Festool OF 1400 EQ Plunge Router Review
A 1,400 W router with a depth adjuster that reads to 1/256 in and a dust port that genuinely works. The price is the argument against it, and it is a real one.
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Judge a plunge router on three things: how precisely you can set the depth, how well it behaves in your hands during the plunge, and what happens to the chips. Power matters, but past a point every router in this class has enough of it.
The OF 1400 EQ is 1,400 W with 2-3/4 in of plunge travel and collets for 1/4 in, 1/2 in and 8 mm shanks. Those numbers put it squarely in mid-size territory — bigger than a trim router, smaller than the table-mounted machines built for panel raising.
Depth setting is where it separates. The fine adjuster moves in 1/256 in (1/10 mm) steps, and a three-position turret lets you preset a sequence of depths, so a 3/4 in deep mortise becomes three identical passes you dial in once. On a batch of eight mortises this is the difference between a fitted joint and a set of near-misses.
Handling is the second thing you notice. Under 10 lb, with the mass sitting low, it plunges smoothly and stays where you put it on a guide rail. The ratcheting spindle lock removes the two-wrench dance for bit changes.
Dust
Most routers have a dust port that gestures at the problem. This one has a shroud designed around the airflow, and connected to a CT extractor it collects the great majority of the chips at the cutter. Routing is the dustiest operation in a small shop; if you work indoors, this is not a luxury feature.
The price conversation
There is no honest way around it: this router costs two to three times what a well-regarded 1/2 in plunge router from Makita, Bosch or DeWalt costs, and those routers cut identical joints. The accessories compound it — the guide rail adapter, the edge guide, the template guide set are each priced the Festool way.
The case for it rests on system ownership. If you already have guide rails and a CT extractor, the OF 1400 slots in and each part makes the others better. If you do not, you are paying the system premium for a single tool and getting a fraction of the benefit.
What it is not
It is not a table router. 1,400 W is enough for most handheld work and for light table use, but a machine that spends its life under a table raising panels should be a 2,200 W fixed-base with an above-table lift. Buy the OF 1400 for the work you do with the router in your hands.
What works
- Depth adjustment in 1/256 in (1/10 mm) increments with a three-position turret, so stepping down a deep mortise in three passes is set once and repeated rather than re-measured
- Under 10 lb with the weight low and centred, which is what makes it controllable freehand and on a guide rail — most 1,400 W routers are a two-handed wrestle
- Dust extraction that actually collects, rather than the token port most routers carry, when paired with a CT extractor
- A ratcheting spindle lock means bit changes take one wrench instead of two
What doesn't
- It costs two to three times what a capable 1/2 in plunge router from a mainstream brand costs, and the accessories — guide rail adapter, edge guide, template guides — are each a further Festool-priced purchase
- 1,400 W is mid-range power: it is not the router for hogging out large raised panels in one setup, which is a job for a 2,200 W machine in a table
- It is designed around the Festool system — guide rails, Systainers, CT extractors — and much of its advantage evaporates if you do not own the rest