Bosch Home and Garden router POF 1200 AE (1200 W, in carton packaging)

Product Information

I’d like to get this off my chest to begin with: I’m not a professional woodworker, nor am I the world’s most competent DIYer. But I do have several friends with workshops and they are always willing to help me make less of a mess. Held it in my hands, played with it, and it felt very well balanced. Powered it up and found perhaps less noisy, well, less high pitch. As yet no project to apply the tool onto yet so giving it 4 stars until a project comes along. Yes, I would recommend putting this, or a similar priced Trend on the short list if you are just starting out in handy work. For the money this is pretty good as a first router. I've bevelled a few oak boards and shelves with it and made an oak headboard so far. Fine adjustment and control is a bit fiddly and requires some workarounds but at this price you have to expect some compromises. It suits my purposes so I'm not complaining. It will not do heavy duty cycle work, you will need a larger collet and cutters if you intend to work with a lot of hardwood and using big cuts.” At 3.4kg, the POF 1200 AE Wood Router is fairly weighty and starts to show its heft when you are using it handheld for any period of time. Some users have bought or made their own routing tables, which takes some of the strain out of it. The "plunger" is not a smooth experience. Very difficult to gently plunge it down. Seems to jolt into place.

If you can live with these issues, it still does the job. It's got some handy attachments to use to get perfect straight plunge cuts and has a dust extractor fitting should you want to avoid chippings going everywhere. This isn't aided by the fact that the manual includes instructions for the next model up, which DOES have adjustments available without these shenanigans. It's like they're taunting you! Regardless, it’s a solid lump of a tool and certainly feels worth every penny that the cheaper online retailers are currently selling it for. The Bosch DIY range is pretty solid, even though it falls at the cheaper end of the price spectrum. Just don’t expect it to withstand hours and hours of daily use. For that, you’ll need to look towards the blue professional stuff. My first ever router. After watching many howto's on YouTube, I decided to go for it. Excellent router. I made a mirror to fit the side of my wardrobe project and I am pleased with the result. Only slight disappointment is that Bosch does not provide a hose for dust collection, but apart from that I am extremely pleased with the finished results."The dust extraction port works well but you’ll need an existing vacuum and pipework to set it all up properly. This is probably only going to be worth it if you plan to do a lot of routing in the future. But then it does make a hell of a mess. That said, I can happily report that getting used to this Bosch POF 1200 AE doesn’t take too long and the results are impressive for a tool at this price point. I found accessing the bits to be fiddly and a bit frustrating, while that plastic guard is most definitely flimsy. The brittle plastic that attaches to the unit is very easy to accidentally break. Changing the bits is a faff and fairly awkward. It seems you have to push a red button which won't always go down immediately. Then, using a spanner in a confined space, you need to loosen/tighten the bit, similar to the way you would a drill. It's OK I guess, but definitely a bit fiddly. Credit subject to status and affordability. Terms and conditions apply. Axminster Tool Centre Ltd trading as Axminster Tools is a credit broker and is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Credit is provided by Novuna Personal Finance, a trading style of Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Services Register no. 704348. Like many other power-tools in this Bosch range, there is the ubiquitous Softgrip Zones on the handles, which make things a little more comfortable, while a transparent chip guard keeps things safe.