Robert, I've only owned two jointers, a General 8", and a Hammer A3-31.

I've been very pleased with both, I had the General for many years, it was a great machine, came perfectly adjusted from the factory and I managed to keep it that way until I sold it.

The next machine was a Hammer A3-31 which also came perfectly adjusted from the factory, and produces a better surface finish than the General.

The Hammer also has quick change knives, no more adjustment/fiddling, I can replace all three knives in about 6 or 7 minutes.

When I worked in industry, all the jointers were wedge designs, they worked day in, day out for decades without problems.

The big differences in jointers is the accuracy to which they're made, that's the most important criteria, not whether it has wheels or levers, or is a parallelogram or wedge design.

The one item all owners agree on however is width, no one ever complained that their jointer was too big.

regards, Rod.