Mediocre in every way
Written: Nov 02 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: comfortable, keyless blade clamp makes switching blades a snap
Cons: serious lack of power, lack of precision blades
The Bottom Line: Benefit of multi-purpose tool is mitigated by its poor cutting ability, lack of power, and rough-cut only blades
|
|
|
| lisatoy's Full Review: Black & Decker 3.4 amp Navigator Powered Hand Sawi... |
Having recently bought our first house - and since that house needs a bit of, well, attention - there are any number of minor tasks for which I need a saw. One of my in-laws gave me the Navigator when we moved in, and raved about its versatility - assuring me that I could rely on it as a solid replacement for any number of single-purpose saws. As it turns out, the Navigator is really just a poor imitation of those other tools.
What's Included
the saw body - with mediocre 3.4A, 5500spm motor
"large capacity" hand saw blade
metal cutting blade
curved cutting blade
Notice no carrying or storage case for the saw & blades.
The general idea is that this multi-purpose tool can serve as either a jig-saw or as a pseudo reciprocating saw with the large blade attached.
Ease of Use
The saw is initially both easy to hold and comfortable, and contains a trigger lock at both ends of the handle to accommodate the different positions of the saw based on which blade you're using. The locks, though, are not easy to reach with one hand (unless your hands are much larger than mine) so it is effectively a two-handed operation to start.
The blades are very easily changed using the button switch on the side of the saw. Pop the blade in, turn it 90 degrees, and you're all set. That button seems unsturdy. I'll keep an eye on it to see if it holds up.
The Navigator's variable speed is controlled by the single trigger - press it harder and the motor speeds up. Safety dictates that you have to continue manually depressing the trigger for the saw to operate (rather than allowing you to lock it in "on" mode).
Performance
Hand saw blade: this blade works best cutting plywood and perhaps 2x4s. It does not lend itself to fine detail work, not is it easy (particularly for a relative beginner like me) to make truly perpindicular cuts. The lack of power makes it difficult to cut anything larger than a 2x4, and in truth it's not much faster than using a good old fashioned hand saw.
I've used it also to cut plastic pipe, but again the performance (given its lack of power) is not much superior to that of a non-motorized hand saw / hack saw.
Curved cutting blade: in short, it works fine for curved cuts. I've only used it a couple of times to date, but notice that the blade is thick - so you won't be able to use it for detailed work. The scalloped front end does indeed make it easy to see the cutting line, but lack of power combined with the thick blade still have made it difficult to cut precisely - for me, anyway. I looked for additional blades beyond the three that come with the Navigator, but as yet B&D don't offer any. We'll see if that changes at some point in the future.
Metal cutting blade: I've cut some metal pipe with this, and it's worked great. It seems to work more quickly here than does a hack saw, so I've become comfortable using it for this purpose most of all.
Overall
Black and Decker seems to position this as a supplemental tool - to be used in addition to circular saw, chop saw, reciprocating saw, hack saw, etc. The problem I have seen is than in each case the Navigator's performance falls short of the alternative, except perhaps for the metal pipe. It certainly doesn't work well as a pruning tool - any branch too large to be cut with my lopping shears is also too much for this hand saw blade here. In the time it takes to work its way through a 2x8 you could borrow your neighbor's hand saw and get the same job done.
So while it isn't up to the challenge of larger cut work, the lack of precision blades also make it nearly useless for finer detailed work. In the end, it seems that the Navigator is the perfect tool for medium-sized, rough cut, no detail work...in other words, work you could just as easily do with a serviceable non-motorized hand saw or hack saw. My advice: save the $50 and work on getting decent tools one at a time.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
lisatoy
|
|
Location: USA
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 2 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.