Chip. You are indeed correct with your disliking of plastic and the rubber bands.
Firstly, the fence has a plastic end. It WILL shatter. Mine shattered the other month. This made the rip fence unusable until I bought a replacement (I bought two because I knew that plastic, with heat cycles and UV exposure, will inevitably become brittle).
I'm not sure how well other rip fences are designed, but the small pivot point on the opposite side of the rip fence lock DOES NOT ensure a cut perfectly perpendicular to the blade. Pretty lame, quite frankly.
Secondly, my belt just melted. I've been milking it for a while, but it's dead now. At 40 bucks for a replacement set, I'm going to get a REAL table saw, with REAL belt drive and a metal rip fence.