On 11 Feb, 18:40, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
Anyone got any experience of this saw?

A 5604 is old stock, so ought to be at a good price. Current model is
the 5704

It's a reasonable quality cheap lightweight saw, only with a high
pricetag. The 5703 is rather more convincing in terms of the
baseplate and probably a better deal.

I do timber framing with a couple of the 5903s and a 5604. All have
lasted fairly well. The 5143 is terrifying and uncontrollable, owing
to a huge blade with huge gyroscopic forces. Don't ever try moving one
with the power on other than in a pure straight line!

One weakness to the Makita is that the ripping splitter is flimsy and
easily bent. Although you can easily bend them straight again you have
to take it off the saw before you can do this (otherwise you just bend
a second kink into it). This requires dismantling half the saw and
more tools than you have on top of a roof.

For big stuff, the big Makita is nice. For this size though I'd
probably buy a Hitachi C7U (ugly pair of trainers though it is). Even
better is the last of the old-production Skils, if you can find one
(new stuff is B&Q garbage)