Wen made some respectable designs. Their 909 Allsaw is one fantastic saber saw (nowadays called "jig saw," a term that used to apply to stationary machines). Alas, they made the decision to use their own shank size on the saw, so the saw requires some fussing to use as a daily tool. You have to either grind down reciprocating saw blades (with a limited choice for anything but demolition work) or make some kind of adapter to take modern jigsaw blades.
I don't know what doomed them in the market, but suspect it may have been this decision to go their own way, among many other factors.
Later edit: I realized, looking at that again, that the motor shell is very similar to that on the Allsaw. I recently purchased a Wen reciprocating saw at a yard sale (I offered $1, and stood there looking firm until the seller agreed), and it also has a similar motor shell. The motors were probably designed with as many interchangeable parts as possible, for production efficiency.
