I’m not a fan of direct drive saws. They lack the torque for difficult wood, the smoothness of a belt drive, and the mass of a cast iron top for accuracy and durability. Their fences are usually cheap junk, not the precision tool you’ll find on a better saw. They have only nominal dust collection and, as you’ve found, they’re not very durable. In hard use, I would give them a year or two. In consumer use, yeah, a decade of hobby use.
I’m honestly impressed that you got that much life out of it.
If your budget is $500, OK, direct drive with cast top. It’s a disposable, consumer-level product. Fine for a bit of trim on a job site, or some average carpentry. Not at all a fine woodworking machine.
But $1,000 gets you into a contractor saw. Induction motor, cast iron, good fence. A Biesemeyer fence would be great. Cast iron table and wings. Cast iron trunnion. The good ones will have a motor that can be re-wired to 220V. I re-wired my Delta 20 years ago. Huge performance difference. I won’t go back to 110V.
The Delta Unifence that I’ve got is no longer made, but I love it. A quality, precision piece that continues to perform brilliantly 30+ years after I got it. The Biesemeyer has a great reputation. Regardless of what you choose, get one with a good fence.
For $1,500 you start getting into cabinet saws. Better dust collection, more power, more weight. But that’s a big expense. For me, for a hobby, the contractor saw, with cast iron, induction motor and good fence, is the sweet spot in the cost/performance curve.
