SawStop has been very careful to be accurate in their representation
of the machine. The blade brake acts to reduce the severity of
injury that occurs when an operator's body contacts the spinning
blade. Anyone who has witnessed the demo - and it's worth noting
that independent parties such as the FWW staff have tested the brake
and found it to work as claimed - understands that this "reduction in
severity" is substantial. SawStop cannot, however, make specific
performance claims for several reasons:

-- Claim a maximum depth cut of 1/16" (the actual max. typical cut
that they mentioned in early product development discussion) and then
they get sued if someone gets cut 3/32" deep.

-- Claim a maximum depth cut of 1/4" and people say "what's the
point?".

-- How fast the blade stops depends on blade material, tooth count,
tooth geometry, blade body coatings, sharpness, and other factors.
They can't guarantee a particular performance. If they did there
would be plenty of lawyers with high speed cameras waiting to figure
out some qualification they forgot to list and then sue them.

You may be thinking "why buy the product if they can't be held
accountable?" Believe me...there is plenty in the Owner's Manual for
which they will be accountable. They have set up the saw so it won't
operate (unless in Bypass Mode) unless configured properly and the
brake is fully functional. If the spinning blade touches a person
and the brake doesn’t release then SawStop will have plenty of
responsibility. That's good enough for me, and was part of my logic
in buying the saw.

Anyone out there have an owners manual for their car that claims exact
airbag sensing and activation speed? How about claims for how fast
the car can be moving, or what it can hit, without injury to the
driver? They just say that the airbag will activate and may reduce
injury. I don't think they could say more, and I find SawStop's
similar approach honest and straightforward.