Festool 1400

[John Brennaman]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a Festool 1400 router. Before I spend $500 dollars I would like to hear what any fellow Creekers have to say on the subject.

Thanks, John

[Jamie Buxton]

It has been my primary router for 3-4 years. It works well.

[Matt Winterowd]

I actually sold mine. It's the only Festool tool that I have ended up not liking. I thought that the grip configuration would be great, but I ended up hating it. For me, it makes the router even harder to keep stable and I could quite get used to the trigger mechanism. Ultimately, I also didn't care for the depth stop mechanism. The dust collection was very impressive though, and it is a smooth tool with plenty of power.

Just my experience, lots of people like them, but for me it's not a better mousetrap.

[John Brennaman]

Thanks. I will pay special attention to the grip and some of the other features you mentioned.

[Jim Becker]

It was my first Festool router and...it's the bee's knees. I'm very pleased with it. In fact, I was lucky enough to be able to play with a pre-production unit prior to ordering mine and it took, oh...only a few minutes...before I knew my wallet was going to get lighter. ;) I subsequently also purchased the smaller OF1010 for when that was appropriate for the work-at-hand.

[John Brennaman]

The "Bee's Knees" huh, Jim. :) It will take most of my annual tool budget to purchase this, but I think I'm going to go ahead and do it. I've spent that much on the last two Porter Cable routers and they only lasted about 5 years. I'm going to have one rebuilt as a backup and to use in the table.

The salesman pretty much sold it to me when he set a bottle of water on top of the router and turned it on. The router didn't move a micron and there wasn't ripple one in the water.

[Jim Becker]

What sold me on the OF1400 is when Bob Marino handed one to me and said "play with it over the weekend". And I did. Ca-ching!

[Rick Fisher]

Its my favorite router. The handle takes about 1/2 an hour to get used to, but after you do, it actually makes sense.

Its impressively powerful for its size, never seems to run out of power.

I have 8 routers and its by far my most favorite.

[John Brennaman]

Thanks, All. I've put in my order for one. My local tool guy had to order it, so it will be a week or so before I see it. It feels just like a week before Christmas. :)