# Grizzly G0478 2 HP Hybrid Cabinet Saw Review



## SawdustMill

I've had the same saw for about 7 months now. To give a second data point, here's how I rate it:

*Delivery*
To begin with, I love this saw, but Grizzly's shipping methods are absolutely abismal. When my saw first arrived one of the box sides was a little dislodged, I looked in and one of the nails from the box was misplaced and had gouged the table surface, but I went ahead and accepted it. After pulling the box apart it turns out that they had dropped the whole thing on its side, very hard. The motor was smashed in, the body was bent in, and the surface was gouged horribly (again by the errant nail, presumably when the things dropped on the side, it reached the top of the box, scary). It took nearly two weeks, several pictures emailed, and a dozen calls before they "approved" a total replace. I got my new one the next week and it was just fine. The delivery guy said that Grizzly's packaging is very sub par. So I recommend always completely unpackaging the product while the delivery guy is there before you accept it.

*Installation*
WIcked easy. I was able to move and install it without help. It was pretty easy to get the wings nice and straight and was nearly perfectly level right out of the box.

*Quality*
I fully agree about the quality of the materials. The turning wheels, the tabletop, the body, all quality stuff. It feels very solid. Very little vibration, even sitting on a mobile base, on a wood floor. I love turning it on just to hear it. The body paint has held up perfectly this past 6 months, no signs of wear at all.

I also agree about the throat insert. It's flimsy, and nearly impossible to get flush with the table across the entire surface. This is particularly notable with the dado insert that comes with it. The problem is that Grizzly made the depth of the insert about half of normal. This has a couple drawbacks, it limits your selection of after market inserts, and makes them less rigid.

The miter is cast iron and very sturdy, in fact it might even be a bit too bulky, it can be a bit unwieldly sometimes.

*Dust Collection*
No particular opinion on this. The 4" port fits great. There is a pile of sawdust at the bottom of the cabinet, but I expect that's the same for similar saws.

*Fence*
When the machine or somebody put the little plastic insert into the T part of the body, it was just slightly off and crushed half of the pin. Fortunately it was pretty easy to clean up and still held itself in place sufficiently.

Once tuned, the fence locked down nice and tight, rigid and straight. However it looks like it puts a lot of pressure on the guide bar. It glides along very smoothly. The fence feels a little flimsy in materials though, and seems to curve juuuuust a hair right in the middle. However it's rigid enough that I haven't had any problems with deflection. In comparison, I played with a comparable Steel City saw and liked that fence much better. But overall the fence performs as expected. Nothing spectacular, nothing terribly wrong, just average.

*Hybrid/Size*
I have a 10' x 12' shop, so space is tight. Having the motor on the inside is awesome and saves me lots of space. It makes it possible to have an outfeed table that can collapse down the back of the saw when not in use. Love it.

*Performance*
I also use the 110v option. I have ripped and crosscut 8/4 hard maple, 4/4 white oak, 6/4 brazillian cherry, and a variety of other hardwoords and plywood. I use a Amano combo blade and it cuts them all without any noticeable dip in rpm. The motor never seems to work hard to do the job. There is no lack of power for my needs.

*Safety*
Here's a section that didn't get touched on, and to me might have been a deal breaker if I had known more about it. I had actually emailed grizzly about it pre-purchase, but never got a response. The blade guard design feels like it was intended to be thrown away. You have to set three hex nuts in order to attach the fence guard to the body, one of which is inside the throat and is nearly impossible to screw in by hand. It's also a pain to line it up with the blade, and keep it straight while tightening up the bolts. I've been trying to come up with a way to make it quicker and easier to take off and replace, but because of the design inside the throat, it's really tricky. After fighting with this fence I looked at the comparable Steel City "tool-less" setup and liked it a whole lot better. For people that throw their fences away this won't be a big deal, but I like to keep my fence on as much as possible, and this makes it very inconvenient.

*Ease of Tuning*
The motor is attached to the top of the table. In order to align the blade you have to loosen 6 bolts inside the cabinet. Getting to the front bolts is a pain as you have to reach in through the motor door and around the saw blade container to get to the far bolt. Mine didn't come square to the miter (not entirely unexpected), but it has been difficult to get the blade to line up square with the miter slot. Even after loosening all 6 bolts, I couldn't get enough play to fully line up the blade, I was very unhappy about that. I was able to get it "close enough" to get the job done, but it's not something I'd show off to my buddies.

