I've had the Jet model for 4 years. I use it for leveling wide and narrow boards and planing highly figured wood. It gets the job done but it's sloooow. It also leaves a less than a smooth surface, regardless of how fine a grit is used, so finish sanding starting at 60 is required. (If one uses fine drum grits, greater than 100, things really get slow - rush it and you get burned wood, and it still produces scratches.) One of the most important things in an open ended sander like these is adjusting the drum to be parallel to the drive belt under load. This adjustment can be finicky. What's right for a 12 inch board may not be for a 24" board. I've had one quality problem with mine, the electronics that control the feed belt failed, $150 for parts and and hour's labor to fix. High capacity dust collection is mandatory. If I had to replace this sander I'd seriously consider a 20" helix planer, any pieces wider than 20" I'd send out or use a planner bit on a router.
