Bosch’s RA1181 benchtop router table is “on sale” for $159 at Amazon with free shipping, or $141.51 at Acme Tool. At Acme, shipping is free on $199+ orders.
Amazon listed it as one of their gift ideas, or something of the sort, because it’s been in an open browser tab on my computer for 2 weeks now.
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Update: Here’s a screenshot. It’s still listed as a current tool deal on “page 4” of Amazon’s tool deals page.
This Bosch router table tends to live at $159 throughout the holiday shopping season, and last year it stayed at this price a few months longer, before jumping up to $180-200 levels.
Acme’s price of $141.50 after NOEXCLUSIONS 11% coupon is as low a price on this router table that you’re bound to see. It will likely be a while before the next better discount (e.g. 15%).
I’m calling this a “kind of” sale because I think $159 is better considered as normal seasonal pricing.
This router table has been on my radar for a long time, but I ultimately decided to keep saving for a full-size table, instead of a benchtop model. As far as benchtop models go, this one was always a top-3 contender.
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Reviews tend to be mixed, with some users loving it, and others complaining about the table size or flatness. Unflatness? Lack of flatness?
I’ve never used this router, and so I can’t recommend for or against it. I’m mentioning it because a handful of people ask me to look out for small router table deals throughout the holiday season, and because it’s a slow tool news and deal day.
In the past, the router has stayed at this seasonally low price for a few months, which is why I added a “kind of” mention in the title.
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Buy Now(via Acme Tool)
Sorry, it’s really hard for me to be excited about these router tables, which is why I never bought one.
Bosch’s RA1171 cabinet-style router table looks like it has a greater chance of having a flat top.
It’s $139 at Amazon, or $123.71 at Acme Tool with NOEXCLUSIONS coupon. This model has lived at the $139 price point for much of the last year. It was higher priced between ~May and October, living at $139 for 2 months now.
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Buy Now(via Acme Tool)
I have always been interested in this Bench Dog router table, but it lacks a lot of the accessories many users will want but have to buy separately, and is higher priced, at $300.
See Also(Bench Dog router table)
There is no universally-loved router table at under $200, at least that I was ever able to find. So despite my lack of excitement about the Bosch router tables, I find it worthwhile to post about them and their current seasonally-low prices. You could do worse.
That’s probably the best I could say about the Bosch routers after looking into them numerous times over the years – “you could do worse.”
Would you recommend for or against these Bosch router tables? Are there other models that you would encourage others to look at?
fred
We had a RA1171 that we’d carry to some jobsites for small custom trim jobs.
The laminated top was OK and flat – but I recall that the edge-banding on ours needed a bit of trimming because it stood proud of the table top. We laughed that we needed a router (edge trimmer anyway) to fix a router table. I think we picked ours up at Lowes on clearance.
fred
Over the years I’ve used a batch of different shapers and router tables. I even tried converting an old Powermatic shaper table for use with a big Porter Cable router. I’ve seen plans/pictures of router table that drop into table saw wings –
even jobsite saws like the Bosch 4100.
For home use, years ago I built my own router table, with a Bosch router as the “engine” . It was OK but lacked the features of a more modern table. I gave it away and I decided that I wanted a lift and table top with better/more slots. I figure that the perfect router table for all users has yet to be invented – but I looked at things from Bench Dog, Infinity, Kreg, Jessem, MLCS, Rockler and Woodpeckers. After going crazy trying to compare what I saw in catalogs and online – I thought that I liked the Jessem lifts – so I went with their table too. I haven’t used it in any sort of production mode – and its probably not worth the $1000 (in rough numbers) that I invested in it.
Julian
Why are you leaving out the Kreg table? It’s about $200 and is rock-solid. Great fence too. None of the Bosch units are in the same league. And I owned that plastic bodied Bosch unit years ago.
Robert
Kreg table $200? What model would that be? My Kreg table with all the fixn’s came to just under $600.
Andrew
I’ve been keeping my eye on the RA1171, I like the cabinet base better than a plastic one on the RA1181. They seem like something that I should just make myself, but I’m concerned that I’ll screw up the fence.
