This planer has been great! It may be slightly underpowered compared to models twice the price, but I have had no issues. The underpowered rollers actually help to joint warped boards because they don't press as hard. However, IF this unit breaks I would not buy again. This is nothing against this product, just that I would upgrade to helical cutter heads. So if this is what you can budget: great buy at ~ two fifty, if you can afford twice that, get something with helical cutters- you will regret it if you don't, but I won't upgrade till it breaks, which I honestly didn't think it will anytime soon.

I bought this planer in 2021 and have used it 5 or 6 times. I have run no more than 100 ft of hardwoods and today it started making a noise, like something came loose in the cutterhead. I haven't looked at it yet so I will update when i get it apart. I read a couple of reviews that mentioned breakage after a few pieces but bought it anyway. Hopefully it's not something major. After taking it apart i discovered the gears in the transmission, (gearbox) were stripped. I purchased another gearbox from Wen for $35. After installing the new gearbox, and greasing the gears before i put it in unlike the factory one which had absolutely no grease in it, i started to run a piece 5" wide x 22" long and was dropping it down in very small increments. I hadn't even gotten it low enough to start cutting and suddenly the machine slowed down a little bit and didn't sound right. I shut it off restarted it and it sounded okay for about 3 seconds then sounded like it was starting to come apart. I read several reviews, some good, some bad and decide to buy it. BIG MISTAKE! Don't waste your hard earned money on this Piece of c___. I will never again buy anything made by Wen! I have been operating and working on machinery since i was about 12 years old, and in that 55 years have never seen a piece of machinery as useless as this Wen planer.Update; 11/7/2024 A couple of months ago, after ignoring it for a while, i again opened it up and found a broken gear that runs one of the chains by way of the gearbox. I purchased another gear from wen, installed it and re-assembled the planer. It appeared and sounded like it was working okay so i decided to run a test piece. i ran it down close to the piece and then turned it on lowering it slightly each pass until the piece would feed through. It was close to low enough to start actually cutting material when i heard a bang, like something broke, so i turned it off. After removing the gear box i, once again found pieces of broken gear teeth inside and two gears with some stripped teeth. The question now is do i spend another $40 for another gearbox, hoping it will be the last time i have to work on this planer or do i cut my losses and use it as a boat anchor. I have spent $428 on this planer so far and after another gearbox it will be about $468. I would not, in the strongest way possible, recommend anyone buy this machine. Please, if you value your hard earned money, don't waste it on this P.O.S.UPDATE; 1/4/2025 So i got another gearbox and before i installed it i checked everything else. The outfeed roller was frozen to the pillow block on one end, which explains how the gear broke. Since the roller was frozen when the chain that runs it wouldn't move the increasing tension on the gear caused it to break as it was the weakest link in that mechanical assembly. Now i have a new outfeed roller and two pillow blocks on the way to finally fix this machine or tie a rope to it!

This is my first planer and I just received it today. So please keep that in mind and hopefully it will be of some help for other first time buyers. I watched several videos and read many reviews on this planer before I purchased it. It might not be the best planer out there, but for my needs and budget it's more than good enough. Since I was familiar with the planer through the videos I watched, assembly didn't take but maybe 15 minutes and I wasn't in a hurry. I then gave the planer the once over checking all screws, etc... Everything was as it should be, so initial quality is great. I then turned it on and let it run for a couple of minutes. No unusual noises, so I ran a 1/2" x 5 1/2" x 2' board through about a half dozen times taking a little over 1/32" at a time according to the planer's gauge. There was some snipe on the lead end, but the back end looked great. The board's surface was smooth and even. I measured all around the board and it was consistent. I had removed a total of 1/8". I have on order and should be receiving the WEN planer stand tomorrow. I will wait to make any adjustments after I mount the planer on the stand. So my initial opinion, this is a good planer for a hobbyist/DIY'er on a budget. We'll see in time if my initial opinion holds up.

