So I found the thread about Kobalt taking input for the community on the new router they released etc.
And that finding one in the wild is getting tough.
Outside of costing a bit less, is there an important feature it has that would justify going through the trouble of hunting one down?
I saw some comments about the body not getting as hot, which certainly would be worth it if the temp delta is significant.
But on paper they have the same rpm listed and power rating.
One of the reasons I was trying to hunt one down was the ER11 collet. Not sure it’s worth the hassle as I already have a makita. But if I found one I would probably still snag it.
The Kobalt has soft start, which is nice. It comes with ER11 compatible collet system, which is nice for CNC use. It has LED lights on the bottom that help to provide some illumination on what is going on, although if you have a dust shoe in place it negates that, unless your dust shoe has a transparent part printed. The Kobalt is similar to the Makita in power, size, and performance. Some had noted that they had issues with fluctuations in speed control, although most of that seem to have settled out quickly after a few minutes of running the machine, like as though the brushes needed to get settled in. I think I did not have that problem with mine. I bought two of the Kobalt routers , because the second one was on a sale price when they were still available. My understanding is some of them are still being sold brand new on eBay.
Thanks! I definitely missed the ER11 collet option.
@DougJoseph have you noticed any credence to the lower body temperature?
I think my Kobalt routers run decently cool. I don’t know how much of it I can attribute to them running cooler versus me just having learned better on feeds and speeds. But I don’t remember having any problem with my Kobalt getting real hot. Also, when I had Makita’s get hot before, it may have simply been due to the fact that I was new and was not doing the feeds and speeds right.
closing old topic to help fight spambots