Talk me out of a Grizzly G0566

[Brad Knabel]

Hi All,
I realize there have been more than enough discussions about band saws here of late. Please indulge me (I'm ready to actually place an order and am panicing slightly...)

I think I've got my choice narrowed down to the Grizzly G0566 21" band saw. I've also considered a few others - the Rikon, Delta & Jet 18" and the Minimax and Laguna 16" saws. I've also considered looking at old iron. My uses would be resawing veneers for marquetry, cutting up turning blanks, and of course the occasional scroll work.

The thing I keep coming back to is mass, power and resaw capacity. For me the Grizzly seems to have a good blend of all three. It's weighs over 600 lbs which should keep vibration down, has a 3 HP motor and 14" resaw capacity.

I know that the Minimax and Laguna heavy duty saws are better in terms of power, finish, overall construction and probably rigidity. The problem is that they are budget busters for me. I think that once I drop down to the LT16 or S16 that the Grizzly probably has roughly equivalent power, much greater mass and more capacity. It's about a wash price-wise between the LT16, S16 and Grizzly.

Given the Rikon, Delta and Jet I'm just left thinking whether I will regret not having gone for the bigger saw if I chose one of these. The price of the Rikon makes it especially tempting. But I just have the feeling I'll always be wondering whether I should have gotten the bigger saw.

I'm prepared to place my order with Grizzly - it seems like a good compromise among the available choices. If I had another grand I'd be trying to choose among the LT16HD and MM16.

Ultimately my question is whether anybody be willing to talk me out of the Grizzly? Is there a hole in my logic?

Thanks in advance,
Brad

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Brad,

It sounds like you have made up your mind! :) If you can't afford or don't want to wait until you can afford the Laguna, the Grizzly seems to be a very good saw. There seems to be a lot of satisfied users out there.

Good luck on your choice... I have looked very closely at the saw as well, I just don't have 220 in the shop right now :)

[Mike Cutler]

Can't talk you out of that saw Brad. It was my second choice. I already had a Jet 14", and was looking for a dedicated resaw bandsaw so I got the Rikon 18". That GO566 is an impressive saw. About the only reason I could talk you out of it was if you planned to do a lot of really fine work, or get into bandsaw boxes, you wouldn't be able to put a small enough blade on the machine in my opinion. At 1595 + shipping that's a heckuva saw bro'

[Brad Knabel]

Thanks for the responses. I think I just wanted a little reassurance before I actually placed the order. It seems to me that there is a field of excellent saws out there and that made it hard for me to actually pick among them. I found myself wishing there was a way I could eliminate machines based on some deficit - I just couldn't really find one in any of the saws.

I'm a little annoyed that Grizzly wouldn't honor the $1495.00 price from their ad in the April '05 issue of Woodwork. But, 1595.00 is still a reasonable price for this saw.

Now I just need to figure out how to get it home from the terminal. I'm in Pittsburgh and delivery from their warehouse shouldn't take more than a few days.