Grizzly Tools

[Thomas Darscheid]

I am about to pull the trigger on a shop full of tools and need some advice.

i will be buying an 8” Helical Jointer, a 17” Drill Press and a 14” Bandsaw to start, I’m getting a 52” Sawstop as well. I may even consider a 5hp cyclone dust collection system as well from Grizzly.

I am considering Grizzly for everything except of course the table saw.

i would like to get the good, bad and ugly about Grizzly from people that have owned them.

How is their customer service after the sale, I have read about shipping issues and missing parts, have they been resolved, ease of assembly and of course quality of output.

Any help/advice that the great folks here on this forum can offer would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill Dufour]

Location? Shipping outside of the USA can be problematic.
Bill D

[Jim Becker]

If I'm not mistaken, you can buy the SawStop from them, too. Grizzly does have an extensive parts operation.

If you are going to buy a lot of stuff concurrently, you may want to ring them on the good old fashioned phone and see if there is any available shipping cost benefit for multiple tools at the same time.

[Christopher Herzog]

I am a repeat customer of grizzly. Would not hesitate to to buy more.

Chris

[Thomas Darscheid]

I am about to pull the trigger on a shop full of tools and need some advice.

i will be buying an 8” Helical Jointer, a 17” Drill Press and a 14” Bandsaw to start, I’m getting a 52” Sawstop as well. I may even consider a 5hp cyclone dust collection system as well from Grizzly.

I am considering Grizzly for everything except of course the table saw.

i would like to get the good, bad and ugly about Grizzly from people that have owned them.

How is their customer service after the sale, I have read about shipping issues and missing parts, have they been resolved, ease of assembly and of course quality of output.

Any help/advice that the great folks here on this forum can offer would be greatly appreciated.


Location? Shipping outside of the USA can be problematic.
Bill D

central my

[Thomas Darscheid]

central Kentucky

[Frederick Skelly]

Grizzly has been discussed here quite a lot. To see those threads, go to google's "advanced search". Enter "grizzly reviews" or just "grizzly". Before starting your search, page down in google to "site or domain' and enter www.sawmillcreek.org". A ton of good discussion will come up to help you.

Good luck!

[glenn bradley]

I have a few Grizzly tools in the shop. The jointer (G0490X) has been a real gem. I went with parallelogram beds because I NEVER wanted to have to align dovetail ways again. I have not had to adjust alignment since it was first setup. I have a 2HP Grizzly cyclone and it has been great. I would strongly consider a Clear Vue if I were looking today.

If you are going for the typical cast iron 14" saw I would shop used. If you are looking at steel framed I would go larger, they aren't that expensive when compared to other machines. MY G0513X has been another gem. Bought it used, aligned it properly and it still brings a smile to my face when I use it after all these years.

I have a 3HP PCS 52" tablesaw and have been nothing but happy with it. It was the best machine at that price tier even without the safety feature. There are some folks who really love to hate Grizzly. I suspect some of this comes from expecting a $1000 tool to perform like a $5000 tool. Good or bad, I find most input useful. Read them all and make your own decision. Have Fun.

[Mike Kees]

I have a grizzly 5hp cyclone dust collector. It has been a real good unit so far (6 years). I plan to upgrade/replace the filters this coming year. Grizzly has good service and parts available. Just remember you are the "Tech". This is not even a consideration for me as I am used to buying all my machines used and fixing stuff as needed. Tons of threads on here about Grizzly ,listen to Fred and you could read for 3-4 weeks... I would also second Glens recommendation to buy a bigger bandsaw or just buy a 14'' used instead of new. The TS is where I would differ,I would buy a small slider before I would plunk down the cash for a Sawstop. More versatile and also very safe as well. One of my ex employees bought a Grizz 1023 saw about 2 years ago and it is a real nice saw every bit as good as my 25 year old Unisaw. The quality is there in Grizzly tools as long as you pick the right ones out of the pile. Read the posts in the archives that will help you figure out the tools guys really like.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a G0490X 8" helical jointer and a standalone sander with a 12 disk and oscillating spindle. Like Glenn, the jointer has been great and I haven't had any issues with the sander.

When I ordered a 36" SS straightedge from them, at one end it didn't meet advertised specs. I contacted their customer service department, they apologized for my problem, shipped me another one and told me to keep or pitch the original.

Their tools are a lot of bang for the buck, IMO. I would consider them again.

[Richard Coers]

I am about to pull the trigger on a shop full of tools and need some advice.

i will be buying an 8” Helical Jointer, a 17” Drill Press and a 14” Bandsaw to start, I’m getting a 52” Sawstop as well. I may even consider a 5hp cyclone dust collection system as well from Grizzly.

