what's best benchtop ts for the money?

[Gordon Harner]

I've been considering buying a benchtop ts for off site work. Does anyone have any thoughts on the best balance of price/features?

[frank shic]

ridgid ts 2400 or the bosch 4100 for more money. however if you want portability you should check out the dewalt 745 which weighs in at only 45#.

[Charles Wilson]

Not trying to be a homer but do you actually need a bench top saw? Maybe a guided rail system might suit your needs better. Depends on what you might want to do.

Chuck

[Gordon Harner]

I'm looking for a machine to rip thin material not sheet goods. And I usually don't have room to set up a guide. I do use a guide system for sheet goods.

[mike wacker]

Another vote for the Dewalt 745. Tack and pinion fence is rediculously accurate. The whole saw is bullet proof. Good friend's framing crew has not been able to distroy his. Possibly the only thing, lol.

[Gordon Harner]

Thanks all I guess i'll watch for a deal on the 745.

[glenn bradley]

Thanks all I guess i'll watch for a deal on the 745.

Make sure you'll be OK with the fence. It requires a bit of love to get it straight each time you clamp it down. If I was going to go almost $400 for the DeWalt (which is a very nice saw) I would be tempted to go ahead to $500 and get the Bosch. JMHO.

[frank shic]

i got mine off of ebay from toolking reconditioned for a much less than the retail price. the rack and pinion fence is so much better than either the fence on the ridgid or the bosch and eliminates racking.

[John Hixon]

i got mine off of ebay from toolking reconditioned for a much less than the retail price. the rack and pinion fence is so much better than either the fence on the ridgid or the bosch and eliminates racking.
What is it, exactly, that you got?:confused:

[glenn bradley]

i got mine off of ebay from toolking reconditioned for a much less than the retail price. the rack and pinion fence is so much better than either the fence on the ridgid or the bosch and eliminates racking.

I may need to retract my statement; the DeWalt I was using had a terrible fence (744 maybe?). Frank has a solid history of being pretty right-on with his comments so I've got to believe I am talking about the wrong saw. My apologies.

[Randy Carnley]

I've got the Bosch and absolutely love it. Fence is true; saw cuts square. No complaints at all.

[Christof Grohs]

We use Bosch TS on our jobsites and are very happy.

[Dan Lautner]

The new Bosch is a great jobsite saw.

Dan

[Von Bickley]

I have several friends that have used the DeWalt & the Bosch....

They picked the Bosch.

[John Callahan]

I'll throw a plug in for the Porter Cable 3812S .......for a long time from a price (paid less than $350 for mine)/ performance standpoint the PC was tough to beat. I've spent some time using a coworker's Bosch 4000 (we're trim carps)......... I prefer my PC. Power is about equal (I run a full kerf WWII), if you do any crosscutting you'll note the PC uses a t-slot for the miter gauge (the 4000 does not, the newer 4100 does), the PC usues a full size table insert-same as a left tilt uni or contractors saw, the PC uses a rack and pinion setup for setting bevel angles which works nice- the 4000 flops around like a dead fish when you release the lever. Drawbacks- the Bosch Gravity Rise stand is a thing of beauty; the PC comes only with a folding stand and price ........... at this moment the PC is up there,.

[Nathan Odle]

I recently bought a DeWalt 745 and liked it quite a bit...until I discovered it wouldn't run a dado. Since I'm one of those with a teeny shop, I've no choice to go the benchtop route so I researched and settled on the Bosch 4000. If you don't mind the lack of dado capability and a 16" rip capacity though, the DeWalt is a great saw. I liked the fence waaay better than that on my Bosch. DeWalt also makes the 744, which has a 24 1/2" rip capacity like the Bosch but I'm not sure if it has the dado issue.

[frank shic]

nathan, are you trying to run a 3/4" dado? i've been running a 1/4" dado without any problems on the dw745.

[Nathan Odle]

Actually yeah I think just about any saw will run a 1/4" dado but I needed to be able to swing a 9/16" at least; preferably 13/16". The Bosch manual actually says it can run an 8-inch, 13/16" dado so that was the reason that I went with it. The 745's arbor isn't nearly long enough to do this.

At the end of the day the Bosch and DeWalt are made to do different things. The Bosch is more of a shop saw on wheels, whereas the DeWalt is meant to be easily toted to a job site to rip 1x for finish carpentry. If I were a finish carpenter with a small woodworking shop I'd probably own both :)

[John Newell]

Had a DW744. Great fence adjustment but hard to true up and it deflected quite easily. Replaced it with a Bosch 4001 and could not possibly be happier with the improvements.

[Matthew Voss]

You might consider the Jet benchtop. I bought this saw for the jobsite as it is lighter than the dewalt, bosch, ridgid. I had the bosch and got tired of lugging it in and out of the truck. I've used the dewalt but never really loved the R&P fence. I think you either love that feature or you don't. The blade height and bevel gears are metal and the jet has a belt driven arbor so its noticeably quiter than the other saws as well. Cuts very smoothly; overall the saw has performed flawlessly. @ $200 delivered, this saw is definitely the best value in its class.

http://www.amazon.com/JET-708315BTC-JBTS-10BT-3-Benchtop-Table/dp/B000CFH3A8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1202742556&sr=8-2