BT3100 is being discontinued

[ewingda]

I was at my local BORG this weekend to get a 1/2" hammer drill (a crazy fun tool!!!!) and I happened upon the HD salesman and a TTI rep who was hanging around assisting with questions etc.

I asked about the drills - a drill is a drill. He of course recommended a Rigid. Why? It had bells & whistles that seperated it from the rest. So it was a good choice. And he gave me a 10% off coupon. Cool. The funny thing was that the salesman had no idea that Rigid, Ryobi and Milwaukee were owned by TTI. I found that disturbing...as I expect a salesman in tools to know the products.

Important part starts here :::

So we got talking about the BT3100. I asked if he knew what was going on. He said he understood that Ryobi was cancelling it. That would explain the dwindling supplies. Now - take this with a grain of salt - I did not hear this from an official source. We chatted for a bit and he was aware of this site. And I mentioned how much I have learned from the members and how highly regarded the saw is. I guess it is a cult classic!

I thought I would provide that tidbit to you all.

Take care!

[Deadhead]

The TTI rep didn't know that Ridgid, Ryobi, and Milwaukee were owned by TTI, but knows that Ryobi (TTI) is cancelling the BT3100?
Yeah, big grain of salt.

[ewingda]

Sorry - the HomeDepot salesman - not the TTI rep.

[JR]

Nobody seems to know exactly what's up with the BT3100, so your local BORG clerk's guess is as good as any at this point.

As far as TTI owning those companies, click here for a detailed description by cwsmith. A wise reader will ignore my uninformed ramblings on the topic of restraint of trade.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...ight=ownership

JR

[steve-norrell]

At least one of the three HD stores in Anchorage does not have BT3100's on display any longer and one of the others has only one marked as "Clearance" for $249. It is clearly the old display model.

[bridgman]

BT3000 discontinued

Wow. I was at HD at closing time last night looking for a new saw and was intrigued by a sale sticker for the BT3000 ($249 down from $299) and almost bought a BTS15 by accident, as there were no more BT3000s. It wasn't until the clerk scanned the box and said the total is $199. I shouldn't complain about a lower than expected cost, but I realized that I was being way too hasty and decided to go online today and take a more rational approach to selecting a saw. My budget is $250, so I was simply going by the price. Now that I've discovered this site, I have found that there's more to that mysterious saw than originally thought.

So, I'm going to hit POST, thanking everyone for providing all this information, and drive like **** to another HD that has 2 in stock.

P.S. I was initially reluctant to consider a ryobi after my $99 starter model burned out, but I remembered that I used it rather roughly, constantly pushing its limits and exposed it to too much weather over the 3 years I had it. Plus, that saw was basically a hand circular saw mounted upside-down in an EasyBake Oven chassis, so we're talking different platforms here.

[Ken Weaver]

Wecome Brdigman!

[bridgman]

Got the last one

Whew! I may have just bought the last NIB BT3 in Memphis. The BORG computer showed one boxed unit at the Wolfchase area store and one demo in inventory (they had a third in inventory an hour earlier). The hardware manager was looking all through his "cloud-city storerooms" and couldn't find the boxed unit. After 30 minutes, I joined the hunt and spotted a large tablesaw under a thick layer of shrinkwrap on a pallet full of misc items. That was it. It was at the front end of an aisle, 20 feet up, overlooking the store entrance. Took them forever to set up the safety gates, requiring them to actually lock the entrance door at 6 p.m. on a Monday for a few minutes, and bring the pallet down on a forklift. Now I have to overcome the Southern man's inhibitions against reading an instruction manual (following Mr. Frye's advice) and curl up with some good user documentatio.

[ewingda]

To clarify -


The BORG salesman was clueless - a weekend retiree that know nothing. Lets forget about him as he was just a laughable "clerk".

The TTI rep who was visiting the store at the time gave me the info regarding the discontinuation. I take his comment on even ground - there may be some basis to it and there may not. But he is more in the inside than I am. Thus, I wanted to pass the info on to you all.

D

[bridgman]

Mom, I've joined a cult (and take that luggage padlock off my power switch)

Thought y'all might appreciate this exchange with a friend who advised me to buy a more expensive saw:

Hey R---,
Good to see you Friday.

My "budget line-item" for a table saw is now green-lighted. It's replacing the
$99 Ryobi I burned out (The saw waited until the month after the warranty expired, and then hanged itself in its cell.)

Any creative ideas on where to get a $500 saw for $250? (other than the
high-traffic rental house at the end of my street)

On 6/27/06 11:51 PM, R--- wrote:
Gary,
My advice is to get a $500 saw for $500. I think tools might fall under the
"no such thing as a free lunch" rule. I speak with authority, as I own quite
a few cheap chinese-made tools. They're fine for light duty, but aren't
up to a real challenge. (I'm the same way, really. I don't hassle them about
it.)

On Wednesday, June 28, 2006 9:06 AM, Gary Bridgman wrote:

Thanks R----,
But I've already made my move.

Even though I was pretty dead-set against getting another Ryobi, I noticed that Home Depot (known on DIY and tool forums as BORG for "Big Orange Retail Giant") was clearing out a discontinued Ryobi model, marking it down from $299 to $249, tantalizingly $1 under my stated budget.

That was my first unheeded warning.

Midtown didn't have one, but I noted the model number and Googled it. Seems that the BT3100 has a cult following, complete with their own high-traffic site bt3central.com (not affiliated with the Mfg or retailer). I left work early and went to the Wolfchase HD to get what may have been the last in-box BT3100 in Memphis (there’s one in stock in Southaven).

The saw's cult comprises home workshop types, not so many contractors or hard-core furniture makers, I think. They seem to love it for user-friendliness, great-for-the-price accuracy and general adaptability. They describe it with an ethic (if not vocabulary) reminiscent of Linux users. The model has been in existence for 13 years, basically the Taurus of the home table-saw world.

So, look for me at the MEM airport, chanting and selling homemade wooden birdhouses for His Holiness The BT3.1K.

I know I'm not worthy of it, after what I did to the $99 Ryobi that I'm now required to refer to as "The Little Sparrow" as penance, so I can only conclude that I've been selected for a special purpose.....hopefully one involving a compound rip-cut requiring a sigma of <1 millimeter.

Love, light and consistent kerfs,

"Koonja" (please don't call me by the name "Gary" anymore.)

On 6/28/06 11:03 AM, R--- wrote:

Hi "Koonja" (nice tamborine!),
I’ve just come from bt3central. I want one too. You should lock your garage tonight…

[JR]

Very funny, Koonja! Try to avoid the orange robes, though. You don't want anyone to think you're in the BORG cult. I can't abide those heretics.

JR

[bigsteel15]

I love it. I think we are going to have many funny moments in the presence of KOONJA.

BTW, take a look at Gary's Photos page. Awesome pictures!! That guy is a real artist with a camera.