on 4/7/2005 10:52 AM brianlanning said the following:
I was meeting a friend at the schaumburg outback last night for dinner
(Schaumburg is a chicago suburb), so I decided to stop by the Rockler
store there and pick up the D-handle for my PC 690.

Question: Since the D-Handle includes a cord and trigger switch, what
do you do with all the cord already attached to the 690 motor? I
considered picking one of these up also but...

Let me first say this this place is like a candy store and I've bought
things there on many occasions.

Ah, yes. It is indeed. Nice people that are willing to help you find
anything you want but if you say "Thanks, just browsing..." it's like
you have a tag on you saying "Beware of Plague!" and they really keep
their distance until you whistle them up to help. I like that in a store.


I didn't check online to see what a good price on the D-handle was, but
my gut told me that it should be about $50. I walked in and asked the
guy if they had one. He was very helpful. Then I noticed the price:
$98... for a cast aluminum frame, plastic handle, power plug connector,

Well, I didn't either and I checked their on-line catalog and found it
to be $95.99 there so I guess the $98 is not a gouge, nor a mistake.
It's what they sell it for. Guess that if I decide to get one it'll be
off eBay or Amazon.

The weird thing is that some of the items seemed to have very good
prices. Maybe this is a special case.

My experience is similar but I've found their prices to be all over the
board. Some deals are good, some are bad. Compared some recent
purchases with prices from Lee Valley for identical items and Lee Valley
had them beat, hands down. Of course, with the shipping charges you
would have to spend about $50 minimum before you could consider it a
"wash" even factoring in the lack of that 8.25% (I think it is) tax rate
in Schaumburg.