Table Saw Reviews by Dummies

Bosch 4100-09 Table Saw

A couple of our staffers here at the Antisocial Network came on board not long after review site Epinions.com bit the dust. By itself, that fact probably doesn't mean much, but in the context of recognizing fake product reviews,may not have realized it, one of Epinions' problems was the proliferation of fake reviews, especially of expensive stuff – as the locals often said, "Anything with a cord." Recognizing a fake review is actually easy: there is no personal experience and few, if any, facts that don't come from the manufacturer's specs. Today's DotD nominee, Mary F., pumped out a slew of such reviews for Wizzley.com back in 2012, including "Bosch 4100-09 10-Inch Worksite Table Saw with Gravity-Rise Stand Review."

The inclusion of that "Gravity-Rise Stand" business is a dead giveaway that the title was harvested from Amazon's "most popular" listings. Mary F (from Oz? are you kidding me?) posted more than two dozen reviews on Wizzley, all of high-dollar products and none with personal experience. But let's see what Mary has to say, including this scintillating prose for an opening line:

"This compact table saw is a must see for both the hobbyist and professional. Bosch quality and ease of use with gravity rise stand [sic]"

Yup, that's all she wrote: we have no idea where the rest of that description went... But Mary goes on to inform us that,

"...it is so easy to use that a child could cut a board with it."

Which, frankly, is no different from any other table saw. Perhaps if Mary had mentioned that using the gravity-rise stand is easy,¹ but "[cutting] a board"? Heck, kids can cut boards on Chicago® brand saws from Harbor Freight.

Mary rattles off a boatload of information harvested from the manufacturer's description and scraped from reviews at Amazon, but – as far as we can tell – the only information that she might have generated from experience are the following:

• "You’ll also notice that this table saw sits about three inches higher than most due o [sic] the stand." – To which our house tool users say, "So what?"
• "The tool does weight [sic] 99 pounds though, which is lighter than some other alternatives but not super lightweight." – Strange: the manufacturer says 124 pounds...
• "This powerful 15 amp table saw makes super clean cuts..." – Wouldn't that be a function of the blade?

You know what else this "expert" forgot to mention? She forgot to mention that the table extends to allow a rip width of 25 inches for cutting panels and has tape measure printed on the rail. You'd think that might be important enough to mention, but no. That means that she also didn't mention the included 10-inch carbide blade, the insert, the cute little plastic push stick, or the features for stowing the cord, miter gauge, rip fence, and blade wrench; nor did she mention the blade lock for changing blades.

It's a pretty safe bet she didn't mention those features of this $500-plus saw because she had never seen one in person. We mention them because, well, because there's a saw of this model in the Antisocial Network's wood shop. That's why we know that changing the blade can be a real pain in the tuchus, at least the first time. The again, we've seen this saw, something our fake reviewing Dumbass of the Day can't say honestly.

¹ It's not really that easy, because the child in question would need to be about the size of the average sixteen-year-old boy and strong enough to handle the weight of the saw: a child? no....

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