I bought the Skil because I needed a plunge router and wanted the cheapest thing I could get that wasn't harbor freight. Thing has turned out to be great and worth every penny. Feels great in the hands, plenty of power, smooth plunging action, and good speed adjustment. I can imagine some value in the upper stop on the Skil, but it seems very situational. If you ever need to make a sort of stepped mortise, the upper stop could allow you to do so in one pass. But I can't think of why you'd need to do that. The only other thing I can think of is maybe it allows you to lock the retracted position to just barely above the work surface, so you don't have to plunge quite as far each time you plunge? That said, I've never used it in 2 years of owning the router. Anyway, great video! Looking forward to the next one!
The lights and speed guide on the Skil sounded exciting but then I remembered my routers are usually in a router table. Who wants to be looking into a light, assuming it would not be entirely blocked by the insert? Who wants to squat so far down to read the display on the router top?
The lights have never been a problem for me with the Skil in the router table. But like I mentioned in the video, it is a bit annoying to change the speed when it's upside down in a table.
Nice comparison of the three routers. I wonder about the manufacturer expected duty cycle / expected lifetime of the Skil compared to the Bosch and Dewalt. Are the bearings in the Skil smaller and/or a lower grade than the other two brands? I think that I would find one of the router combo kits to be inconvenient to own if I had to switch between the fixed base and the plunge base more than once a week. I prefer single purpose routers. I own a 34 year old Bosch 1611 EVS plunge router, which has handles that are similar to the handles on the Bosch plunge base that you showed, but with an integrated trigger switch, which means that it is possible to keep both hands on the router handles when turning the router on or off. That old Bosch router also has the automatic locking plunge depth lever like your Bosch plunge base - that automatic locking plunge depth lever is extremely helpful when making frequent plunge cuts, such as when creating engraved signs. The manual lock on the other two routers you showed would be intolerable after an hour of continuous routing of engraved signs. 30+ years ago, my Bosch 1611 EVS plunge router had several multi-hour runs cutting engraved signs. I am not so sure that the Skil router you showed is rated for that duty cycle. My favorite fixed base router is a U.S. made Milwaukee body-grip router that I bought 15 to 20 years ago - I do not know if the current Chinese made Milwaukee body-grip router is equivalent. I also like my 20+ year old Porter-Cable D handle, although I usually reach for the Milwaukee first. If those routers are set up with a bit for a special purpose that I will need later, I reach for another router and use that instead.
Thanks! That's a good point about the expected life of the Skil vs. the others. I thought about talking about that, but there's just no way that'd I'd be able to tell based on my actual experience. I guess though, if the Skil does die before the others, it still might be worth it given the price difference. And if the Skil actually outlasted the others, then we should all have multiple Skil routers in our shops 😄
@@danmadewoodworking Thanks for the reply. Have you tried the 1/4" collet in the Skil router yet? I almost exclusively use 1/2"shank router bits due to lower vibration. A few reviews on Amazon mentioned that the 1/4" collet on the Skil router will not hold 1/4" router bits correctly apparently as the 1/4" collet does not seat correctly in the router. I see that Amazon lists a fixed base 10 amp Skil router for $79, which is very inexpensive if it is a good router. I believe that is roughly what I paid for my 1.5 HP Craftsman router in the mid-1980s. The Craftsman routers from that time period had 1/4" collets with a single slit, which meant that the router bits were not clamped evenly around the perimeter of the shank. After a year or two of moderate use, the Craftsman router could not reliably grip router bits, leading to the router bits' cutting depth frequently changing during cuts, ruining several boards in the process (I ended up replacing that Craftsman router with Milwaukee 2 HP fixed base router in the early 1990s). Have you had any issues with any of the three routers not gripping router bits fully?
I haven't had any problems with the collets not gripping fully, but to be fair, I usually use palm routers with ¼” shank bits. And like you, I opt for ½” shank bits a lot of the time.
The DeWalt speed adjustment is located in a similar spot as the Bosch and isn't a problem in a router table. And if you have one of those router tables where you just attach the fixed base to the underside of the table, then it's even better because I like the fixed base adjustment of the DeWalt better, especially when having to adjust it upside-down in a router table.
I bought the Skil because I needed a plunge router and wanted the cheapest thing I could get that wasn't harbor freight. Thing has turned out to be great and worth every penny. Feels great in the hands, plenty of power, smooth plunging action, and good speed adjustment.
