"Dave" wrote in message
news:YgZld.225864$%k.192568@pd7tw2no...
As you are all aware, benchtop planers have come down in price
dramatically. I am considering buying my first planer, and I want it to be
the last planer I buy.

Why the obsession with "being the last planer I buy"? Over a period of
decades, that's pretty limiting. I was really considering a Powermatic
helical head planer as my first planer, but ended up buying a Delta
benchtop. What happened? If I wanted to buy the leading benchtop, I would
have bought the Dewalt 735. I got an opportunity to buy the Delta 13" for
$229 and never looked back. Had I realized how good a job that a simple
benchtop could do, I would have never even thought about the bigger machine.
Now If it lasts more than 4 or 5 years, I will be ecstatic. By that time
I'll know if there are any serious limitations in what I want to do. In the
meantime, I got a very useful tool a long time before my budget could afford
the big iron.

Planers are the one category of power tool where you get a whole lot of bang
for the buck in the lower end.

Bob