Thanks in advance for any replies.

I've been on the waiting list since April for a new Grizzly 490X Jointer and it looks like it will ship any day now. While I've waited I've kept a close eye on Craigslist hoping a solid 8" or larger used jointer would pop up. Since I live in rural Montana it's few a far between on scoring a nice tool deal that isn't 250 miles (or much further) away.

A barely used 12" laguna platinum jointer/planer combo machine popped up this weekend only 20 miles away and it's only $1200. If/when the Grizzly ever ships I'll be on the hook for $1450. Either option I'd have spiral/helical heads on the jointer. I've got space and already have a Dewalt DW735 that's always done everything I've needed so the combination isn't as enticing to me as the 12" jointing capacity. I'd be inclined to almost never use the planing option on the machine unless it really outperformed my current dewalt. I had never really considered needing/wanting a 12" jointer because I just barely felt like I needed an 8" unit over the 6" unit but like they say... bigger is always better.

I'm a net-zero/high-end general contractor that occasionally does some one-off custom woodworking for work but not in a production setting by any means so it'd be a sometimes work but mostly hobby machine for me.

Does anyone have some experience with the Laguna combo machines? I mostly have only seen posts regarding the past poor customer service from Laguna but it'd be great to hear from someone that actually uses one of these machines. Any thoughts on whether or not it'd be a better/equal deal to the Grizzly if I was really just using it's jointing capacity?

Thanks again.