We were a bit anxious to get our hands on the DEWALT DW625 EVS Plunge Router for a couple of reasons, first of all it boasts a 3 horsepower motor, which is about what you would expect from a 15 amp unit, and this is a plunge router, which is what we prefer given a choice.

 We used this router both on and of the router table and found it easy to use and very capable of anything we challenged it to do. We liked the soft start feature, which in a 3 hp unit is very nice. I means when you start the tool it doesn’t try to jerk it out of your hand every time you start the unit up, a very nice feature and a good safety feature too.

 The DEWALT DW625 EVS Plunge Router uses a variable speed motor which runs between 8,000 and 22,000 rpm. Useful for doing a wide variety of jobs. We found the rack and pinion mechanism for moving the router up and down to be smooth and move. We also like that the scale on sliding ruler was magnified somewhat for easier viewing. We also wondered what this scale and magnifier would look like after a few months of use, would the dust start masking the scale? Then we surmised a bit of blown in air would probably solve the problem.

This unit also incorporates a multiple level preset height adjustment scale and micro adjustment mechanism that would ensure as accurate a depth cut as one would ever likely need. We did use the dust extractor attachment that comes with the router and found it fairly easy to attach and very helpful for keeping dust and chips in check

The DEWALT DW625 EVS Plunge Router comes with both ½ inch and ¼ inch collets, which we would have expected as other DeWalt units come with these as well. As usual the eight finger collets grabbed our bits tightly and made sure even when we challenged the router to so tough jobs, the bits did not slip. Changing bits is easy with the DeWalt spindle lock mechanism and one wrench, even when the unit is positioned in a router table.

 

The DW625 EVS is a heft 11 pounds, no lightweight when it comes to routers so using this router free hand, although it worked fine, we felt it’s best and most useful home would be in some sort of a router table.

 As with all DEWALT routers we have tested, this unit is also capable of using guide bushings, which DEWALT declares as “standard size” … what ever that means? There are a number of different guide bearing sizes so we are not sure what they are referring to as “standard size guide bushings for template work”.

 All in all we really liked this unit, we liked the smooth action, the power and easy of use both in and out of a router table, this is definitely one we would recommend.