dcl

I bought a 780 a while ago. It has a lot of great features, but the slides were abysmal and would get caught up when doing steep angle bevels. Thought there was something wrong with it, but checked two hd displays and they were both the same. If you are using it for framing and general carpentry work it's still a great saw, but not for high end carpentry. The kapex can't be beat as a trim saw, but it uses a 30mm arbor and the blades can get expensive, so I reserve for cabinets and high end trim jobs. It also really does not have the same capacity as most higher end 12s on the market, close, but not quite, and I want more capacity for framing. The 12in axial Bosch is my go too general purpose saw. Great for framing as well as trim, and I can throw a cheap blade on it for mdf, LSL's and prefinished floors if need be. My father in law is also a cabinet maker and has the 12in hitachi. I don't have too much time on it, but it's an incredible saw for the money, and it certainly seems capable of high end results.

If you already have 18's and are just looking for compact tools I'd stay away from the Milwaukee's. They are excellent tools by themselves, but most are almost the same length (or even longer) than a lot of 18v tools. I use Bosch for my 12v tools. Never the most powerful option, but they are high quality, small, light, and have a great lineup. The new Makita stuff looks awesome as well, and I've heard nothing but glowing reviews about them. I haven't tried them myself though, and I'm unsure about the slide packs. The thing I like about the bosch is that because they don't use slide packs, I can have it clipped to my belt all day and it stays tight to my body so it's barely even noticeable unlike my 18's with slide packs that tend to just hang off my belt. Makita's is pretty narrow though so that might not be an issue.