Todays USA today TS article

[Carl Hunsinger]

I argued this with Gass here on this very forum before he manufactured his first saw.

If Gass is/was so interested in consumer safety, why put a by-pass on his device? The answers....Money and market share...he realized if he couldn't cut wet wood, his product wouldn't sell. Does the by-pass mode make the saw safer? Hardly.
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I think ultimately the bypass mode DOES make the SawStop safer. If the bypass mode was not available, I would never have bought a SawStop. Instead, I might have ended up with a 1949 Unisaw. I suspect that alot of other SawStop owners might have made similar decisions if they could not cut wet wood or other conductive materials. Having the SawStop active and vigilent on 99% of all cuts is definitely safer than cutting them all on a 1949 Unisaw.

Any time safety devices adversely affect the capabilities or convenience of the device, they are more likely to be disabled and not used. When that happens, they provide no safety at all.

But also the bypass mode allows me to rip hot dogs all day long if I want to, as long as I am willing to accept the additional risk. And the splatter. And that funky smell in the dust collector...


Carl

[Brian Vaughn]

Pat, the issue is not that he wants to make money with it. I'm all for that, it's what America is all about. The issue is the he is trying to have the government require that all table saw manufacturers put his technology in all tablesaws, which means they will all be forced to pay whatever royalty he chooses to price it at. Personally, I want the choice as to whether I want to pay the extra $600 for the feature or not. I don't want it forced on me. It's an undehanded way to make money. It's like inventing the non-chokable hotdog via some proprietary process, and then asking the government to force all hotdog makers to pay you to use your "safe hotdog technology". After all, think of the children!

[Dan Hintz]

I think it was mandated due to...

True enough now (so probably a bad example to use)... but hopefully my point was made that before it was mandated, most cell phone families were already including GPS as a matter of consumer desire.

[John Sanford]

I think ultimately the bypass mode DOES make the SawStop safer. If the bypass mode was not available, I would never have bought a SawStop. Instead, I might have ended up with a 1949 Unisaw. I suspect that alot of other SawStop owners might have made similar decisions if they could not cut wet wood or other conductive materials. Having the SawStop active and vigilent on 99% of all cuts is definitely safer than cutting them all on a 1949 Unisaw.

Any time safety devices adversely affect the capabilities or convenience of the device, they are more likely to be disabled and not used. When that happens, they provide no safety at all.

Exhibit #1 - Crappy blade guards that most users remove and never put back on to the saw.

But also the bypass mode allows me to rip hot dogs all day long if I want to, as long as I am willing to accept the additional risk. And the splatter. And that funky smell in the dust collector...

Think man, think. BYPASS the dust collector also! No more hot dog pieces parts ( that's a scary thought, pieces parts of pieces parts! ) in the DC system, happy ants/roaches keeping the interior of your TS clean, what a wonderful world!

[Dirk Lewis]

Planer-Stop
Jointer-Stop
Bandsaw-Stop
Lathe-Stop
Random-Orbital-Sander-Stop
Cyclone-Stop

did I miss any?

[Dan Hintz]

did I miss any?

Work-Stop ?

[Michael Weber]

Just STOP!