Well, I finally got my BT3100 set up a couple weeks ago and used it for its first project... a bookcase.
So far, I have been very happy with the BT3100. It was very easy to put together, took about 1 1/2 hours with the "help" of my 5 year old daughter. I figure it would take about 45 minutes to an hour to do it by yourself. Most of the assembly is just the metal stand. The rails went on easy and were very easy to align. Most everything was perfectly aligned right out of the box. The fence locks down firm in the front and back so it doesn't flex at all. One feature of the BT3100 that is kind of nice, I guess, but I don't think I'll use, is the movable rails feature. You can move the rails to the right or left giving you up to 31" of rip capacity. The standard position gives you 24" to the right, and the sliding miter table to the left. I don't want to bother with aligning the rip scale often, so I don't plan to move the rails... but, I guess it is a nice feature to have when needed.
After checking the alignment (and sending my daughter to play upstairs), I made several test cuts and it cuts very well. On regular boards, the cut was clean and smooth... I'm sure it isn't the cut quality of a cab saw or even this saw with a WWII blade, but even with the stock blade, the cut quality seemed very good. On plywood, the cut is very good, but I don't have a zero clearance plate yet so the veneer face on my birch ply splintered a lot... just need to use marking tape on the cut line until I get a zero clearance plate.
The sliding miter table is possibly the best feature. It makes crosscuts REALLY easy. Having never owned a table saw, I don't know just how big of an improvement this is over using a standard miter gage, but it is nice to easily slide the boards for a cross cut. In making my book shelf, I wanted to make sure my shelves were exactly the same legnth, so I stacked 4 shelves (3/4" each) and clamped them together. I put these on the sliding table and easily crosscut all 4 together. I did this partially to get the cuts identical, but mostly to test the power of the saw. It cut through 3 1/2" of plywood easily. I guess the inner plys of birch ply are not typically really hard wood, but it was a decent test none the less.
I still hope to get a cabinet saw some day, but for now, the BT3100 is a very nice saw and will serve me very well. Plus, I saved about $1000 (paid $260 for the 3100) over what I would spend on a cabinet saw. Now, I have some money to get the drill press, planer, jointer, band saw, etc. that I have my eyes on. I highly recommend the BT3100 for a newbie that needs (wants) a table saw and doesn't have a ton of cash to spend.
YJJim