I am considering Grizzly for everything except of course the table saw.

i would like to get the good, bad and ugly about Grizzly from people that have owned them.

How is their customer service after the sale, I have read about shipping issues and missing parts, have they been resolved, ease of assembly and of course quality of output.

Any help/advice that the great folks here on this forum can offer would be greatly appreciated.
You'll get a biased opinion on this forum.

[Bruce King]

Grizzly will have parts longer than most others which is a major concern if you are younger and planning to use the machines for 20 plus years. Any machine from anyone can arrive damaged. They even sent me a new Grizzly placard and decals that got scratched on my 17in. bandsaw.

[Bruce King]

I would get a quote at Leneave Supply too. Charlotte NC.
They carry a variety of tools, family owned for decades.
I just bought a Jet 18-36 to be delivered tomorrow.
Tell Jeff I sent you.

[Ron Selzer]

Grizzly has tools for different price point and quality standards. I have grizzly tools also shopfox which is owned by grizzly. Also have a SawStop ICS 5 up which I really like. I would consider a slider how ever don't have half enough room for it.
Decide what you want/need, what your budget will stand then get ordering tools.
Main thing is to buy as good a quality as you can.
New versus used is your call. Save money and work on machines or spend money and work wood. Find the balance that works for you.
Good luck
Ron

[Lisa Starr]

You'll get lot of opinions here. My shop has a mix of tool brands as diverse as Ridgid to Hammer as well as some "vintage" equipment. My TS is a Grizzly G1023 and I've never wished for anything different. I did upgrade the fence from a Shop Fox "Delta Wing style" to a t-square type. It is a 2000 ish model and it has always just worked. If the features and price point work for you, don't be afraid of the Grizzly brand, but if you want something missing from the Grizzly, don't be afraid to mis-match your shop. I'm also just now selling a 15" G1021 Planer that has also done its job for 20 years. It is still a great machine, but my needs have changed.

[John TenEyck]

The only new bought stationary machines in my shop have a Grizzly badge on them. The drum/disk sander has given me faithful service for 25 years; my G-0636X bandsaw is a real gem, though I've only had it about 3 years. I had a 1.5 HP shaper, too, but sold it after about 15 years because I just didn't use it much. I got back nearly what I paid for it. Of the three machines, the shaper was pretty unrefined though it did it's job OK. Customer service has always been very good, and that's over at least 25 years.

I prefer used machines because they offer more value for your money, but I've had nothing but good experience with the Grizzly machines I've purchased and would buy from them again without hesitation.

John

[Alex Zeller]

There are people who love Grizzly tools and those who wouldn't use them as boat anchors. I have a wide mix of tools in my shop, most used but several new tools. For new I lean to Grizzly simply because of the savings. When their tools are made in the same factories as Powermatic (and other brands) the decision IMO is can I do the repairs if, say a bearing needs replacing sooner. There's also a chance that you will need to fine tune your new Grizzly tool some. I would pick a specific model and then do a search for it to see how people like it or post a thread about that machine to get opinions.

[julian abram]

Grizzly sells SawStop. They had 3 SS table saws on the Springfield show floor when I visited a couple weeks ago.

[John Goodin]

I have several Grizzly tools and as a hobbyist they work great. The 1023 table saw has done everything I need it to do and would only upgrade to a Sawstop. Customer service has been great. They staff is knowledgeable and parts are available. I have also seen quite a few old Grizzly tools in professional shop that ran great.

[Curt Harms]

Louisville KY.(central KY) to Springfield MO. look like about a 7 hour ride. Would driving to Springfield MO. make sense for you vs. paying shipping? Do you have a way to haul multiple machines? That would take the shipping damage risk out of the equation. The only Griz machine I have is a G1023 but I'd have no reservations about buying another if Griz seemed like the best choice.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Thomas, welcome to the forum.

I have a few comments

1) I would buy an Oneida cyclone, made in the US, great product, mine is 18 years old, works great, good separation of fine dust.

2) If I were to buy a cabinet style saw, the Sawstop is the one I would get, that said, you could never convince me to go backwards to a cabinet saw. I have, and would recommend a short stroke Euro style sliding saw such as a Hammer or Minimax. Capability, capacity, accuracy, safety and dust collection efficiency. I have a small 49” stroke Hammer that can support and crosscut a sheet, as well it has a scoring blade for chip free cuts in melamine.

3) I replaced my 8” jointer with a 12” jointer/planer combo, saved space, greatly increased jointer size,mine’s a Hammer A3-31,

Have fun with the shop planning.......Regards, Rod.

[Mikail Khan]

Over the last 12 years I have shipped about 10 stationary tools from grizzly. No issues. I deal with shipping from miami myself.

