Even without its well-known blade brake, the SawStop is a great saw. It has very good ripping power. The dust collection was good, especially considering that the blade is enclosed only on one side to make room for the blade-brake cartridge. A 4-in. hose connects the blade shroud to a port in the cabinet. Everything else about the PCS175 is smooth. The fence locked tightly and glided like skates on ice, at least in part due to two small wheels on the underside of the fence at the end opposite the handle. You can move the fence with one finger. The tilt and elevation wheels had no backlash, and turned beautifully.

 

Switching from the riving knife to the blade guard took no time at all. And the guard is very good. There are three independent, but connected, leaves on each side of the blade. Their light weight made it easy to push thin or light stock under the guard, and the leaves fall sequentially back into position. There is no locking device for holding the leaves off the table, but it was easy to lift the leaves manually above the fence for ripping narrow stock. When making a replacement insert plate, you have to do some extra work to make way for the safety gear, a small inconvenience that doesn’t outweigh the safety aspect. Overall, the SawStop PCS175 is excellent. Throw in its safety device, and it’s tremendous.