FishStick
As the owner of a RA1181 I’ll throw some comments in the mix about it. Table flatness is an issue. I didn’t even think to check it until I had it for awhile. There are some slight issues with mine but nothing as serious as other reviewers (lucky break I guess). Fence is decent enough but removal is a pain – you need to completely unthread the screws to take it off. Plastic hasn’t been an issue on the stand yet (owned for probably 3-4 years now). However the plastic around the bit (red circle) has started to break off tabs and wasn’t real sturdy from the start. Dust collection is so so because the bottom is open but it does have a vacuum cord plug which is nice. All of that aside though the unit has worked well and I’ve built a number of cabinet doors in pine and oak with it and for my skill level I’ve gotten good results from it.
Looking at options available today though I can’t say I’d buy it again though. MLCS has some nice looking options as well as Kreg. Also having a table saw now I’d look into the options of the wing router tables.
Julian
One thing about the Bosch options, and it applies to any of the cheaper tables out there. The router plate reduction ring (red plastic) IS made of plastic as opposed to the phenolic versions on the better tables.
When doing smaller, critical work light 1/8” round overs, there’s enough flex in those plastic center rings to screw up the project. I remember it from when I used my Bosch router table. That, and they may not be perfectly flush with the surrounding area, also causing issues with the quality of cut.
The phenolic inserts are much stiffer as well as being better for flushness.
Chris
I second Julian. I have this Bosch table and it works, but isn’t great. The rings are my biggest annoyance. Getting the table flat was a chore, but doable.
It’s probably one of the better cheap(?) options without buying a whole cabinet setup. The fence and featherboards are adequate for my needs.
If I were going to do a lot of routing, I’d probably invest in something better.
A W
I’ve been happy with the RA1181. As a starter router table, it’s well equipped, and works well for basic carpentry tasks.
Hang Fire
I have Bosch’s RA1171. I got it used, poorly assembled and missing some parts so I have to be careful to not judge it for that. I had to work on it a bit to get the upper plate flat, but I did get it flat. Bosch support for parts is excellent, I got everything I needed to fix it up quickly.
First the great, it has two connections for a dust vac, one high and low, it’s pretty much as good as it gets for sawdust management on the ever-problematic router. (Only RAS and slide miter saws are worse). The power switch on the front is convenient.
It’s a bit of a pain to change the router height because of the short plug on the router has to be unplugged and replugged to get a full rotation (or more)… and you can’t see what you’re plugging into because the passthrough outlet faces backwards into the box. Changing bits is about as painless as a table mounted router can be, it’s never as easy as on an unmounted router.
So I’m not raving about it, but it gets the job done, and it’s much better than nothing. If I didn’t have it, I would have built one by now, or bought something else. (If I built it myself I’m sure some features would be better, and some worse than the Bosch).
Every wood workshop really needs some kind of router table.
John Blair
Here is the problem. An inexpensive router table is something you can make yourself. An expensive router table is something you have to use a lot to make worth it. Unless you have a lot of routing to do, get some 3/4 plywood and a router plate. Route the router plate into the plywood and add a stiffener underneath. You can screw it down to wooden saw horses. If you want to really step up, you can route in some T Tracks and make a fence. But many routing operations can be done with bearings making the fence an option on a DIY table. If you use that enough to be bothered with the limitations, THEN spend some money buying one or building a fancier one.
fred
Good advice – lots of plans out on the internet.
You might find that using 2 pieces of 3/4 MDF – contact-cemented together – then sealed to prevent moisture intrusion – will give you a cheap (about $30 for the MDF) and very stiff top.
Ben
Try the bench dog router table extension. It goes on sale at Amazon or Rockler for 200 something bucks, is 100% super thick cast iron, mounts on your table saw to save space and acts like a ts extension wing when you aren’t routing. It also comes with the pro max fence, which is very nice.
You don’t get a cabinet, obviously, and once you buy a router plate it ends up around $300, but the space savings is incredible, and since it is attached to my ts i can use my incra fence for both my ts and router table. It weighs a million pounds and is super flat.
Incra also sells their own extension tables, which include an under mounted cabinet, but are more expensive. I’d go with those plus a router lift if money was no object.
fred
I think that Incra and Jessem have a collaboration agreement relative to their router lifts. I’m not sure about the tables.
Gus
Both Amazon links are taking to the second Bosch table, the correct link to the RA1181 is below:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H12DQ6/?tag=toolguyd-20