Homebase & B&Q own-brand tools

[G&M]

No - it's a lower powered one - same as the NuTools.

[mike]

They have the Freud one too - 1900W - on clearance at the moment.

[Tony Bryer]

I collected my fixed B&D drill from the branch in Brentford (behind PC World) last Saturday and they were very much in business then. But I couldn't swear it was BMJ: to me it's still the B&D shop.

[Andrew]

That's the one I have and I'm more than pleased with it. I don't use any of the "free" cutters though.

Andrew

[PoP]

The £99 jobbie. Easily the most awful router I've tried to use. The problems included the following:

1) For a 2KW router it had the performance of 800W. It literally slowed down significantly when taking only a minimum cut. 2) The depth lock did not grip - as you traversed a cut the cutter would dig deeper into the material. No amount of squeezing on the lock lever would coerce the router into sticking to the set depth. 3) After only a short time of use my hands were supremely aching by virtue of the fact that the switch was hard to hold in, and the other hand was squeezing real hard on the depth lock lever. 4) The dust extraction fitting prevented the router from plunging to its advertised depth. 5) It was noisy and there was vibration when the router was in operation - which suggests that either the bearings were crap or that they were out of alignment.

I was using brand new kitchen worktop bits - I tried a couple of different bits.

I think there may have been a couple more points which I can't remember now. Took it back, got a full refund, and purchased a Trend T9. Now that's what I call a router :)

You might like to be aware that at the time I took my router back the exact same rebadged router was for sale in Bracknell town square in a cut-price store for £39, and they were obviously still able to command a profit. That PowerPro router appears to have been a rebadged Rolson, which is a chinese or indian import.

PoP

Sending email to my published email address isn't guaranteed to reach me.

[norm]

Don't waste your money on those orange handled chisels !

[dmc]

BMJ power in Chatham certainly shut down with little notice a while back (there was a thread on here I seem to remember). I rang them at the start of the week and agreed to take a drill in to be repaired - when I went on the friday they were closed :-(

Shame. Always had excellent service from them.

Darren

[Dave]

Any comments on the Wicks 30 squid router any one?

1/4 6mm and 8mm (5/16) collets.

Dave