*Conclusion*
I upgraded from a dewalt portable saw, and love my grizzly. Overall I'm quite happy with my 478, it's got great power, is very sturdy, it's at a very affordable price, and I expect it will last a long time. That said, if I had known about the non standard throat depth, the miserable safety design, and the just average fence, I would most likely have saved for a little longer and gotten the Steel City instead.

Now that the sawstop contractor has been released, I might save my pennies, and eventually upgrade to that.


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## Timber4fun

Great follow-up! Tell me about your saw blade. I am not familiar with that one. I was looking at picking up a Woodworker II.


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## SawdustMill

It's this one:

http://www.amanatool.com/circular-saw-blades/prestige-pr1040.html

I bought it after an article in WOOD magazine. The blade is fantastic and only cost about $60. Both rip and crosscut cut smoothly and have a fantastic finish. That said, I've never tried one of the really expensive blades to compare it to, but I'm very happy with the results.


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## Timber4fun

Thanks. I will definitely check that out. We are on the same page regarding the more expensive blades. I've never purchased any of the higher end blades, but I've heard a lot of raves about them. I'll take a look at the Amana. That might be more in my price range.


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## Newton

Why do the ship tools without the plug? Possibly to be universal for the Euro market?


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## SawdustMill

A couple more thoughts that came to mind:

*On/Off Switch*
I have become quite accustomed to their magnetic lock switch. I like that it takes an extra step before you can turn on the saw. It gives me additional confidence that it won't start on me unexpectedly. It's also nice because my young (almost 2 yr old and almost 4 yr old) haven't been able to figure out how to use it. I keep my shop locked up, but if they come and visit me, they can sometimes try buttons out while I'm not looking.

*Quality (Take 2)*
Despite my comments above, the overall quality of the saw far surpasses other saws that are just under the price. Originally I was looking to buy a ridgid contractor TS from a big box store. I decided to stretch a bit and get the grizzly. Now when I walk into the big box stores, the saws look low grade in comparison (I hope I don't offend anyone that has one) So if you are just stretching to get up to the big box saws, I'd fully recommend stretching for this saw, you won't be disappointed.


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## Brad_Nailor

Wow..2 good reviews on this saw..hmm..there is a guy on Craigslist that got one of these for his birthday from his wife but he wants a Powermatic. It's supposedly brand new never used…and he wants $500 or B/O for it….I'm thinking of giving him a call!


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## motthunter

I am also a grizz fan. Good luck with your new saw.


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## USCJeff

Almost bought this one. Decided against the hybrid and opted for the 1023 at the last minute. I wasn't too sure of the hybrids, and the price was close enough that I would've kicked myself if it didn't live up to what I felt it should. That said, I've heard great things. I love the 1023, but it sounds like the hybrid is still a decent step up from a true contractor's saw. I like the fence, but having played with the Bisenmeyer (spelled?) Shop Fox has cloned, it isn't quite as nice. It locks and stays parallel, and guides with moderate force, but it wasn't quite the ice skating feeling I got sliding the real thing. The table top has been fairly easy to maintain as well. The sealent came off with a citrus degreaser and the occasional application of TopCoat or something like it has kept it reflective over about 2 years now.


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## steveosshop

Thanx for the reviews. I have been looking at this saw along with a couple other hybrids for a while now. Good to see some reviews from people with working experience on them.


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## thetimberkid

Thanks for the review!

Callum


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## Timber4fun

Don - to follow-up on your question, I am not exactly sure. If I were to speculate, I think Grizzly would like the end user to think about the type of electrical circuit we plan to use. I don't think they want to see us hook it up to a regular 15 AMP 120V service. If we plan to stay with 120V service, they recommend a 30 AMP circuit, as the saw will perform at a much higher level. I currently have mine connected to a 20 AMP circuit and it runs very well. I do agree that connecting it to a 15 AMP circuit would not due it justice. I know the 20 AMP electrical recepticles are a little bit different. I suspect the 30 AMP are as well. The plug I purchased and installed is configured specifically for a 20 AMP receptible. Not sure if I made sense with all that or not. Again, I am just speculating. I just ran down to the hardware store and grabbed the correct plug for my setup.


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## Woodshopfreak

I have heard that Grizzly makes great saws.


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## woodspar

A motor tends to draw a lot of current when it first starts up. A 15 amp circuit would probably trip when starting the saw.

Technically 20 amp plugs and 30 amp plugs are designed differently from 15 amp plugs. The 20 amp plugs have one of the pins "sideways" so that you cannot plug it into a 15 amp circuit. The thirty amp plug is completely different - the pins/ slots are slanted, and I beliieve it is called a "twist lock" plug.


