Stangage

About the only thing that Sawstop really can be guaranteed to save is cold hotdogs slowly pushed into to path of the saw blade. Even at relatively slow feed rates, the 20 millisecond or so response time of the SS system is going to cut about 1/2" deep or about the width of a typical finger. I'd really like to see Mr. saw stop demo his own product in the case where he is pushing something through the saw at a normal feed rate.
I challenged one factory demo'er to try this even with a hot dog and he refused. Why? Presumably because it would clearly show that the little nick that you get in a slow moving hot dog turns into two pieces of hot dog under realistic usage conditions.

The whole thing's a marketing sham. How much is Assemblyman Williams getting for his next campaign to return to the perpetual governmental feed trough that is California government?

So this device and the Saw Stop will stop the blade in 1/8 second more or less. SO?? What's it really worth other than keeping a couple of hot dogs from becoming 4 hot dogs.
Let's say the user of saw is daydreaming while running lots of crosscuts or rips at about a 1 foot per second feed rate. Not unusually fast but not so slow that you're going to get burning. 1 FOOT. That's 12 inches folks!!!! (1/8)X12 = ???
Altogether now 1.5. RIGHT!! That's a little over 2-1/4 of my fingers if I start at the pinky side or 1/2 the length of my thumb. Yeah! There's probably a discount when the Doc is reattaching more than 2 fingers but really now - when inventors start demonstrating their products with their hands in real shop situations then you will know that the product is worth more than just enriching some inventors. Good shop safety practices and due diligence is still the only safe way to go.

While the Sawstop will prevent much damage to a hotdog being slowly pushed through a spinning table saw blade (not so the $100 saw blade and the $60 cartridge) a little bit of simple analysis would demonstrate that it is probably much less effective against the types of careless use that have triggered an interest in this supposed savior of fingers and arms.
Let's say a user is pushing small stock through the blade fast. About 7 feet per second is probably not unrealistic (about the speed of a moderate walking pace). At 5 milliseconds to stop the blade, the cut is still going to progress about 1/2 inch through the flesh and bone of the contacting digit. If the user is slipping or falling or reaching out quickly to grab a falling piece of stock, probably even worse.
The next time you see a Saw Stop demo, instead of being sweet talked into a false sense of safety by the slow push demo, take the hot dog and gently slap the top of the blade - and proceed to pick up the 2 pieces.
I'd lay odds that if the demonstrator is a factory rep they won't let you do this predicated more than likely on the argument that "it's too dangerous". What's wrong with this picture?
You're only safe when you work safely. SawStop will give you the false illusion that you're protected from dumb or inattentive behavior. You're not!!!!!

I too have seen the demos of the Saw Stop. Lots of loud wiz-bang happens if you slowly slide a hot dog up to the blade. The poor hot dog is barely nicked.
But the lawsuit describes the plaintiffs hand slipping into the blade or coming downward on top of the blade -as if when he lost control of his work he was falling forward or some such scenario.
If you assume that that motion was a rather conservative 20 mph then simple math would tell you that in the 5 milliseconds it takes Saw Stop to react Mr Osorio would have a 1.3" deep cut. Even at 5 mph (a typical walking pace)the depth of damage would have been enough to sever a finger

The next time you see saw stop demo'd ask the snake oil salesman to slap the top of the blade with the hot dog - or perhaps his hand if he really believes his hype. What you'll see is that the hot dog or hand is just as badly mangled as it would be with any other saw!!!

Saw Stop can prevent injury in some instances but one one described isn't one of them.