I've putzed around with woodworking my entire life. Earlier this year I decided I to build a dresser when I couldn't find one I liked. I WISH I hadn't balked at buying the planer then. It turned out decent using the tools I have. Now I'm building a kennelside table for a puppy that will be ready for us soon. I decided to use cherry to match the rest of our furniture. I have access to an amazing woodworking store that sells every variety of wood you can think of and in may thicknesses. The problem with that is getting you have to mill it down to exactly what you want. The good part about that is you get exactly what you want for MUCH cheaper. Having my own planer saved me a lot on this little project.Now, on to the planer! I read so many of the reviews and there were some negatives but nothing I saw as systemic and the overall rating was very good. I planed some test wood i had laying around and it worked great with little to no snipe. I read a lot beforehand about how to reduce snipe and set up the planer accordingly as used the techniques mentioned which worked better than I could have hoped. My first test was a rough hewn 3' cedar fence picket that was 5" wide. After a few passes it was smooth as butter and I was giddy! It was so smooth I could use it for drawer sides with no sanding required. Next I tried 5 different hardwood strips that I planed down to 38". they were 1.5" wide and about 12" long. They all planed great. Next was a long strip of zebrawood. Save yourself the hassle and don't bother planing zebrawood! i did some research after the fact and found it's too brittle and does not plane well.All in all I'm super happy with this purchase! Don't hesitate, you'll LOVE it!

This is a great planer! I have only tested it on a couple pieces of scrap wood thus far but none of them showed any signs of snipe at the end of the boards.Still probably good to run sacrificial pieces through with it, but so far it looks great and no snipe.

This planner is just what I needed to complete my workshop. It just does not get any simpler or accurate than this.I've been working with wood for about a year now, so this review comes from someones who is just starting, a planner was on my wishlist but since I have limited space to work, my equipment is stored in a room and every time I'm going to use it, I need to carry it outside. So for starters I need it to be as light as possible and also as compact as possible.I had some planner in mind, including the DeWalt DW734 which is about $120 more expensive and also half and inch less capacity. It may sound like a small difference in capacity, but trust me that that half inch is a huge deal.I cannot be happier with this purchase, the day I got it home, it took me literally 3 minutes to start planning. I am fairly good following instructions but like I said before, I am a woodworking newbie.The results from planning that board on the pictures is a completely smooth surface, practically I don't even need to sand it, although I will cause I want it even smoother but really I could just leave it like that.Also I can confirm that the unit will plane a 13 inch board cause that is the exact size of this board.About the quality of construction, this seems like a very sturdy machine, no rattling or anything of the sort. I also own another WEN machine, a 6524 oscillating belt sander and that unit has not given me any issues after a year from purchase. So I am not worried about that.The way you measure the amount of material to cut is a very intuitive design. you slide the beginning of your board in the machine, the board will push a small button on the machine and that will give you the amount to be removed. You could remove up to 1/8" in a single pass, although I find that taking less material doing more passes is preferable. For me, 1/16" is the perfect amount.On top of the machine there is a crank that you turn to lower and raise the cutter, this crank is very sensitive, a 1/4 turn is what I do after every pass.The dust collection system works well, it is not perfect, there will be chips in your workshop, but overall it is more than adequate. Maybe if I used a more powerful vacuum, that could do the trick. the machine comes with an adaptor that will fit most vacuum hoses.I tested the level of the trays on both sides of the machine and right out of the box they were super squared, no need to fiddle with that.Finally we need to talk about Snipe, that is one issue that did had me worried. Some internet users were stating that the snipe was noticeable while others said it was almost non existent. I am happy to announce that for me that is not noticeable. As you can see from the pictures, there may be a small amount of snipe since that is just the way these benchtop planner work, but for me it is barely noticeable sometimes only.Like I said, weight was one of the most important factors to determine which machine to get, and they don't get any lighter than this one, partly because this machine does not have the granite surface bellow the cutter where the wood slide, this one has a metal plate that it may get scratched more but the weight savings are well worth it.Overall very impressed and very satisfied with this purchase.