I love the portability of cordless power tools.  I hate wrapping cords and catching the cord on something while I am trying to do a little finesse work.  But I wondered if a cordless router would have enough power to make it worth while.  As I was shopping around, to me it looks like the top unit is the DeWalt cordless router.  I was surprised that out of all the current reviews on Amazon, 89 percent were 5 star and 9 percent were 4 star.  For any power tool, that is excellent.  Let’s consider just a few notes on a cordless router, in particular the DeWalt offering.  If you want to see it in action, check the video below.  It show’s up at about 1:05.

The first consideration is that a cordless router will never replace a corded router in production capacity.  In looking at the reviews, you can tell that the users are applying a little common sense in their expectations for the tool.  For instance, you may need to make a couple of passes if you are cutting a 3/4″ dado or maybe using a large ogee bit.  For laminate trimming, round overs or small chamfer bits, have at it the tool can handle it.  Speaking of power, the DeWalt DCW600 spins at 25,500 rpm.  Who would of thought that even possible not that many hears ago.  The brushless motors on these little cordless routers are so impressive.

With the high speed that a router spins at, you are likely wondering what kind of run times you can expect.  To be honest that was my second concern after power.  I have read that some manufactures are claiming 250 linear feet of routing per charge but there are so many variables.  For instance  what type of bit, what type of wood etc.  I will tell you this, I didn’t see anything in the reviews that indicated disappointment on run time.  Keep in mind that in batteries, voltage is power and mah is your gas tank so to speak.  So if you have a 2.0 mah battery back, you will get roughly half the run time as a 4.0 mah battery packs.  DeWalt makes batteries with at least 9.0 mah capacity but I really think a 4.0 mah would keep you happy,