No More Bt3100's? What TS To Recommend Then?

[rickd]

The discontinuance of the BT3100, while rumored and discussed for a few years now, seems to be pretty much confirmed. Also, there doesn't seem to be a comparable replacement from Ryobi on the horizon.

As a happy BT3100 owner, I plan to keep using my saw for many years to come and have no plans whatsoever to replace it - haven't even given it a thought.

But, what about new woodworkers who have not yet purchased a table saw and come to this forum looking for recommendations. Assuming that the BT3100 option is off the table - what will you be recommending others purchase for their workshop?

For me, I guess I'd have to go with Ridgid. If I had to buy another TS and it couldn't be a BT3100, Ridgid is the way I'd go. What about everyone else here?

Rick

[gsmittle]

Hmmmmm...... Assuming we're not talking the PM 2000-type budget......

I haven't seen anything in the 3100's price range that comes close in quality or ease of use......

Hmmmmm..... probably the Rigid or perhaps the Craftsman hybrid saw, even though that one's a few bucks more.

Wow.....to get the same kind of versatility and quality it looks like one would have to spend more money. Or get a refurb 3100 from Cummins.

Just my $0.02 worth...

g.

[Knottscott]

The Sears 21829 appears to be a BT clone and is made by Ryobi AFAIK. The extra cost gets you the router table, accessories, and roll away stand. It goes on sale in the $360 occasionally, and frequently in the $400 range.

The trouble with any contractor saw, including the Ridgid, is that the motor hangs out the back which poses a myriad of issues....added space, poor dust collection, longer drive belt, a risk of the motor hitting things when beveled and knocking the alignment out, etc. Hybrids with internally mounted motors offer a slew of advantages over the contractor saw design and are priced starting at ~ $400 on sale. The Sears 22104 has been on clearance in the low $300's lately, the Jet 708100 is on sale for $400 now. Recently a BT3 member offered Delta 36-715's for $450. The original Jet Supersaw has been $600 at Rockler for a few weeks. The Sears 22124 goes on sale in the $750 range occasionally, and the Griz G0478 is $695 before shipping. My money would go in that direction instead of a contractor saw design....you get many of the benefits of a cabinet saw. Once you get much over $800, you might as well bite the bullet and for a full 3hp cabinet saw like the Griz 1023 in the $1k range, unless 220v isn't available.

[bigsteel15]

I was actually in Sears today and saw 2 guys looking at the BT3 clone. One guy it turns out already has a BT3, the other was looking for a saw but said he wanted more portability (collapsible). I suggested that he look at the Ridgid or the Bosch. He really liked the router table though. I suggested that at $499 he wasn't going to get near the options of the Sears BT3.

[Ken Massingale]

I agree with the TS3650, of course. After a year I'm completely happy with mine. The lift is great, the large cast iron top is heavy and stable and personally I haven't had any issue with the motor interferring with anything. The nice large area between the blade and the front of the table is great and the 36" rip capacity is more than adequate.
'Course I'm a bit biased!! ;-D
ken

[Pappy]

I think I would look hard at the Hitachi C10FL from Lowe's.

[LinuxRandal]

If we are eliminating the 21829 for argument sake, I would start looking around at garage sales. Since the others are all basically the same design, till you get into the $500+ hybrid range, I would start with probably a used Emerson made Craftsman, that averages around $150 here at garage sales.
I am still waiting to see what the saw stop contractor comes out at, because that might be competitive with a non sale Craftsman hybrid. And with the shortening attention spans these days, and a nephew that thinks if I play with it, he should too!

Now, if I knew most of what I was going to be cutting, I would seriously just look at using a GCSS (guided circular saw system).

[LarryG]

For me, any recommendation I might give will depend, as it always has, on the person's individual situation. That's basically a combination of budget, needs, and shop space.

In my own case, I bought a BT3100 not so much because it was a competent table saw for the money (which it was), but because it was a competent table saw that would fit in my tiny shop, in the specific place I needed it to sit. The floor is extremely uneven, so any kind of mobile arrangement was out. The room is long and narrow, so the blade had to be placed parallel to the long dimension in order to have (barely) adequate infeed/outfeed clearance. I'm hardly made of money, but a saw like the Ridgid, Delta Contractor's Saw, or even a Powermatic 64 wouldn't have been impossible. The problem was and is that none of those saws would fit.

I guess it's bordering on heresy around these parts but I've never bought into all the "you can spend more, but you won't get more" stuff. That may be true of SOME saws out there, but not all of them. I've always thought that a BT3x00 was nothing more or less than the best saw for the money. Still, there's no question but that its demise has left a pretty large hole in the $250-500 market.

[wardprobst]

Larry G makes some great points. I use my shops in my business and could probably have gone with a higher price point saw but in my case the saw is used more for constructing shop equipment than working on pianos or organs. My major tools are the band saw, drill press, etc and I have pretty good quality units for those. I've had the 22811 long enough I could easily replace it but I keep it because it does what I need when I need it. If I change it will probably be to a Craftsman zip code saw but I don't think I'm going to change any time soon. I agree with Pappy that the Hitachi Lowe's sells is pretty good,especially if you could catch it on sale.
My two pesos,
DP

[Salty]

How about this one folks. Seems to be 2 saws in 1. I don't recall seeing this in any store on this side of the Atlantic. They get all the fun stuff over there!
Might be fun just to watch someone use it!
You would still need to build some side supports and designing a miter slot would be a real challenge!

[D_Epler]

There's always your local craigslist.com site...I saw one this week in Florida for $80 (BT3000)...

Just keep checking, otherwise there's always www.grizzly.com - just depends on your budget.


Dave

[ChrisD]

Cost, availability, and testimonials on this site were the primary reasons why I bought a BT3. Now that it's gone, I think the field is wide open. It's a little easier now for aspiring woodoworkers to see the attributes of other saws without the blinding glare of the Ryobi's functionality and low price.

So even if I'd like to think that the TS3650 is the next best thing (Sorry, Ken: this is purely a semantic failure to find the right phrase), I think there is tough competition from Craftsman, Delta, Jet, and Grizzly in terms of value and features.

I like the intention behind this thread: looking out for the next wave of aspiring craftspeople! You're a good man, Rick.