Best hand held trim router

[oldtexasdog]

I am wanting to find a good small hand held (I have small hands) trim router. I can't foresee it being used in a hard or heavy duty way as I have a table router and several full size plunge routers. Small round overs ect.
Sooo---let me help you spend your money vicariously, and share your thoughts on this purchase please

 

[Martin Roper]

I'd go with a battery powered one for convenience. What battery platform do you have?

 

[Oka]

A General comment. All the battery types work well. I just depends on the features you like as they all have slight differences. Another aspect is the balance.

I have the DeWalt cordless as most my tools are DeWalt. I have a Milwaukee I use at work and like it too. Most cabinet install guys at work tend to use Makita, so it seems Martin's comment says it, most go to the cordless brand they already have.

 

[tvrgeek]

What Martin said
I have the Makita. I love it. Others hate it. I already had Makita 18 V tools. Differences seem to be in depth adjustment. There are some You-Tube reviews that highlight the differences. I personally have had bad luck with DeWalt and good luck with Milwaukee. If very occasional light duty use, then stepping down to Ryobi may be a good bet. Spend the money of top notch bits. I use it where my #45 would get me in trouble.

 

[Al Olme]

Focusing on your comment about "small hands", I have the DeWalt and really like it but... The DeWalt is a bit larger than most of the others. I agree with the commitment to a battery brand, it's a big investment. If you aren't already committed to a brand, go to a big box store or two that has a number of brands and see how they fit your hands. Like Casey said, "all the battery types work well". I'd tack on to that "if they are a known major brand". We're starting to see more and more tools from the far east that have specs that look good but there is little or no support behind them. I'd make allowances for those tools that are imported by well known companies where the company handles support here in the US.

 

[ScottM]

Like you I have small hands. My go to is a Bosch Colt trim router. It is corded.

 

[oldtexasdog]

Well this is some dang good advice! Thanks.
I have 18v Ryobi batteries and they are heavy.
I don't mind cords and I have read a lot of good things about that Colt

 

[oldtexasdog]

Like you I have small hands. My go to is a Bosch Colt trim router. It is corded.

I see where there are some renewed 1HP Colts for about half price?? The new ones look like they are 1.25 HP not 1?

 

[Echd]

I've got a few of the makitas. They're popular for use on cnc routers because of their longevity.

I have a cordless ryobi as well. It was dirt cheap and works very well honestly.

 

[Rwe2156]

I have both corded (DW) and cordless (Milwaukee).

The most notable difference is the cordless is top heavy, so you have to learn how to hold it and understand it is a little tippy. I counter this by adding a bigger plate.

I know nothing about the Ryobi router, but I can tell you for quick roundovers, flush trims, etc. a cordless is very convenient.

All in all, I think your best bet is that Colt.

 

[Martin Roper]

I have a cordless ryobi as well. It was dirt cheap and works very well honestly.

I have their older 18v trim router. It's a little clunky to use and didn't get good reviews, but it has never failed to do what I wanted to do. They've since come out with a newer model that is supposedly much better based on the one review I've seen. I'm married to that battery platform, so I'll keep using my old one. If I have to replace it, I'll get the newer one.

 

[oldtexasdog]

Would the newer one be a different style charger.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

I have a Festool and a Ridgid. I would not recommend either. The Festool is a great router and well built. The base is phenomenal. However, it is limited to edge routing with small bits. I have looked for a plunge base but microfence etc do not make one.

The Ridgid was cheap but suffers from a small base and no plunge capability.

If I had it to do over again, I would purchase Dewalt, Makita or Bosch with plunge capabilities and a microfence plunge base. This approach is about the same as the Festool but more precise and better utility.

I typically use my Festool 1400 for most everything. It is flexible, accurate etc. it is limited for small pieces.

 

[Echd]

Would the newer one be a different style charger.

Ryobi? Nah, their whole claim to fame is they've stuck with the same family of batteries for pretty much forever. The newer batteries are better of course since battery technology has improved so much so rapidly but they've kept the same battery commonality for quite some time.

I'm not usually a ryobi guy but they have a handful of cordless tools that I really like. Their nailers were some of the earlier affordable battery ones that were worth anything, the glue gun is awesome, I like the dremel and soldering iron... I think I got the router for free but it works well.

 

[Statedwoods]

I really like the Dewalts or the Bosch. I have taught router safety and router skills on both units. Both are very versatile and powerful for a small unit. I usually like corded on my hand routers for that extra power even though its for small tasks like your wanting.

 

[Martin Roper]

Would the newer one be a different style charger.

It's brushless, has dust collection, and has micro-adjust. Same battery.

 

[AllanD]

My go to trim router now is this Bosch cordless. Definitely not as top heavy as most. Before getting this I mostly used the Porter Cable corded. I don't think they make it anymore.

 

[AllanD]

Not sure why the photos didn't show up inline. Don't think I did anything differently.

 

[ScottM]

Not sure why the photos didn't show up inline. Don't think I did anything differently.

Allan, Neil has been working on a photo issue. Bottom line we can see your attachments.

 

[bowman]

I don't know why these open in a new browser window versus seeing the the preview in the message thread. Maybe try jpg instead of jpeg as your file extension? Both extensions are allowed.