I have never used this particular model, but through my experience in scrolling, I will give my honest opinion.
The single arm upper blade mechanism can provide a lot of vibrations on the table. These vibrations can translate onto your work piece making precision next to impossible. I had similar experiences with a 16" Ryobi that I had years ago. A very rough cutting saw but I made the best of it.
It claims to have a maximum metal cutting capacity of 2". I find this very hard to believe. I have a higher end scroll saw and I would never expect it to be able to cut 2" thick metal. Just because the capacity is 2", doesn't mean that the machine would cut it.
I'm not sure of your project list or what you have in mind for scrolling projects, but I can tell you, that you will find yourself a little limited with a 16" throat. I worked on a 16" for years and finally got fed up with fighting the smaller throat depth.
Another issue I see with this saw is the fact that the upper arm does not lift up, which means that you have to basically bend your blades to get them into the entry holes for any kind of fretwork. This essentially weakens your blades and makes interior cuts a total pain in the butt. You are constantly craning your neck to see underneath a piece to try and find the entry hole to feed your blade. A top loading blade with a raising top arm is a much better design feature that you might want to consider if you plan on doing any kind of fretwork.
The blades on this machine are installed with a tool. I've had many scroll saws and it wasn't until I got one that was a tooless blade change that I realized what torture I was putting myself through with a tooled blade change. One of my saws needed 2 separate tools to change a blade and you don't realize what a pain it is until you start doing some serious fretwork. It's at this time that you will appreciate not having to use a tool to install a blade. The fact that this particular saw doesn't provide you with anywhere to keep these blade changing tools leads me to believe that you would eventually misplace them. After all, a scroll saw isn't something that you use every day and it's easy to misplace a small little wrench or key when they don't have a specific home.
The hold down foot, appears to be a little on the flimsy side and although I never use them, for a beginner, a foot can be a handy thing until you get the hang of it. It also looks like the tension adjustment is at the back of the saw. This seems a little cumbersome to me but that is just an opinion.
The reviews of this saw are terrible but I don't put too much faith in reviews. After all, it seems that the only time people call in or write in to a company is when they have a problem. There could be 5000 users that love the saw but never bothered to write in. With that being said, I personally, would steer away from this particular unit. Not because of the reviews, but because my personal experience with scrolling tells me that this saw screams frustration for a scroller.
I know it's easy for me to say, but my personal opinion, would be to spend a little more and get a saw that will give you a fair shot at scrolling and all it's possibilities. It is a very relaxing hobby that I love but I can say, from personal experience, that all that relaxation will go right out the window with one POS scroll saw and a poorly designed tool.
Kenbo's opinion? I would pass on this "great deal". The frustrations will outweigh the savings.
Hope this helps.
