12 " dewalt is about the best you can do it is good in the shop and still not to heavy for field use, be careful Home Depot runs specials on these saws but some have shorted slides that won't cut a full 12" board and you'll find that will be a pain in the ass at times. The only draw back is that sooner or later something is going to drop on the handle and it will break. I have had almost every type of miter saw in the past 28 years and the ones we constantly come back to are the dewalts and hitachi's (10") the makita is a pain with the degree markings on the side of the base, the bosche never hold up to daily use and constantly go out of adjustment, the millwalkie is good just to heavy to move around on a job site. The old 8: hitachi compound miter saw (the orginal slide) was in my opinion a true work horse, you can have that thing slide around the back of a pick-up, get soaked in a down pour and it would just keep on cutting, straight and true. You have to look at just how easy it is to tilt it (bevel) left and right because no matter what you are running you will sooner or later you will have to do this. It is simple and easy and it STAYS put on a dewalt and the hitachi. Nothing is worse than having to wait for the saw man to adjust his saw before he can even begin to cut. On average a slide miter box is going to last 2-3 years on site or about 3-5 in the shop. After that you will be replacing bearings, brushes, fences, switches and if you have saw man, a carpenter and helper installing their lost production will eat up the cost of that new saw.