Grizzly Tools - What is Your Opinion?
In the impressionable early days of my writing career a trusted source at FamilyWoodworking.org told me that Grizzly tools aren’t worth the metal they’re made from… and that this source had told Grizzly president Shiraz Balolia this himself at a trade show. Now I’m not going to name any names, but trust me this impression stuck and I’ve since seen Grizzly as a knock-off, no good tool brand.
So it’s been with some surprise that I’ve read more and more favorable reviews of Grizzly tools, and even started to mention some of them in the buying guides I write (our recent buying guide for table saws for example).
This mini article includes links to some of the posts in forums that started to turn my opinion around, plus a number of Grizzly vs. other power tools threads that I’ve found. I’ll continue to update it as I find more “evidence” in the forums and on peoples’ sites.
If you’ve had a forum thread or article turn your opinion around about Grizzly I’d appreciate for you to send me a link! This post will be continually updated as we find new stuff and will likely be reorganized at some point.
ALL of Shiraz Balolia’s Posts in Sawmill Creek - Balolia’s the founder and president of Grizzly and he’s a fairly active poster at SMC.
Grizzly Tools (WoodNet)
My Visit to Grizzly (WoodNet)
Are grizzly tools good quality? (LumberJocks)
Everything I’ve read makes it seem like they’re a great company to work with that’s built around good customer service. Seriously - I dug for dirt on them and didn’t find much except for Balolia talking over customer service and quality issues with woodworkers at SMC.
Update:
Griz 1023 w Router Table ext, or should I go PM2000 …as I find more Grizzly vs. other brand debates I’ll add them here. Please add to the comments if you’ve read any good ones! –G
Update 2: it appears that Grizzly’s not as strong with their smaller accessories at least according to this thread…
Another mixed bag from Grizzly
Update 3: Some Grizzly vs. threads
Grizzly G0514x vs Laguna LT16
Grizzly G0591 Slider
new cabinet saw Grizz G0605X vs PM2000 vs ???
Grizzly’s not well known for it’s routers… this thread makes me think it’s for good reason: Grizzly router opinion
Update: a recent Grizzly thread from SawmillCreek: How good is grizzly?
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Discount Tools Says:
October 24th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I have never used grizzly tools but it seems a lot more people now are beginning to favor them. Maybe I should try them out next time I buy myself a new present:).
Phil Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I’m sold on Grizzley! I have their table saw and band saw and find them to be of extremely high quality. I’ll definately buy more tools from them.
KS Woodwork Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
The Grizzly G0555 bandsaw (http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0555) has good reviews on many woodworking forums. It seems to work well for resawing lumber. It is the next tool on my shopping list.
One review can be read on penturners website at http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=27364&SearchTerms=grizzley
KS Woodwork
Jerry Marshall Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I took up woodworking at the ripe old age of 69. I’d built some kitchen cabinets and cupbords back in the eighties–nothing fancy, but they didn’t look awful, and I was kinda prould of what i could do with my Craftsman table saw. I also took some WW classes offered by a local Community college at the same time.
Since retiring, I wanted to have something to occupy my time, so I chose woodworking. I live on a fixed income, so I researched a lot of machines. The name Grizzly came up a lot–I’d never heard of it. The reviews were mostly favorable, the biggest complaint concerned packaging issues. I don’t really need a cabinet saw, but I thought “what the Hell, I’m 69 and I’ll never have another chance to have ome so I took the plunge and ordered a Grizzly 1023sl sight unseen. It arrived with the packaging in perfect condition and was a breeze to assemble and set up.
So how do I like it? THAT BAD BOY IS AWESOME! It is a precise and powerful as anything as I can imagine. Powermatic? Delta? I don’ need no stinking Powermatics or, Deltas! For half the purchase price I can do anything with the Grizz that can be done with those machines I got a great cabinet saw for the price of a tricked-out contractor saw.
I was also attracted to the name cuz I’m a University of Montana Grizzly, a perennial power in 1-AA football for the last 20 years.
Michael Lapp Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I own many Delta tools but, I recently purchased the Grizzly king size jointer and I got to tell you, I have absolutely no complaint. It saved me a ton of money and it fits my needs perfectly.
Dan Balboni Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I had purchase a Grizzly bandsaw and have no complaints other than I don’t get a chance to use it as much as I want. I am planning on making a few minor upgrades (getting the riser block and switch the guide bearings to a ceramic block type guide).
I will say that if I decide to upgrade my table saw, I will by Grizzly.
