I know old vid, but surprised no one mentioned the Bauer blades are not great. The saw is definitely great. The Milwaukee would have to last 3 times longer to compare. Oh and main reason for comment: Get a good blade for the Bsuer and it rocks.

The Bauer bandsaw is one of the best purchases anyone can make. I have cut I beams to railroad track. Never once had a problem.

The Bauer material rest is not down like the Milwaukee.

How quick it cut doesn't matter, you don't even specify what speed you set it to.

you sounds suspiciously like this old tony lol

9:00 Have a little accident? There appears to be some blood on the workbench. lol. Probably just paint.

Wow, your voice sounds like This Old Tony's, just younger. Hmmm.

A couple other observations, The cord on the Milwaukee comes out in a better location in my opinion, and the stop where the material rests on the saw looks a little beefier on the Milwaukee, but these types of things are what set a cheap tool apart from a nice tool.

I absolutely like my Milwaukee band saw, but noticed you have the backing plate down on the Milwaukee but on the Bauer the plate guide is up and not adjusted to stop the kick back once you start cutting.

I purchased the Bauer saw the other day along with a foot pedal and table from SWAG for a make shift bandsaw. I like the fact that it comes with a case and I was pretty impressed with the unit upon unboxing it. I've not had much time with it, cutting only a couple of sheet metal pieces. However, one thing I did notice was that there is some flexure in the head. In other words, as it sits up right on my table, I can view the top part of the saw moving up and down slightly as the blade makes its rotation. Note how beefy the Milwaukee is as compared to the Bauer in that area. I do need to check the bolts securing the head though. Still, based off reviews that I read; the fact that this is $100 vs $300; and for what I'll be using it for, I'm good with it.

Just bought the bauer for 89 inside track sale. It works great and for 1/3 price its well worth the investment.

I am running a very old Black and Decker Industrial portages/band from the days before Dewalt became a thing. It's loud, unrefined, primitive and still working. It has to be at least 35 years old. Last year I put new tires on the wheels and re greased the gears. I also changed the brushes. Looking at getting a HF cordless portaband which I'm sure is in the works.

Picked one up today for $80. Ready to put it to work

I wish Harbor Freight would come out with either a Bauer, or maybe a Hercules cordless portable bandsaw. Perhaps using a 20v system. We use DeWalt 20v cordless bandsaws at work, and they're kick ass good.

Which one is heavier? Which one is noisier? Which one feels ergonomically better in your hands?. What are the pros and cons?

been using the HF band saw for several months now with original blade. there's no reason not to buy this saw.it is loud though. i made a super portable stand for it and it can't be beat for the 95 dollars.

Bought the Bauer...”he is no fool who demands a cheaper price” especially for personal project use. I like the Milwaukee brand for sure and there are certainly good reasons to go with a solid brand and track record and great service and parts availability etc. I appreciate the fair balanced review.

HF gives only 90 day vs 2yr Warranty for WEN 94396 Portable band saw that’s $99. At Home Depot and Walmart. Almost the same saw but WEN stands behind there product. I found most HF stuff is also sold under a different name at places like WEN and Menards but it’s 1000 times easier to return at Menards then harbor freight

I wonder how much performance differences are derived more from the blades themselves rather than the tools?

You can buy 3 of the Bauer’s for the price of the Milwaukee

Just an FYI for anyone who cares... they both can use the exact same replacement tires. My Milwaukee got cracked and brittle early on in it's life. But never quite broke through for a about two years before it finally gave up. So they are both the same size wheel with the same number of cogged teeth. What IS different is the drive mechanism. On the Bauer, it's actually a double roller chain to the center hub. No lube under there. Just dry and chips can and will get under the wheel and find their way to the chain. The Milwaukee is more of a direct drive. Meaning, only a semi-sealed shaft is poking through the frame to drive the bottom wheel. And gets it's power transferred in a gearbox that's inside the frame. Presumably sealed with gear oil. You can see the right angle gear housing on the frame of the Bauer... but look carefully, it's not in the center of the wheel. Somehow, Milwaukee got that part right and that's probably their defining characteristic that Bauer is not allowed to copy. The Bauer is much more difficult to reassemble should you need to replace the tires. But the blade change feels easier to do on the Bauer. My Milwaukee lives permanently on the SWAG Off Road stand now. And the Bauer gets handheld duty. Since it's much cheaper to replace, I figured it would get the most abuse with the potential to drop from time to time.

i don't know about rest of you all but i love my bauer portable band saw.

Just bought this saw, great video!

I'll take the beuer thanks for the video

Harbor freight is just cheap. As this video showed, some cheap tools are a good value, but the concern is how long will they last?

How about the big thing you overlooked? The Milwaukee has a guide light to see your cut. The Bauer doesn't.

You do know that the Bauer is a clone of the original Milwaukee porta band,better built than the new Milwaukee saw,and they are all made in China now

Good video thanks

Honestly can't see the point of these - I really have to have a proper go of one myself. Always found hand hacksaws with a HSS blade so much quicker and more accurate than anyone I've seen using these. I have a metal chopsaw and a plasma cutter too - but I still choose the hacksaw in many situations.

I literally just got back home from HF after buying this saw, Sat. Nov. 16th '19. It no longer comes with a blade.

