One of the first and best scms was the 8.5" Hitachi. We used one at work until they stopped supporting it. The brushes went and were no longer available after about 25 years.

The smaller the blade, the less power/time it will use to get up to speed. The 12" ones take seconds longer to make it to the max. rpm. The blades are also costlier, and same on re-sharpening. I have a 10" Bosch, it's pretty old, and it hangs in there; the 10" Hitachi with the direct drive motor is really nice.

The Dewalt models always seem to take up a lot of room, the Bosch is at least rather compact, and miters to 62 degrees which was why I bought it in the first place, I had a bunch of attic louvers to make and needed a 60 deg.miter!

Casey

Room. If you need to store the 10" slider in a garage, beside a vehicle, might be a problem.

The plus's of the 10":

One size blade(although the blade designs for a table saw and a miter slider are very different, ).

Width of cut is actually greater than the 12"

Weight is usually a bit less.

Minus's of the slider:

Blade design is different, so now you have possible confusion between table saw blades versus miter saw blades.

Saw storage area is a bit larger.

Less expensive saws can have a substantial wobble.

Learning curve and safety is different from the stationary models.

Cost can be higher than a 12" model.

So, factoring in all the +/- means a more informed decision.

The additional capacity of the 12" blade may be useful if you plan on cutting larger pieces of moulding, not just framing members. Beyond that, others have discussed various pros and cons of the larger saw.

As Handy Mac mentioned, the tooth geometry of a SCMS blade is very different than for a blade used for a table saw, so they really aren't interchangeable.

I would also suggest buying the best saw you can afford. Pay particular attention to how easy it is to set angles outside of the normal detentes. Corners are rarely 90 degrees so it is important to be able to easily set the saw to, say, 44.5 degrees or 45.7 degrees.

When I was in the business, we switched from sliding to non-sliding. Simply had too many saws that weren't perfectly aligned, and any blade issues became magnified. Unless you're sure you need that much capacity, I don't see the need for it.

I think others have well summarized the benefits of each. For woodworkingI happily use one of the early 10" Hitachi SCMS and have only really wanted a bigger saw a couple times over the last 20 years. Mine is permanently mounted in a workbench, so stays nicely aligned. For carpentry and hauling from place to place I have a cheap Dewalt non-slider that has proven surprisingly robust to a fair amount of abuse.

I use the Forrest 80 tooth chopmaster blade on the Hitachi; it produces cuts that almost don't need sanding.

Thanks for the feedback. I do already have a 10" non-slide miter saw, and the reason I'm buying a second is because I'm installing 7-1/4" baseboard throughout my entire house. It seems to me that most non-slide miter saws can't handle that capacity.

I don't think you'll find saw that will cut 7 1/4" moulding held vertically so you'll need to lay it flat. Unless you're thinking about cutting other large moulding, I'd go with a 10" slider for the reasons already mentioned. Double bevel would be a nice feature.

I have 2 sliders, 3 table saws, 2 radial arm saws - all 10". The blades are much cheaper and how often are you cutting wood that's so thick (4") you need a 12" blade? Also, better cuts - less flex than a 12" of the same brand.