It's officially discontinued

[bigsteel15]

At the new HD 2 blocks from my house today.
TTI rep was there.
Asked him about our favorite saw.
He gets on the phone, talks to a couple of people and says, yes it is being discontinued. They haven't seen anything official for the stores up here yet.
The product you have suddenly been seeing in the US is probably a container that was ordered long ago and arrived to be distributed throughout the entire country.
I think we all knew this anyways
I also asked him about the Ridgid router kit. Soon in Canada apparently.

[TheRic]

Discontinued with no replacement coming,
OR discontinued WITH an improved model coming in the near future,
OR no clue???

[bigsteel15]

Discontinued with no replacement coming,
OR discontinued WITH an improved model coming in the near future,
OR no clue???

No clue...actually I never thought to ask him that. DOH!!

[SHADOWFOX]

So is this on all Ryobi and Ridgid power tools that are no longer going to be carried by HD or just the BT3?

[ed2kayak]

Keep checking.

I found a NIB BT 3100 in a Mechanicsburg, PA Home Depot store. I had checked same store, twice before in the last 6 weeks. I had also called all 6 nearby HD's, all said they had none in stock. Sunday I was looking for hinges and walked past the tool area. They had one saw marked to $239. I just finished mounting it to a Bosch TS2000 Gravity-Rise stand. Stand was on amazon.com weekend sale $117 shipped.

[bigsteel15]

So is this on all Ryobi and Ridgid power tools that are no longer going to be carried by HD or just the BT3?

Ryobi is discontinuing the BT3100. It's been suspect for a very long time. I just it from the horses mouth so to speak. At least in Canada its never been official.

[drumpriest]

Yeah, the real question is about a replacement. Is one forthcoming? Are they just getting rid of the saw?

I suspect that there is motivation to not create a replacement for the 3100. I believe that it takes market share away from the more expensive Ridgid products, which isn't beneficial to either TTI or HD.

With the new Jet TS as cheap as it is, with some of the ryobi features like the built in DC, it seems to be the new best buy. It lacks a riving knife though, which makes me sad.

[vaking]

I know we are all passionate here about BT saw, but please try to put on the hat of sales manager somewhere at Ryobi. BT3100 is a great saw for a hobbyist woodworker who wants to have the precision of a cabinet saw, does not want to pay professional money and is willing to compromise on "heavy duty". How big is such market? How many of us are at this forum? I would guess couple thousand throughout North America. That is not enough to keep manufacturer interested in this market. There are 2 real markets out there:
Typical home owner - DIY type. This market does not need precision of a cabinet saw. This market produces low profit margin for each item but high volume of sales. This is a typical Ryobi market.
Professional woodworker - this market will not accept light duty. This market has higher margin on each saw than DIY because it is backed by prospective revenues that equipment brings. We (the BT3 crowd) do not earn living with this saw, so we are not prepared to pay the margin that professionals will pay. And there is not enough of us to generate volume sales. BT3 saw is atypical for Ryobi and for Ridgid. I do not blame the manufacturer for the decision to discontinue even if there is no replacement.
I also do not believe BT3100 takes away market from expensive Ridgid products. Those products are targeted at professionals and professionals will not buy a light duty saw. Think of it this way - if you are making living by programming would you settle for a computer that will take few days to compile a good program because it is cheaper?

[sbs]

I know we are all passionate here about BT saw, but please try to put on the hat of sales manager somewhere at Ryobi. BT3100 is a great saw for a hobbyist woodworker who wants to have the precision of a cabinet saw, does not want to pay professional money and is willing to compromise on "heavy duty". How big is such market? How many of us are at this forum? I would guess couple thousand throughout North America. That is not enough to keep manufacturer interested in this market. There are 2 real markets out there:
Typical home owner - DIY type. This market does not need precision of a cabinet saw. This market produces low profit margin for each item but high volume of sales. This is a typical Ryobi market.

I disagree. I bought mine for typical homeowner/DIY uses, as did the half dozen people to whom I recommended this saw.

