I have been lurking several years, but recently joined. I have every reason to believe that this topic has been covered completely if I was mentally able to knit all the conversations together. But then I have already forgotten what I had for lunch yesterday.
I have the MiniMax 16. Spectacular saw if one masters a few workarounds. However the fence is a Mickey Mouse afterthought. (Sorry Mickey !) I use that saw for dimension (re-sawing) or grain alignment. That is its sole function. Recently I have become disgusted with fence adjustment for every single cut I make. That coincides with my new directions in woodworking that puts a new premium on more accurate resawing. I am too old to continue to correct lousy cuts. To further complicate matters, the height of my cuts has started to soar to 12". That Laguna 8" fence is looking very good to my old eyes. Accordingly I am on the hunt for a precision fence. Incra has not tackled the task, and the only reasonable alternative I can find is Laguna's Driftmaster. I guess I have to accept the online propaganda (video etc.) that drift, alignment, and blade advance is a simple operation. Do you believe their videos are reasonably close to the truth?
I truly refuse to invite an explosive Laguna bashing session (though I did buy a MM even though I wanted the Laguna. Quality & CS issues scared me off them). Nevertheless, I would like to hear from Driftmaster owners. I understand the installation annoyance but am confident I can handle that. I also understand I will have to replace a few plastic parts with metal substitutes. The questions are this: From actual owner/users of the Driftmaster, are you happy you made the purchase? Would you do it again? Would you recommend it to your dog if he was a human woodworker? And yes, I would buy it from Rockler rather from Laguna directly. Rockler has always been very responsive to me if I need assistance.
I now return you to regularly scheduled programming.