Well, I bought both planers over the weekend

It started while making cutting boards and realized there was no way in hell I was going to hand plane the boards level.

so, to home depot i go. i read good things about the older ridged model, and it comes with a stand, so i looked for it. they only had the dewalt and r4330 shown at my local. dewalt for 549 and ridged for 369. couldnt find either, i guess they arent big turnover items. finally found 1 of 2 ridgids buried under table saws. took that home.

i reviewed the receipt that night and saw that they charged me 399 not the advertised 369.
so, back to HD for a price adjustment on sat morning. then, home to test it out.

man, its nice, I thought. no setup, just plug and go. some minor tweaks with the tables to get them level, then all done. ive never used one, just my uneven hands and a block plane, so the results on a 2x4 blew me away. this is unreal! i thought this has to be the next tool after a table saw in anyones shop. now im scared to see the results a jointer could bring..lol

It worked nice, gave a really clean cut, but bogged on hard maple/walnut. i also noticed the table was scratching easily. not much snipe but it did gouge thw wood a couple of times.

I had issues with end grain cutting. (posted in another thread, but not necessary related to this comparison).

after cutting, i looked at the blades and they didnt look happy. are they that soft?

overall, for this planer: use was easy, adjustment is a snap, and its fairly portable at around 60-70lbs. i just didnt care that it bogged with harder woods.

so, sunday rolls around, and i go to return/exchange b/c of the blades being dulled from a few passes. while looking, they changed the price on the ridged from 369 to 399. boo. i was happy with the machine, and with all the reviews, just assumed mine had some defect to it.

so, as i looked for the 2nd of the 2, i realized that the dewalt was listed at 549, but retails everywhere for 649, even amazon, where its normally cheaper. ebay had them cheaper, but 100lbs shipping vs interest free was an easy choice, esp with my wife reminding me to buy for long term quality.

re: the price drop, i guess dewalt is coming out with a new model?

so, planer #2-dewalt dw735.
its HEAVY. ~100lbs. no way does that mean portable!
out of the box, impressive looking, but no tables? wtf? for the added cost, some tables would be nice.

use is the same, simple. when sitting on a bench, it slides more. the ridged must have had rubber grips on the bottom, this is all metal, so it slides a bit. (both recommend to be mounted, ill have to build something dedicated to this now..)

the vac port attachment is annoying. its above the outfeed, in the middle, so the vac tube hangs right in front of the outfeed. no prob if you have overhead dust collection; not me. the ridged is on the outfeed side, but to the right.

the vac port seems to create static. maybe b/c it has a blower for debris, it charges the dust? this worries me a bit. it is much less messy though. virtually no mess, just some pieces left on the table. thats impressive. the ridged had dust everywhere.

it has 2 speeds, which i hope conserves the knives a bit!

cutting seems much better, the final product is smoother; though without the tables, heavier boards snipe easier. i used hard maple and purpleheart and walnut through this one, so equal comparison there.

it grabs the wood more solidly, and the rollers must be further from the blades than the ridgid because the wood seems to settle better before it hits the cutters.

the gauge indicator on the dewalt is nicer. it has a row of gauges about 2/3 the length of the infeed, the ridgid had just a few in the middle.

one thing, the dewalt tripped a breaker while it and the shop vac were plugged in. guess this guy draws more current. im still working on shop wiring, so this will go away soon. (gotta find time to put a sub panel in)

For almost $200 more, im not sure its worth the price difference, but it does seem more solid and better built. ive only used each of the two a handful of passes, so sorry if my review is a bit limited. if possible, ill expand on the dewalt as i use it more, though, with such a simple device, im not sure how much more i can add, but will answer questions!

Thanks and hope this helps..