OK, I'll bite. I have a saw stop contractor saw. I agree with the comments about their marketing, but I guess I like my fingers more than I dislike their marketing.
About only 18% of users having the guard in place: Saw stop has a really great riving knife. I am as guilty as the next guy of forgoing the guard in favor of the riving knife in many situations. My guess is that a lot of people just leave the riving knife in place and leave off the guard.
About accidents involving push sticks: The statistician in me questions the correlation and causation aspect of this. I think a likely explanation is that the kind of sketchy situations that cause accidents also are the situations that cause people to choose to use push sticks. I do not take their data to indicate that the push sticks were the cause of the accidents, rather I think that situations calling for push sticks are more likely to lead to accidents.
The bottom line: The sawstop is expensive, but it is a very solid safe saw. Even without the safety features it would stand solidly against the best saws in its class. Is it worth the added expense? I thought so, you have to decide for yourself.
By the way: I did have a dangerous situation this weekend. I ripped a piece of 8/4 maple. Part way through the cut it started getting really hard to push. I turned off the saw and discovered the wood was case hardened and pinching the blade. Thank goodness for the riving knife and anti-kickback pawls! I wrenced the wood off the riving knife and started over. I ended up re-cutting the same kerf several times to get through the wood.
About only 18% of users having the guard in place: Saw stop has a really great riving knife. I am as guilty as the next guy of forgoing the guard in favor of the riving knife in many situations. My guess is that a lot of people just leave the riving knife in place and leave off the guard.
About accidents involving push sticks: The statistician in me questions the correlation and causation aspect of this. I think a likely explanation is that the kind of sketchy situations that cause accidents also are the situations that cause people to choose to use push sticks. I do not take their data to indicate that the push sticks were the cause of the accidents, rather I think that situations calling for push sticks are more likely to lead to accidents.
The bottom line: The sawstop is expensive, but it is a very solid safe saw. Even without the safety features it would stand solidly against the best saws in its class. Is it worth the added expense? I thought so, you have to decide for yourself.
By the way: I did have a dangerous situation this weekend. I ripped a piece of 8/4 maple. Part way through the cut it started getting really hard to push. I turned off the saw and discovered the wood was case hardened and pinching the blade. Thank goodness for the riving knife and anti-kickback pawls! I wrenced the wood off the riving knife and started over. I ended up re-cutting the same kerf several times to get through the wood.
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