In typed:
ok, ted, your fingers are worth more than a couple hundred bucks.
granted.

what isn't known is the rate of false positives. that information
*cannot* be known until the machine has been in use in actual workshop
use for some time.

how many times would you pay $180 for a cartridge and blade before you
started thinking about either replacing the saw or just disabling the
thing. a cabinet saw costs about $2000. that's about 11 false
positives. if it does it once a month it's costing you something like
4 new saws a year.

If I was worried about false alarms, I would like to find out what testing
has been done to prove that it will not misfire. I am quite positive that
there are saws somewhere that have been in real woodshops being used in real
working conditions since the day it was invented, not to mention possibly
even some testing center that was hired to test it. Basically, I am saying
that befoe I pursued purchasing the machine I would like to see evidence of
testing, or some sort of proof that misfires are some very small percentage
or even not possible. I would pay it at least once, and then I would have
to figure out whether or not I actually touched the blade, before I pursued
other avenues. If I did not touch the blade, I would be on the phone
talking to Steve Gass. I am quite sure that he is a reasonable man, and
could be convinced one way, cannot be the only way. The reason I know this
is because of his invention of the very system we are debating. The system
would not even exist if he thought that the possiblity for something that
seemed impossible was in fact possible.

how many times HAVE you cut off your fingers on your table saw,
anyway?

Never, but I have touched an alternating tip blade while it was running and
not even received a scratch from it.
--
Ted Harris
http://www.tedharris.com