Routers with great dust/chip collection?

[Dan Case LR]

I'm contemplating adding another handheld router to my fold, specifically because I need one with excellent (or at least good) dust/chip collection capabilities. Which routers have you used that fill the need?

Not looking to take out a second mortgage, but also don't want jink I'll regret buying.

Thanks!

D.

[shane lyall]

Hard to beat the Porter Cable 690 or 890 series IMO

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

Dewalt DW621

[Edward A Miller]

You need to have a router that will faithfully satisfy your 'routing demands', then shop for dust collection; it might just be that any recommendation I'd make might suck for all the wrong reasons!

I do have a handheld DeWalt DW621 (but) mounted on a home-made threading station. I believe I've replaced brushes once so far, but that tool is used for light duty work, threading 1" dia dowel rod. However, the router will run stop & go for 2-3 hours at a time several times a month. There has been nearly 600 LF of rod threaded so far! This has been in operation since May 1998 and really works well for my needs.

I also run a couple of Makita 3612's and thought at one time I'd hook them up to a vaccum system. so I purchased a Makita shroud #192035-6. It looked kinds chincy so I never installed these. I don't have anything on my 'fleet' of PC690's (usually 3-4 routers cranking off/on during a project so the collection hoses would be unmanageable), but I do have brooms!

Might help to outline your intended use so others can compare apples/apples.. Good luck.

[Kevin Gagne]

I have a Festool OF1010 and it is excellent. I can route MDF and have just about no dust while doing it. Much better than the Dewalt I used to use. I find that the 1010 is a great compliment to a router table. Between those two I can do everything that I need to and the dust collection on both is excellent.

[John Coloccia]

It's difficult to recommend anything but a Festool for a high quality router with great dust collection.

[Jeff Monson]

For freehand routing, the Festool is very hard to beat.

[Van Huskey]

Home equity loan = Festool OF 2200

Micro loan = Festool OF1400

Budget I think you mean = DW621

If you need a fixed base or dual base kit the Bosch MRC23 is on the better end as is the PC 894PK (pluge base) and the D-Handle PC

[Victor Robinson]

I just added an OF1400. The fine dust collection is fantastic. That doesn't mean it gets all the chips, depending on the operation. It's an extremely smooth plunging unit, and being able to use it with the guide rail is very nice. However, it doesn't make as much sense if you don't have or plan on investing in other Festools (e.g. guide rails). Also, the cost of Festool accessories drives up the investment more than you might think initially. To really get the most out of an OF1400, you'd need a guide rail (which you may or may not have already), guide stop ($75), possibly edge guide ($70)...so you're up over $700 quickly.

Of course, Festool offers the 30 day no questions asked return policy, so you can try it out and decide if it's worth it.*

[Greg Portland]

I have a Dewalt 625 and the Festool vac hose connects right into it's DC port. The "port" is a plastic piece that snaps into the router base. I've been very pleased with the level of dust collection.

[Van Huskey]

To really get the most out of an OF1400, you'd need a guide rail (which you may or may not have already), guide stop ($75), possibly edge guide ($70)...so you're up over $700 quickly.

Just for clarity so nobody has a stroke AND a heart attack at the same time, but only has one or the other. Adding these to a Festool router only adds to it's capacities, as is it does everything one expects from a mid-sized plunge router out of the box. In many cases it does those jobs better than many others. I would mention the OF1400 and OF1010 have DIFFERENT ergonomics compared to most plungers so you need to make sure this works for you, but you do have the 30 days. The 2200 has more "standard" ergonomics.

[Edward A Miller]

There might also be added vacuum efficiency with up-cut spiral bits to 'lift' some chips into the path of the pick-up port. I don't use these (but did try some years ago), so this mention is intended as a prod for comments by others. Hopefully, someone will elaborate on this. Thanks

[Gary Curtis]

The engineers at Festool have mastered that task. I own a DeWalt 625, a small Makita, a Milwaukee in my router table, and the Festool OF-1400. The 1400 is a medium HP unit. I use it the most.

You can't argue that Festool is real expensive. Now that I've used their equipment for about 6 years, I can say this. All my other machinery is worth a fraction of what I paid for it. Much of it has the same price and is sold on Amazon.com.
The Festool, though sells used on eBay for the new price I paid.

I'm not an economist, but I think the term for that is 'value'.

[Peter Kuhlman]

As has been said, really depends upon your usage. I am a router addict and have at least 12. By far the best plunge routers for dust collection are my Festool models with the 2200 at the top, then the 1010 then the 1400. The 1010 is a wonderful machine and fairly reasonable priced if you can live with 1/4" or 8mm shank bits. I use it more than any of my other routers as it is so comfortable and controllable and as long as you purchase quality bits from Freud or other name brand suppliers it works fantastic.

More reasonably priced initially would be the plunge model Dewalts - 625, 621 and in 1/4" shank the 611 set although the dust collection shrouds are an extra cost option for that model. The 621 has very good collection and the 625 is decent and both are 1/2" shank models. Dewalt used to manufacture their routers in Italy and moved to Mexico. My older Italian routers are still running fine but I have had issues with my Mexico sourced models.

[Victor Robinson]

Just for clarity so nobody has a stroke AND a heart attack at the same time, but only has one or the other. Adding these to a Festool router only adds to it's capacities, as is it does everything one expects from a mid-sized plunge router out of the box. In many cases it does those jobs better than many others. I would mention the OF1400 and OF1010 have DIFFERENT ergonomics compared to most plungers so you need to make sure this works for you, but you do have the 30 days. The 2200 has more "standard" ergonomics.

Hehe, thanks for clarifying Van. I suppose my point was more that a Festool router really starts making more sense value-wise when you use the system's excellent accessories, but they are not cheap. If I were to simply use my OF1400 without any accessories (e.g. guide rail, guide stop), it would just be a smooth plunger with good DC. Not sure if that would be worth $500 to me is all I meant.