[Sparky]

Hello all. I'm new here so this question may have been asked already and I can't find it. With any luck I will be setting up a shop in the next year and I am starting my research on tools now. I am a maintenance man and do a lot of home repairs. I have a lot of hand tools most are craftsmen. I know craftsman is a mid range tool but I have had no problems with them. I know that the most important tool in the shop will be a table saw so I will be looking for a good one and as of now I am leaning toward Delta. If someone can help I wanted to know if grizzly shop tools are of good quality. The guy I work with bought a grizzly drill set that you change tips on from a drill to a sander and so on and although it had power it fell apart within six months. Can someone tell me if grizzly's shop tools are built better? Like there 8" jointer? It has a good price but is it a good tool? I don't want to have to buy one a few years down the road. Thanks for any help given.

 

[WayneC]

There are a number of Grizzly posts on the site. There has been a lot of discussion about thier bandsaws lately. I have a Delta, Unisaw, but looked real hard at the Grizzly. The Jointers appear to get good reviews. (assuming you ment a 8" jointer)

 

[MikeLingenfelter]

I have several Grizzly products and I'm very happy with them. Grizzly has some very nice products at really good prices. Here's what I have and I'm happy with all of them.

14" Band Saw - G0555
6" Jointer - G1182ZHW
12.5" Planer - G0505
Drill Press - G7943

I see these tools being my shop for a long time. Also, their customer service is excellent.

Do you get more if you buy something like Powermatic, Delta, Jet, ect? You might, but what value is to you? I'd say don't discount Grizzly when you are looking. Be sure you are comparing apples to apples when you do. You might see a cheaper Grizzly product, but make sure it has the same features and specs. If you are looking at a product from any manufacture, post a question out here and I'm sure you will get a lot of opinions on it.

 

[JerryL]

I have a low end contractors saw - G0444 - it's all I had the power for in my garage. I bought it last August at their tent sale here in Missouri. I also picked up a Shop Fox 4" belt sander for a song. It needed a $5 part to be good as new.

I don't think I can be much help as I don't have much experience with higher-end tools. I will say that I had trouble with a dado blade from them (http://lumberjocks.com/topics/431). The second replacement arrived today. We'll see.

I will say that the people that work there couldn't be nicer. I was down there last August and they were working their tails off making sure all the bargan hunters got their stuff. The heat and humidity in Agust were horible and they were running cold water out to the folks waiting to pick up equipment. Nice.

Let us know what you decide to get.

 

[IowaWoodcrafter]

I too have a couple Grizzly tools. I have a 10" cabinet table saw with built in router table, model G1023SLW as well as a 6" jointer, model G1182ZHW. As Mike noted above Grizzly has great customer service. A little plastic handle on the jointer was broken when I received it, probably happened in shipping. I called them up and they sent a replacement right away.

My only complaint about the tools is that the 6" jointer is too small for the type of stuff I've been doing. I'm looking to purchase the G0490 8" parralelogram model in about three months. I've sent several questions to Grizzly customer service about this jointer as well as the replacement Shelix cutter head for it. I've had replies to every question in less than 24 hours each time I sent an e-mail. I give Grizzly two thums up and will buy more products from them.

 

[Treefarmer]

Glad to hear the good customer service stories on the Grizzlies. I'm having fun with my new bandsaw.

 

[toddc]

I have had good service from the tools and fantastic customer service from the company. My favorite Grizzly tool is my 8" spiral head jointer. I was able to joint highly figured curly maple with no tear-out. The 24" dual headed drum sander was how I milled the wood since a straight knife planer would produce tear-out. The end result was the big entertainment center I have posted in my projects.

I know a couple of guys that also bought the cordless drills and air nailers. Those items were not spoken of very well. I was advised to stick to the bigger machines from Grizzly.

 

[shangrila]

I have a grizzly planer,lathe and jointer and have been real happy with them .I use these in my business so they get a lot of abuse and no problems.Like Todd mentioned I did get an air nailer from them and ended up sending it back do to too many malfunctions.

 

[IowaWoodcrafter]

Todd, which jointer did you purchase? As noted above I've been considering the parallelogram model G0490 which I would later upgrade to a Shelix cutter head. Do you happen to have the G0593?

Comparing the cost of the G0490 to the G0586 there is only a $100 difference after adding in a mobile base and shipping. This is why I'm considering the G0490 model. Does anyone have experience with a paralleogram jointer? Is it worth the extra $100?

Which model drum sander do you have?

 

[USCJeff]

My limited take on Grizzly: I own and use a Grizzly1023S Cabinet Saw. My prior saw was a piece of junk benchtop saw. I have nothing negative to say about the saw from Grizzly, but would have to admit that I have not used the more expensive saws that Grizzly is more or less cloning. I get straight cuts at any angle. I had to do a lot of initial tuning as it wasn't perfect out of the box. It took a few tedious hours, but I haven't had to go back and retune in almost 2 years. I've used a 0555 bandsaw and a floor model drill press. I was suprised how well the 0555 bandsaw did while resawing as it only has 1HP. One great thing about Grizzly is that they stand by their products, no questions asked. If somethings wrong, they take care of it fast! This is based on other people as I have had no problems. They say that if the Grizzly tools aren't performing to the user's desired tolerances, they will take it back.

 

[toddc]

Iowa-

I don't see the model that I have on the website for Grizzly. The unit cost me about $1200 total with shipping. The G0593 has a different colored base and the switch is in a different location, a better one I might add, but those may be the only differences. Mine also has the 2hp motor. You will never lack for power, even for face jointing.

