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I voted the Hatachi. I have had a TR12 for about 20 years now even though it does not get a lot of work from day to day, it's still done it's fair share of heavy work in its life.
On the other hand I have at my disposal the GMC, Makita, Towa and Black and Decker routers and they all perform the job required. I must say though I have taken a liking to the D Handle GMC routers that I bought for $40 each. How long they last is another question.
Daniel
My first router - a triton
Grunt,
Variable speed - great for the larger bits and when I'm moulding the Brush box!
Great in the table,
I would say that it's centre of gravity when hand held tends to be something you need to get used too - a bit top heavy and prone to tilting.
For WIW
Having sold my long serving TR12 some time ago to buy a Triton, I now want to go back to a Hitachi. The M12V has all the right features, so fellow WW's with respect for our hard earned $$$'s where is the best deal??? Victoria preferred.
Regards
Gwhat
a makita 3612 went at the auction house for $90 this morning.I was so dumbstruck I couldn't even whimper a bid :o Other treasures included a Stanley 71 hand router for $70 and a Stanley combo plane for $105.Why do I torture myself by watching? :confused: As I sit here my shed is being erected outside the window.Happy,happy days (3.8 by 3.0) metres of MINE MINE MINE.It may be small,but it shall be productive.
Before the Triton came along I purchased the Bosche 1300 ACE.
Standard in-depth research resulted in the ACE being the best features for the best price at $300.
I just picked up the Triton last night.
$230 in brand new condition. Instead of bunnings $399.
Intended for the table since its top heavy.
And the beautiful Bosch 1300 ACE for hand held work.
All the Triton desingers had to do was to look at every router on the market at the time and pick out the best features and start from there. Targeting their own products and a reasonable price range. Not an easy task but they had an incredible head start compared to 25 years ago.
Ended up being packaged with an incredible amount of features.
I wonder what went into the 25 year old routers?
What else was on the market 25 years ago to compare features and price?
Its hard (for me) to think they even had plunging rounters back then. :p And forget about a variable depth gague. Yeah, I'm showing my, what?, 5 years of interst in woodworking. :D
All the best.
I have had a Hitachi TR12 for about 25 - 30 years and is still going strong, A bit heavy for hand held work though. I mounted it in a Leigh FMT with excellent results and will mount it in a table soon. I recently bought a de Walt 621, this is easier to handle (lighter), good dust extraction. Pat Warner gives it a good rev. www.patwarner.com, but it needs an offset sub base for more effective control.
With the use of template guides fo a great number of projects and constructing a template the weight is taken care ofQuote:
Originally Posted by rbjozzia
Up the mighty Triton router, bought it a little while ago now and it still runs like a charm!
I have had my Hitachi for about 19 years and I notice the new ones are much the same. I have dropped it, treated it with a fair bit of disrespect and it keeps on going. Fits well it my Triton router table as well.
Chum
I too have had an Hitachi for about 20yrs and yes it does make a bit of noise but it certainly is still going strong. For my next one I will look at variable speed for bigger bits
I picked up my Triton about a week ago (using the Bunnings 10% idea...)
Gotta say, Im not a pro but this machine has got everything I will ever need. Prior to this I have been using a very old Hitachi and a Makita that I got from garage sales. Having three routers seems to me excessive and I'll likely get rid of the Mak (not V/S) but having two is very handy for keeping different setups.
Next on the list is the bench.
Another poll question: can you have enough (or too many) router bits AND which do you find yourself using most?
J!
Unfortunately routers are like clamps, just when you think you have enough you find you need another.
6 routers and climbing.
Clamps...no idea...bloody lots.
tooo many routers is barely enough. :D