MK

[Martin Moses]

I used to love grizzly. I have a bandsaw jointer and planer. I wont be buying any more though. I had hell trying to get a G0891 fixed(less than a month old). It was skipping the chain. Grizzly kept acting like it was new issue they had never seen. Finally was able to return after a month dealing with it.

But the reason I wont buy another grizzly tools is their reviews on their website. Take a look at the reviews. They are all positive. They will not post a review that is negative. I tried to post multiple reviews in August and they never put them up.

[Alex Zeller]

The only reviews I read are ones that I know are independent by someone I feel actually owns the tool and has used it for more than 5 minutes. Usually that's forums like here at SMC. The stuff on sites like Amazon or a company's own website is more likely propaganda used to try and sell something.

[Dan Lambert]

I have several tools from Grizzly, as well as a number of other makers. I would not hesitate to recommend Grizzly tools.

The other thing about their parts operation is that they have been able to help me find replacement parts (maybe not from the original manufacturer) for a number of other makes of tools. They have helped me with replacement capacitors for a saw motor, replacement parts for a jointer, and several other things that I couldn't buy from the original manufacturer.

They helped me to find replacement parts for another brand (name starts with a Gen...) for 25% of what the other manufacturer wanted for them, plus I didn't have to pay to have them shipped from Canada.

[Craig Day]

I have several Grizzly tools in my shop that include G0609X 12" spiral head jointer, G0454Z 20" spiral head planer, G0561 metal cutting bandsaw, G0514X2 19" bandsaw, G1071 spindle sander, G0564 oscillating edge sander, and a few other smaller grizzly tools... I looked carefully at the Grizzly dust collection, but I ended up going with the ClearVue CV1800 which has been a fantastic dust collection system. I've only had one problem with a machine and that was my G0561 metal cutting bandsaw... the vise started slipping when clamping down tightly. Grizzly customer service was fantastic in working with me to diagnose the problem and send replacement parts. They even called me to send me a reminder to give them my serial number and date stamp when I had slacked off and forgotten to provide them the information. After I called in with the information they sent me a replacement part right away and my vise is working again.

In general all of my machines have performed very well... I've generally been pretty happy with the quality, although there is room for improvement in some areas.

[Orlando Gonzalez]

I have a G0833P TS, G0555LX BS, two dust collectors (wall mounted and mobile), a tenoning jig, and three Bear Crawl mobile bases from Grizzly and have been very pleased with them and their tech support is very good when I needed it.

[Cary Falk]

I own several Grizzly tools. Of the ones you specifically asked about I have the Shop Fox version of the G0490 jointer and love it. I also have a 3hp cyclone and have no issues with it either. I had a G0513 bandsaw before I upgraded to something larger in another brand. I had zero issues with it except it was not big enough. Their bandsaws are pretty well liked across the board. I have heard their drill presses are so so. My issues with them looking at the specs is the short spindle travel. I have an old PM1200 with 6" travel. Customer service is great. I have used them a couple of times. Nothing big. No shipping issues with my tools but I hear it can be a problem. I can fix tools so I don't mind them shipping parts for the cost benefits. Grizzly has a wide range of quality across a large # of tools so you can't make a general comment about all of Grizzly. The same thing can be said about other tool companies, electronics, appliances, etc.

[Alan Lightstone]

I bought their 24" wide belt sander last year and am very happy with it. I just wish I had bought the bigger model.

No issues whatsoever with delivery.

[Alan Lightstone]

(snip)...
But the reason I wont buy another grizzly tools is their reviews on their website. Take a look at the reviews. They are all positive. They will not post a review that is negative. I tried to post multiple reviews in August and they never put them up.

Why would you ever trust anyone's review on a company's website?

I'm a high level contributor to TripAdvisor, and there are a few restaurants that they won't let me write reviews of. I submit them, they aren't caustic, just negative, and they won't post them or give me a reason. Hmmm.....

[Robert London]

I've bought a few things from Grizzly. Had a problem with my 8" jointer about a misprint in the catalog. The spiral head they sold me would not fit, and they took the entire jointer back and paid for return shipping as well. I think their customer service is quite good compared to some.

In today's tool world, most of the machines are made by the same 2-3 companies in either China or Taiwan. You can see how different companies are selling the same machine with only minor differences in paint and specs.

It's not always the case, but you'll have better luck with Taiwanese made heavy machinery, so look for the factory. Grizzly, Laguna, Powermatic, Jet, Rikon, Baileigh, Oliver. Not much difference in those brands.

Grizzly sells direct and they can beat others on price because there is no dealer mark-up. Other brands like Oliver and doing the same and going direct to the customer.