First off I was given this table saw by Ridgid to review.
I have used this saw for a couple of months now and as on overall satisfaction I am very pleased with the saw. The manual was on
... (read more)e of the best written manuals that I have seen and I felt it was very clear and the nuts and bolts were nicely packaged with numbers for ease of putting together. The assembly was easy with out any problems except for one. The back panel was pre-attached with some screws that work with a hex key. Half of these stripped while I tried to remove them, which I then needed to drill out and replace with new bolts. I tried two sets of hex keys in addition to the provided one, but still had the problems.
I replace the blade with a thin kerf 50 tooth blade which has given me no problems with the riving knife at all. This change of blade may change my review compared to someone who uses the stock blade. One thing about the riving knife is it has two positions, one level with the blade, and the other above. There is a little lever to lock this into place and I feel that it is much harder to lock it into place than it needs to be. This has caused me to bump my hand a number of times as I have slipped off pulling or pushing really hard.
The power of the saw seems fine from my experience. I have been able to cut 1 inch thick hard maple without any apparent difficulty. I did spend some time and got my fence and blade set up just how I like and using the thin kerf blade may make the saw cut more easy than using the stock blade. I have used a 3hp delta unisaw many times in previous years and while I can certainly tell some differences, I have not felt that my saw has been under powered so far. Again probably my most difficult wood has been 1 inch thick hard maple.
I have a few comments on the safety features. First I LOVE having a riving knife. It is awesome. The blade guard that came with it seems fine and I have been using it when possible without problem. I do wish it was a little bit more skinny, but that may remove some of the safety. I don't like the anti kick back pawls on the saw though. They are much to strong and mark up pretty much all wood that goes through my saw. There is also a key for the power switch that is a little plastic part. I wish it had a place to live and I am afraid that I am going to loose it when it is out.
Overall I really like the saw, there are only a few grips I have but don't really effect the usability of the saw, I have really enjoyed using it. 
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