For completion of this thread - bought the Rubi DU200L BL in the end (fast, efficient service from ProTilerTools which had a special offer including stand). Boy, they weren't kidding about it being BASIC Line!
Probably just my unit but, the water pump is utter cr*p - only works when it feels like it. Originally thought it might need priming (filling up) with water but no, just dodgy pump. Worth returning the pump for replacement? Not worth the postage IMHO!
Seems to cut straight but the supplied blade isn't much cop. Says only suitable for ceramics but IMO barely. Dunno if it's just me but does anybody else expect a near perfect edge (no chipping) from a machine (ceramic)? And no, I'm not cutting too fast - tried different rates, from snail's pace to a quickish 15s to cut a 300 ceramic tile. Waiting for ATS continuous blade to compare. I get a better cut (on the surface - ie. no chipping) using a cheapo manual cutter. However, coming from an engineering background I'm a bit fussy about mm accurate cuts, which I can't get from the el cheapo manual cutter.
I bought the Rubi laser add on (not for the DU200 specifically) to reverse engineer onto the saw but there really is no usable place to mount it so there's no speedier way to line up unsquare cuts.
The bed/table is quite narrow. Slim cuts on 600 tiles need support and/or clamping. Rubi do an extension table for the DC range, which is a hook on attachment. It can be reverse engineered to fit the DU but would involve offsetting one side of the table and, therefore, the attached guide/rule.
The stand does the job but has no adjustments whatsoever for unflat surfaces. It's narrow and doesn't have splayed feet so can feel a bit unstable
Anybody else a bit disapponted with the lack of thought or pragmatic design (with negligible increase to production cost) going into products? The tank (ie bottom of the saw) is completely flat, other than the mounting flanges for the stand. It's clearly designed to go on the (stupidly) optional dedicated stand anyway so why they didn't stamp graduated grooves sloping (on two axis) toward the drain hole is beyond me. Perhaps it's just my industrial designer training nagging at me there!
Other than those niggles, the saw seems to do what it says on the tin. For those interested, there is a good thread over at
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=94011 where one has been thoroughly tested and modded. To me, although it's supposed to be a basic product, it could benefit from these fixes to warrant the extra premium over the competing basic offerings from QEP/Vitrex.
Just my two penneth.