Another 14" Laguna vs PM bandsaw thread - your thoughts?

[Art Mann]

The Laguna ceramic guides will work with whatever saw blade you choose. Someone provided you with erroneous information.

I have bearing guides on my other band saw and I like the ceramic guides much better. They are almost trivial to adjust. The bearing guides take more fiddling with to get them right.

[Dave Borrelli]

Exactly what Art said! Also, I believe they may have had support issues in the past but I think they are bending over backwards to change that image. I have found their support to be excellent. It's funny, as great as the Internet is, it has it's flaws. If some people had a problem (or a perceived one) with a company or an individual in the past others read it and keep on repeating it until it becomes gospel. I have seen it all over the web including great forums such as this one. People and companies can learn a lesson and change for the better.

[Mike Dowell]

Well, I've had the Laguna 1412 for a couple of weeks now. Overall quality seems higher than the Grizzly, and I do like the blade tensioning system and guides better than the Grizzly as well. I absolutely *hate* the fence system though. It seems very cheap and non-precise compared to the Grizzly which had a T style fence like my PM2000 TS has. This fence has a chrome rail, and you tighten the knob on the fence guide in order to lock it down. I can't really describe exactly how I feel about it, but I think the best way for me to put it into words is to say every time I lock the fence down, I have this overwhelming urge to check the fence to the miter gauge for square. Maybe I'm missing something here, but to me, most of this saw seems top-notch until you get to the fence. The grizzly fence is superior in every way.

The other thing that feels cheap on this machine is when I raise and lower the guide, once I lock it back down with the knob, the whole guide post/rail/tower/(not sure what it's called) moves a little. This is something else that makes me want to check the setup every time I change a setting. I feel like I need to check the guide setup for good measure, because it just seems unlikely that the actual position of the guides is in a perfect plane with the blade no matter how high or low I have it set - make sense?

So, I'm going to just run through a quick list of gripes and likes. I know one of you is going to smack my wrist, and I welcome the feedback.

Laguna 1412 -
Overall happiness with purchase - 8.7/10

Likes-
-Blade tensioning system
-Blade tension and Blade tracking windows
-Large table
-Ceramic guides
-Dust collection port location/effectiveness
-Amazing smooth curve cuts with 1/4" blade due to such a solid guide system
-Price - got it on sale at Woodcraft for $987.50 in DE which has N O S A L E S T A X ! ! ! ! ! (plus I picked it up myself and got to see the store)

Dislikes-
-Fence - the entire fence system
-No levelers on the feet(luckily didn't need them but feel it should have been standard)
-Slop in guide tower/rod/post

Well there you have it. An opinion from the weeds.

[chris gizmunt]

I'm also shopping around for 14" bandsaws and am wondering why a jet model was never a consideration? Are they viewed as being inferior to both PM and Laguna? They're in the same ballpark from a price respective...

[Mike Dowell]

*folks please correct me if I'm wrong* - Chris, JET is PM's value line. I try to prioritize tool funds with the idea of how much I will use them. Using that train of thought, I was going to go for the top of the bar with a band saw. When I break down and buy a planer and jointer, I will definitely look at JET because I think they have an "almost as good" line compared to the PM.

[chris gizmunt]

*folks please correct me if I'm wrong* - Chris, JET is PM's value line. I try to prioritize tool funds with the idea of how much I will use them. Using that train of thought, I was going to go for the top of the bar with a band saw. When I break down and buy a planer and jointer, I will definitely look at JET because I think they have an "almost as good" line compared to the PM.

Makes sense Mike. Though I never would have guessed it due to the rather narrow price gaps between the two lines. WC has the PM 14" C-frame listed for $1200 and a similar model Jet for $1000. But then again, it isn't really an apples to apples comparison as the jet has 12" resaw capacity and no fence while the PM is 6" resaw and a fence.
Regardless... Thanks for the info.