On Jun 4, 7:40 pm, "Howard Swope" wrote:
I am getting ready to make a table saw purchase. I have pretty much decided
on getting the SawStophttp://www.sawstop.com/. It looks like a high quality
saw and the safety features can't be beat. It is about double what I had
originally wanted to spend. My thought was that if it prevents one injury it
has easily paid for itself. An extra 2 grand seems like a lot of money until
you weight it against the loss of a finger(s), and then that 2 grand seems
like nothing.

Thoughts, comments, advice?

Thanks,
Howard

I've read some of the reviews on the SawStop, and as others say, its a
good quality saw. You could argue about how much extra the safety
feature is costing compared to the extra quality you are purchasing.
With fence, table, 5 hp motor, you are about $3600. About $1000 or so
more than a similar Powermatic 66. Is that too much to pay?

If I were looking to spend $3600 or so for a table saw, I would not
buy a SawStop. I would look at one of the European sliding tablesaw
models. Might have to pay a bit more than $3600, but I think you get
a far more useful saw with the built in next to the blade sliding
table. And the sliding table adds considerable safety. And the
European saws also come with a riving knife like the SawStop. The
cabinet saw (Unisaw) is a product of the 1930s. I can understand why
SawStop chose to make a cabinet saw with their safety feature since
that is the only kind of saw Americans know and buy. But I think they
missed the boat by not putting their safety feature into a far more
usreful, modern sliding table saw.