I hadn't thought about it before, but I guess I am already cheating on the
500$ budget constraint with my shopping. I'm not counting blades (three or
four plus a dado set), the mobile base (need one) or any jigs I might buy
instead of make. If I had to include all that in the 500$, I'd be starting
out with a 99$ Skil or something.

Thanks for the advice.


"Leuf" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 07:40:53 -0500, "Hedley"
wrote:

I'm also looking and have set 500$ for my budget. I need the saw to be
fairly easy in setting up, and fairly accurate. The saws in the 89$ (yes,
they make them that cheap) to 350& range seem a little too small, wobbly
and
insubstantial. 500$ seems about right, and I can always upgrade the fence
if it becomes needed.

I got the Ridgid TS3650 for $569 earlier this year, it's listed at
$597 now on the website. You may be able to catch a 10% sale if you
are lucky. You need to plan on getting a medium quality blade as well
no matter what saw you get, the included blade is always marginal for
finish work but fine for rough work. The Ridgid includes a built in
mobile base, which depending on how much room you have may be
important, this would add about $50 on another saw. The fence is not
as good as the aftermarket ones, but you won't need to upgrade it. It
is however a total PITA to assemble and set up the first time. Not
hard, but time consuming. Plan on 6-8 hours.

I have no experience with the Ryobi BT3100, my own experience with
other Ryobi tools would probably steer me away from getting something
like a table saw from them though. Enough people are happy with them
though that if you can't swing the Ridgid it's your next best bet.
While not having a mobile base, it'd be light enough to move around
without one.


-Leuf