StephenM wrote:
I got one of these about a year ago.
http://www.toolbarn.com/makita-9920.html
It replaced a POS 3x21 craftsman wich I dumped because it had no dust
collection.

There is nothing about it that I did not like, There are a few things that I
think are particularly Good:

* the integrated dust collection appears to get 90%. That exceeded my
expectations Oddly attaching a shop vac did not seem to improve on that
much.

* Supposedly the quietest of the breed. It's certainly much quieter than my
crapsman.

* I like the extra length of a 3x24. It's easier to *not* dig in and make a
mess

*Subjective, but I find the balance and ergonomics to be quite good.

* Belt tracking is perfect.

* A long and plyable cord. I wish vendors would either put long cords or
really short cords on a tool.

....
Overall, I'll concur w/ the Makita but it's a case of there's nothing
any better rather than it being perfect...

- Will agree dust collection is good for a BS; I find the bag is in the
way more often than I would care for (altho don't know there's any real
way to avoid it in Makita's defense; certainly the PC way up in the air
is far worse)

- Agree w/ the 3x24 form factor -- problem is that unless Makita has
changed the actual production, the 3x24 is a 4x24 body w/ 3"
platen/rollers so there's an extra inch of bulk that an ideal unit would
not have; they would build a 3" unit from ground up (mine is several
years old; while I don't think they have, it is possible they have fixed
this since)

- The long cord is nice, but--there is something about the way this one
is attached and that pliability that I find the d-d tail is _always_
underfoot; I can't count the times it's gotten chewed up so far. My old
B&D w/ a stiffer cord never seemed to cause such grief...

- Balance/ergonomics compared to most of what else is out there is
reasonable as noted; it still doesn't balance very well and the
switch/lock is very cumbersome for my hands, anyway. The lock in
particular is in such a deep recess and position that I have to poke it
w/ the forefinger of the other hand most of the time to engage it.

_IF_ they were to build it in a 24" length, I'd be very tempted to try
the 3-wheel B&D -- it's the closest thing now to my old favorite B&D of
a forgotten model # that's been out of production for 20+ years
now--I've worn out two/three and there are, unfortunately, no more new
parts (gears) available and I suspect it would be prohibitively
expensive to get them custom-made as the prime culprit is the drive gear
that is machined into the end or the motor rotor. It had the feature of
the motor being between the rollers and direct gear drive so it had low
COG and no external drive housing as virtually everything these days
does. That's what the 3-wheel design brings back, but I, like somebody
else noted, won't give up the length of the 24" belt for the motor
placement. Given its age, it lacked dust collection but that could have
been remedied and used to be one was proud of making sawdust...

All in all, it (the Makita) ain't perfect but I don't think there's a
better choice at the moment, unfortunately.

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