[georgebarr]

As I was shopping for my first router, I stumbled on a great deal. It is a Hitachi M12V 3-1/4 HP router for $170 found at amazon.com. It list for $541 and for $170, it is about 70% off. The reviews seem excellent. I just made an order for this router which will come in the mail the first week of March. What do you think of this router? I am not sure, but it may have the "constant speed" feature but I did not read this from the description. I read that the Makita routers are very quiet, but the reviews say they die out. Any opinions??

[CraftWorx]

I used a guys compound sliding miter saw on a job a few years back and it was a very nice tool. Have never used the routers from Hitachi, but if they are of the same quality as the saw, you should be in good shape.

Aaron

[AJ_Mac2001]

when you get it, I'd be interested to know what the dimensions of the tool are with the base, handles, etc stripped off.

My cnc design uses a z axis with limited clearance (ie a fat router won't fit in there)... my makita is about 4" diamter and it just sneaks into the space... from the looks of it the Hitachi it is a bit bigger.

good luck.. sounds like you found a deal!

[barkster]

I bought one too on ebay, NIB with all the extras for $140. Couldn't pass up the deal, the price is just right and hopefully it will be comparable to the porter cable that is twice as much. My hitachi cordless drill is awesome and have had it for about 10 years now and still works great.

[fyffe555]

I've used a M12V in woodworking. For that it's an excellent buy. It's fairly heavy, 12lbs, quieter and smoother than my porter cable or a dewalt I've also tried. It's variable speed is controlled so the motor doesn't bog down or change speed under load. It's a genuinely powerful 15a motor unlike some others. I'm pretty sure it's speed range is somewhere between 8 and 25krpm. It's not your regular aluminum cylinder router though, so mounting may require some thought. Instead it's roughly rectangular cross section with a plastic upper body which limits your mounting options a little. As a plunge router it has slide rods and springs intereated into the body either side of the motor. Works well for woodworking and in a (upside down) router table so mounting to the base alone may be the option. You might want to consider removing the springs, a wood router table trick, if you intend mounting the router permanently down in the compressed position. The Base does have an unusually wide hole for bit clearance which is good. The collet arrangement 1/2 bits - no second 1/4 collet but a slide in adapter, if so you need something else then a you'd need a custom adapter. Also note that it comes with a spindle lock and one wrench. Its a single wrench bit change arrangement, not two wrenches like other routers, although the shaft does have hex flats on it should you want to find another wrench and use two.

That's about it. Its a good machine, mounting it would be the issue I think. Most machines here mount directly to the routher body and I can't see how you could do that with an m12v right now and you'd have to risk buying one and stripping it to see what's under the plastic. Mounting it using the plunge base might open you up to movement.

hth

Andrew