Let me clarify my earlier comment. When I said "router", I meant hand held router. A table router has the same issues as the table saw in needing to have the panel held down hard over the tool.
Mike
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I use my router, or router table. Should use the table saw, but I just takes longer to set up.
With me, it depends on what material you are cutting. I tried cutting 12" long dado's on melamine particle board for shelving units in a pantry, and after only two cuts, I could feel the router bit (Woodline shear bit) getting dull. That stuff is really abrasive.
Cutting the same shelves in real wood, I would not hesitate to use a router, but with dozens on cuts to make on that melamine particle board, I finished the job with my old Craftsman RAS, that I bought years ago just for shelving dado's. I used an old dado set to do it also, to save my good one.
Longer dado's get done on the TS for me normally.
I have a great 4 wing carbide dado set that cuts almost perfect dado's but have found that in most case the router is faster, has a better cut quality and is more accurate. What makes it easy is I have a rail guided micro adjusting router jig - I start with a undersized bit and sneak up on the perfect fit with a few final passes. Even with a few finish passes per cut it is less time than a number of test cuts with a dado set. In addition things like a tapered sliding dovetail are a piece of cake.
I don't own a dado blade right now. The only time I will use my table saw is when cutting a 1/4" or less width dado making 2 passes with a full-kerf blade, like the dadoes in drawer sides for drawer bottoms. However, if I need to do a stopped dado that narrow I will do it on my router table. I get a much more crisp dado; completely flat bottom and I find I can get the depth more easily to the exact depth I need with a router (mostly on my router table).
I've never understood why people who have a router table and a table saw use the table saw for dados. Maybe it's something I'd have to do once or twice to understand. I always use my router table. It's way fast to set up and no screwing around with dado stacks. Again, I've never used one but I see tip after tip and product after product promising to make dado stack setup fast and accurate. I live by this rule that any time there are endless tips about the same thing then that thing has a fundamental problem that hasn't been solved.
They also make under-size router bits specifically for plywood. I have a Freud set and it's dead on. At most I might have to make one tiny adjustment of my fence and take a second pass if the plywood is a little thicker than usual but one pass works more often than not.
I bought my first router plane to fix exactly the problem Mike is describing for TS-made dados. It isn't perfect but it helps a lot.
OP: You should use whichever tool you are more comfortable with. That's usually a little safer, as long as you don't get complacent. Personally, I use the TS (and router plane) if I have several dados to do. If I only have a few, I cut them by hand.
Aside: I once saw Paul Sellers use a backsaw and a chisel to cut a dado - it looked like he'd used a tailed router, they were so consistent and perfect.
I spent some time thinking about this, and, I have a strong preference for using my table saw. For me this is simply more reliable and easier to control. That said, if you have a method with which you are comfortable, I would just use that. You get good results with a router, use the router.
The last one I cut, I did do on the router table because I wanted a stopped cut.
we've got several cabinet makers in the area and i asked one owner that very question.
his response was that he uses a wobble dado blade on his TS. he said it worked great for
what they do.
I would use my radial arm saw and a good stack dado to cut those through dados. You get the advantage of being able to see the work as you would with a router and don't have to try to wrestle a large board on top of a cabinet saw. You also have the ability to fine tune dado width that would be more difficult to do with a router. The only downside is that you need a pretty expensive dado stack to fit the 1" arbor on a long arm saw that has enough crosscut length to be useful. I have a 12" Freud Super Dado on a medium arm DeWalt GE that can make a dado about 27" long.