Laguna LT18 vs Grizzly

I'm just guessing here, but although I suspect the Laguna is a better made saw, I doubt it's worth twice as much as a new Grizzly. Plus, the Grizzly would come with a warranty.
 
More than twice the price. Warranty is a huge factor on something worth more than a couple of hundred bucks. Grizzly came out with the best value from Fine woodworking. that in itself says lots about the machine. :thumb::thumb:
 
I consider warranty of paramount importance. I won't buy Grizzly scratch and dent items at 10% discount because of the no, or limited, warranty.
Plus, I would be uncomfortable about buying anthing Laguna. I watched a video about Laguna tools done by the owner of the company. He just doesn't engender trust. But, when I was shopping for a new lathe I did contact them and was majorly turned off by their high pressure sales tactics. Even if the features and price of their lathe had proven more attractive than the Grizzly I ended up with, I wouldn't have bought from them.
 
I can't speak for the Grizzly bandsaw, but I do have a Laguna. Mine's the LT-16.

It's a fine saw. Rugged, heavily built, powerful, and reliable. I've had it for about nine years now, and have never needed any sort of warranty service, so I can't say anything about that.

As long as I do my part, I can saw 1/16" veneers, up to 12" wide, all day. I use either the Laguna "Resaw King" blade or the Highland Hardware "Woodslicer." Both are excellent blades. The Laguna blade costs about 3½ times what the Highland one does, but since it's carbide tipped it lasts many times as long.
 
Never owned or even used one, but I suspect it is like when I went from the Delta contractors saw to my restored Unisaw.

The Unisaw didn't cut the wood one bit better, and I could do most anything on the one that I could the other. But it sure was more pleasurable to use the Unisaw. Why? I can't say exactly but I would rather use it any day.

Even my father-in-law who could care less commented on how much he liked using the unisaw after he did a project on it.
 
As an addition to my earlier post - when I bought the Laguna, one of the smartest things I did was keep my old 14" TaiChi (Elephant) bandsaw.

I keep a resaw blade on the Laguna (and use it a LOT!) and a 1/8 or 3/16" blade on the Elephant, with ceramic guides.

The old Elephant has been a workhorse, and still produces great cuts. Saves a lot of blade changing and realignments, too!
 
I looked up the specs on that Laguna, and I must admit they are impressive. With an 18 1/2" resaw height and a 4.5 HP Baldor motor, it definitely looks better on paper than any of the 17" or 19" Grizzlys, even the extreme models that are in the same price range. It holds its own against the bigger offerings from Grizzly like this one.

If I had a couple grand, it'd be tempting. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah! it is tempting. It looks like a well maintained machine. Price for a new one is $3500.

Have read some horror stories of Laguna's customer service though. But then again this is out of warranty anyway.
 
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