Originally Posted by
Josh Saul
After a few weeks, I'm still very much on the fence about what to buy. I've been set on the Grizzly 0771 for a while, but to be very honest, the shipping just seems extremely annoying. Any time I've ever had something delivered via freight, it's been a huge hassle. And there's no way to know if the driver who shows up will be helpful, or the type who resents the fact that he even had to get out of the truck. Paying an extra $130 dollars for this "service" (including the "liftgate" upcharge, which as far as I can tell guarantees you nothing as far as getting your saw any further than the curb goes) is a borderline deal breaker for me. Which is a shame, because the Grizz looks like a lot of saw for the money, with the 1.5 hp motor, cabinet mounted trunnions and cast iron wings. But then I keep thinking, maybe it only looks like "a lot of saw for the money" because what amounts to $130 hidden cost. Sorry, I like "all in" pricing with my consumer goods. In the past couple of days, I've started to look hard at the Delta options that I can get at Lowe's - the 36-725 and the 36-5000. I know there's a lot of Delta hate here, but the 725 in particular has been very well reviewed by lots of people in a lot of woodworking corners of the web. There's the split on the fence rail on the 725, but I actually have an uninstalled T3 fence system sitting around, so I could use the solid rail from that. What I really worry about with the Delta models is power. I want to be able to reliably rip 5/4 hardwood (to make something like, say, a dining room table) without it being a struggle for the saw. I don't want to be constantly working at the edges of the saw's limitations. Also, I'm seeing that Amazon sells the Grizzly GO715P, and I happen to be a Prime member. I've had good luck with big purchases like this from Amazon (even the ones delivered freight, for the most part). So, where do you guys come down on these options?