If you’ve been drooling over the new Ridgid cordless router, but haven’t taken the plunge yet because you don’t have any Ridgid 18V batteries, now there’s no excuse. Over on the Home Depot website you can pick up the router, a 2Ah battery, and charger for $129 shipped to you.
Previously, if you wanted the the router, you’d have to purchase the bare tool for $119 and use battery packs and chargers you already had as part of a previous Ridgid 18V platform buy-in, or purchase a battery and charger at the same time as the router. The cheapest battery and charger starter kit right now runs $99, bringing your total investment to operate this router to $218, if you were to buy things separately.
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There may be some question whether the 2Ah battery is powerful enough to run this router well. All I can say is that it probably depends on how you plan to use it. I’m betting it’s probably fine for a 1/4″ round-over, or a laminate trimming bit, but you might be taking a chance if you plan on using a deeper profile or a rabbeting bit in one pass.
If you want to see what this router is all about check out Stuart’s previous preview post. Here’s a quick look at what you get:
Features & Specs
- Brushless motor for longer runtime
- Variable speed dial
- 17,000 to 25,000 RPM
- Micro-adjust dial for depth adjustment
- Soft start to prevent work surface gouging
- Quick release lever for motor removal from base
- LED worklight
The bare tool comes with an edge guide, sub-base, collet wrench, and starter laminate trimming router bit. I can’t find if this kit also includes all of the accessories, but I have to imagine at a bare minimum it ships with the sub-base and collet wrench.
This order is only available online as far as I’ve seen. If you don’t want it shipped to your home, you can also opt for ship-to-store for local pickup, but it’ll likely take just as long..
Price: $129
Buy Now (Router kit via Home Depot)
Buy Now (Bare Tool via Home Depot)
Buy Now (18V starter kit via Home Depot)
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fred
Seems like a good deal compared to the bare tool. HD sells the Ryobi P601 for $70 – but add a charger and battery and the cost will be up over $129.
BTW the Ridgid round base (519233001) will fit this router as will the Ridgid straight edge guide that they sell for their corded trim router.
Cr8on
I’ll be passing this info along to a Ridgid guy, this is a heck of a deal.
ktash
Thanks, Benjamen! I just ordered one. I have a corded Ridgid trim router and love it! Also, note that this is a brushless router vs the Ryobi which is not brushless. Also, lifetime warranty, I assume. One thing about the small battery is that it will be less top heavy. I don’t plan to use it for other than roundover and small jobs, so it seems fine.
Also, I’ve had terrible experiences with pickups at the Home Depot here. That seems to be widespread. So I had it shipped, though normally I’d prefer to pick up at a store if it’s nearby, the exception being Home Depot. The HD store is usually very good service-wise, except for their pickups. It’s always that way, it seems. Not sure why this is.
fred
Where I live and used to work – we seem to have almost as many Home Depot’s as Starbucks. We’d often order online – even when items were in stock – to expedite the pickup process the next morning. Things like X boxes of screws, Y boxes of lags etc. We’d get to know which stores had a better Pro Desk and pickup experience. Not surprisingly employees can make or break a company – and management that doesn’t pay attention to customer service and incentivize/reward good service will have a negative impact.
Will
Sadly HD lasted less than a year in my city, Ménards was the lone big box store for years and than Lowe’s and HD both built new stores the same year. Sadly HD lost out and abandoned a brand new building within a year. Took longer to build it than It took them to abandon it lol.
Now I see all these great deals on tough boxes and tools in general at HD while Lowe’s has weak sales and well Menards has nothing but junk for power tools. Menards has great service but Lowe’s is crap, seems like Lowe’s doesn’t bother training their employees.
Wayne
You’re right about Lowe’s customer service. I only go there if I can’t buy something at Home Depot. I don’t get it because they’re also usually slightly more expensive on a lot of things too.
Joe
I have this combo….the router works great with a 2ah and a 1/4″ rounder ,light too in that configuration…I don’t like the on /off tab,,…I does come with a cloth case ,round base Square base, edge guide…..I had the blue Ryobi for years and just bought this Ridgid…love it !
Bill
I was very close to getting a smaller router for a recent project (bookshelf speakers) as my other router seems to wieldy at times for the smaller projects. Just wanted to trim the veneer I was using. I have wondered about the balance of the cordless with the battery sitting on the top of it like that. Anyone have experience with that? Other than that, looks like a steal.
jtr165
I’ve never held one, but from reviews it seems to be fine with balance, most noting that it’s not at all top heavy like it appears, even with larger batteries. It has a big brushless motor deep in that housing under the battery, so ergonomically works out more than photos illustrate. Most also say that even though it’s not a crazy stable 1/2″ router, it’s overall a better trim router than most corded options (aside from run time, obviously) as you’ll make a mistake because of stepping around a cord more than you will with this. Haven’t read/watched anything negative, other than some disliking the pull switch for on/off.
One of my favorite tools is my corded trim router, built all kinds of jigs, a temp router table, etc. I’m in Dewalt’s battery line, though. I hope these continue to get market attention, only because I want one that my batteries work with haha. If it happens i’ll make a permanent router table and leave the corded model in it.
ktash
I just got this late yesterday. Mine didn’t come with the cloth case. It did include the edge guide, one wrench, one roundover bit, extra base, battery and charger. The battery has a charge indicator. For me, the cloth case is no big deal, and I rarely use them. Here’s a comparison with the corded version for those of you who have that one. The decision to buy was based on having the corded version and loving it.
Compared to the corded version, which I use a lot: The main difference is that the on-off switch is in a different place since the corded is on top where the battery now is. Switch was a bit stiff. But I guess I’ll get used to it. Hope it will loosen up a bit with use. The other difference is the wrench. My corded version had 2 wrenches, which is my strong preference. Just what I’m used to.
I will get an extra wrench to keep with it, probably have one lying around. It’s about an inch taller than the corded version. The body looks slightly shorter though I didn’t measure it.
The depth adjustment mechanisms are the same as the corded version. It is variable speed just like the corded version, though the dial is in a different place due to the battery taking that place.
I held both in my hand and found the cordless to be only somewhat heavier, slightly less maneuverable. Not sure what that will be like in use, but I won’t be using it for at least a week.
I’m looking forward to using it, especially outdoors. No cord to deal with!
Grilmaster
I just picked the bare tool for$89 at my local HD. There was a clearance sticker on it.