Miter saws have become an invaluable job-site tool for everything from cutting mouldings to making last-minute remakes. But often the saw gets plopped on the ground or on some makeshift stand, and transport to and from the job site also presents challenges.

Ridgid has addressed those issues with a new version of its MSUV (short for Miter Saw Utility Vehicle).

How it works

The MSUV is designed to not only be a sturdy work stand for most miter saws, but it also has wheels and collapses quickly for transport. Once you arrive at your destination, you pull out a locking knob to swing out a pair of sturdy tubular steel legs on one side. Moving around to the other side of the stand, you release a locking mechanism to raise the stand to full height. A pneumatic cylinder helps push up against the weight of the saw to make it easier to lift.

The saw itself is mounted on rails that clamp securely to the rounded edges of the table. Designed to affix without modification to most miter saws, the rails can also be mounted to a plywood platform for the saw if your particular miter saw won't fit on the rails.

MSUV road test

To give this stand a true workout, we mounted a large 12-inch sliding compound miter saw on the MSUV. The saw mounted securely to the rails, and the stand had no problem holding the saw tight to the table. Pull-out extension roller rests were easy to adjust to the saw table height to handle long boards and mouldings.

While the extra weight and size of the big miter saw would seem to be a challenge for most portable work stands, the MSUV is rated for 200 pounds and seemed to handle it fine. When it came time to roll away the saw, the pneumatic cylinder let the unit collapse easily and under control despite the weight. Sliding the saw and rails down to the wheeled end of the stand helped balance everything and made it easy to wheel.

At a price of under $200, the new version of the Ridgid MSUV seems like it's destined to roll onto lots of job sites. For more information, visit  www.ridgid.com.