Thanks both of you for the advice, I ended up grabbing a 12" ridgid slidding compound miter saw on sale for $399, didn’t come with a stand but maybe I’ll buy one eventually because my work beach is fairly high for this beast. I’m super happy with it so far and glad i bought it new for the lifetime warranty. Don’t plan on cutting any firewood with it lol. And I did see some 12" blades on sale so yeah I’m not worried about that after all!

AJ