Customer Reviews

Bosch PR20EVSK Colt Palm Grip 5.6 Amp 1-Horsepower Fixed-Base Variable-Speed Router with Edge Guide

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I already own three other "full size" routers so this little router is quite a pleasant surprise to use. It is light weight and very solid; hinge-mortising, edge-triming, and rounding-over are a breeze. I also bought the round subbase so that it can be used with my Porter-Cable templet guide set and it works out quite nicely. So why is only 3-stars? As mentioned by other reviewers, the "Shaft-Locking Button" does not hold and needs to be redesigned. It was the most frustrated thing that I ever dealed with; installing bit is no problem but removing bit was an entirely different story. The button just would not lock tight enough and kept slipping! After sore thumbs and bruised knuckles, I saw in the manual (page 7) suggesting to use a "thin" 10mm wrench as an alternative to the shaft locking button . Out of frustration I took one 10mm wrench from my inexpensive wrench set, grinded it a bit thinner so that it would fit on the flats of the spindle. Now I can easily install or remove bits using two wrenches. BOSCH either needs to redesign the shaft locking button or supply an additional $2.00 wrench!

I have used the Colt in my furniture business and found it to be of the best quaility. Problems I have read about in some of the reveiws were found to be non-existent. They arise from operator error in use. Example, the chuck and bit are indeed 90 degrees to the base when mounted, however, if you do not twist the motor into the lock position after setting the height and lock it, it will be off by approx. 1 degree.
As with many tools out today, the manufactors have a reason for suppling instructions for use. Small procedures left out in operation which result in poor results are often blamed on the tool.
Like the old saying goes, " If you make it idiot proof, they just make a better idiot." Buy this tool and you can not go wrong when it is used for what it was intended.

I have been using my new Colt router for a month now and it is a wonderful addition to my shop. I have a large bench mounted router, but this tool is now being used more often than the more powerful cousin. It is so easy to route edges, especailly for rounding over or using the flush cut router bit. Put the box or other item you want to rout on a pad made for holding the work and just cut away. The Colt is very easy to control.

Making hinge morteses is a snap because the router doesn't grab or try to move off track. You can use the edge guide to help you make the mortese straight. All of the cutting so far has been in red oak and oak vineer plywood. It performs well in both.

The bits are easy to change, and the depth is easy to set. A well thought out tool and well worth the price. I use it all the time in my shop now. I wouldn't be without it.

AD2

I bought this little router a couple of months ago and it is very convenient. I just routed some edges on some drawers and it is all very easy and less cumbersome with this tool...almost to the point that I use it when I shouldn't. I routed the edges with the drawers still in the slides. I wish there was an option to get a longer length fence. Keep in mind that the max size bit I have fit into this thing is a 1/2" roundover bit, so it is not a replacement for a "real" router, but I am very glad I bought it.

I just purchased one of the routers. The first thing I did was insert a Centering Tool in the collet and after tightening up everything I placed a German made Precision Square against the collet to see if it was dead on 90 degree accurate and it wasn't.

I measured from all sides to verify this and also used a CMT bit and another English precision square all with the same results.

I took it back and got a different one and opened it at the store and did the same test and it was the same also and a third one.

This router lacks the refinement and precision necessary for fine woodworking and production work. If you measure the base and motor you'll find that they are not perfectly 100 % perpendicular to one another.

I'm not sure where Bosch has its tools made these days same for DeWalt and the rest but as long as these tests are not performed by users or reviewers the companies will continue to produce inaccurate tools that are nothing like the original tools when made in US or Germany.

I gave it 2 starts for the looks.

The router is good to use if you do not have to change the bit often. Pushing and holding in the locking mechanism as you loosen the collet is a challenge. If you tighten the bit "too tight", you might as well say "foget it" and just weld the bit to the motor because you are not going to remove the bit.

I use my round-over bit all of the time within the router. I keep the base at the right height so that I don't have to keep fussing with the settings when I use it again. Although, when you place the router within the case, you have to reduce the base to make it fit. This means the settings are messed up again. The design of the case does not give you the flexiblity to leave the height as is.

Overall, so-so router. There are many others out there, I would keep looking.

A quick read of all the one star reviews pretty consistently identify the flaw with this router: the base mount/ depth adjustment is terrible! Although this is perhaps one of the only flaws, it is the most critical-- anyone who has watched their fine work mercilessly destroyed in seconds when the router slips in the base has felt the pain.

Despite tightening the adjustment for the cam lock that holds the motor in the base, the router would still slip. Sometimes that meant that the depth of cut kept increasing and other times it meant that the base became off-centered. When it became off-center, the bit usually grabbed violently, thus stalling the motor. Whatever I tried, I couldn't seem to stop this from happening. It was less than a year before the motor burned out as a result, which in the end was a blessing, because I was tired of nasty surprises and trashed projects. I was happy when I threw the POS in the trash. One last criticism, the base doesn't accept standard bushings, although it is easy to make an after market base.

I'm a contractor and professional carpenter. In the past, I have always thought highly of Bosch and I still love their C-20 Sidewinder, but lately all my Bosch tools seem to bite it pretty quickly. This router is just another example of a flawed and short lived product.

Do Not Buy.

As a weekend woodworker, I bought this router for edge forming, trimming, and hinge mortising - I'm very happy with it. I haven't had any of the problems cited in other reviews. The spindle lock, collet, and wrench on my Colt are fine. As far as I can tell, the shaft is 90 degrees to the base, and the base locking mechanism is solid and well done - it makes the mechanisms on most other trim routers look ridiculous by comparison. The "problem" with the depth setting changing when the base is locked down is well described in the owner's manual and easy to work around if you have just a little patience. As far as I'm concerned, this is a non-issue. If you need a router to cut lots deep dados or run all day trouble free for years, obviously this is not the right unit. It seems to me that the problems experienced by other users are caused either by misuse or by bad individual examples of what is generally a well designed product. I'm picky about tools, and this gets an easy 5 stars.

Our remodel company has two of these routers and were VERY excited when it came out. The bosch orbital & belt sanders are real work horses with the best jigsaw on the market hands down! Weren't we surprised when this tool started having problems and the Bosh rep just kept replacing it

The first problem and still never resolved was also mentioned by R. Lock "elak57" on an Aprils 20, 2006 review. It has to do with not having the bit perfectly 90deg to the base. Very important for morticing with a guide - the bit kept hitting the guide and took a lot of fussing to work.

Second to go out was the stop lock for the bit change . It just kept slipping making loosing the bit a bear. Dangerously I would just not tighten it down so much so I could get it out later. We got a new tool and have not had this problem yet but the new too...

Third started running erratically. It seamed there was a short at the speed control or at the supply coming into the tool? Sent it back.

Fourth the box is the same size as the jigsaw box. Great right, lots of extra storage, bits and bases. Sure if the router would fit with a bit in it!!! You have to reset the base to its lowest position to fit. And in a hurry I grabbed the wrong box (not really the fault of bosch. dough.)

I LOVE the feel and power of this tool, it has done miles of round overs and freehand mortices but I will go back to my porter cable because this tool has cost so much more in wasted time than 10 porter cable trim routers and the last one we had is 2 years and going.

I have this Colt over a year - wonderful tool BUT
1. Shaft Locking button is poor and doesn't lock good
2. Bit is not strait! The fix base is moving after lock.

I am sure that Bosch will fix these problems soon...
SO BUY THE NEXT AND THE IMPROVED VERSION
I will stay with main