Grizzly Bashing!

[Erik Christensen]

and so far I have been very lucky. Here in San Diego my Griz lift-gate deliveries have all been by Fed-Ex freight and all the drivers have been outstanding - every last pallet dropped in my shop exactly where I asked.

The best one was my 19" bandsaw - it came upright bolted to the pallet and while my garage and shop ceilings were more than high enough the %&$@* garage door was not - the saw would not fit while on the pallet & pallet jack. I shrugged & told the driver to just drop it in my driveway. He looked at the threating sky and took his pallet jack back to the truck, returned with a handcart - unbolted the saw from the pallet, muscled it off the pallet & on to the cart, tilted it on his back enough to clear the garage door and wheeled it to my shop!

[David Weaver]

edit: I'm almost afraid to tell you guys about he Macbook Pro I'm typing this on.

Booooo....hisssssss....

[Steve Rowe]

I am with Van on this, this forum is generally very Grizzly friendly and often gives the appearance of a Grizzly love fest. This is evidenced by the common use of what I will refer to as the "G-code" in postings. This code is the letter 'G' followed by a series of 4 to 5 alphanumeric characters. Use of this code is often understood by most who evidently have memorized the entire Grizzly catalog or use the catalog as a decoder.

Grizzly has done a good job of marketing and placing affordable machines in many home hobbiests shops that probably wouldn't otherwise be there. In my experience, they are far from the best machines and but not quite as far from the worst. Regardless, their pricepoint is hard to beat. I have owned three Grizzly machines and am not enamored. They just didn't meet my standards for performance. I did however, get exactly what I paid for - 'a good price for an average machine' and that is about all I can say. I don't consider this as "bashing", it is just an honest opinion based on my personal experiences with several of their machines. I have recently divorced myself from my last Grizzly machine as it was time to move on to something much better. The buyer was just as happy to get the machine as I was to get rid of it. And, like Curt said - it is great to have a choice.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Use of this code is often understood by most who evidently have memorized the entire Grizzly catalog or use the catalog as a decoder.

There's a special decoder ring, Steve - you don't have one? You must not be in the club...

[John Coloccia]

psssst, dan....operation G0225 is a go...I repeat, G0225 walks with eagles...tell the fat man, "the german has no cheese".

[Mike Cruz]

While I have been guilty of using the Gcode, I do my best to follow it with whatever it is...like when talkking about the G1030 dust collector that I got, or the G1018 BS, or the G1033 20" planer. I don't know why more don't do it, but I find it a tad annoying, too when you just see G4054 without a designation of it being a TS or Planer. Of course, usually, if you read on, it becomes apparent, but assuming that everyone knows what you are talking about is presumptuous...right PM66 owners?

[David Helm]

psssst, dan....operation G0225 is a go...I repeat, G0225 walks with eagles...tell the fat man, "the german has no cheese".

Thanks! My coffee is now all over the computer screen.

[Mike Cruz]

Um...who are you calling fat, German, and a cheesehater?

[Rod Sheridan]

Thanks! My coffee is now all over the computer screen.

I'll second that. It was hilarious, thanks for the laugh of the day..........Rod.

[Ben Hatcher]

Let me start off by saying that I’m a quality engineer, so I have a far different take on quality than the average Joe. Here’s my rant. From a manufacturing standpoint, what many of you refer to as quality is really more correctly termed grade. Quality is conformance to specifications. Grade is the level of “fanciness”.

Grizzly tools can have the exact same quality as any fancy American or European brands. But since the design specs might call for lesser materials, cheaper/faster methods, allow for greater tolerances, etc. they’ll be vastly different grades. Grade drives the price point much more than quality.

So, that’s the manufacturer’s standpoint. The rub occurs when we as consumers have our own standards to which we judge a product. Even though that plastic housing is perfectly made, and is in conformance to the design, we might say it is low quality because we expect thicker plastic, or metal to be used for that part. That’s not the fault of the manufacturer. That’s the fault of the consumer who bought a low grade product even though they have high grade expectations.

The wonderful part of the creek is that there is such a wide variety of skill, needs, and expectations among the members. But I think when it comes to tool reviews, that range results in the exact discussion we have here where opinions vary from “they’re wonderful” to “they’re junk.” I think that when buying a tool, after you answer what do you intend to use this for, how often, etc, you really need to ask yourself a few more questions, like…What is important to me, price, value, the deal, buying new/used, the feel, features, ease of use, size, weight, capability, capacity, scalability, brand, color, bragging rights, etc.?

There’s a saying in quality circles that goes something like “You can have it fast, you can have it cheap, and you can have it good. Pick 2. I think that you can apply that to tool buying. You can get that super duper (insert tool here) for (deal of the century price), but you’re going to have to wait for it. If you want it now, you’re going to have to buy a lower grade item or fork over a heck of a lot more scratch.

[David Prince]

I don't remember having to sign a disclosure when I signed up for SMC that I was "Grizzly Friendly". If SMC is "Grizzly Friendly" then it is because there are some satified Grizzly owners out there. If SMC is very "Grizzly Friendly" then there must be a lot of satisfied Grizzly owners out there. AND as far as I know SawMill Creek isn't code for "Grizzly Lovers Anonymous"!

I own a lot of different brands. Yes, Grizzly is one of them. Each has their own appeal.

To me it isn't alot different from the car analogy. Each person has their preferences and prices they are willing to pay. They all work.

I don't need top of the line, but I don't want the bottom either.

If I am "Grizzly Friendly" it is because they delivered what I expected for the agreed upon price and it performed as I expected.

[Dan Hintz]

Let me start off by saying that I’m a quality engineer...

Shouldn't we be the judges of that?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

First, I will admit to having two Grizzly tools in my shop. I have a 12" disc / oscillating spindle sander and my recent G0490X jointer purchase.

The sander has met my every expectation. It looks nice and works well.

The fit and finish on the jointer cabinet is not a great as I would like but the machine performs well in my tests and alignments.

An equivalent jointer from Northfield would have cost nearly 10 times as much as this Grizzly. An equivalent from PM would have cost double ...and the Laguna....and the Jet would have cost $1,000 more.

However, for the price of the Northfield jointer..I have a PM3520B, an Onieda 3 HP Super Gorilla, a MM-16 and the 2 Grizzly tools in my shop and they are paid for.

Are the Grizzly tools of equal grade or quality? I hope not, otherwise why pay 8-10 times as much money?

Recently becoming deaf will probably result in my retiring at least a year earlier than I'd planned and it will have an obvious financial result.

If I'd waited until I could afford US, Canadian or European tools for all my tools, I'd be retiring without a shop where I could pursue my hobby.

Unless you are a Bill Gates or other billionaire, in most things in life you have to make decisions of price versus quality/grade.

[Joe Leigh]

When one of our members here dropped his G690 (gratuitous g-code usage) on the way home from grandma's house, and was a good enough sport to admit to, and post pictures of the casualty, the owner of "G" stepped up.
I'm sure it had little or no impact on the company bottom line, but if the forum didn't exist would the member have received the same consideration? Maybe, maybe not.
I believe the Grizzly mystique has more to do with customer service than with the quality or grade of their products. I can't remember a Grizzly table saw customer who is a member here in the last year that hasn't had a complaint about a table that wasn't flat or a throat plate that was virtually unusable. Each instance resulted in replacement tables, throat plates, fences, etc.
That I think is where the real value lies, and I credit the Creek for providing an avenue to ensure that value gets realized.

[Ben Hatcher]

Shouldn't we be the judges of that?

Funny. However, in this case, I'm referring to my position and not my performance.