Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So I bought this at one of the big box home improvement stores and I figured I'd share my review here. This planer is pretty nice and fairly inexpensive. I was on the fence between this one and the DeWalt for a hundred bucks more. At the end of the day I'm not a professional woodworker, so I opted to get the craftsman. And I don't regret it. The dewalt has a few nicer features, like 3 blades and a depth of cut indicator (Which is different from a thickness indicator), which is the only real knock I have against this planer. I had the chance to use the planer for the first time tonight, I was milling some rough cut walnut down from ~5/4" to 3/4". Setup was pretty easy, although the tables did not come completely level out of the box, and I needed to take apart the middle table to get the blue plastic film off (A little annoying). To set this planer up you should set it on a LEVEL bench top and use a level to get the outer tables level with the inner table by adjusting the 4 bolts under them. It took me a few minutes, but easy enough. The dust collection works quite well, and it's very nice that you can put it together with the chute facing either way. With my shop vac the thing is practically dust free... I was astounded by that. There is a bit of snipe in the last 2" if you do not set something for outfeeding the board to hold up the end as it slides out. Once I set up a piece of wood roughly level with the outfeed table on the planer the snipe was mostly gone. This is fairly typical with lunchbox planers that I've seen... But if you've set it up well from the start and you set something up to catch your piece as it comes out, this shouldn't be a big deal. It also leaves a very nice smooth surface on the wood, which I was pleasantly surprised by. I'll still have to sand, but it looks pretty nice right out of the planer. I did knock a star off because the Dewalt has some better features and the setup was a bit finicky at first. And also because the height adjustment handle has more play in it than the dewalt does (I tried both in the store, the dewalt has practically none). Overall I highly recommend this tool. I think it's better than the other options in the same price class. By the way for anyone who is looking for planer knives, this planer is identical to the Porter Cable PC305TP (Also a Stanley-Black and Decker product). The knives are the same for this one and that one. But craftsman does not publish a part number for the knives. Which is also kind of a knock against the planer (Not publishing a part number for a consumable). That part number is PC22562