You can scan my workshop images to see if that helps. I also have some shop photos in flickr that I have not been able to get into LJ (technical illiteracy) and there might be something over there. I did a few different angles than in the workshop posting here.

The benefit of the parallelogram table is that the opening remains smaller or tighter to the cutter head as the depth is changed. I talked to a guy that had one in a 12" model, but that was because that is just the way it was offered, not because that is what he was trying to buy. He admitted it was nicer but was fairly indifferent about it. You might research it more.

I wouldn't buy a jointer and then upgrade it. Buy it the way you want it.

The sander is the variable speed 24" dual head drum sander. I just went to the website and cannot find the exact model on that either. I love the machine. The rub collars wear out about once year at my rate of usage, and cost maybe $4 to replace and 45 minutes of my day. Not too bad.

The drums are wrapped in velcro to help hold the sanding strips and they have an added benefit, I can sand veneered panels without burning through. The adjustments have held on the drums and they are very accurate, they still are set from the factory. So it sands parallel from side to side.

My brother has the Grizzly model here in Ohio in his shop where I am currently working. I bought the ShopFox model for my shop back in Montana. It is the same machine, some of the parts are even green under the hood. The dust collection does not work as efficiently on it, and the worst part is the customer service. Grizzly will send out a part immediately when I call. ShopFox only sells through a distributor and it took two weeks to get a new velcro drum wrap after a friend of mine crammed a piece of wood into it too thick and it melted the velcro. As a business I can't afford that type of customer support and will never buy another ShopFox tool. I bought the sander because the drums are slightly longer and I can get a true 24" wide sanded.

 

[coloradoclimber]

My experience with grizzly (power tools, hand tools, accessories) is that they are a great value. The price to performance is great. Good performance at a great price. BUT, my experience is that 100% of anything I have ever bought from grizzly has required some tweaking, from the small, cleaning up flashing and machining marks, to major, needing to grind out castings and drilling or redrilling holes.

Back when money was worth more than my time I bought grizzly. Good price and I was willing to spend the time to make the tools right. Once the tools were tuned / fixed I've been pretty happy. Never had to go back and mess with them much and they worked well.

Nowdays my time is too valuable to me, and I my finances are not as tight, I pretty much don't buy grizzly anymore. I've picked up a few small things recently and my opinion still holds, great price, marginal product.

Personally I just dont get the same feeling of quality and attention to detail from grizzly that I get with other higher end tools.

I do have to echo what others have said about grizzly tech support, fast, courteous, helpful, willing to send small parts and replacements. If you're the type who is either willing to or wants to mess with tools to get them right grizzly seems to support that model.

 

[Sparky]

WOW!!!!! Is this site great or what? A big thank you to all that replied. Now I know where to go if I have anything I need to know. At the ripe old age of 40 I know that you get what you pay for. As I said most of my tools are craftsman and other then some of the slides on a few of there tools being loose I can't say I have had much trouble with them. The guy I work with finds it hard to buy mid range tools. Most of what he buys is from the local Rural King. I have to admit I fell for one of there cheep tools. I bought an angle grinder for I think it was $12.00 and the thing gets so hot you can't hold it and the noise it makes you would think it is going to fall apart in your hands. I will keep Grizzly in mind when it comes to buying large shop tools. Many of you have said the customer service is great and that is a big deal now days were most time when you call for help you have to talk to a computer for a half hour before you get to talk to a real person and when you get the real person you end up playing phone tag trying to get the right department. Again I thank you all. You have given me more things to think about before spending this kind of money.

 

[toddc]

I haven't had to tweak any of my Grizzly tools as ColoradoClimber has. They have come shipped with very accurate factory settings in my case.

I would not consider the tools that I have (Jet or Grizzly) to be commercial quality tools. I have been looking at higher end tools like SCM, Format, and MiniMax. They are ultra smooth and reliable. There is no question of straight and square with these machines, or the reliability year after year.

I started out with the tools that I have because my shop facilitated my remodeling business which needed custom this or modified that and I did it all myself. As I start using my shop on a daily basis I see the need for higher quality tools.

 

[cajunpen]

The only Grizzly tool that I own is the G0555 The Ultimate 14" Bandsaw. I've had it for about 4 years and have not had any trouble with it. It was set up perfectly out of the box. The built-in 4" dust port in the rear keeps the interior and belt clean. It cuts very well and came with a fence and miter guage - would not hesitate to buy another Grizzly product.

 

[brunob]

I have a Grizzly lathe and belt sander. No problem with either. I'll certainly consider them with my next tool purchase.

 

[USCJeff]

That's funny about the angle grinder, Sparky. I bought a $20 trim router not too long ago. My plan was to keep a flush trim bit in it all the time. I use it a lot and the time it takes to switch bits on my "real" router adds up. So I thought, "$20, worth a shot". I've had the bit come out during operation twice now. The whole tool jerks your hands around as it contacts wood. It has resulted in burning and the ever so good looking zip zag dado! I'll have to save up for the little Bosch.

 

[WayneC]

That Colt Router is on my wish list too…

 

[coloradoclimber]

I just received another order of small tools and parts from grizzly today, should've thought twice, but anyhow, here's what I got

 

[TomFran]

I have the following equipment from Grizzly:

• 14" Ultimate Bandsaw
• 6" Jointer
• G0538 1/3 HP Oscillating Spindle Sander
• G8994Z VS Jigsaw

I am satisfied with all of them. If I had more money, I would buy better, more expensive tools, but for my level of expertise and for my budget, Grizzly equipment is pretty good.