 years old, I have to go along with what these people say. And most of them say that regardless of a few shortcomings and drawbacks, this is a pretty good saw. Like I said though, it’s not really a good portable job site tool so I have to qualify my endorsement. I’m giving the Milwaukee 6950-20 Dual Bevel Compound Miter Saw 4 stars.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Where to buy the Milwaukee 6950-20 Dual Bevel Compound Miter Saw

If you’re considering purchasing a Milwaukee 6950-20 we highly recommend going to CPO Milwaukee. This is a web site devoted entirely to Milwaukee tools, so you can rest assured they know them well.

CPO has been in business since 2003 and have thousands of satisfied customers and are even customer certified by Bizrate.  Ordering through their site is secure and they’re a member of BBB Online, so you can trust them.  And they accept Pay Pal for totally secure transactions.

Milwaukee MILN6950-20 12-in Dual-Bevel Compound Miter Saw

One of my favorite unique features is the digital miter readout combined with a microadjust/detent override. The scale reads in tenths of a degree, is highly accurate, and is easily repeatable.

My other favorite is the bevel lock setup. On the back of the saw is wide lever, shaped more like a paddle, that you pull up. Pull it up halfway, and the bevel will stop at the 9 standard stops. Pull it up all the way for infinite adjustment from zero to 48 degrees.

The 6955-20 also has a depth-of-cut adjustment so you can cut dados and trenches. It’s never going to replace a dado on a table saw, but in a pinch on the job site, it’ll do.

The miter and bevel scales are stainless steel and easy to read.  Dust collection is much better than most, with a shroud behind the blade that leads to an outlet behind the saw, where you attach a very large collection bag. The shortcoming of this system is the outlet isn’t round so it’s hard to attach any kind of vacuum to it.

The very different looking horizontal handle is comfortable, has no safety, and is easily triggered with either hand. And another convenience is the two built-in lights, one on each side, that light up the cutting area extremely well. Combine the lights with the clear blade guard, and visibility is very good. Good enough you won’t need a laser (which this saw does not have).

The power is supplied by a 15 amp, 3.3 hp maximum direct-drive motor with soft start and constant power control to maintain constant speed under all load conditions.

The fences are tall, to support large stock like crown molding. The left fence slides but for some bevel cuts, you have to remove the right one. Apparently the motor housing will hit it if you don’t take it off. And another related issue is this saw doesn’t come with any clamp or vise to hold the material in place. Just about every other saw in this class does.

Specifications

Conclusion

As I said at the  top of this article, the Milwaukee 6955-20 is a heavy duty saw and going along with that classification, it’s big and it’s heavy – 65 pounds. It’s really not a great job site saw, in my opinion. At least not for the average sized person. Yes, it has some cool features and yes, it’s from a manufacturer we all know and respect. But….

When researching to do a review of a tool, I like to read as many user reviews as possible – those are the REAL reviews. And a great thing about the Internet is it’s all out there to be found.

I found a lot of reviews of this saw, both users and reviewers. But what I discovered is that none of them – either type – was written in the past year or year and a half. A lot of users rated this saw highly, even though most had some complaint(s) about it and I thought that was interesting.

Then it struck me that since they were written, other new competing saws had hit the market. Better, more advanced machines, like the Makita LS1216L. The point is, when the Milwaukee 6955-20 dual slide compound saw came out, it was “state-of-the-art” and the best out there.  Not now.

To be honest and realistic, for about the same price, unless you’re a big fan of the Milwaukee name, I think a person is better off buying the Makita.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Where to buy the Milwaukee 6955-20 Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw

If you’re considering purchasing a Milwaukee 6955-20 we highly recommend going to CPO Milwaukee. This is a web site devoted entirely to Milwaukee tools, so you can rest assured they know them well.

CPO has been in business since 2003 and have thousands of satisfied customers and are even customer certified by Bizrate.  Ordering through their site is secure and they’re a member of BBB Online, so you can trust them.  And they accept Pay Pal for totally secure transactions.

Milwaukee MILN6955-20 12-in Dual-Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw