14" bandsaw, PM or Jet?

[Mark Rainey]

Laguna 14/12 has serious competition from Rikon 10-326. I have had mine for 3 years with excellent support from Rikon. Lee Valley has it for $1500 and free shipping and Lee Valley has unsurpassed customer service.

[Michael Drew]

Laguna 14/12 has serious competition from Rikon 10-326. I have had mine for 3 years with excellent support from Rikon. Lee Valley has it for $1500 and free shipping and Lee Valley has unsurpassed customer service.

Yah, I looked at that machine. It does look like a great bandsaw. Unfortunately, there are no dealers in Alaska. Lee Valley and other will not ship for free. Something that large will be at minimum, $1000 to ship. That's why my brand choices are Jet, Laguna, and PowerMatic. And to a lesser extent - Grizzly. If I get one of those four brands, shipping costs are absorbed due to the dealers shipping many machines at once.

[Mitch schiffer]

My local dealer does not get freight paid orders on grizzly. You may want to check with yours on that is you haven't already.

[Dave Sabo]

I’d forget jet and powermatic .

I’d be looking at Rikon and Harvey , perhaps Laguna but I just don’t like dealing with Laguna.

[David Publicover]

I have a Laguna 18BX and am very happy with it. Have you considered the 14BX?

[Tom Schmutz]

I did two things to my Jet 14 to improve cutting Installed a set of Iturra Design precision roller bearing blade guides and installed a Timber Wolf blade. Resawing dead on now.

[Charles Coolidge]

I’d forget jet and powermatic .

Why? I have a Powermatic and like it.

[Charles Coolidge]

Holy price increases batman, the PM1500 I purchased 11 months ago has gone up 38%

[Dave Sabo]

Why? I have a Powermatic and like it.

Because they don't stack up very well against the other two (3) when features and price are considered.

And on a more superficial level, I can't stand the stale mustard color.

[Rob Luter]

I had to make this decision a couple years ago. I went with a Rikon 10-326. Zero complaints. It works great for resawing.

[Michael Drew]

My local dealer does not get freight paid orders on grizzly. You may want to check with yours on that is you haven't already.

I'm not sure what arrangement the dealer has with Grizzly, but it is a bit wonky. That's why I said earlier that they carry Grizzly, but "to a lesser degree". It must be what similar to what you stated?

I’d forget jet and powermatic .

I’d be looking at Rikon and Harvey , perhaps Laguna but I just don’t like dealing with Laguna.

Thanks, but both are unavailable in Alaska unless I pay the freight fees (figure at least $1000). I have a quote from Harvey for a table saw a few weeks ago. It was $1600 for freight.

I have a Laguna 18BX and am very happy with it. Have you considered the 14BX?

Yes, the 14bx was (and still is) the saw I was mostly interested in. I'd rather have it than the 14/12. The 18bx looks kinda huge standing next to the 14bx. I'm actually wondering if it might be too large what I use a bandsaw for. But I think almost anyone on this site will tell me to go larger than what I think I need.....

Holy price increases batman, the PM1500 I purchased 11 months ago has gone up 38%

Yah, Powermatic is quite proud of their stuff.

[Charles Coolidge]

Because they don't stack up very well against the other two (3) when features and price are considered.

And on a more superficial level, I can't stand the stale mustard color.

I have to say the Harvey appears to be a lot of bandsaw for the price, especially after the price increases over the past year. I bought the Powermatic 15 for only $300 more and got free shipping so pretty much a wash with Harvey at the time. Now the Harvey has Powermatic crushed on price. I don't know if its a temporary price reduction or marketing BS but Harvey appears to be offering some deep discounts on their website.

Color? Yeah black is nice. I'm meh on Powermatic mustard, hate purple/blue, and green or off white cream makes me want to hurl.

[David Publicover]

Yes, the 14bx was (and still is) the saw I was mostly interested in. I'd rather have it than the 14/12. The 18bx looks kinda huge standing next to the 14bx. I'm actually wondering if it might be too large what I use a bandsaw for. But I think almost anyone on this site will tell me to go larger than what I think ...

I had similar concerns but marked off the footprint of each on my shop floor. The difference was not as much as I had thought. The 18BX is taller but that wasn’t a issue for me.
Good luck with your search!

[Robert Hayward]

Holy price increases batman, the PM1500 I purchased 11 months ago has gone up 38%

I paid $2464 for mine when I bought it.

[Mitch schiffer]

I'm not sure what arrangement the dealer has with Grizzly, but it is a bit wonky. That's why I said earlier that they carry Grizzly, but "to a lesser degree". It must be what similar to what you stated?

From what I understand from my local dealer that carries grizzly is that they recent lowered the dealer discount margin to 7 percent. They also do not get freight paid orders no matter what the order size is. It is my understanding that on most other brands the margin is closer to 30 percent and they get freight paid orders even just for one machine. For these reasons they don't really push or even want to sell the grizzly products anymore. It is worth noting that shop fox does offer freight paid orders and the margin is higher so you might consider that since it is essentially the same product as grizzly with maybe a few minor differences, and the free freight makes up for the slightly higher cost. Is getting a machine from Canada a cheaper option? maybe that would be a better route since is seems closer unless there are some kind of import/export fees tacked on to shipping. If you can save 1000$ on shipping that might put you into range of a minimax I believe they are available in Canada.