Routers with badge labels

[mutley]

Following an earlier post asking about slot cutting I have been looking at Routers. From the pictures available it looks as if several makes are identical to each other and 'badge engineered' as BMC used to do for cars: e.g. some Ryobi routers look just the same as B&Q Performance Power Pro ones, and Axminster's own brand appear very similar to Screwfix's Erbauer. The Ryobi Router + Table offering from several sources looks attractive but not if the bearings or motor are poor quality.

Are there any makes where you will genuinely get a better build quality for a little more money in the sub-£100 range ?

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[Andy Hall]

Certainly not in 1/2". Reasonableness starts at £150-170. The slide mechanisms and bearings are too poor on the sub £100 class of machine for them to be useful.

In 1/4" you are getting closer to having something reasonable in the private labelled products. However, for about £110 you could get a Makita 3620 or for £140 for a Trend T5, which are much better built machines and you can get the spare parts when required.

A router is one tool where the poor quality of components and tolerances of the cheap models renders them useless. It would be better to invest in a decent router and to compromise elsewhere if budget is an issue.

.andy

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[mutley]

[snip]

Thanks, I was beginning to suspect that was the case. I just looked at the Ryobi 1150+Table and was not too impressed. And some other 'own-brand' products with peeling depth labels and wobbly plunger mechanisms seem even worse.