I wouldn't bother buying a lesser TS than this one because I can get just as good results with my circular saw.

I wouldn't buy a TS that cost more than this one because that would be a silly waste of money for my purposes.

Filling a unique price-performance niche like that is what entrepreneurs dream of.

If a company can't make money off this saw, then they sure aren't going to make money in more competitive markets.

[pdimond]

Interestingly, the saw has only just been introduced into Australia (from what I can tell). Ryobi are actively promoting it - last weekend they had it front and centre in the Melbourne Working with Wood show.

I went and bought one for a simple reason - it's the only decent saw with a table shallow enough to fit in the end of my garage behind my car. Yes .. that's how small my workshop space is.

Now, if I can just figure out how to get my jointer and thicknesser into the remaining small square space in the corner.... but the bandsaw, the bandsaw! And I guess I have to move the drill press to being suspended from the ceiling! :^) Six more months, six more months, and I get a new workshop under the house (when my wife gets her 1,200 sq.ft. upstairs extension. Just keep saying it, six more months.....

[JR]

Hi, pdimond, and welcome to BT3Central.

It is indeed very interesting that Ryobi are flogging the BT3100 in Oz. When taken with the fact that Sears in the USA has a new BT clone, it leads to the conclusion that there's life in the old girl yet.

But it does make one wonder just what the heck they are doing here in America.

Good luck with yours, though. I'm sure many good things will come from its new home next to the family sedan!

JR

[RodKirby]

Interestingly, the saw has only just been introduced into Australia (from what I can tell). Ryobi are actively promoting it - last weekend they had it front and centre in the Melbourne Working with Wood show.

I went and bought one for a simple reason - it's the only decent saw with a table shallow enough to fit in the end of my garage behind my car. Yes .. that's how small my workshop space is.

Now, if I can just figure out how to get my jointer and thicknesser into the remaining small square space in the corner.... but the bandsaw, the bandsaw! And I guess I have to move the drill press to being suspended from the ceiling! :^) Six more months, six more months, and I get a new workshop under the house (when my wife gets her 1,200 sq.ft. upstairs extension. Just keep saying it, six more months.....

How much did you pay? I missed seeing it!

[LinuxRandal]

What color is it?

A bit ago, someone had one that had a problem and Ryobi sent him a blue one. It was supposably the "new" model, though never seen it since.

Found the topic, " Review of the Craftsman 27413 ". It was marked as a Ryobi, but sold in a Craftsman box, without the rolling stand,

[jseklund]

I may be WAY off here, but has anyone considered the possibilities of either:

1) Ryobi is having problems with HD and trying to move more towards Sears for some reason? It could be a contractual thing....

or:

2) Maybe, knowing what a niche market this is, Ryobi knows that by limiting output, they stir up more talk about what a shame this great machine is being taken off the market? This would allow them to limit production on a low-production unit, sell inventory VERY quickly if not almost instantly, and create a feeling of "better buy the BT3 now" whenever someone was thinking about going for either a Delta or another brand vs. Ryobi in that price range?

Just curious...you guys probably know more about it than me.

[LinuxRandal]

I may be WAY off here, but has anyone considered the possibilities of either:

1) Ryobi is having problems with HD and trying to move more towards Sears for some reason? It could be a contractual thing....

or:

2) Maybe, knowing what a niche market this is, Ryobi knows that by limiting output, they stir up more talk about what a shame this great machine is being taken off the market? This would allow them to limit production on a low-production unit, sell inventory VERY quickly if not almost instantly, and create a feeling of "better buy the BT3 now" whenever someone was thinking about going for either a Delta or another brand vs. Ryobi in that price range?

Just curious...you guys probably know more about it than me.

The first one is out, due to the borg having lots of other stuff with Ryobi, and the BT being about the only thing to disappear.
Sears could have got some exclusivity deal on THAT saw. Since Ridgid and Ryobi are part of the same tool group now, and they don't want to compete with themselves, that did play a part I am guessing.