Einhell TE-MS 18/210 Review – UK Tried & Tested

A brush motor, not brushless. That single fact explains almost everything else about it: the lower price, the honest positioning as a budget entry rather than a scaled down professional tool, and a no load speed that sits at 3,000rpm rather than the 5,000rpm and above figures common on brushless saws in the same rough bracket.

The actual reason to pick this over a Makita or a DeWalt has nothing to do with the saw on its own, it’s the battery sitting behind it. Einhell’s Power X-Change range runs across garden tools as much as workshop tools, and a genuinely common reason for choosing this saw specifically is already owning Einhell garden kit and reaching for the same battery family rather than starting a second, separate ecosystem just for the workshop. One owner made exactly that switch after years on a different brand for hand tools, purely for the better value the crossover offered, and called the saw solid so far.

Overview and first impressions

Power splits opinion cleanly, and it’s worth reporting both sides rather than only the flattering one. A frame building job with timber up to 4×4 came out with spot on accuracy both vertically and horizontally, cutting cleanly through material that size without drama. So is a separate account that rates the motor as only really suited to something as light as skirting board, and another that notes a bit of wobble in the mechanism alongside a shortage of power, while still calling it acceptable for what it is. That’s not one person’s bad luck. It’s a pattern worth stating honestly: this saw handles genuine trim jobs well, but pushing it toward anything more substantial is where the disappointment starts, and buying it expecting otherwise is the actual mistake.

Specifications and scores

The 40 tooth blade is built specifically for cordless saws rather than a mains blade adapted down, 1.8mm thick with a 36mm suction adaptor for the dust bag or an extractor. Sound power runs to 104.2dB, with sound pressure at 91.2dB, confirmed identically across the official datasheet and a separate listing, a real step up from comparable brushless saws already covered on this site. The brush motor is almost certainly the reason, and ear defenders stop being optional at this level, they become necessary every single time the saw runs. Net weight is 7.8kg, confirmed across three separate sources including Einhell’s own product page. Standard equipment covers the blade, a dust bag, an integrated clamp, cutting line laser and LED work light, X-Tend workpiece supports that adjust without tools, and an integrated limit stop for repeat cuts of identical length. Soft start, a spindle lock for straightforward blade changes, and an integrated depth stop for grooving and rebating cuts round out the build. It’s a separate feature entirely from a sliding rail though, worth being precise about since it’s easy to conflate the two: this saw has no sliding rail at all, the head only drops straight down, and the depth stop simply locks the blade short of full depth once it’s lowered to the required height. It does nothing to extend cutting width the way a slide would.

How it performed in our tests

Two separate safety switches have to clear before the saw starts at all, one tied to the blade cover release itself, so the guard has to be out of the way before the trigger does anything. The light and the laser run on their own separate switches too, not tied to the trigger or to each other, so either can be left on or off independently of cutting. That’s the kind of detail that only shows up from someone who actually used the saw rather than reading a spec sheet, and it confirms the safety setup is a deliberate design choice rather than a single line item.

Bevel tilts one way only, left, running 0 to 45 degrees. Mitre swings a full 47 degrees both left and right. That combination means a compound angle cut on the wrong side of a workpiece means flipping the piece over rather than resetting the saw head, the same limitation any single bevel saw carries, and worth naming plainly rather than glossing over with the mitre figure alone, since that number on its own makes the saw sound more capable across the board than the bevel side actually allows.

Battery system and runtime

Rather than a vague “long battery life” claim, Einhell’s own official figures give a proper, checkable answer, tested on soft timber at 60 x 60mm: a 2.5Ah pack manages 120 cuts, a 3.0Ah pack 154, a 4.0Ah pack 190, a 5.2Ah pack 250, a 6.0Ah pack 304, and an 8.0Ah pack 400. That answers the actual question anyone budgeting for a battery is asking, rather than the usual hand wave every spec sheet leans on.

This is a bare unit. No battery, no charger, both sold separately, and the recommended minimum pack is a 2.6Ah Plus battery or higher, since anything smaller isn’t what the saw is actually designed to run on. Three specific replacement blades exist beyond the standard 40 tooth blade fitted from new, a 48 tooth version for a finer finish and a 64 tooth version finer still, worth having if the standard blade’s finish isn’t quite clean enough on laminate or veneered material. Two dedicated saw base frame stands exist too, for anyone wanting to mount the saw permanently rather than running it freestanding on a bench.

Performance and limitations

Dust collection is the one specific weak point flagged on an otherwise strongly positive account: no proper vac connection that clears sawdust, the bag alone leaving a real mess behind. Worth stating plainly rather than glossing over it with the usual “sawdust bag included” line every spec sheet leans on, especially since it comes from someone who rated the saw highly everywhere else.

Standard cover extends by an additional year to a total of 3 years when the product is registered within 30 days of purchase.

Final verdict: is it worth it?

Weighed against what it costs to be this cheap, the trade is honest rather than hidden. The brush motor and the lower no load speed are real, measurable differences, not marketing spin, and the mixed feedback on power confirms it rather than contradicting it. Dust collection is a genuine weak point flagged directly rather than glossed over. For skirting, architrave and light trim work, on a battery platform already shared with garden tools, this earns its place. For anything more demanding, it doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t.