I'm planning on a Dado set for my 3HP CS; performance is more important than
price.

At least some of the manufacturers produce the outside blades such that they
score the workpiece to achieve perfect edges and avoid tear-out. While this
is nice, the scoring is bound to also leave a small valley at the bottom
corners of the dado (some have called these batwings).

I am hopeful of using the dado set to also cut box joints and various
shouldered joints (lap, tenons, rabbets, etc) that may require multiple
passes over the blade to achieve full width. Having the blade score the
joint at the edges of each pass would seem less than desirable.

Since some of these joints may be visible in a finished piece, are the
batwings also visible?

Of the sets listed below, which are more or less better in this regard?

Forrest Dado King, ~$270.
Claim: most well known as the best.
Outer blades score workpiece.
(Does this leave visible ridges?)

Freud SD508, ~$200
Claim: contends as the best.
Square Tooth, and Chip-Free.
(No scoring?)

Freud SD608, ~$250
Claim: same as 508, but replaces shims with patented dial.

Ridge Carbide Dado-Master, ~170.
Claim: perfect flat bottom.
Compare against best known set for $100 less.


TIA,

/rick, who owns a Forrest WWII, and is very pleased, and has been leaning
toward the Forrest Dado King but for the potential batwing problem.