Thickness Planer dilema

My old lunch box planer (Total Shop) suffered a fatal injury and died, so am looking to buy something new. The Total Shop is a basic machine, but has lasted more than twenty years!!! Reading about the current choices is a bit scary. Every model I read about seems to have major flaws. I know that some of the negative reports are likely due to abuse, but there are enough common threads to cause worry. Stripped gears and quickly worn out blades in the DeWalt 735, stripped threads in the aluminum head of the Ryobi and stripped gears in the Ridgid. If anyone can help me separate the good from the bad and ugly, it would be great. Any and all feedback will be appreciated. :)

My input is limited. I had two lunch box machines before i bought my 20" floor model. One was a standard Chinese no name (Craftex) and the second a Dewalt DW733. No comparison. The DeWalt worked flawlessly, had excellent features (turret depth stop, four post height adjustment, easy blade installation)

I had a Delta 22-580 which was a great machine. I have since moved to a 15" Grizzly with a spiral head. I would not buy Delta at this point. I don't think you can go wrong with the DeWalts from what I have read. They were the loudest in the bunch according to the last review I saw. The Makita is supposed to be good and was ranked the quietest of the bunch. I guess quiet is relative when talking about lunch box planers.:D

You are going to find A LOT of very happy DW733/734/735 owners here, as well as the dare I say "classic" 15" 4 poster planers.

I've used a Delta 12", a Delta 15" and a DeWalt 735 and have been happiest with the DeWalt.

In lunchbox, Makita and Dewalt seem to be the current favorites.

Matt

It seems everything is made in a lesser form than it might have been 10 years ago but, you have to try to choose from the diamonds in the rough of today's market. I ran a DeWalt DW734 (three blades but, only one speed) for years without issue. Blade life was good and blades were double sided, indexed and a no-brainer to set. When I finally went to a 15" floor machine (which took up perhaps a little smaller foot print than my DW734 on its stand) I sold it here. It was purchased by a pro shop who already had one and wanted a second. This was in addition to the beautiful giant old iron planers they had in the shop; their DeWalt got the bulk of the use, ergo a second one was wanted. the important thing to look for in a lunchbox is a carriage lock to help avoid snipe and chatter. The head raising system on the DW735 makes this unnecessary but, it is the only format I have come across where this is so. Just my .02.

I've got a DW 734 that I've been pretty happy with. Its noisy as heck though and needs a dust collector. The DW 735 isn't much more and seems significantly better. There seem to be alot of people who are very happy with it. I'm considering upgrading to one and putting a Bryd head in it.

I have a DW735--and the blade thing is, I believe a thing of the past. I had a bad set of blades, which the local DeWalt service center replaced, and haven't had a problem since.

Dewalt 734. They seem too be either $350 or go on sale for that fairly often. I really don't know what the practical improvement is in the 735 vs. the 734, and before spending another $250+ for the 735, I'd go up to one of the generic 15" 4 post planers.

I had a 22-580 delta for a while, but one of the bars that holds the planer knives got bent, and parts are NLA so it came to an abrupt end. I like the 734 better (and it's cheaper than the 22-580 was 10 years ago)

I have the Dewalt 735. It's given me a few years of great service. No complaints from me.

I have a Ryobi and it seems fine. If I were starting new or replacing, I would go with the DeWalt. I read a lot about them a couple of months ago and would have to review it to make up my mind between the 734 and 735 and whether the 735 was really worth the extra $$ but I wold definitely pick DeWalt in the lunch box category.

I have a big 'un, a lil'un, and a Grizzly 12" planer/molder that I bought off of Craigslist for a little less than half the cost of new, just to use as a molder that I needed on one job. Turns out, the Grizzly produces parts as a planer, measured with a micrometer, with the most consistency in thickness of the three. It also puts a nice surface on a board, and ended up being the one called on the most for small jobs. It never gets used for heavy, hogging jobs, had little to no use when I got it, so it still does a good job.