The good and bad. . .

Jeff,

This is a nice review. It sounds like this is a passable single purpose router but for $20 it does look like a decent buy.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

okay, forgive me for being a miser. but I love harbor freight for the simple fact that it’s dirt cheap. (just bought 8 sets of 1” pipe clamps for 2.49 a pair.) I also have the chicago electric 1 1/4 horsepower plunge router from HF. LOL the thing has gone south several times. But has always been resurrectable. It’s not nice, or fancy, and the plunge lock can be less than friendly. but for the 25 bucks. I have more than gotten my monies worth out of it. that being said, I so gotta buy me a new router. thanks alot. LOL

-- I came, I saw, I pondered...

My take on HF is as you indicated just don’t buy electrical, battery powered, or their corner clamps. I bought their 4” angle grinder and sparks shoot of every time it’s turned on. If you can go to a HF store and look at the items before you buy

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

HF is junk in any electric tool, don’t waste your money

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

I don’t disagree in whole with the junk comments. I’ve gotten my fair share of just that there. However, many of their products are very passable and obviously inexpensive. Most would agree that things like screwdrivers, sockets, and other simple tools have little variance in quality for a hobbyist. I’ve hit and missed with clamps. The 3/4 pipe clamps don’t compare to other low end ones and especially not the high dollar clamps. Most serve their purpose fairly well if you can except having to get toss 10% of them as unusable. Hardware is a good find for my tastes as well. I like to have a decent variety of machine and wood screws on hand. They make it cheap to do so and screw quality is negligible in many ways. In short, hit and miss.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I bought a 3hp router there 4 yrs ago and put it in my router table. Now I’m no contractor, nor do I make a living at doing carpentry anymore, however, that being said, my son and nephews used it to finish out my entire house insideout with some very nice trim, some maple others #2 select pine, windows, doors and baseboard. Plus my nephew used it for some of his other jobs at the time for a couple yrs. So it’s seen its share of work and I still use it with good results. So I must have been one of the lucky ones. Other electric tools I’ve bought there I’ve used a few times and they’ve gone south as you’ve said. But I still like the place and will get hooked into buying stuff there, shop rags, little glue brushes, compressor tools, whatever. I’m just a born junkpicker.

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

I’m with you Mike, I’ve got a lot of rags, glue/foam brushes, and other quality negligible things there. I’ve got the dus too, as I’ve mentioned. A wannabe Workmate and a outfeed roller support stand both had hardware that broke within days of use. Hit and miss, but like you, I keep taking shots at things I think the quality won’t be a factor in. I was surprised in a digital caliper I got there. Highly accurate and has good life for the watch size battery.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I couldn’t agree with you more! I go to the local store pretty often. I’m a bit leary about their power tools; hjowever for “consumables” (i.e. sandpaper, 1-2 use bits, etc) they’re a great source. Also, I have been impressed with the wood clamps and the aluminium bar clamps!

-- GlennL, New Jersey

The HF router sounds like a good deal for a dedicated 1/8 – 1/4” roundover bit. Might save a little time in the shop, especially if you’re doing multiple routing jobs and want to quickly knock off an edge.

-- Randy, Tupelo, MS ~ May I become more like the Master Carpenter every day.

Sorta off topic but since we’re talking about HF. Anybody try there Laser Arbor Guide on their miter saw? I keep getting coupons for this thing making it only $10. The problem is my local HF NEVER stocks it and you can’t use the coupon on line. They claim they stock it and are just out but I’ve checked every week for over a month and they are always “out”.

-- Total Freakin Newbie

I bought this same router about 10 years ago from HF.

For the 20 bucks it is ok for occational use.

Device finally gave-up a couple months ago. Plastic base broke

My next small router purchase will probably be a used name brand found on craigslist.

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Thought I’d add a note as the timing was ironic. I was flush trimming 3/4 cedar attached to a 1/4 melamine/hardboard template last night and the bit climbed about 1/4” upwards out of the collet. I can deal with a lot of short comings, but that is a bit scary. I tried to check the variables (bit, collet, etc.) and couldn’t put my finger on the problem. The bit shank is fine and the collet was prperly tightened. That leads me to believe the collet must have loosened under load. I might have to stick to my Bosch trimmer.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I have this little router and it is cheap and it does have its cheezy problems but it is less than $20 but it will do some nice touch ups and if it quits running then into the trash and I will not be cursing the loss. At the cost of one of the better trim routers I would have to fix it and parts usally cost more than a new one. HF is a good place to get a lot of items until I win the Lotto.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

I got a simple heat gun from HF a while back for really cheap, and you do get what you pay for. I had sparks shooting out at my project and got the crap scared out of me. I stick to buying non-plug in tools from there now.

-- christopheralan http://www.projectwoodworks.com