Hey guys,
This is just my personal experience dealing with Powermatic vs Grizzly. A few years ago I purchased a Grizzly G1023RL 3hp cabinet saw. The fit and finish in my opinion was truly excellent. Not one issue with the saw. Prompt delivery, well packaged, everything on the saw was spot on. I had very few adjustments to make after set up. Customer service was fantastic when buying the saw. I ended up buying a new house and I decided to sell the saw to a colleague (big mistake).
At the end of September of this year I ordered a Powermatic PM1000. I decided to go with another cabinet saw and one that was 115v. I wanted to buy the best 115v I could find for my money. I figured Powermatic would be one of the best. My experience so far has not been great. The saw showed up on a busted up pallet. The fence rail box was tore up and the front fence rail was gouged. This was not shipping damage as all the parts were wrapped up nicely sitting on the pallet. I contacted PM and I received the new part a couple weeks later. It was hard to get a tracking number from them. I was ghosted by customer service a couple times. I went through two CSR's to get this part. Problem is I bought the black anniversary model and they sent the standard gold rail. I provided pics, proof of purchase, PN needed before they sent. I contacted them and they decided to send me a can of paint and asked me to paint the rail. This has been over two weeks now. I contacted them today and they haven't even sent the paint yet. The CSR emailed back just a bit ago and said they found a can and will be rushing it out to me. I ended up assembling the saw anyway with the black rail. The next problem was with the cast wings. They had a burr along the machined edge that mated up with the table. When you leveled the wing with the table top it was very noticeable. I had to give the wing top 90 degree edge a soft sand with some high grit metal paper. This seemed to solve that issue. When fastening them they just didn't quite line up evenly so I switched them around. This helped but then the front 45 degree bevel didn't quite line up. I brought that to their attention and they are supposed to be sending me a new set out. I'm still waiting for them. I asked today for a tracking number. So far I have worked with 3 CSR's and one tech support guy. I've had the saw a month now.
I truly believe Powermatic makes a great product but their after purchase support hasn't impressed me. In hind sight I wish I would have bought another Grizzly.
deck