I went to the store the other day and was asking for a good table saw...not a cheapie, and yet not break my bank. The sales guy said that Hitachi was a good "middle-of-the-road" table saw. In fact, here's what he said was the ranking in terms of the "BEST" to the "NOT SO BEST"...
1) Bosch 2) DeWalt 3) Hitachi 4) Black & Decker 5) Skil 6) CraftsmanIs this accurate? What about Hitachi Routers and Table Saws... Yeah or No Way?
Craftsman makes (sells) many models. They can easily fit from one to six on the comparative scale. Skil, IMO, is still last, tied with B & D. Price range would help.
That is kind of a curious group of tools (where's Delta, Powermatic, General, etc?) unless you were shopping at Sears. (Does Sears sell all those brands? No one else would considering one is a Sears house brand.) And, as someone else pointed out, Craftsman is sourced from a number of different companies and could vary in this salesperson's rankings. From the list, it looks like you are looking at portable, jobsite table saws??? (Skil, B&D, Bosch inclusion) One could make an argument that his list is at least somewhat close, though Craftsman could appear almost anywhere in that list, and I personally don't think that highly of DeWalt though all the magazines that accept their advertising dollars always say they are great...sometimes, even sources not accepting advertising dollars like them.
================= ?????????? I agree.. Although I am really not sure the OP is looking for a small tabletaop/portable/ job site Table saw or not...BUT the list sure makes me think he is... For use in a home shop all the listed ones would be a waste of money in my opinion.. Funny but when I think of Table Saws NONE of those listed even come to mind....
Bob G
Let me guess - You were shopping at Lowes. I'll donate an extra dollar to my favorite charity if I'm right, I know I am.
sam - That ranking may be correct depending on the saws model # and what you want them for.
Do this, give us a price range and tell us its intended uses and we can make some recomendations. We have all been there done that ad nausium. You get what you pay for applies somewhat but not always. Sometimes in the better tools there are huge jumps in price that get you little but for the guy that that little difference is critical then its worth the jump in price. For others its not.
Not very woodworking related but more reliability related. (I'm in the UK).
I've got quite a lot of Bosch power tools and always thought they were good enough quality for the home/hobby user but a while back my Bosch hot air gun died right in the middle of fitting one of the more sophisticated car alarms. Lots of connections I was making by splicing the wires into the car loom and protecting with heat shrink. Just made the shops in time to pick up a cheap replacement. Then recently a new Bosch angle grinder packed up on me after maybe around half an hours intermittent use when I was grinding off a car wing. Again I was lucky as I had an old grinder I was able to use.
Maybe just unlucky but my faith in Bosch is a bit shakey now.
FYI - DeWalt and B&D are the same company just different paint and plastic.
There's a world of difference in quality between Dewalt and B&D, no matter what company owns them.
Bob
I would love to see 2 comparable models of each to compare. My daughter's B&D does not compare to my Dewalt nor any of my previous craftsman driver drills. Chas
Its a little unclear from your post but It seems that...
The question you asked was a bit flawed and the sales guy did you a disservice by answering the question you asked rather than what you wanted to know.
Many of the listed companys hav several models available. Some may be crap some may be quite good; it depends on the model. This is very true of Craftsman.
There are 3 basic types (arguably 4) of table saws. It would be helpful if you would let us know whether you are looking as benchtop/portables, contractor saws, hybrids or cabinet saws. If you're not sure, your first question should be "here's what I want to do, what class of machine should I be looking at?"
Followed by: "what should I expect to pay for a certain class of saw?"
Then "what models will meet my needs in terms of quality, price, and capability?"
The good new is that you have come to the right place for good answers... ask away.
-Steve
snip
Models? Price? NEI
Dave
Some would reverse 2 and 3.
How about Altendorf, SCMI, and Felder?
Griggio SCM Festool Fein Mattel Swiffer
I agree that what you say is a commonly accepted myth, but not true. B&D aquired DeWalt and had the good sense not to merge the tool lines. B&D (who used to make kick-ass tools) settled into the home use market while DeWalt went after the trades. I know a lot of guys earning a living driving around in a pickup full of yellow tools that get used hard every day and hold up including the jobsite saw. I also have a friend who used to be a DeWalt repairman and he said all you have to do is open up the tool and look inside to tell its not B&D. Beauty is more than skin deep - or the color of plastic.
I believe the key factor with the house brands is "affordable". If you want to get into the professional, exotic or esoteric stuff, there's always something better out there.
Mattel? Swiffer? You haven't had your morning coffee yet, huh? lol
I did give the Swiffer a serious think before I sent my message off, but there's so many companies branching out these days, I didn't bother to look into it any further. I don't know what SCM stands for, but I have seen prices on Griggio, Festool and Fein. They're all expensive as hell as far as I'm concerned.
Some of those I never heard of, but I work in a WoodCraft store and, AFAIK, neither Festool or Fein (which we carry) make a table saw.
I do like a good pinot griggio... j4
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