I can imagine some value in the upper stop on the Skil, but it seems very situational. If you ever need to make a sort of stepped mortise, the upper stop could allow you to do so in one pass. But I can't think of why you'd need to do that. The only other thing I can think of is maybe it allows you to lock the retracted position to just barely above the work surface, so you don't have to plunge quite as far each time you plunge? That said, I've never used it in 2 years of owning the router.
Anyway, great video! Looking forward to the next one!
Thanks... Yeah, I agree. I've liked the Skil a lot. I've obviously never used the upper stop either, haha.
The lights and speed guide on the Skil sounded exciting but then I remembered my routers are usually in a router table. Who wants to be looking into a light, assuming it would not be entirely blocked by the insert? Who wants to squat so far down to read the display on the router top?
The lights have never been a problem for me with the Skil in the router table. But like I mentioned in the video, it is a bit annoying to change the speed when it's upside down in a table.
Love the video lots of ads though jeez
Thanks a lot! Sorry I can't control the ads though 🙂
Nice comparison of the three routers.
I wonder about the manufacturer expected duty cycle / expected lifetime of the Skil compared to the Bosch and Dewalt. Are the bearings in the Skil smaller and/or a lower grade than the other two brands?
I think that I would find one of the router combo kits to be inconvenient to own if I had to switch between the fixed base and the plunge base more than once a week. I prefer single purpose routers. I own a 34 year old Bosch 1611 EVS plunge router, which has handles that are similar to the handles on the Bosch plunge base that you showed, but with an integrated trigger switch, which means that it is possible to keep both hands on the router handles when turning the router on or off. That old Bosch router also has the automatic locking plunge depth lever like your Bosch plunge base - that automatic locking plunge depth lever is extremely helpful when making frequent plunge cuts, such as when creating engraved signs. The manual lock on the other two routers you showed would be intolerable after an hour of continuous routing of engraved signs. 30+ years ago, my Bosch 1611 EVS plunge router had several multi-hour runs cutting engraved signs. I am not so sure that the Skil router you showed is rated for that duty cycle.
My favorite fixed base router is a U.S. made Milwaukee body-grip router that I bought 15 to 20 years ago - I do not know if the current Chinese made Milwaukee body-grip router is equivalent. I also like my 20+ year old Porter-Cable D handle, although I usually reach for the Milwaukee first. If those routers are set up with a bit for a special purpose that I will need later, I reach for another router and use that instead.
Thanks! That's a good point about the expected life of the Skil vs. the others. I thought about talking about that, but there's just no way that'd I'd be able to tell based on my actual experience. I guess though, if the Skil does die before the others, it still might be worth it given the price difference. And if the Skil actually outlasted the others, then we should all have multiple Skil routers in our shops 😄
@@danmadewoodworking Thanks for the reply. Have you tried the 1/4" collet in the Skil router yet? I almost exclusively use 1/2"shank router bits due to lower vibration. A few reviews on Amazon mentioned that the 1/4" collet on the Skil router will not hold 1/4" router bits correctly apparently as the 1/4" collet does not seat correctly in the router.
I see that Amazon lists a fixed base 10 amp Skil router for $79, which is very inexpensive if it is a good router. I believe that is roughly what I paid for my 1.5 HP Craftsman router in the mid-1980s. The Craftsman routers from that time period had 1/4" collets with a single slit, which meant that the router bits were not clamped evenly around the perimeter of the shank. After a year or two of moderate use, the Craftsman router could not reliably grip router bits, leading to the router bits' cutting depth frequently changing during cuts, ruining several boards in the process (I ended up replacing that Craftsman router with Milwaukee 2 HP fixed base router in the early 1990s). Have you had any issues with any of the three routers not gripping router bits fully?
I haven't had any problems with the collets not gripping fully, but to be fair, I usually use palm routers with ¼” shank bits. And like you, I opt for ½” shank bits a lot of the time.
How is the DeWalt for a router table, especially since you pointed out that the speed is also underneath like the Skil?
The DeWalt speed adjustment is located in a similar spot as the Bosch and isn't a problem in a router table. And if you have one of those router tables where you just attach the fixed base to the underside of the table, then it's even better because I like the fixed base adjustment of the DeWalt better, especially when having to adjust it upside-down in a router table.
Thank you!