I bought the Felder overhead guard.? Coming from a cabinet saw with the old Excalibur overhead guard/dust collector, the performance is much the same.? Overhead dust collection is good and it generally captures about 99% of the dust.? The exception is when you are trimming an edge, which usually throws a bunch of dust out onto the table anyways.? With a good enough dust collector, I can get enough suction where small pieces of wood are sucked up into the dust collector (even with a smaller 3" host between the hood and the duct drop).? I have also seen solutions like a 4" dust hose hanging from the ceiling that connects to a blade guard.? This should not be considered a "blade gaurd" unless the blade guard is firmly attached to the table.
In the U.K., you are likely best off getting the Felder guard (though I don't know the costs).? Here in the U.S., I have seen people using the old Excalibur guards on a slider as well as the Grizzly over-head guard (which is similar to the Excalibur).? Looking at all the option, the Harvey overhead dust collector seems to be very well engineered and is the most "Europe-like" in its design:
It it cheaper than the Felder guard (at least here in the U.S.).? One of the things I noticed about it is how easy it is to push away when you don't need it.? This is a double-edged sword, however, because if you somehow "fall into the guard", it may not protect you from the blade since it is so easy to "push away".? The Felder guard (once secured using the bolt) is not going to be "pushed away" if you somehow fall into it which makes it a better safety device.
