DWNSHFT
DWNSHFT Dork
3/6/20 4:25 p.m.

I need a little band saw for little projects, predominantly wood.  I'm looking to soon buy one of the following:

Harbor Freight $112 after coupon

Wen (Amazon Prime) $127.50 after coupon

Harbor Freight has a 90 day warranty and the store is 30 minutes away.  Wen offers a two year warranty but I don't want to pay to ship it for warranty claims.

Which should I buy or do I have it all wrong?

ShawnG
ShawnG UltimaDork
3/6/20 4:34 p.m.

I explored these a few months ago and settled on the Ryobi.

Warranty is better and I'm satisifed with it.

DWNSHFT
DWNSHFT Dork
3/6/20 4:59 p.m.
ShawnG said:

I explored these a few months ago and settled on the Ryobi.

Warranty is better and I'm satisifed with it.

Which Ryobi?  Link?

alfadriver
alfadriver MegaDork
3/6/20 5:06 p.m.

I'd suggest going to Menards and getting their budget model- it's $125, and there's a $15 mail in rebate after that, so $110.

rdcyclist
rdcyclist GRM+ Memberand Reader
3/6/20 6:42 p.m.

The following only applies based upon how much you are going to use it:

"The bitterness of low quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price."

For example, I bought the Hammer store low end hydraulic press and have managed to make it work the few times I've needed it but the operative in this statement is "managed to make it work". Thing is a total POS requiring shimming of the bed and horsing with the ram to get it to start bearings into hubs straight. Yeah, it was only 80 bucks with the 20% off but I'm certain the possibility of berkeleying up a 300 buck hub/bearing assembly obviates any savings over a better unit.

A E36 M3ty bandsaw is probably going to give similar results. Buy the Ryobi. And those are three words until recently I never thought I'd put together in one sentence...

DWNSHFT
DWNSHFT Dork
3/6/20 7:06 p.m.
alfadriver said:

I'd suggest going to Menards and getting their budget model- it's $125, and there's a $15 mail in rebate after that, so $110.

I have a Menard's within thirty minutes so I like this option.  Two year warranty.  It's $140 minus $15 rebate so $125, comparable to the Wen but I think I can warranty it at the store.

ShawnG
ShawnG UltimaDork
3/6/20 7:35 p.m.
DWNSHFT said:
ShawnG said:

I explored these a few months ago and settled on the Ryobi.

Warranty is better and I'm satisifed with it.

Which Ryobi?  Link?

Home Depot Ryobi house brand. Probably available on Home Depot's website, you can do the googling.

T.J.
T.J. MegaDork
3/6/20 8:50 p.m.

I have that HF one, but a couple years ago I turned the blade tightening knob too hard and some random plastic bit in the mechanism broke so now I can't get enough blade tension and can only cut wandering lines instead of straight ones. I did what I needed it to do until it didn't. I haven't replaced it yet although I sure could've used it for a few projects because I think I'll get a better one that won't break after a couple of years, but there seems to be a big jump in price from cheap band saw to quality band saw.

To be fair, I broke it through misuse. Next time I'm in a Home Depot, I'll check out the Ryobi version.

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