Doug in Fredericksburg, VA Says:
October 27th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I originally had questions about the quality of Grizzly tools, until I spent a day putting my hands on them up in Muncy, PA. Being able to see the tools in person made me wonder if some of the folks who spoke poorly of Grizzly had even seen one.
I left that day with a 555 bandsaw (most tool for the buck, in my opinion) a drill press and a dust collector. No problems with any of them except I’ve outgrown the dust collector.
I also use the ‘purple’ Grizzly router bits, good bits for the price.
huckleberry4664 Says:
October 30th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I am new to woodworking and I am currently taking classes for woodworking. In my class they have made well needed upgrades to the machinery. We had an old Delta jointer and a powermatic planer that was replaced by a grizzly 10″ spiral cutter jointer and an extreme duty spiral cutter grizzly planer. I am really impressed with these new tools. I ran a 10″ wide piece of walnut through our new planer and the biggest thing about it was a great cut and very little noise compared to the old planer. Time will tell in our shop because of the work load and amount of students in these classes how well these machines will hold up.
Drew Says:
October 30th, 2007 at 11:56 am
I understand that many have had good experiences with Grizzly… I was one who did not. My first order this past spring shipped promptly… the the ether… no one there had any idea of where it went… then when they finally figured it out (2 months later) we realized they shipped to the wrong address… when it all came to me I started putting it together and found that a part was incorrect (sent me 2 left hand peices rather than a left and right.) They said they would not take care of it as I had ordered it sooo long before and not done anything about it… Then I explained how it was their problem and they agreed to replace it… then I explained that I had painted it (it was a leg) and the said well you have modified the item so no return… I explained that the only reason I had is that I was sooo late in getting the item that I painted it prior to assembly as I was sooo late in getting it and was under a lot of pressure due to their error… It took 2 weeks but they finally replaced it (realize till that time I never received what I had ordered. I placed the order in February… got it resolved in June. I will not be ordering anything from Grizzly ever again. This was nuts… Totally the worse customer service experience I have ever had. Including Verizon, Dish Network and my local Municipality…
Nicky Says:
October 30th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I have a table saw, jointer, and band saw from Grizzly. I love them, they are easy to set-up and convinient.
colwell Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am
if you realy want to see the quality of grizzly, go to one of their stores
one in springfield, mo
bellingham, wa
and i think muncy, pa
ive been to the springfield and bellingham stores
besides, i think harbor freight has the new reputation for cheap imports.
Matt Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
it all depends a persons preference. Grizzly is a quality tool for a quality price thats all there is to say about it many people expect more out of an item that they pay less for. in my experiance with Grizzly it seemed to be a quality tool and I never had any problems with the company
Rob Davis Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
My shop, with a few exceptions here and there, is equiped with Grizzly Tools. I started buying their tools when the company was younger based purely on value. As time went on, I had the chance to use simmilar machines by more “reputable” companies and found very little difference. I continue to fill my shop with tools from Grizzly. My latest purchase was a drum sander to replace a Jet drum sander that I was not happy with. I recomend Grizzly as a quality tool maker on par with the “big boys.”
Scott Van Da Huvel Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I also had a portion of my shipment from Grizzly shipped to an incorrect address. One machine was found a couple weeks later( by myself) at a local trucking depot. The drill press was in great shape,however the bandsaw was not.I had to adjust the legs to the machine-there was no way they could be assembled.I had to redrill the components to match.Also a missing setscrew to the shiv from the drive motor. I went to my local bolt supply- neither a metric nor standard setscrew would mate, so I had to retap the part to a larger size and finally the saw was complete. I have had little troubles with the saw, but the fit and finish aren’t as close to those of the other equipment I own ie. Jet cabinet saw, Delta planer,jointer and drum sander, Bosch compound miter saw, or Oneida Super Gorilla dust collector.
chip Says:
November 25th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
i needed a large shaper with the biggest table available so i chose the biggest grizzly they had. and also a couple of power feeds, to no surprise they worked without a hitch. fit and finish were good with good customer support as well.
Brian R Says:
November 28th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I bought Grizzly’s large HD wood lathe, variable speed and some accessories. It serves my purposes but there have been several issues over the first year. Turning shaft end play in the head was had about 0.040″ of play and was unacceptable to me. Took a couple hours to shim it to an acceptable range. C clip on the head shaft was not tempered properly and held the expanded shape when it should have sprung back and had to be replaced. Disk sander table was held at variable angle by a couple 1/4″ bolts with plastic handles threaded into about 3/16″ cast iron - on about the 3rd tightening with the small plastic handle the cast housing stripped out. I bought 6 - 6″ faceplates all of which wobble so badly they are unusable but the 8″ one runs true, go figure.
