G0698 discontinued

[Roger Corder]

I was just on Grizzly's website and noticed the have discontinued the G0698 wood lathe.

I guess the problems was to much to continue selling it.

Doesn't make me feel to good since I own one now.


Roger

[Steve Schlumpf]

Well that came as a surprise! Hope that means they are coming out with something new!

[Jon Nuckles]

Sorry to hear that, Roger. The problems I have read about, as well as the ones I experienced, showed up immediately, so I hope your lathe and others that have not shown problems will continue to operate without incident. Grizzly's customer service is good, so they should make things right if any problems show up in the future. Odd that they discontinued the lathe. With all the good features it has, it seems like they could have addressed whatever problems they were experiencing even if that meant raising the price and still have been able to offer an exceptional value.

[Roger Chandler]

Well, I have had my G0698 for over a year without a single issue............this situation however bothers me. I emailed Grizzly earlier, and asked some questions, when I saw Roger Corder's originial post. It will likely be sometime next week before they can get back to me. I hope this is a temporary situation, and that they are just working to get a few issues resolved, but we shall see.

I am concerned that G0698 owners can get continued parts and support in the future.

If anyone has further information on this, then let us know what you know........thanks! I know the lathe is not on their web page, but I did not see any announcements of discontinuance..........did anyone else?

[Jon Nuckles]

I just checked the website and did a search for G0698. The page that comes up says the item is discontinued and no longer available for sale. Odd!

[Roger Corder]

I noticed it wasn't on their page with the other lathes ,so I put in the model number and discover they had discontinued it.

I am concerned about being able to get parts in the future.

Roger

[David Warkentin]

Does that mean mine will never come?

[Jake Helmboldt]

That's one more black eye for Grizzly in the lathe department. I almost bought one, but couldn't pull the trigger with some of the early issues they were having, along with the short warranty. I'm glad I chose not to, but I'm bummed for you guys that did. I was hoping they'd get the issues worked out since it was a lot of lathe for the price point.

[David E Keller]

Does that mean mine will never come?

I'd consider calling them to see what they intend to do. In fact, I'd probably try to cancel the purchase.

[John Keeton]

If I had one on order, there is no doubt in my mind - CANCEL!!

I do agree that it was a lot of lathe, and I was very close to ordering one when I bought the Delta. For those that bought them, I do hope Grizzly will back them. Their track record is good. I guess my only fear is whether even replacement parts are prone to the same issues. This is an entirely different situation from a machine that is discontinued after several years because something better comes along and the market diminishes.

[John Fabre]

Does that mean mine will never come?

Check to see if Grizzly will upgrade it for you.

[David Warkentin]

Ok anyone got a pm 90 for sale?

[Mike Peace]

Pioneers get the arrows. I am so happy I got a PM3520 after seeing the customer service issues with the similar Laguna lathe.

I never could understand how Grizzly could sell the G0698 that appeared to be be more lathe, cheaper than the G0632 which appears to be a Jet 1642 knockoff.

[Jon Nuckles]

I am still surprised that they would discontinue the lathe instead of sourcing replacements for the parts that are causing the problems, even if that means having to raise the price. There is certainly room between what Grizzly was selling it for and the cost of a Powermatic to find a niche in the full-sized lathe market. Maybe Grizzly will do that and introduce it as a new model. That might be easier for them than having to explain a price increase and overcome questions about the previous problems with the model. It will be interesting to see if Roger Chandler gets a meaningful response to his question to Grizzly. Although the fact that they are discontinuing the model makes me question whether the prior response they gave him that less than a dozen lathes were experiencing problems was entirely honest!

[Roger Chandler]

I am still surprised that they would discontinue the lathe instead of sourcing replacements for the parts that are causing the problems, even if that means having to raise the price. There is certainly room between what Grizzly was selling it for and the cost of a Powermatic to find a niche in the full-sized lathe market. Maybe Grizzly will do that and introduce it as a new model. That might be easier for them than having to explain a price increase and overcome questions about the previous problems with the model. It will be interesting to see if Roger Chandler gets a meaningful response to his question to Grizzly. Although the fact that they are discontinuing the model makes me question whether the prior response they gave him that less than a dozen lathes were experiencing problems was entirely honest!

Jon,

I am thinking that are likely two scenarios with this discontinuance.........mind you this is total speculation on my part, but sometimes one can read between the lines. One scenario, is that the electronics problem is proving to be more than they want to have to continually deal with, or there is some other issue with the manufacturer, or scenario no. 2, that the manufacturer is tooling up for some new models, and this one is going by the wayside.

Either way, that would still beg questions about continued support in parts availability and service in the future. I intend to pursue this with Grizzly once I get a response from them, and hopefully even talk to Bill Crofutt personally.

Again, I could be totally off base with my speculation, but there was something that caused this decision to be made. If I had known they would discontinue this model so quickly, then I would not have purchased it, and that was one of my initial concerns and asked that specific question of tech support before I pulled the trigger on the purchase. I was told that this was not a unit they were going to have for a short while until they sold the stock, but would support it down the road. I intend to ask if they still intend to support it down the road.

[Jon Nuckles]

I don't disagree with you, Roger. If I still had the lathe, though, I would hope that any new model would be similar enough that Grizzly could provide parts and service to G0698 owners using the new model. If, as it appears, the problems are in the electronics, that seems feasible.

[Fred Belknap]

Roger I am just as ticked off as you about their decision. As far as supporting the present lathe down the line, they are committed to one year and that is limited. The powers that be at Grizzly or most other companies don't confide their decisions with the customer service or any other branch of their company. I'm pretty sure what the person told you when you bought the machine was what he believed and was told. If I had known before hand what was going down I wouldn't have bought the machine either.
I personally think Grizzly has shot themselves in the foot but that is their decision. My guess is that our lathes will eventually become boat anchors. :rolleyes:
My barn is getting pretty full of boat anchors and they aren't all Grizzly green, think Crapsman, Delta and B&D.
Hey it still works great.:D

[Roger Chandler]

So far so good Fred, but I do want to have Grizzly support their machines for the future. I wonder if they would give a credit for an upgrade? Of course the only lathe they currently carry that I would be interested in would be the G0694, but might would rather have the PM3520b or go with a Oneway, or perhaps the American Beauty by Robust.

[Phil St.Germain]

Could there be a different motive for dropping the G0698 from the site? At this point they can not keep up with sales and the next shipment due in March is sold out. Grizzly may be sitting on a container or two of the of the higher priced G0632 and those need to be moved. Given the availability of the two lathes, why would someone buy the higher priced smaller lathe? This could just be a method to move some other machines.

[David Warkentin]

I talked to technical service today and he said he didn't know why they were discontinued.

[John Aspinall]

So the G0698 has re-appeared on the Grizzly website!

[Roger Chandler]

Right you are John............I had just looked yesterday at the Grizzly site and it was not there, but it is now listed again........I think they must have gotten a new shipment in...........speculation on my part, but they look to selling the again.

My G0698 is going strong and running well after all this time! Tech support assured me they were going to stand behind this unit with service and support. I think maybe they took time to get the circuit board issue [a Toshiba problem that became theirs] corrected as they also told me they were working with Toshiba for a fix on the problems a small number of units had.

I guess we will see when new owners begin to post info on their units..........I sure hope so, because I think this is a great lathe with features that are what most turners want...........power, VFD speed control and reversing.