Router Purchasing Help

Hitachi KM12VC … We have this router and it’s beautiful. Just have a look what comes with it. Also, on the box it has a 5 year warranty. Under $200 as well.

-- Michael and Matthew

I’m surprised you have not already gotten a flurry of replies with people defending their favorite brands, but to be honest, I think when it’s all said and done with this thread, the name you will hear the most often is Bosch, Bosch, and Bosch.
I own a Porter-Cable combo, one Craftsman variable speed, two Bosch (one variable, one not), a Rigid variable speed and a Harbor Freight I got so cheap I could not walk past it. By far and away, my go-to routers are always, always my Boschs. Bosch in the router table, Bosch usually in my hands for free-style. I do keep one Porter-Cable set up with a large door panel bit for when I use that profile, but I would not use it that much anyway.

Bosch.

-- Paul, Tennessee, http://www.tsunamiguitars.com

I’m afraid my router and table are stored under the bench. I barely have room for the tools I use daily in my garage. I just added a jointer and if I can make some room, I plan to add a planer this or next week. I guess I could use my planer and router on the same table when I build one.
For any tool you buy, you just need to ask yourself what you will be doing and is this the right tool for that job. So many woodworkers just try and get the most expensive best reviewed tool on the market and end up with a shop full of nice tools that never get used. Get the router you need for what you plan to do.
I went with the PC combo with the table. It’s a 2.5 HP and it will do anything I want, but it’s not a plunge. For plunge routing I prefer something small like for end-overs. If you make jigs for larger boards you might want to find a router with a square base. There are a million little subtleties to tool buying.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

“so are there any router that would be able to mount to a router and then be able to use a tool to raise from the top?”

Milwaukee and Triton both make routers that are designed to be mounted in a table with through the table height adjustment.

If you are going to leave this router in a table, the more power, the better.

-- "The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." -- Benjamin Franklin