Need Advice on Band saw purchase: Grizzly GO513X2 vs. the new Laguna 1412

[Frank Martin]

Do you mind me asking where to look for these Italian BS? For that price, I'm guessing you were able to pick it up and avoid delivery expense? I'm in Louisville, KY...it's not a small town but its unlikely that I'd find one locally or even a few hrs of windshield time.

I live in Los Angeles and both saws were within 1 hr of drive time to me, so I just picked them up. If these are not available in your local market, then this may not be a good option for you.

[Cary Falk]

I have the G0513X2 and I am very pleased with it. I have never heard anything bad about the 513 or the 514. I wouldn't go Grizzly across the board but they do make bandsaws among other things. The fit and finish of my saw was excellent. I looked at the Laguna in Woodcraft some time ago and can't say that I was blown away. I tried in the past to get some info on some tools from Laguna and it was not a pleasant experience. I gave up. Grizzly has great customer service. I hear a 1" blade is hard to get on the G0513. I couldn't tell you because I am running a 5/8". I would also look at the 18" Rikon. I hear great things about it and it goes on sale about twice a year.

[Charles Coolidge]

As you research your options call the manufacturers and make sure you understand the country of origin so you know what you are paying for. Grill them, the saw, the motor, ask if there are any components that are manufactured outside the state country of origin. What I have found buying a bunch of machines over the past year is some brands are selling the same Asian manufactured machines as the next brand but charging a huge premium in price. Not in every case but in many cases you are just paying for the name and are no longer getting the quality that was once associated with that brand. One top brand machine was $1,000 more than my Grizzly, when pressed to explain what I would be getting for that extra $1,000 they couldn't come up with a single feature, same castings made in the same factory, even the same China motor.

That said I purchased a Grizzly G0514X2B that I have been pretty happy with. Its not flawless. No machine I have purchased in the last year has been and that includes a couple of the Yellow machines. Balance is pretty good and could be improved further with tuning and a link belt. Fit and finish were quite good but there is a small issue with the table pin. When comparing Grizzly band saws pay particular attention to the differences between the model you are looking at and the next few models above it. In my case the difference between the G0514X2 and the next model up my G0514X2B was an electronic motor brake AND the higher quality all cast iron tall fence and solid steel rail vs the short combo cast iron/aluminum fence and aluminum rail on the G0514X2. In some cases jumping up a model or two in Grizzly's line up makes sense, in other cases its not worth it so be sure you know exactly what the differences are between the model below and above what you are looking at. Sometimes this means studying the pictures and paging through the manuals. Some of the feature lists on the web sight don't bother pointing out some of the differences or they say they are the same as in the case with the two different fences.





Note the saw comes with black plastic hand wheels, I swapped them out for some chrome/cast iron wheels.

[Cary Falk]

I replaced my handwheels with those also. I figured I was the only one that didn't like plastic. I made 2 aluminum knobs to replace the ones on the back of the upper wheel. As soon as I can figure the best way to mill the weird slot, I am replacing the 2 on the doors.

[Guy Belleman]

After dealing with a 14" saw for years, the move to the 17" G0513 took me once again to ask, "Self, why did you wait so long?" I run the 3/4" Woodslicer. Runs smooth and has cut everything I wanted it too. I really like the quick tension release and the tracking and tension meter windows. I also roll mine around almost exactly like Charles' above.

[John Coloccia]

Fit and finish were quite good but there is a small issue with the table pin.

Didn't line up, did it? Mine didn't either. I spent some time with a chainsaw file to make it fit.

[Scott Stafford]

I want to first of all say that I have no experience with Grizzly equipment; I have never owned a piece.

I have owned Laguna and want to make my experience very clear... if you need customer service, you are on your own. Do not expect any help after you have paid for the product. They will not return your phone calls.

Please Google "Laguna customer service" before making your purchase.

Now on the other hand if you call Laguna and express the smallest interest in buying a new saw, they will call you daily for months trying to pressure you to buy their saw.



Scott in Montana

[Ruhi Arslan]

Please Google "Laguna customer service" before making your purchase.

OK. I did. Comes up with five links. Newest one is from 2012. One is complaining of the Owner's wife being a stuck up Brit which is appears to be written by a disgruntled former employee. One is about the lack of quality of the item but sounds like CS couldn't have been better (many timely follow ups, etc). The others are not exactly what I consider complaints to aid purchase making decision. The last one of the five is a detailed review of Laguna CS with a story of how they took care of a customer's problem. nine years out of warranty, free of charge.
When I bought my LT16HD, second hand, I've called them to get some help with few questions I had. I was helped like I was their best customer. They have sent me a few missing items, free of charge.
Internet is such a beautiful place to disseminate misinformation.

[John Coloccia]

They've gotten better in recent years, no doubt because their bottom line was suffering thanks to the piles of complaints. Their bad CS was legendary, but they have improved significantly. I wouldn't pass them over because of CS anymore.

[Mike Heidrick]

If I ever needed parts for either saw I am betting Grizzly would have them in stock and shipped next business day.

[Charles Coolidge]

Didn't line up, did it? Mine didn't either. I spent some time with a chainsaw file to make it fit.

The table had a slight crown rear to front with the pin out, tap the pin in just far enough and the entire table goes dead on flat except for a couple areas that have a slight dip of .003 or less which is irrelevant. The issue is the outfeed side of the table is a few thousandths higher than the infeed side near the miter slot so you feel a slight bump as you move a miter gauge across it. Grizzly shipped me one of their replacement tables from stock, it was WAY worse I sent it back. Mine is 98% perfection so I opted to fix this issue myself.

[John Coloccia]

Mine had the same problem. I didn't care so much about flatness, but I did care that stock was getting stuck at the break. That was ultra annoying until I fixed it.

[Charles Coolidge]

Mine had the same problem. I didn't care so much about flatness, but I did care that stock was getting stuck at the break. That was ultra annoying until I fixed it.

Can you elaborate on the fix?

[Patrick Curry]

Thanks for the insight Chris, and sharing your purchase experience. Your decision making process sounds just like mine. And knowing myself, if I took a look at your MM16 it would be far more costly than any trip to Keenland

The local Louisville Woodcraft doesn't have the 1412 in stock, or at least it wasn't there earlier in the month.

You mentioned the Lenox carbide blade not running well on 14" wheels. That's something I'll need to look into further. I've not gotten to blades yet....but I'll need to be sure that's not going to be the case with other high quality carbide blades.

A slightly larger wheel and 2" (+/-) more left of blade on that Grizzly are the two features that keep the 513x2 in the hunt. And the 513 owners all seem to be happy. Knowing I'm going to order an 8" Grizzly joiner, I wonder if they'd cut me a deal of any sort on a BS? Probably not...but might be worth asking.

[John Coloccia]

Can you elaborate on the fix?

The pin is tapered, so you can file the hole to open it up a bit, and put it where it belongs. The pin just goes in a touch further, that's all. So in my case, I filed the bottom of the outfeed hole, and the top of the infeed hole. When you shove in the pin, the infeed side comes down a touch and the outfeed side goes up a touch. It doesn't take much.