Denny Rice
10-27-2009, 12:22 AM
I was out of town today as my son was at a local college taking his SAT test and had about 4 hours to burn and decided to go to the local mall. I walked into Sears and what sat there but their new Orion built Craftsman Hybrid 22116 with a granite top. At first glance it looks a lot like the zip code saw that Sears has been selling for the past 5 years or so, the 22124. But as I got closer there were some real differences:
1. A granite top: All I can say is I am glad I don't have one if this is the best Sears can do. As I was checking out the saw i found 2 cracks in the granite top of the floor model. The granite top looked very dull and was not very slippery, this is not something I would not want.
2.Sears removed the Biesemeyer fence system for a cheap knock off. The fence didn't look like the standard SC fence neither. It looked cheap.
3.The Off/On switch has been replaced with a much cheaper version.
4. Does not come with the 40 tooth Leitz blade as the 22124 did.
5. I know this is minor, but the 22124 had 2 lift tabs knobs that opened the dust housing to get to motor and belt assembly. Now Sears has replaced these with 4 sheet metal screws so now you have to have a screwdriver to get to the motor.
The one improvement I found was the crank handles for the blade are much larger than on the 22124. I would like to get a set of these wheels for my 22124.
It may just be me, but I think Craftsman/Sears dropped the ball on this one!
1. A granite top: All I can say is I am glad I don't have one if this is the best Sears can do. As I was checking out the saw i found 2 cracks in the granite top of the floor model. The granite top looked very dull and was not very slippery, this is not something I would not want.
2.Sears removed the Biesemeyer fence system for a cheap knock off. The fence didn't look like the standard SC fence neither. It looked cheap.
3.The Off/On switch has been replaced with a much cheaper version.
4. Does not come with the 40 tooth Leitz blade as the 22124 did.
5. I know this is minor, but the 22124 had 2 lift tabs knobs that opened the dust housing to get to motor and belt assembly. Now Sears has replaced these with 4 sheet metal screws so now you have to have a screwdriver to get to the motor.
The one improvement I found was the crank handles for the blade are much larger than on the 22124. I would like to get a set of these wheels for my 22124.
It may just be me, but I think Craftsman/Sears dropped the ball on this one!