Accessories

super quite, excellent power
Being in the construction / cabinet business for more than 30 years I have worn out my share of routers. This makita is by far the most comfortable router that I have ever operated. Little to no vibration,and only as noisy as an average finish sander. Be nice to yourself and get the kit with the plunge base, you will be pleased. If makita had designed it with a spindle lock for single wrench bit removal they would have scored a perfect 100%. I still give it a 99.9% dusty bob, rico colo

Quiet, quiet, quiet........
This router is an excellent one, soft start, electronic speed control, and very quiet. I have a furniture/millwork/woodie building business and use routers a lot. I own fourteen routers, three of them are this Makita. I have one in a router table, one in a shop built horizontal mortiser, and another for shop use. The only thing I would do different on them would be to have a one wrench blade change system. I highly recommend this router.

just ok
I have a Hitachi 3 1/4 hp plunge router that is attached to my Craftsman router table (after fabricating a piece of 1/4 plastic into a face plate to get the thing to fit the darn table). I wanted a separate router for working off the table so I wouldn't have to pull the Hitachi out which led me to purchase the Makita. After discovering the Makita on/off switch is in a place that requires letting loose of one of the handles to operate, I decided to install it in the table and use the Hitachi for free hand work (thereby requiring more fabrication work on another face plate). I'm not much on government intervention, but there ought to be a law requiring router face plates to be interchangeable!
I'm thinking Makita put the switch in that location as a safety feature to keep someone from inadvertantly turning it on when they grab the handles. Seems unsafe to me to be required to release one hand to turn it on/off. Or, maybe the designer has real long thumbs.
If you want a router for mounting under a table, this one would be a good choice. I am very pleased with all it's features except for where the switch is located.

Avid woodworker
This is truely a great router. Mounted the plunge base in my router table and replaced the retract stop nut with a speed handle, makes adjusting easy and accurate; much more so than the Bosch which I was considering. All in all this router is very balanced and much more user friendly than th PC or Bosch. Plenty of power, light weight, and quite. This router is an excellant choice for a first, or second router if you are not ready to purchase one of the 3 1/4 HP routers. Very satisfied with my choice. Spend the extra money and get the kit with both bases, you won't be dissapointed.