Porter Cable 891 - 2 1/4HP GripVac Router

Wow..no responses for 220 days….sorry about that Cheyenne.
FYI for anyone else…I have a 891 mounted in a table and works fine. The shaft/spindle does get hot if running for more than 15 minutes or so. I believe that is the reason there are some bad reviews was do to the overheating.
But mine is still running fine after 5 or so years.

-- Gary; Marysville, MI...Involve your children in your projects as much as possible, the return is priceless.

I have a porter cable 890 router with the plunge base. It is my favorite hand held router and is only used minimal for small tasks. Just Friday we used it to route out a rabbit on back side of door frames for glass inserts. The plunge action is very smooth and the router is overall my favorite router. I also have a couple 690 fixed base routers. But my second favorite router is our 3 1/2 up Milwaukee.

-- Jerry Nettrour, San Antonio, www.topqualitycabinets.net

When I looked at rhe P/C 890 series routers, it seemed that the height adjuster had a ton of backlash on it so I ended up buying a Bosch 1617EVS which has been a good router and has a much more precise height adjuster.

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

Cheyenne:

I have two 891s, and love both – one in the table, one for the hand-held. From my research, you either get very good machines or you get bad ones – everyone seems polarized. My table-mounter router has never found a cut too difficult; and my hand-held is well-balanced, powerful, and predictable. I agree with MC that the height adjustment is rough and playful, and the castings are not precise.

Buying new, the 891 has serious competition from Bosch, which is what I would go for; and Festool 1400 – more pricey, but eminently more versatile within a robust system (the Festool system is extremely functional and expensive).

-- Lead By Example; Make a Difference