I posted a couple of weeks ago a request for opinions from anyone who had
seen both these and the other "new" (some months older) 0651 saw with riving
knife. I pointed out that the 691 is made in China while the 651 is from
Taiwan, and nobody has responded to anything but the general perceptions of
quality from those sources. I get the impression nobody has seen the 690/691
even in Grizzly stores!
I have spent a lot of hours looking closely at the manuals and the parts
diagrams for these saws, and am thinking seriously of ordering the 691. But
one thing that does bother me is that the 690/691 are stated to draw much
less current than other saws also called 3Hp saws. Manufacturers (notably
Sears!) lie a lot about horsepower, but there are still the underlying rules
of physics that say a real horsepower requires so many watts, so, allowing
for inefficiencies, a saw that really deserves to be called 3Hp has to draw
at least that much electrical power. I find it hard to believe the 690/691
have motors that are really more than 20% more efficient than other 3Hp
saws...
Looking closely at the specs and the pictures in the manuals (available
online from Grizzly), the 690/691 do have some of the highly touted features
of the new Delta cabinet saws. For example, the blade is set further back so
there is much more room on the table in front of it. The 690/691 (but not
the 651) have gears that help move the riving knife or the guard up and
down, so it does not just follow the arbor: Since the riving knife is
farther from the pivot point, without that gearing the knife would move up
and down faster than the blade. So that looks like another good point to the
690/691. Like the new Delta, the actual cast iron table is narrower than
previous saws but the difference is made up in the extensions. But I would
like to get more data, and so far nobody seems to have any!
Bob Wilson
"Anon" wrote in message
...
If anyone here's bought one of these new saws, I'd be interested in their
opinion. Price point looks compelling for a riving knife cabinet saw, and
their other cabinet saws have reviewed well...

Thanks.