Newbie here, I've owned a Delta direct drive table saw for 20+ years, but want to get more into the woodworking hobby. This saw isn't great, would like to upgrade to a nice contractor saw or hybrid. I have never used the clumsy guard/splitter it came with as its impossible to see or measure where you are. And the fence is awful, but the unit has served its purpose and I've not gotten hurt or had issues as I'm pretty careful with it. A new Grizzly G0771 looks perfect, but quite a bit out of my range at the moment.
However, there is lots of used stuff on CL. So, the question is, how much is safety really improved on these new models as there seems to be plenty of older models out there without riving knives or splitters. There also seems to be an outfit that sells splitters, riving knives, guards for older saws, though they aren't cheap.
Any thoughts on riving knives, splitters, etc. is welcome as I'm getting confused on the real benefits. Thanks in advance.
Mike