Flooring Tile - Tile Saws

I am working on a bathroom remodel that involves cutting a fair amount of 16x16" Slate and Travertine tiles down into 8X8" tiles. (most stone is typically not available in 8x8") Additionally the floor will be set on a diaginal. Once this project is done, I plan to do the kitchen & laundry area. the patio, and then the other bathroom. Because of the number of cuts I feel like the rental fee for a saw (at $50-60 a day) would go a long way toward the purchase of one -- especially at my slow meticulous pace. I hate using cheesy inexpensive inaccurate tools, but I also am not a professional an do not require the tool to hold up heavy daily use.

I'm having a hard time determining how much saw to buy. The MK-145, for example, is very inexpensive ($100) It is set up like a table saw with a water pan underneath. It will rip an "unlimited" size tile, but I have no concept of how accurate an straight the cuts will be, since my tile size is nearly the size of the table.

The QEP 60007 has a 7" blade and will cut up to a 16" tile and sells for about $225.00 Would this be a "happy median" tool that would suit my needs?

Other saws that will rip a 16" tile jump into the $500 and up range. The MK-100 has a 10" blade and are selling for around $600. It looks like a quality professional grade tool, but is this more tool than I really need?


Any advice is appreciated

Hey Dino, I posted an answer to this question in the tools section, if you like to check it out, hope it helps.