I've had a BAS315 since new and personally wouldn't worry about China. Mine was definitely made in Germany and although it's OK, there are plenty of things that the Germans didn't get right! If the Chinese can do those things better, then all well and good.
Just some specific points. As someone has said, the guides are pretty poor, as is the vertical blade cover. I've recently upgraded mine and it makes a big difference. If you look at the Bedford Saws website here...
https://www.bedfordsaw.co.uk/blade-guid ... 6-bandsaws
You will see that for £65, they do an upgrade kit for this Saw. Fitting this has made a huge difference to the Saw...partly the use of bearings throughout at top and bottom, but the new guard is far superior to the original German and with this upgrade, you can get to the lock screws for all the various bearings/settings without breaking your wrist or dismantling the Saw. The instructions are pretty good although weren't quite right for my saw. There was a small area of fouling but I was able to remove that area of metal using a Fein Multimaster and a metal cutting blade. The results of this upgrade have changed the BAS315 into a far more competent machine and for £65 and a few hours work, I'd thoroughly recommend it.
Given that I'm very careful with all my machinery and tools and never overload anything, I'd also say that the original German motor failed. It was fun getting that replaced and of course it wasn't cheap.
So regardless of where the machine was made, I'd say that if you accept where that machine fits in the overall scale of things for these machines, you can pretty easily fettle the machine and make real tangible improvements.
BigBertie
