I am in the near future going to purchase a new table saw.I have limited space and was thinking of buying one of Sears cabinet saws.Can anyone give advice on this subject. I have around $600.00 to spend. tony
Unless you geat a great deal on some used Craftsman iron from the 50s or 60s you can do a lot better than Sears in that price range. Look at Jet, Grizzly or Delta.
--RC
You can tell a really good idea by the enemies it makes
The new saws at Sears are pretty decent. The true cabinet saw is closer to $900 but the low end one is around $550 and I think it is worth the money. The next model up is the same saw as the low end one except it has a fancier miter gauge and fence and cast iron wings instead of stamped steel and will set you back around $650.
I too have the 1023S and love it. However, it costs about 50% more than the OP mentioned. Your suggestion about their other saws is a good one. Their G0444 and G0444Z are very nice contractor's saws. They have left-tilt models coming out in January. One thing to keep in mind is that the G0444Z and presumably its left-tilt cousin draw 24 amps on
110v. Otherwise, his shop would need 220 (240). Another consideration is their declared price increase in January. Get em now!
In the price range mentioned, I really like the new Craftsmans as well as the Ridgid (Home Depot). It seems like a pretty solid contractor/hybrid that has some type of built in dust management. Its worth looking at. Plus, it comes with a herc-u-lift mobile base included. They usually have some sort of gift card included.
I would stay away from Lowe's in-house brand Tradesman. (I think that is the name)
I think that newer Deltas are overpriced and not as good as their name implies. However, there are discussion threads regarding their newish cabinet saw on sale at Rockler that looks pretty reasonable and decent. Also, this Saturday, Woodcraft is discounting Delta and Porter-Cable products 10%. The unisaw is still pretty nice, but pricey and not necessarily space saving, depending on options.
Good luck finding your saw Tony. I'm on my third. I think that I will have it for a long time to come. I'm still eyeing up others when they appear though.
If you decide to go with Craftsman and you can wait a month or two, you may want to join the Craftsman club and also get a Sears credit card. Each will have 10%-off sales, and on occasion the sale dates overlap.
Also, if you go for the high-end Bies saw, note that the 2004-2005 catalog price is $850 rather than $950. Request a Craftsman catalog from Sears and take it in with you when you make your purchase. They may honor the lower catalog price -- they did in my case. I am not sure if the other saws have gone up in price, but it is probably worthwhile to check the catalog in case it is lower.
At $760, this is an awesome price! Not sure what Sear's business plan is on this one -- this must be close to their cost. Maybe they are looking to get some market share and win back some of their long-ago-good reputation.
The Biesemeyer fence alone probably has a wholesale cost near $250.
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