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## Dustin

Keep in mind men that it doesn't really matter how many amps your circuit is capable of handling. As long as it can handle enough for the machine. In the end if whatever you have is sufficient they will end up drawing the same number of amps. Preparing for 20 amps for this machine should be plenty. I would never recommend running your machines over 14/2 romex or 15 amp outlets. It's just cutting it too close.


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## waynep

I have had this machine for 2 years now and I have to say I love it. I was moving up from a Ryobi BT3000 which had served me well, but was too small for the projects I was moving into. Solid, good quality and not a back breaking price. I avoided the delivery hassles by buying it direct since the PA warehouse is only 3 hours away.

Like the first responder, I had to align the saw motor to the miter slot and it was indeed a pain. But, unlike other saws, I haven't had to mess with it since.

It does come wired for 110v as noted above and while a 20 amp 110v circuit might work fine, I ran in a 20 amp 220v circuit. If you go that route, know that you will have to replace the magnetic switch (about $50 from Grizzly and no they won't exchange it). The wiring there was a bit tricky, get help if you aren't comfortable with this. You also have to switch the leads on the motor, that was easy. The access panel had the diagram you need and the extra wire nut you would need taped to the inside. I was a bit annoyed at having to eat the switch, but I managed to eBay it for $35, so it ended up fine.

Recommended if your budget can't stretch to a true cabinet saw.


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## Engineeringtech

Grizzly advertises that you can run these 2HP motors with 20A 120Vac service, as long as you do NOT use a long extension cord. DON'T believe it! In fact, this motor won't start UNLESS you use a fairly long extension cord. It will trip a standard 20A thermal / magnetic panel breaker every time. Why? It's the surge current required to start the motor at 120Vac. It will exceed the 30 - 40A instantaneous inrush rating of the panel breaker. You heard me right! A standard 20A panel breaker sustains steady state currents up to the 20 amp limit of the slow acting thermal mechanism. But the internal magnetic breaker, designed to trip at a higher rating for instantaneous surge currents is rated about 30 - 40 amps. Unfortunately, the one cycle inrush current of the Grizzly 2HP motor is over 130 AMPS! Now if you have 3 or 4 ohms of resistance in your saw's power connection (a typical 25 foot extension), the resistance will limit the inrush current to less than 30-40A, and the magnetic breaker will not trip. But GRIZZLY tells you NOT to use a extension cord. They tell you to wire the saw with a heavy, short power cord, and use no extension. (We used a 12 ga., 10 foot cord.)

I have explained this issue to them in detail, but they seem incapable of understanding. When they test the saws in their factory, they have the EQUIVALENT of a long extension cord between the saw and their breakers, and that is the only way the motors work in their testing. I had hoped by now that their people would put this information in the manual, but today I see that they did not.

We found out about this the hard way. My employer bought me a very similar Grizzly G0715P hybrid with riving knife, and the same 2HP motor for our shop.. I very carefully assembled it. Our choices of power in our manufacturing plant are not the same at most wood shops. We have no 220Vac single phase. Just 208Vac three phase and 120Vac single phase. Because Grizzly did not include the right mini thermal breaker for 120V operation, we had to order one from Grizzly and install it in the switch housing. That took WEEKS to get. After we got it and installed it, I wired the motor for 120V, attached a nice heavy duty power cord and the recommended plug, and fired up the saw. It IMMEDIATELY tripped our 20A Square D magnetic /thermal breaker in the power panel. The 15A mini breaker didn't trip. The 20A panel breaker tripped! Bad motor? I went through all the usual troubleshooting steps with Grizzly tech support in which they challenged my 30 years of electrical engineering experience and that of our chief engineer. They INSISTED we wired it wrong. It took a dozen photographs and weeks of convincing until they would replace the motor. And I waited another several weeks for the replacement! All during this time we had no use of the saw. When we finally GOT the new motor, I hooked it up, and it also tripped the breaker! It is only because I had to move the saw to a new location that I figured it out. The addition of an extension cord resolved the issue! I confirmed all this by measuring inrush currents with and without the extension cord. At this point we just decided to install a 30A breaker and line in our shop. The single cycle inrush current rating of a 30A Square D breaker is much higher than that of a 20A Square D breaker.

If you want to move this saw from place to place, and DON'T have a 30A breaker, you will need a long extension cord! Otherwise a short, heavy duty power cord does not offer enough resistance to limit the single cycle surge current at motor start up.


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