[stoneda70]

Confusion is mounting.. budget $400-600ish & 110V. Current bandsaw I have isn't suitable for resaw (Yee Haw, I'll omit the brand name admitting that ya get what you pay for!). What I'm looking at are the 14" Rikon 10-321 (599.99 at sears); 14" Sears Craftsman BAS350 (359.99); 14" Grizzly G0555LX (604 with shipping).

All are 1HP and similar specs. I like that the Rikon & Craftsman have 8" cut height against the Grizzly 6"..Although I've heard you wouldn't get much more resaw capacity than 5" in any case from a saw in this category? I don't understand the price difference between the Rikon & Craftsman as they look so much alike, exact same specs etc.. None come with a resaw fence, so I'm assuming I'd need to search one out to fit the Rikon or Craftsman. Grizzly sells one for $100 for the 555.

 

[BassBlaster]

I have the 555LX. I love it. Its been a great saw. BTW, you just missed a sale. It was listed for $425 plus shipping last week.

 

[ryan50hrl]

The craftsman gets great reviews by a lot of users.

 

[geltz61]

I have the grizzly 555 for about 7 years now and I love mine. I put a riser block in it to raise the height to 12" for resale.

 

[kkalin78]

Just had same thoughts about 2 months ago. And I also had same bandsaws on my list. I ended up buying G0555LX. Although I was a bit unlucky to get the saw without manufacture tuning and I did it by myself.

I think this is a good saw. I already used it for resawing 6/4 hard-maple and for scroll-sawing with 1/8 blade . The saw did a great in both cases.

 

[stoneda70]

All- Thanks for the thoughts and experience..

I have the grizzly 555 for about 7 years now and I love mine. I put a riser block in it to raise the height to 12" for resale.

I was curious about the riser option..if it really works well..

I'm leaning toward the Griz 555LX, solidity in reputation and would match my Griz tablesaw too. But.. I do like the Craftsman price although another thing I find peculiar is that there are some discrepancies in the tech manual and the sears online advertisements ie. blade width.. a tool expert couldn't figure out the plug type.. The price seems to change alot (yesterday it showed 359.99, today - 404-99, and I've seen it at other prices over the past few months..wierd). I usually go with the opinion that small discrepancies are indicative of quality..

 

[Roger Newby]

Another +1 for the Griz w/riser. I have had mine since 2008. Great machine.

 

[Hemlock]

I decided on the craftsman after comparing it to the Grizz and Rikon. I could find no difference between sears and rikon. Manuals and everything is identical. Only difference is color. With respect to Grizz Table is bigger which i really like; yes only 8" resaw but saw is < $400 and I didn't need the extra 4"; and I could buy at sears locally which was nice if i had issues. Never thought I'd buy another craftsman power tool but this bandsaw is very good for the money. I love it. I bought a carter magnafence II and i merrily redraw oak and hickory easily. Dust collection is excellent too. I did wrestle with sears or Grizz as both seemed a good product. Just sharing that I don't regret my sears buy one bit. It's a great saw that is same as Rikon for $200+ less! Decided if I needed more resaw capacity I'd someday get a 17" saw. Good luck with your decision!

 

[stoneda70]

Thanks see130...difficult decision between the Craftsman and Griz when weighting cost (it don't put food on my table), quality, skill level etc.. I ordered the Griz 555 today. I'm at the point of buying machines that will hopefully only buy once, so went with the upper. I went with the 555 vice 555LX mostly because the cost difference is awash when adding the resaw fence ($100 for 555, $140 for 555LX) although the differences between the models seem relatively small. Thanks for your comments, I'll post a quicklook report on the 555..