Thursday, May 22, 2008

Jet and Wilton power tools suck

I've gotta start reading more reviews before I buy power tools. I just paid over $700 for a Wilton 4210 disc/belt sander. It's cheaply made and poorly thought-out, especially for an $800 tool. A lot like the Jet horizontal band saw I paid $900 for. Apparently, Jet, Wilton and Powermatic are all the same company.

I picked it up at Tooland in San Carlos. They have more woodworking and metalworking tools than any of the other places I've seen in the south bay, although a lot of what they have is Jet/Wilton/Powermatic.

Delta seems to have sold out, as has Craftsman. So who do you go to for good benchtop power tools anymore? I love my Sawstop, and the Dewalt/Porter-Cable/Milwaukee stuff I've bought has generally been great, but none of them makes a benchtop sander as far as I can tell.