I'm in the process of shifting to a short-platform slider (55" travel) and having trouble adjusting. There are certainly things that it is really really good for (very accurate crosscuts), but I'm not finding the adjustment to other cutting operations to be quite as easy. There are a ton of threads on here that discuss this, do a quick search (one is just a few posts down from here). One other thing I wasn't ready for is the fact that my saw (Wadkin SP12) is almost 12 feet from coast to coast (including outrigger table) and you need substantially more space around the saw to permit movement of the stock being cut.

As for safety, obviously saw-stop has good stuff, but every tablesaw is only as safe as the operator. My Wadkin is the first saw I've owned with all appropriate safety features in place (splitter/riving knife, overhead "crown" guard and sliding table). It's becoming pretty obvious to me that these features, which are particularly well designed on most euro saws, are not as cumbersome as we Americans think and do quite a bit to aid in the overal safety (and dust collection) of saw operation.

I've kept both my cabinet saw and the slider and think that is the way to do it. Just make sure you give the slider the room it deserves (mine doesn't get that yet).

Ryan