For the money it is hard to complain. But my overall view is Griz engineering is a little lacking as well as metallurgy. Machining of parts is very accurate and the tools are worth the cost. If they were just designed better and metallurgy (hardness, etc) were improved there would be little room for complaint. They current rash of imports makes me really appreciate the USA made tools from the 50’s-80’s I’ve restored when needed. Sorry but the imports just don’t compare. Most of the US brand tools are now made right along side the Grizzly’s in some off shore factory - what’s a guy to do?
Steve Says:
November 30th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I’m a long time cabinet maker and have used just about every brand out there over the years. I found out about Grizzly many years ago and have several of their tools, planner, jointer, shaper, power feed, nail guns and many others. I have never had any complaints and have nothing but praise for them, been using them for years and would recomend them to anyone looking to buy some wood working equipment.
Blue Says:
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:00 am
I’m 3rd generation cabinet and furniture maker and the 3rd owner of my family business so I can relate to Steve’s post.
I think I’ve used just about every name brand equipment on the market.
I’ve had good and bad luck with all of them but in the last few years I’ve seen a bad decline in the quality of the Delta, Porter Cable tools, but, the only routers we use for everything including solid surfacing is Porter Cable.
In 1994 I bought a Grizzly jointer, 16 inch bandsaw and and big edge sander and then a year ago I bought a 3hp Grizzly table saw because of the frustrations of having to deal with Delta’s customer service.
I also have an older PM66 that’s a tough old bird and has given me no problems.
I bought a Delta contractor’s saw to set up with a dado blade on it. About a month after I bought it the front trunion bracket broke and Delta wanted to charge me $100 bucks to replace it even though it was under warranty. That turned into a nasty conversation with no help from Delta ever…so there will never be another Delta product in my shop.
The new Porter Cable sanders do nothing but cause us problems so out the door they went.
There again, Porter Cable customer service was just as frustrating as Delta’s was.
I’ve had some problems with my Grizzly’s but they always satisfied my complaints.
Monday morning I’ll be ordering a new lathe from them for my adopted 13 year old Russian
daughter.:-) She has fell in love with turning and I want to keep her going with a lathe she can call her own.
Blue
Henry aka Toolfool Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
I have bought 3 Grizzly tools in my life and never again. I am sorry it took me 3 times to learn not to buy them. I had a 10″ table saw that had a bad top. The second top was also bad. I had a 6″ jointer which had parts missing and a scroll saw that was damaged. I was given nothing for the troubles I had with the saw, which was a lot of work to change out twice.I even sent them a letter telling them of my troubles and they replyed that maybe I was to picky. Wish I kept that letter to show other people. I learned to buy quality with people who back up their products like Deta and Powermatic. Best move I ever made. The real plus is they were made in the USA. To bad they are no longer made here but then there is always E-Bay.
btim gibbons Says:
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I bought a grizzly 14″floor drill press,being a diy,i didn,t use it very much. Then i wondered why my holes didn;t drill where imarked them. I checked the quill by pulling it down about 2 inches and pulling it fore and aft it had a bunch of play in it,clunck-clunck.the warranty was expired by now and feeling that the shipping and parts would have been high. I centerpunched the quill to takeup the slop.Everytime i used it after that i became angry at it and got rid of it. I bought a ridgid, it was as tight as a bank vault,and works fine.I don,t know if i would buy another grizzly, shouldn,t have been loose,i have lost faith in them.
Shop Teacher Says:
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I teach shop and have the opportunity to basically test lots of tools as they hold up under the hard use of students. I currently have a shop full of grizzly tools and i can honestly say that they are the cheapest most carelessly designed tools I have ever used. Each type of tool for example a band saw- all three have the same problem-the tension adjustments needed replaced-because Grizzly out sources all its parts to the cheapest dealer-the replacement parts no longer fit-I had to have them made by a local machinist. The lathes-all three have the same problem-the tail stocks wear out due to the fact that pop metal is threaded and placed into cold rolled steel-so the threads no longer work-these tools are only two years old. Fot the homeowner maybe they are a good deal-but I will never buy them because I think grizzly really makes you believe that you get what you pay for-cheap tools
Ed Liptrap Says:
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I have had outstanding results with the few tools of theirs I have picked up. But, that being said … I’ve also stayed away from certain tools of theirs based on poor reviews. I think it’s fair to say that these days … just about everyone makes “that” tool that just doesn’t live up to the brand name or reputation and a little research goes a long way when shopping for tools.
