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For the money they are great routers as I have one in my table and one for freehand. You can't go wrong. I now have two of these. Both together costs about the same as a PC or Dewalt and its nice having two that are exactly the same.
So in the end this is a great router with a ton of features at a really great price, but is NOT as good as my Porter Cable. which makes it really hard (if not impossible) to accurately tell what speed you have it set on. Minus a half a star. Pros: Price. First off the speed control. worthless. The router is adjustable from 8K-24K RPMs.
Now if you read any of the other reviews you know why this router keeps a solid four+ star rating. A solid four stars. 1/2" and 1/4" collets included. Great power, not once have I had an issue with it bogging down. Cons: Speed control not labeled with the RPM speed, instead labeled with 1-6. After that the only other issues I have with it are the on/off switch (not all that easy to use and it won't automatically shut the router off when placed upside down like my PC router) and the fact that it's made in China and has a TON of plastic bits and pieces all over it. Five year warranty, totally awesome. On/off switch not as easy to use as my other routers.
Quieter then my Porter Cable and Craftsman. The features, the power, easy of use, all of that is in this package so I'm not going to delve into the details of what makes this a good router, I'm just going to stick with the issues I have with it. However figuring out what speed you have the router set to is hard because the knob is labeled 1-6.
I own several other Hitachi tools that have the same amount of plastic on them as this router and they are lasting and working just fine, so I don't think this is all that big of an issue, minus a half a star. Not sure on how all of the plastic is going to hold up over the years, verdict is still out on this one. Made in China.
This Hitachi router is a great router and for the price, really can't be beat. So I have to constantly remember that 1 is 8000 RPMs, 2 is 11200, 3 is 14400, 4 is 17600, 5 is 20800, and 6 is 24000. Includes wrenches.
Since I've started using the replacement I find I'm seeing the same issues- after one panel I've got to give the machine a break because it gets really hot and you can smell the stator cooking. I even made gradual cuts to avoid hogging off too much wood at one time. If your doing light work it's fine- if your doing heavy work-like raised panels you might want to avoid this unit-IMHO, of course. I bought this unit to replace one that I burned out making raised panel cuts. I thought I burned the first unit out by doing too many raised panels at once (3). Besides the overheating issue the router is great to work with, easy to set up and smooth.
It doesn't come with a dust cover or a hose port (usually just made of a piece of plastic) for the vacumn that you can find with cheaper router.
The adjustable speed makes CNC work a breeze. The price was right and the performance is one of a kind. It has very little plastic unlike other routers. The Hitachi M12VC 11 Amp router is the best. What more can I say. You won't find 2-1/4 HP like this one for the price.
It can run for long periods of time. I've purchased over a dozen routers in my lifetime. Not to put down other routers, but the Hitachi is the Corvette of routers. It's very quiet and easy to handle.
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