Hi Shawn
The San Diego Fine Woodworking Association has a woodworking shop for exclusive use by its members.? One of the table saws is a Sawstop with the slider, so I've used it (or tried to) for years.? I can say that even though the member shop enjoys the services of a professional who keeps the equipment well-calibrated and running smoothly (and he does an excellent job), the SS slider was never a commonly usable piece of gear.?
I would sometimes get in right after he had spent yet another hour fiddling with it, and he'd tell me, "Well, you'll get a good cut for the first 5 or 10 cuts, but then she'll start to slip, and after that you're on your own, and all bets are off it you're not gentle with it or accidentally bump it".? If you were not the first user immediately after one of his efforts, you had zero chance of getting precision or accuracy from the slider.
I was also lucky enough to attend Palomar College's School of Cabinet and Furniture Making, and they have a pile of Saw Stops.? Only one is set up to accept the slider, and in my 2 years there, they only fully set up the slider once, and that was just to demonstrate to someone that the slider could not be used to produce quality results.? The school also employs a team of professionals to maintain its millions of dollars in woodworking equipment. That slider did have a rough life -- hundreds of students, many of whom were experiencing their first table saw, used it, so perhaps it's excusable, but it's another data point for you to consider.
I should add that in both these cases, the Sawstop saws themselves were universally regarded as excellent saws, entirely reliable and capable of working hard, working often and producing excellent results.? Before I bought my Hammer, a SS was the only other choice.? Was was never an option for me was buying the slider.
