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Not years since purchase, but 10 months of fairly active use, I can honestly say I have a good feel for what the BTS-21 can, and cannot do well. So let's get down to business.
The good.
#1. Folding stand with wheels makes getting this thing out of the way a breeze.
#2. Outfeed Extension works well for intermediate size pieces, needs more for large pieces.
#3. Sliding Miter table makes miter cuts fast, accurate, and easy.
#4. Built in dust collection shroud around blade in housing makes connecting to a shop vac dust collector easy.
#5. Sturdy, accurate fence locks front and rear rails and holds on tight.
#6. Cord wrap keeps the cord out of the way when not in use.
#7. On board tool / accessory storage. This saw has nice slots for the fence, miter fence, extra blades, and blade wrenches.
#8. Generous 27" rip capacity.
#9. Reasonably good stock general purpose blade.
#10. Light enough weight to make loading and unloading into a truck easy.
#11. Alignments stable through lots of knocking around and moving.
#12. Very accurate cuts. As long as the operator doesn't screw up that is... I recently ripped 2x4 lumber, 8 feet in length to 1.25" square (2 pieces) for a mobile base project, and my stock ended up 1.25" the entire length. This requires a steady hand though, it is really easy to kick the stock sideways and get the balde bound up.
The bad.
#1. Complete lack of a miter slot, or ability to easily add a miter slot.
#2. Lack of ability to add extension rails or other accessories like the BT3x00 series has to offer.
#3. Open housing bottom, back, combined with the guard design make for relatively poor dust collection. Better than most in this category of saw, but still pretty lousy.
#4. Far fewer expansion options compared to the BT3x00 series.
#5. Direct drive not as smooth as belt drive.
#6. Arbor limits the dado stack that can be used to 5/8".
For the type of saw this is, it has been amazingly accurate, keeps its settings, and puts up with being tossed in the back of a truck and hauled around to job sites. I have used my saw as my shop table saw, as well as hauled it around to a couple of friend's homes to make quick work of ripping and cross cutting a variety of materials for siding and deck projects.
If you absolutely have to have a new table saw, portability is important, and your budget is under $250.00, you will want to wait for this saw to go on sale. It is a good little saw. But it has its limitations. I would consider the Ryboi BT3100 to be a superior saw in nearly all regards except for portability. If portability and new aren't important, find a lovingly used BT and be happy with it...
The good.
#1. Folding stand with wheels makes getting this thing out of the way a breeze.
#2. Outfeed Extension works well for intermediate size pieces, needs more for large pieces.
#3. Sliding Miter table makes miter cuts fast, accurate, and easy.
#4. Built in dust collection shroud around blade in housing makes connecting to a shop vac dust collector easy.
#5. Sturdy, accurate fence locks front and rear rails and holds on tight.
#6. Cord wrap keeps the cord out of the way when not in use.
#7. On board tool / accessory storage. This saw has nice slots for the fence, miter fence, extra blades, and blade wrenches.
#8. Generous 27" rip capacity.
#9. Reasonably good stock general purpose blade.
#10. Light enough weight to make loading and unloading into a truck easy.
#11. Alignments stable through lots of knocking around and moving.
#12. Very accurate cuts. As long as the operator doesn't screw up that is... I recently ripped 2x4 lumber, 8 feet in length to 1.25" square (2 pieces) for a mobile base project, and my stock ended up 1.25" the entire length. This requires a steady hand though, it is really easy to kick the stock sideways and get the balde bound up.
The bad.
#1. Complete lack of a miter slot, or ability to easily add a miter slot.
#2. Lack of ability to add extension rails or other accessories like the BT3x00 series has to offer.
#3. Open housing bottom, back, combined with the guard design make for relatively poor dust collection. Better than most in this category of saw, but still pretty lousy.
#4. Far fewer expansion options compared to the BT3x00 series.
#5. Direct drive not as smooth as belt drive.
#6. Arbor limits the dado stack that can be used to 5/8".
For the type of saw this is, it has been amazingly accurate, keeps its settings, and puts up with being tossed in the back of a truck and hauled around to job sites. I have used my saw as my shop table saw, as well as hauled it around to a couple of friend's homes to make quick work of ripping and cross cutting a variety of materials for siding and deck projects.
If you absolutely have to have a new table saw, portability is important, and your budget is under $250.00, you will want to wait for this saw to go on sale. It is a good little saw. But it has its limitations. I would consider the Ryboi BT3100 to be a superior saw in nearly all regards except for portability. If portability and new aren't important, find a lovingly used BT and be happy with it...