Need input

Hi Kent
It depends on what size you want but for my use, this Bosch does the trick.

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-1594K-6-5-4-Inch-Planer/dp/B000067S14

Yes the Bosch !
Great depth of cut control.
Wide enough plane blade for my use.
Great for trimming out doors.

Not knowing your project makes it difficult to offer good advice. I bought a Makita about 10 years ago. I’ve used it may 6 times. Basically I feel like I wasted my money. It’s a difficult tool to use and the results were less than sterling. If your just wanting to hog away a lot of material with out concern for a quality finish it’ll get the job done. It’s definitely not a finish tool by any means.

Power planers are mainly a site tool for fitting doors and scribing cabinets. They can be put to good use in the shed for bulk waste removal. Mine is used to rough dress slabs and for carving. Most people overlook the “vapor cut”. I wore out a Mikita and have been using a Hitachi for the last decade.

Dressing a cupped benchtop.

http://lumberjocks.com/Texcaster/blog/53473

-- Mama calls me Texcaster but my real name is Mr. Earl.

I bought a Makita one for a few hundred box and the HF one for $29 has outlasted it 5X over.

-- earthartandfoods.com

I bought a Porter Cable at Amazon. I really like it. It is not for fine work… I can’t see how any of these are. What I use mine for is 2 things: Dressing windows to fit as I restore them (106 y-o). They were never fitted at time of instalaltion from what I can tell. Second is to remove lead-based paint from said windows AND doors in my house. I’ve stripped a dozen 2-panel doors, and maybe 15 or more windows. I have another 18 to go! In fact, I just removed one today. But I digress… the PC will adjust in 1/64 increments. Mine was co-planar, and worked like it should right out of the box. The first set of blades lasted forever, even with the lead paint they were eating off. The dust bag is, like any, more an inconvenience. I use a shop vac on it for most of my work. Gotta be careful, though, that the weight of the hose doesn’t tilt you into cutting a tilted cut. As i recall it was well under $200.

Porter Cable here as well:

I use it when hand planes take too long.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=electric+planer

MOST LIKED NEGATIVE REVIEW

REPLACEMENT BELT UNAVAILABLE FOR 3-1/4” ELECTRIC PLANER

Tool worked fine until belt broke. Unable to find replacement. I purchased a 24” x 1.75 self sealing inner tube, cut to size and it works find. Although planer grooved it did not come off. Cheap fix and you will have plenty belts should this one break! Moe

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-1-4-quarter-inch-electric-planer-91062.html

Seems well received with the caveat being there’s no belt available for replacements.
If you’re not going to use it much maybe this can save you some money, hopefully without
the aggravation.

i have several . I have a shortbed inexpensive single blade bosch in the truck .A longer bed metabo and 4” wide makita . All of them are older models . I would probable get a cordless next time .
That said for hogging material a more powerful machine is important . If your trying to flatten something rather then hog a section out a long bed is helpful . I would not consider one that did not allow switching direction/or side the chips went out . Also it real important that I can hook a vac to mine . I do not need to spend my time sweeping up chips .
How do you expect to use it ?

I have a Porter Cable 9125 3-1/4-Inch. I love it and hate it. The problem I have with it is, the hook at the top of the handle makes it very uncomfortable to use for long periods. Other than that, it’s removed a lot of material over the years and just keeps going and going.