Router - Which Features Should I Look For?

[S. Heisley]

Not about the router but, rather, about the reviews, I've read and been told that you can't trust the Internet "star" reviews that people post anymore. It seems that some companies will have their employees "puff up" their ratings on their manufactured goods. I wouldn't put it past them to down-grade other companies' manufactured goods, either.

I would trust ratings and information given here more than the Internet "star" review ratings on the product.

[eamarquardt]

Not about the router but, rather, about the reviews, I've read and been told that you can't trust the Internet "star" reviews that people post anymore. It seems that some companies will have their employees "puff up" their ratings on their manufactured goods. I wouldn't put it past them to down-grade other companies' manufactured goods, either.

I would trust ratings and information given here more than the Internet "star" review ratings on the product.

I went to a local car dealer years ago as the airbag light on my wife's car went off when I removed the seat to clean the carpet. They charged me $100 to reset it claiming it took an hour and required ............................ Turns out all that had to be done was disconnect the battery and then reconnect it. I went back to another one of the stores owned by the same outfit and they refused to make me a key for a car as it wasn't in my name because I had just bought it and hadn't registered it in my name yet. I had the pink slip (title documents) and the car had been signed over to me. They claimed it was a violation of the law to make a key for anyone other than the registered owner. The law says they just have to put the name of the person they made the key for on the work order. Anyway I went to Yelp and left detailed accounts of how they fleeced me and refused to follow the law. Those reviews disappeared within hours and I was blocked from leaving further reviews.

I wouldn't believe virtually anything you read on the net. It is clear that some sites can be manipulated by deleting poor reviews and posting false good reviews.

Buyer beware.

Gus

[lancew]

I went to a local car dealer years ago as the airbag light on my wife's car went off when I removed the seat to clean the carpet. They charged me $100 to reset it claiming it took an hour and required ............................ Turns out all that had to be done was disconnect the battery and then reconnect it. I went back to another one of the stores owned by the same outfit and they refused to make me a key for a car as it wasn't in my name because I had just bought it and hadn't registered it in my name yet. I had the pink slip (title documents) and the car had been signed over to me. They claimed it was a violation of the law to make a key for anyone other than the registered owner. The law says they just have to put the name of the person they made the key for on the work order. Anyway I went to Yelp and left detailed accounts of how they fleeced me and refused to follow the law. Those reviews disappeared within hours and I was blocked from leaving further reviews.



okay, wait.... i dont want to turn this into another subject but, really !?!?!? you cant get a key made unless you show paperwork ? i have never heard of that. good gawd as your sister state (Illinois) i hope we dont get a law such as this.
oh and yes it does take an hour to reset the seatbelt light. you fail to realize by the time the workorder is printed, mechanic receives workorder, cleans up his tool and workstation, walks to vehicle, looks vehicle over for damages <so you cant say they dented car>, drive into workstation, check for change and candy , write down mileage , look for idiot lights , look for hood release, grab the 10 mm socket, you get the jiff of things here.
sorry peeps and thanks.

[Fenlason]

I have been offered a financial gain.. to write a favorable review online for a product I had not even received yet.

while I do at times read on-line reviews.. I take all of them with a grain of salt.. good ones... and bad ones..

[S. Heisley]

Sorry. I didn't mean to send this thread onto another topic. Getting back to the router, I also agree that it depends on how much you're going to use it. If you're only going to use it once, don't spend a lot. If you're going to use it a lot, listen to the folks here and get a good one....Hope that helps put things back on topic.

[jeff0520]

In the WoodTalk Online forums there has been a lot of chatter lately that Porter Cable has taken a nose dive in quality lately. I don't know from my own experiance, but that's what I'm hearing. On the Command Post I'm using a 25 year old Craftsman router I borrowed from a friend. That is a sweet machine that is working wonderfully. I also bought a Harbor Freight router table combo. It has a 1 3/4 HP Harbor Freight plunge router with it. It's a little finicky to set up, but it holds the setting once you set it up. It's not great, but it gets the job done reliably. The fence and dust collection shroud work surprisingly well.

[Todah Tear]

Lots of good feedback about the routes which I will take into consideration.

As far as internet reviews, I know that some can be fluff. However, I often times leave reviews, especially when I find good quality merchandize. Lowes screwed up a fence installation royally, which had to be ripped out totally. They had the nerve to ask me to sign a "gag" agreement that I would not share my experience with anyone or on any social forum.... Guess as to what my response was ...

Todah

[eamarquardt]

Lots of good feedback about the routes which I will take into consideration.

As far as internet reviews, I know that some can be fluff. However, I often times leave reviews, especially when I find good quality merchandize. Lowes screwed up a fence installation royally, which had to be ripped out totally. They had the nerve to ask me to sign a "gag" agreement that I would not share my experience with anyone or on any social forum.... Guess as to what my response was ...

Todah

Did they offer to pay you to keep quiet? Enquiring minds want to know.

Cheers,

Gus

[Roly Nelson]

A router is a wonderful tool. I bought a sears cheapie 30 years ago, and even though I have more professional plunge-type routers, I often fall back on my light weight little gem, that has lasted all of these years. I haven't used my router table for years, I find it is quicker to just clamp my porter-cable router into my bench vice and route away. It's a neat tool, saves a lot of time and always makes the end result damned near perfect. Good luck, and be sure to use carbide tipped bits without fail.
Roly ~~

[Todah Tear]

.......Did they offer to pay you to keep quiet? Enquiring minds want to know.

Cheers,

Gus

They didn't offer cash directly...but I wouldn't/couldn't sign it - period.

Todah

[skline25]

Routers are a personal choice, everyone will say the brand they have is great. Choose a router for the primary job that you want it to do. My recommendation is to go for the 1/2 inch collet due to the availability of high quality bits, but a trim router for around $100 is great for thiner plywood and laminate work. Personally I own 5-6 routers of different sizes (Horsepower) and different makers. The reason for so many is I use each for different type of projects. It can be nice not always changing the same bits back an forth on the same project. You get what you pay for, but you do not need to spend a huge amount of cash unless you are planning on doing fine woodworking projects or a large kitchen cabinet project. Brand wise I would stick with are Porter Cable, Hitachi and Milwaukee. A cheaper router I like is the Triton which I use in a router table due to the ease of adjustment without buying an expensive lifting mechanism. Speaking of router tables, I have my set into my table saw to save on space. kind of wordy, but I hope this helps. Scott