Overall … I would give them 4 1/2 stars based on my experience … but would still caution someone to do a little homework on the specific tool they are shopping for … and don’t just go by the brand name!
Jimbo Says:
January 5th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
I am considering buying a Grizzly jointer 6″ G0452. After reading all the different reviews about Grizzly I am totaly confused. Should I buy it or not?????
Jimbo Says:
January 5th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
I am concidering buying a Grizzly jointer G0452. After reading all the reivews I am not sure I want should do. Some review say the company is good to deal with others say no.
Help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
scott"tool man" Says:
January 6th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I own a construction company we make all our own moldings and cabinetry. Alot of the tools are moved from job to job. I have owned all the brands out their to date, I love my grizzly tools. The prices can’t be beat, im a firm beleiver in you get what you pay for. I cant say this truely applies here. My delta equipment is tinny and flimsy,porter cable tools I wounldn’t buy for a “ones a year home owner”,sears tools are for kids, powewrmatic you can’t afford them, if you could you cant afford to fix them. I don’t know about their shipping I’ve always gone to there stores and picked up my equipment. It’s nice to go somewhere and talk to someone that know’s their own tool and can tell you about them(even play with them). My only complaint is thier small hand power tools.
Jerry Petty Says:
February 8th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
My new Grizzly Gj0555X 14″ bandsaw had an eccentric shaft (lower blade guide) vibrate off and become lost. The part is on back order for 4-6 weeks! To keep my business going, I will have to buy another bandsaw! This is the second time I have ordered parts and had a 4-6 week wait. Not good when you depend on you equipment for your business.
Jerry D Says:
February 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I work at an metal working company and we have over $100,000 worth of Grizzly equipment. The only issues we have had is very minor at the time you first set the machine up. Maybe a knob is missing or they sent the wrong part number for something small. Honestly, they produce excellent machinery at a great price. I wouldn’t buy their hand tools or small electric tools but for heavy equipment, I am sold. I usually go to their store to look at everything before I make a major purchase, that way they will wheel am deal with you as well as show you how to operate the machinery. They have a very impressive showroom. Well worth the 7 hour drive down to Missouri. That’s my 2 cents.
kirby Page Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
recently bought 16 ga box@pan brake cant even properly adjust for 16 ga material this will only bend 20 ga under the best of circumstances.need to buy some other tools wont be grizzly really getting tired of the chinese junk
larry Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I have a Delta contractors saw (Garbage), Delta 18″ - 36″ drum sander (there is no larger peice of garbage on the planet), Delta benchtop drill press (I like it), Delta band saw (In storage only gets a “C” grade, Delta 1 HP dust collector (Good).
I have a Grizzly TS 1023 (Best saw for the money, Ever). Grizzly 6″ and 8″ jointers (the 6″ is OK, the 8″ is great), Grizzly 2 HP dust collector (Very good and great price), Grizzly 1 HP Power feeder (Love it), Grizzly 3 HP Shaper (I give it a “C” grade).
I am intrested in a sliding table saw, but I am not sure of Grizzly’s performance in these tools. Their small tools look like Harbor Freight.
Bottom line do your homework. Delta is overpriced and overrated. Grizzly’s products range from great to poor. Go and see one in someones shop not in the showroom.
Mitch Says:
April 13th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I have a grizzly 15″ planer. I have put several hundred board feet of various types of hardwood through it with very good results. I think that some preconceived notion that Grizzly tools, because they are reasonably priced, are cheaply made, that has not been my experience. If you want some cheap junk, buy one of the delta 14″ bandsaws made in china, I have one and the only thing I think it is good for is a boat anchor.
flatgreekcabinet Says:
April 14th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Today I ordered my second set of bearings for a grizzly table saw model g10235lx. The saw is three years old and has been a pain. I run a shop and am not happy with my purchace. Waiting for parts is a big pain. I also own a grizzly 15inch planner that needed new drive chains @ about 60 hrs.No more grizzly tools in my shop.
Jeff W Says:
April 26th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I’m a non-pro that has limited time on higher end tools that Grizzly designs their models after. Given that, I’ve been very pleased with my Grizzly 1023S 3HP Cabinet Saw. All the settings have remained “set” since my initial tuning 2 years ago. No power complaints. I’ve had one bog down due to a blatant error on my part. Got lucky the board stayed put, actually. At $1000, works very fine for a weekender. Pro’s, couldn’t attest to that. . .