Serious question about miter saw accuracy and digital gauges

I keep seeing guys at the shop in Austin swear by those digital angle finders, but mine reads 0.2 degrees off after 3 months of normal use. Maybe it's just me, but I trust a solid square and a test cut on scrap pine over any battery powered gadget. I calibrate my dewalt every Monday and still catch drift, so why is everyone acting like these things are magic? Has anyone else ditched the digital stuff and gone back to manual setup on a 12 inch saw?

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beth_butler751mo ago

Wondering what your setup looks like when you check that drift, are you zeroing it on the saw table itself or on a flat reference? Because if the table has any sawdust or a burr on it, that 0.2 could be the surface and not the gauge. Have you tried marking a line on the table and rechecking the same spot each Monday to see if the number moves around or stays put? Curious if the drift is real or just the gauge hunting for a reading.

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