"razingkane" wrote in message
t...
How does one get a straight answer on which brand of woodworking equipment
is better than another? Is this the age old woodworking question? By
better I mean quality, reliability, functionality... Maybe there is no
real
answer to this questions because it tool specific. One brand of router is
better than another but the same brands table saw is not as good. I've
found this question/answer to be person specific. A friend will buy Delta
but wouldn't touch Craftsman. My wife and I are looking for a jointer.
Our hunt has taken us all over town. Woodworking shops, Sears, Lowes... .
While in Home Depot looking for some track lights we ran into a friend who
works there. He talked to us for 10 minutes about how good Rigid is. On
the way out to the car my wife said one of her woodworking friends said
never/ever buy Rigid. Why? Can it really be that poorly made. The way I
see it is if it's that bad (name your manufacture) they would not be in
business. Which brings me back to my question. My wife and I figure the
best way to go about buying equipment is to listen to what others say,
read
up on what the manufactures say and buy what we feel is best for us.

Rick and Debbee

BTW, we just started on filling our garage with woodworking equipment
after
going to a friends house to use their stuff for the last 6 months. We
bought the Jet lathe we are building a router table. The Delta band saw,
and Craftsmen table saw are on extended loan from a friend who felt the
need
to upgrade their equipment.


I think that one answer is that everyone assigns value differently, and most
people assign different values to different types of tools. For some the
joy of owning "the best" has huge value. They get joy from knowing that
they have the top of the line tools. They treasure the fit and finish and
enjoy the feeling they get from controlling the tool. They don't even have
to use them to get value, but this is not to say that they don't use them.



Others put a high value on getting the lowest possible price for a
particular tool and will gladly put up with bad fit and finish, awkward
adjustments or bad ergonomics. They just want to do the job.



Some will only buy tools from a store that is local, where they can actually
touch the tools before purchasing and in many cases need to purchase the
tool for a particular job immediately and are limited to tools that are in
stock. The opposite has no problem purchasing tools via internet/mail-order
and spends lots of hours reading reviews to get the perfect tool.



Some try to buy American. Others look to how easy it is to get replacement
parts, while different group looks to buy only used tools.



Over time people develop brand preferences. If they have had a good value
from a particular brand of powered hand tool they tend to purchase more of
that brand. Sometimes it is something as simple as battery
interoperability.



I am not sure that my answer helps, but I can tell you I have a total mix of
tools. Some of the highlights:



Delta Unisaw tablesaw

Laguna sliding table

Lagugna 18" bandsaw

Jet 14" bandsaw

Delta DJ-20 Jointer

Jet 15" Planer

Penn State 2.5 Hp. Dust Collector

Jet 17" Drill Dress

Laguna slot mortiser

Delta Lathe

Performax 16-32+ drum sander

Dewalt 12 SCMS

Dewalt 12 CMS

Craftsman 30 gallon oiless compressor



I tried to get the best "value" for each tool I purchased and tend to like
the higher-end consumer tools but switched brands often.



I know that I missed a lot but other in the group will have more/better
information



Bob McBreen