Grizzly

[Richard Coers]

Not any kind of an economic expert, but I think one significant difference between Grizzly and the others is Grizzly's business model is direct to consumer vs being sold through a retailer. Those retailers have to make some money.

Interesting point made above regarding difference in warranty though. I had not realized that.

I was under the impression that Shop Fox and Grizzly sold at the same price. They are identical except that Shop Fox is sold through other retailers. Does that shoot a hole in the theory of Grizzly gives the best price because of no middleman? Just asking.

[Gordon Stump]

At this point in the evolution of Grizzly, I consider their machines to be professional quality. My older Grizzly machines were entry level but not anymore. Parts: I rebuilt my 1990 G1023 3HP cabinet saw and Grizzly had the parts in stock. Still a very solid cabinet saw.

[Alex Zeller]

A friend worked at a local bearing shop about 20 years ago before he moved south. While working there he had lots of insight into all things bearings. I've always bought Tinken bearings the few times I've needed to replace one in part because of where the company makes some of them. We got to talking about it and he was telling me that the Chinese had come a long way from when they were seen as not worth the effort to install. My guess is Grizzly can sell for less simply because they use parts that are a little less pricey (say bearings made by a lesser known company). It also looks like their specifications are slightly less than Powermatic. Does a jointer table need to be flat within +/- .001 or is .003 good enough? Getting that last little bit can be very expensive. I would also guess, since a lot of these tools are made in the same factory, a part that's not flat enough for Powermatic may get painted green for use on a Grizzly. It's probably why Grizzy has a 1 year warranty (and Shop Fox a 2 year) when other brands like Powermatic have a 5 year warranty.

I have 5 major Grizzly tools. A mixture of which are made in China and Taiwan. 4 of the 5 have been excellent for my uses. One, a stand alone hollow chisel mortiser made in China, was very Chinese. I probably should have sent it back but I just modified it. If had been my first Grizzly tool my opinion of them would be much lower. With Grizzly you are the technician. They don't have any support network of people who can come to you to repair the tool. They try to resolve the problem vs have a tool returned to them. This can lead to extended time trying to resolve a problem and can be frustrating. These are some of the reasons why they can sell tools for a lower price. If you end up with a bad tool you're opinion is going to be lower, if you get a good one you're going to be happy. I believe the tools that are popular, like the table saws are, usually more likely to be a good tool. Imagine a worker who makes parts occasionally for a low selling tool vs making lots of parts for a popular tool, the stuff you do all the time is usually much easier to make.

I can't help with the table saw but if I needed a new saw and didn't have or want to spend Saw Stop kind of money Grizzly would be at the top of my list.

[Alex Zeller]

At this point in the evolution of Grizzly, I consider their machines to be professional quality. My older Grizzly machines were entry level but not anymore. Parts: I rebuilt my 1990 G1023 3HP cabinet saw and Grizzly had the parts in stock. Still a very solid cabinet saw.

I have a Powermatic 66 table saw made in 95 and almost no parts are still made for it. This is another plus for Grizzly in my eyes.

[Andrew More]

Used to own an original G1023 table saw. Ran fine, no issues, very flat. The fence was an odd size, which only really mattered when I tried to extend it, and couldn't find any steel tube that was 1 7/8", and the 2" and 1 3/4" did not fit the fence well enough to use.

While you might get what you pay for, sometimes what you're paying for is just a name brand, and the prestige behind that brand. You can see this in the car market where the Toyota Camry is not considered a sexy, exciting car, but the owners have no issues with it. I'd consider a lot of the Grizzly stuff to be closer to a Toyota Camry than a Lexus, which seems more the place of Powermatic.

That having been said, I might have a different opinion if I needed to use the tool everyday for a living, and couldn't have it stop for a couple of days down time. As a hobbyist a couple of days downtime, or tinkering with it is annoying, but not catastrophic.

I also think you need to take a very close look at the differences for the specific tool you're talking about. With as wide a catalogue as Grizzly has right now, there are bound to be some duds.

[Bill Space]

One thing I THINK I learned in life, is the 80/20 rule. Could be the 30/70 rule. But something like that.

You get 80% of the value(usefulness) out of the first 20% you invest in something. If you want perfection, you pay a lot more, and the functionality per dollar spent decreases dramatically.

Following this idea, I am very satisfied with my Grizzly power tools. Best available? NOPE! Best bang for the buck? PROBABLY.

Edit: I did swing my 52" unifence over to the G1023RLWX though...never tried the stock fence...still in the box...

[Gordon Stump]

G1023 Grizzly fence, I gave it away. My Vega fence has never failed in 30 years!

[Ronald Blue]

One thing to consider. Some people have their opinion formed from Grizzly machines made in the 80's when they were just starting out. No question some were low quality. They were also the ones that probably had chipping paint and decals falling off. Sometimes people hold on to a first impression from years ago and think it's still true. However the flip side of that is the Mustard yellow and white twins that used to be much higher quality no longer hold that distinction.
As for the comment about bearings. You should do a little research there. As far as I know all major bearing manufacturers (Timken, SKF, NTN at least) have manufacturing facilities in China. I've used lot's of Chinese bearings on equipment over the years with no drop off in performance that I was able to detect. The components they were installed in failed before they did.
One other thing to consider. The owner of Grizzly is an accomplished woodworker and you can find some videos here showing his work. He also has been known to weigh in in some instances when someone has had issues. I've never saw anything to indicate the owner(s) of Jet/PM know which end is which of their tools.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In my shop I have PowerMatic, Mini-Max, General International, Excalibur, Ridgid, Dewalt, Oneida, and Grizzly. The two Grizzly tools I have are my jointer (G490X) and a stand mounted 12"- disk/spindle sander. Both of my Grizzly tools have performed well especially if you consider what the PM equivalents would have cost me. IMO, most Grizzly tools are a great bang for the buck. A former customer of mine from central Michigan and I once argued about the quality of the Grizzly tools. He said the ones he saw on the farm in Michigan were terrible. A devout 7th Day Adventist one day he had the opportunity to tour a nearby religious HS which had a woodworking shop outfitted with Grizzly tools. The next time I ran into John at work, he said he was amazed at the difference in quality from what he'd seen in the quality of Grizzly tools a decade or more earlier on a Michigan farm.

A jointer performs a pretty simple operation and when I chose the Grizzly equivalent over the PM I saved a lot of money. Looking at the current prices, the Grizzly G0490X would save $550 over the cost of the PM. Is it worth it? That's subjective. I am a hobbyist woodworker, retired on a fixed income. To me, I can't justify have the best tools of all types. I try to buy the best quality I can afford while considering how much I will use it.

My bandsaw is a Mini-Max (SCM), my table saw is a Ridgid, my DC is an Oneida, my SCMS is a Dewalt. The fit and finish on these are a little better than on my Grizzly tools but the Grizzly tools have worked well for me. As someone pointed out, the owner of Grizzly monitors this site and others. He has on occasion gotten involved in some problems that have cropped up. It wasn't too long after I joined one Creeker bought a brand new bandsaw, IIRC. He picked it up in his pickup at a truck depot, was driving it home, went around a curve a little to fast for the bandsaw. The bandsaw flipped out and landed on the ground damaging it. Shiraz Balolia, owner of Grizzly, read the thread here and volunteered to send the necessary parts to the Creeker at no charge. He didn't have to do that, he had no responsibility in the situation but he was being extremely generous and sympathetic with the guy's situation.