WATCHED IT AND LEFT YOU LIKE NUMBER ONE !

My father getting it for me for a project looks like it’ll fit the bill... it’ll b fine I won’t use it every day..I’m a snap on and Milwaukee guy but I just don’t see that big of a difference

We have a unique situation with the Legacy Brands strategy and the Harbor Freight upmarket brand strategy. The legacy brands were/are in a cost down engineering/manufacturing mode while HF, who was already in a low cost country (LCC) had established relationships with suppliers and could/did quickly pivot to a higher grade of tool/parts This battle will be lost or won in the margins each strategy can generate. HF can only get better, however if the added cost/value gets too high with a resulting adjustment pricing to maintain margin, people will pass on it. The Legacy brands can't cut costs below the point at which performance/reliability starts to tarnish the brand, putting pressure on their margins.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but wouldn't how long the blades last depend on manufacturer/quality of the blade itself rather than the saw? Since these were both Bauer blades, wouldn't you expect them to last about the same? I understand that how well they cut will vary by saw depending on speed and strength of the motor, etc, but how would that impact whether the blade looses teeth or stays sharp?

The Bauer is worm drive and the Milwaukee is direct drive. Is the Milwaukee quieter or louder?

Which blade did you use

Bauer blades , Made in the USA distributed by Harbor Freight.

The milwaukee was definitely running higher rpm

are you Tony

Rotate the blades

I have a friend that works in HF management, he confirmed that they are working to upgrade the quality of their products. He sighted the new welder lines as an example. There is still a lot of prejudice against products from China. Remember in the 1950's when same negative comments were on products from Japan? There are high and low quality products from everywhere. My HF nail guns put my Porter Cable gun to shame. The P/C gun has been repaired twice and the HF are going strong in spite of seeing more use. AND it cost more to have the P/C gun repaired than it does to purchase a new HF nailer.

I just purchased a saw identical to yours. Did your's come with a blade and extra motor brushes? Mine did not and as far as I can tell, they don't have the blade and brushes with the latest version of this saw. Just curious if yours did.

Would love to know how the Bauer is holding up after a year! Loved the video! Thanks 🙏🏻

I have never used a band saw before, is it easy to cut straight 90 and 45 degrees cuts on angle iron and square tubing?

I see the soft start as one more thing to go wrong. I have an expensive name brand router that has a soft start that is now a no or once in a very rare while start. I would have been much happier without that "feature"

$ 89.90 today !!!

That's a tough one, welders or go carts? Hmmm probably welders but that's only cause I'm in the market for a welder lol

ok I don't give a crap that the Bauer cuts, a torch will cut, how accurate is it, the answer is it is not, it is total crap for precision cuts

"This Old Mech Master"?

just bought the Bauer last Sat for $95 with Christmas coupon thanks to your video pushing me over the edge on it. any suggestions about grinders?

I phoned HF, today, to see if I can get replacement tires for my Bauer portaband, and was told HF does not have replacement tires. The service dept. guy didn't know if tires from other brands would fit my saw, and told me to check with Amazon. He did not know, if Amazon has tires to fit or not. So much for HF customer service.

Been very very tempted to buy this, however I don’t know if I will until someone comes out with an affordable table for it so I can use it as a table top band saw too. I know about the swag off road ones but how much they cost vs how much I would use it, is not worth it.

Hi, i'm about to buy one of those, i could buy a dewalt, but it's better if i don't spend to much, i live in Argentina, so i have to be sure of the quality because i can't just go to the store and returned haha, so i want to ask you how much do you use it and how long do you have it, thank you in advance and sorry for mi English

they are made in the same factory........I dont care which one is faster .....Iam not running a race

Just subscribed, good vid. I vote for Halloween props, maybe something pneumatic?

They should change the Milwaukee name to Shanghai. It's a shame that these companies sell out America

So, Milwaukee portable handsaw Goes to level 5 speed and Bauer goes to 7 speed... hopfully You do realize the numbers are arbitrary gradients between minimum & maximum speed

How the heck do you cut so straight with them? I bought a Bauer and someone recommended the Lenox blades from Lowes. I bought some and they are .020 where Bauer says .025 in the manual for their saw but others were using the Lenox ones. Anyway,i couldnt get a clean STRAIGHT cut. I'm wondering if the .005 thickness was the difference.

Number of cuts doesn't lend to the quality of the tool. Bearings, engineering, castings, gears.....

Any thoughts on the Bauer after 2 years ?? I’m a new welder / hobbyist and just need something for in gone projects. Hoping to get a Bauer this weekend. Thanks Ed B

Someone please explain why 2 saws with the same blade. One would cut faster than the other unless you are putting more pressure or one of the motors are rotating faster than the other.

Amps? Rpm's Cutting depth?

Can you replace the wheel tires. Someone said they called for new ones and hf does not sell them.

Alright, this gos on my list of HF tools to look into...

Why do you talk like this old Tony?

Their both made in Taiwan lol. They both are using the same metals 🤦🏼‍♂️ Taiwans manufacturing also makes some snap on tools, mac, dewalt, bauer, Milwaukee and many other brand names. Google shit people

Aiden get back to work

nice review. I have one negative comment. Dude, your hands are far to clean for a machine tool review, makes it look like a paid review. I know it's not, just sayin.😁