Choose a blade size
Saw blades are extremely pricey, the fewer saw blades you buy, the happier your wallet will be. If you plan on buying a miter saw, table saw, a radial arm saw, or some assemblage of these, pick a blade size and stick with it. While there are a variety of sizes available, the most popular and common blade sizes are 12″ and 10″. If you stick with the same blade size for all of your saws, you will be able to buy one blade and use it with several saws. In the long run, this will save you hundreds of dollars.
Corded or cordless?
Cordless tool batteries have made remarkable advances over the last several years. Tools that you would think could never be cordless, such as circular saws and miter saws, now offer cordless options. If you are thinking about purchasing a cordless saw and you have, or may have, other cordless tools, consider staying with a single battery/manufacturer system so that you can share batteries amongst all of your tools. Additional batteries are very expensive — it is usually cheaper to get a brand new tool than to purchase replacement batteries. If you buy several tools from the same maker all with the...