So I’m not sure but I’m getting the impression that Kobalt Router has been discontinued. I have been on the stock notification list for about a month. Nothing.
So I have found a few on eBay and Facebook that claim to be new over the last few weeks I just have been scared to pull the trigger. Plus the price is way higher than retail.
Question is what is the advantage that this router has over the Makita or Dewalt other than price when it was on sale. Should I risk buying 3rd party or just go with the Makita and maybe buy a ER11 chuck for it?
That is true. If your Lowes doesn’t have one in stock they wont be getting any more.
They were going for $20 at the end of the stock most stores had so no way I would pay retail or higher for one off facebook/ebay
You will be good going with the Makita and picking up an 1/8" collet for it. The ER11 is nice, but I don’t ever find myself using anything but the 1/8" and 1/4" sizes lol
Yeah I think that is prolly what I will do. It is unfortunate as the Kobalt looks like it was just the perfect Router. Never had any trouble from any of the Makita tools that I have owned over the years. I remember when battery powered tools first really became a thing they dominated the market. Not sure if they were the first or what but I remember first time I worked on a construction site and everyone had a Makita cordless drill. I don’t remember anyone using Dewalt back then
The Kobalt has some nice touches, like soft start, the ER11 compatibility, and the LED lights on the bottom, etc. But the nice touches are probably not worth paying a lot over the original retail price. Makita 700 series will work great for you.
I did exactly what you did. Buy a Kobalt router off eBay. I had to send it back as it was a defective unit. Had the issue where it wouldn’t maintain the same RPM which is a known issue with these routers. I ended up buying a Makita clone from Harbor Freight that was on sale for $30 and bought the Makita 1/8" collet from V1E. I haven’t tried to use it yet but I’ve seen it in a number of other builds.
I visited a local Lowes and, although they did not show on their in-stock inventory, they had four of the Kobalts in their overhead, overflow inventory. I spoke to a manager and was able to purchase all four at $50 each.
