Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Do NOT buy this machine. I know there are times when customers take out their frustrations by using hyperbole to trash the name of a company or product, but this is an instance when simple facts of the matter will do just fine. I am a hobby user who does wood carving of figurines or different small wooden objects--no re-sawing of massive chunks of firewood or cabinetry. An occasional 10-15 second cut of pine or maple stock.No hard angles whatsoever. On average, I would need a saw for 2-3 minutes of running time per week. I bought this band saw to save me time from having to make cuts that are too challenging or too painstaking to do with a handsaw. Boy, am I sorry I bought this saw. Plain and simple...the blade keeps coming out of adjustment (tension or bearings) and starts cutting inward toward the fence. There is no pressure gauge to tell the user how tight to keep the blade. The user's manual says there should be no more than 1/8 or 1/10 of an inch of movement when the blade is pushed. They don't say where to push. They don't say how hard to push. The first band saw I ordered (yes, I did say the first one), came out of the box and within 30 seconds of cutting a piece of 5/8 inch pine, the blade started cutting a rounded line toward the fence. If I hadn't stopped, the tension from the blade getting pinched in the wood would have caused the blade to snap. Figuring I was doing something wrong, I re-read the owner's manual cover to cover, which didn't take long. No resolution. I consulted YouTube, figuring there was someone else who knew more about band saws than I do. After trying approximately 8-10 different adjustment fixes, I came to the same realization as before. No resolution. A worker I know who knows a great deal about woodworking machinery came to my house and spent 20-30 minutes making adjustments, based on the manual and his own expertise. No resolution. I called WEN and explained the situation. After hearing all I had gone through, WEN very nicely (yes, I did just say they were nice) sent me a new band saw. I boxed up the first and sent it away in a WEN-paid Fed Ex shipment box. I set up the new saw, and for about 2 glorious weeks, the band saw performed the never more than 2-3 minutes of weekly cutting time that I required. Then, while cutting a piece of pine, the blade started turning again. Essentially, the new blade on the new band saw was doing the SAME thing as before. I called Amazon. They said it had been past the initial time period when they could do something (understandable) and that I needed to call either WEN or Square Trade, the insurance policy I'd bought at the time with the band saw. I called WEN and they said that the blade that they had put on the band saw in the factory was defective. I began to get that sinking feeling of having been suckered because why would there be two consecutive band saws with two consecutive defective blades. I told WEN that I didn't consider my experience with changing blades sufficient to eliminate a defective blade as being the culprit, so they recommended a shop near me that would complete the changing of the blade. Because the band saw at this point was past the initial 30 day period for Amazon to cover the cost of the repair and before the 2nd year of the warranty for my Square Trade insurance to kick in, I was on the hook for the $65 shop fee to figure out what was going on. After completing inspection, the shop owner told me that there was nothing defective about the band saw. But, what he wanted to tell me and couldn't (you know, potentially getting sued for defamation) was that the design was so poor that I had to adjust the blade's tension nearly every time I use it. Without a pressure gauge. Without any guidance as to how hard or where to push. So now, I'm stuck with a machine that isn't technically defective. It's just such a poor design that I am incapable of making the constant adjustments needed to keep the thing running. Maybe I should go back to college or technical school and get a degree in order to be able to run this thing. Just as I would consider having to change the oil every 3rd time I drive my car, or sharpen a can opener every 5th can I open to be unreasonable, so to do I consider having to nearly constantly adjust the blade tension and guide bearings in this band saw to be excessive and ridiculous. Am I Norm Abram from This Old House? No. I'm a hobby user who doesn't have a degree in mechanical engineering. I'm someone who thinks that the very little use I'm asking should easily be accommodated by the band saw I'm using. So now, I'm stuck with a machine that doesn't work without constant--and in my opinion-- excessive adjustment and care. Do yourself a favor. Don't buy this band saw. Don't buy anything that isn't local. Buy locally and get a full coverage warranty from your local provider. That way, if you're unfortunate enough to have purchased a lemon of a design like I did, the company will be there locally to make things right.