Suggestions on which handheld router to purchase, please?

[gavin randall]

my advice, based on using cheap, middle of the road and quality routers over the last four years making wooden surfboards, is buy the best you can afford.

i use routers daily and since swapping over to makita ones i have never looked back. for my main cutting work i use a 1/2" rp2301 which is a big router but easy to handle, i also use a makita rt0700 which is a small handheld 1/4" router/laminate trimmer and is a genius thing.

the only other thing is don’t scrimp on router bits, again buy the best you can afford.

[Martin Pearson]

Depends what you want to do with it really, if your going to be running it daily for a few hours at a time then as has already been suggested buy a quality brand that’s made for the job.
If it’s for occasional use, the odd job here & there then you will probably be ok with any machine. I have a cheap machine bought from Aldi which I have been using for years without any problems but it doesn’t get used very often.

I would advise buying decent bits though, they will make more of a difference, I run a CNC router so most of my cutters are bought for that rather than the hand held machine.