I've got the Dewalt DW735. The Delta is a very good planer. My
brother-in-law owns one; it's easy to use and put a fine finish on the wood
with very little snipe. The Dewalt, however, is an outstanding planer. It
planes so smooth that two pieces of planed wood want to stick together and
you'll question the need for any sanding. The only times I've had any snipe
at all were my fault for either trying to take too much off at once (3/32"
on dimensioning speed on pine) or putting a "follower" piece in too quickly
behind a small piece of stock and catching the blades.

If you've got the extra cash, the Dewalt is a heavier, better-engineered
planer. If not, the Delta is a good second choice.

BTW, the most recent issue of Popular Woodworking (Feb 2004) has a review of
13" planers. The DW735 took top honors.
"NoNameAtAll" wrote in message
...
I'm sure this has been covered here before, but I googled the newsgroup
and
didn't come up with a whole lot of information. I'm condidering buying a
planer
for my home workshop but I have no experience with them and hence have no
idea
which one would be good. I've seen some discussion about the DeWalt 735
and
Delta 580, both of which are 13" planers. The DeWalt is about $100 more
expensive. Is it actually worth that much more? Are there other makes and
models I should consider? Ease of use is important to me because I've
never
used one before. Portability is not a big deal because I don't intend to
take
it anywhere.