im not so sure what is a good model for be, i have heard Bosch makes a good one, and so did hitachi. I was looking at the Hitachi P20SBK, and the Bosch 1594K or the PL1682. I CANNOT affort a skil 100 or anything old. i need somthing from the store that i can pick up at lowes or somthing. I would also like somthing that has some mods to it, that i could do.
I'd say get the Hitachi. Replace the factory bearings asap, and always watch the heat and bearing wear. The primary way to totally ruin the tool is to melt the bearing seats of the plastic housing/body.
Other than that special care they work great, and there's a world of mods detailed on here. Get or make the on-the-fly adjustment, move the handle back/down, and you've got yourself the same tool a lot of pros use- even pros who have Skil 100s in mothballs.