I don't recall if you've visited here or not, Steve, but I can easily show you what the space requirements are for an 8'6" slider so you can "estimate down" relative to what will work in your own shop. I'm around pretty much all the time since I retired from full time work last fall, so I'm happy to have your stop by. Just contact me privately to set that up at a mutually convenient time.

Longer gives more flexibility, but given you "can" do long rips in the same manner as with a North American design saw, you can get away with a shorter wagon for refining the rip on most project components and, of course, do the precision cross-cutting which is where a slider really, really shines.