Stanley 78 vs Record 778. Our impression

During a visit to my friend Michele, who owns a Record 778 plane, we enjoyed comparing it with my Stanley 78 to observe the technical differences and performance. Both planes are suitable for cutting rebates up to about 3 cm wide.

Looking at the two planes, the difference in their parallel guides is immediately noticeable. The Stanley (on the left) is supported by only one circular bar, unlike the Record, which uses two circular bars for support.
Both planes have a stop on the right side for adjusting the rebate depth.

Another difference concerns the depth adjustment system: the Record 778 features a convenient wheel for fine regulation, while the Stanley 78 uses a coarser lever that can easily be pushed downward accidentally during use, compromising the blade setting.

The blade rests on the bed with two points of contact—at the top and on a machined area just above the mouth. We measured the extension of this area, which is important for the stability of the cutting edge. On the Stanley 78, this contact area was about twice as large as on the Record. Looking more closely at the two parallel guides, we see that the Record’s guide has three holes, which are useful for attaching an auxiliary wooden fence—important for increasing stability while planing.

Unfortunately, both guides were slightly out of square (more so on the Stanley 78), but on the Record 778, this can be easily corrected by adjusting the auxiliary hardwood fence.
Both planes also feature a spur just in front of the mouth, used for cutting cross-grain rebates (although we didn’t test this feature).
We then sharpened the blades with a 25° bevel and a 30° microbevel, and tested the planes on a flat and square pine board (Michele is in the photo).
We didn’t find significant differences in performance (we even swapped the blades to detect any variations in steel quality).
The Record 778 seemed to us better designed in terms of technical solutions—especially thanks to the two support rods, the option to add a larger hardwood fence, and the more precise and easy-to-use depth adjustment system. However, its price on online auctions is significantly higher than that of a Stanley 78.