Makita JR3070CT AVT® Recipro Saw - 15 AMP

Finally got around to a review of this after having owned it for a year or more, due to a couple reasons. I hadn't used it until recently. I have a cordless version of Makita's recip which I use most of the time on normal repair jobs. A lot of my work requires a greater degree of precision and after attempting to use this when I was so used to my cordless, well... issues arose.First off- this saw is a BEAST. It has more than enough power and as a result can be too powerful for delicate operations. If you need to cut a line perfectly and don't have a skilsaw or something else around and just this or a cordless, I would go cordless each time because of the variable speed located at the trigger. This has the dial for variable but even then, the blade doesn't instantly stop as with my cordless. Now, on the other hand.. for demo... or cutting trees and large branches... this thing will chew through stuff faster than I can chug a Dr. Pepper. And if you know people who like Dr. Pepper, you know we REALLY like Dr. Pepper. Okay, bad analogy. But I'm thirsty.Pros:Perfect for tree trimming/large branches (used it with the 9" Milwaukee Pruning Blades). This when paired with an already partially used blade when on the maximum orbit and speed cut through branches 4, 5 and 6" thick as fast or faster than the chainsaws we were using and in fact, became the preferred method for anything that we felled when cutting down a 50' Bald Cyprus as long as the 9" blades could cut it. This with the blades cut wet wood perfectly!Demo:Great for demo work and cutting up steel pipes and cast iron and long cut jobs. Not sure how well it handles debris with it's casing yet (I had a heck of a time with my cordless where plaster debris got inside the casing and rattled something awful and getting the black rubberized front hand grip off was not fun. The one on this seems to be made of a different rubberized material, and may prove easier to remove. Time will tell.Power:It gets a 15 on a scale of 1-10. I grew up a Milwaukee guy, Dad still has an old school Sawzall alive and kicking, but Makita won me over when my NiCad Milwaukee batts and drill died and I went to Lithium, and I felt compelled from various reviews and other powered Makita experiences to try their recip out, and have not been disappointed. Sure, Milwaukee gave birth to the sawzall but that doesn't mean it couldn't be improved on. Now days, however- all the brands have more than enough power that it really doesn't matter much. What matters is reliability.Reliability:So far so good. I haven't had any Makita issues to date except for a sole fluke issue with a battery, which was replaced under warranty. As far as this one goes, time will tell. I'll update it after a few more months of heavy use...Precision Work:Not so great if you need reliable stops on trigger release. Cordless is king there. But the power adjustment is quite good as is the various settings for the orbit.Feel:The AntiVibrationTech they use works. Way better than my dad's old brute of a sawzall (of course this has a couple decades of technology advancement on it). After hours of use with it on the largest orbit and speed settings cutting through wood branches, my hands didn't feel any different as if I hadn't been using it.I would highly highly HIGHLY recommend this. Oh. And it actually comes with a steel case with thick padding for it. A STEEL CASE IN A PLASTIC WORLD!!!! YESSSSS!!!!! At least something is still made with quality. I think this is definitely the best of their recips to purchase guys.

Seriously a very heavy duty saw. Powerful. Excellent features. The AVT is why I bought it and it works really well. I do not see how you could build a better saw. The metal case is heavy duty with excellent closures. It fits the tool and the saw does not bang around inside the case.But it's very heavy. A younger man would not notice. I have to decide if that is a deal killer for me. It's perfect in all other respects.I have a dewalt that shakes me hard. I use mine for many things but cutting up tree branches is my main use since it's much safer than a chainsaw on small wood. The power and stroke, both adjustable will be helpful. Blade changes are a snap. Shoe is adjustable. I bought the extended warranty since it's so expensive and it ensures this breast will work for me a long time.update 3/6/2020. beast is accurate. i had a entertainment center that had to go. it was large and i was by myself. this cut it up like it was a stick of butter, operated just as smooth as butter too. If you need a recip saw only buy this one or you will not know what you are missing.

This tool is definitely one of my favorites. It’ll cut through most items like butter when paired with Diablo blades. The AVT works extremely well. If I pick up a reciprocating saw without AVT now, it feels like Parkinson’s disease setting in. Highly recommend! My wife has even used it on a handful of occasions and just raves about it. Pure, smooth destructive power.

Will cut through what you need it to without any difficulty. Weight is a bit prohibitive, but you probably can't get a lot lighter product and still have the ability to do what this product does. Makita makes great products!!

I’ve used a lot if different sawzalls over the years, part if that time doing demolition work, which happened to be around the time Milwaukee released the orbital super sawzall. That model was a game changer for demolition work! I told myself I would get one someday, but never got around to it because I really didn’t have a need for one, until now. I did a bit of research before settling on this brand/model. I like this model because it has a nice blade chuck, push blade in to lock it, twist to unlock to remove a blade. It has a hardened foot plate so the blades don’t chew the foot plate up as easily. Foot plate easily extendable. Orbital action! I bought this from ne for the orbital action because I needed something to do tree trimming and for cutting trees down (smaller trunk diameter trees) and wanted something that would be far more versatile than a chainsaw, which I would not be using much at that. I bought 12” tree trimming blades and just cut the roots to knock trees over to get rid of dying or unwanted trees. This sawzall is powerful and made pretty quick work of it! I would buy this saw again in a heartbeat! It is heavy though, and comes with a heavy metal case. Worth every penny in my opinion!

Lots of power. But it has lots of control too. You can adjust the speed so you can do more accurate cuts. This thing is a beast! It's heavier than other recip saws I've used, but the weight is from all the quality internal parts that are going to make this thing last for a long time. This is a really nice reciprocating saw. I highly recommend it.