My suggestion... and I'm sticking with your financial criteria...
would be to look for a used, brand-name unit. If you buy on eBay,
check the seller's feedback. Look for someone who has as close to a
100% rating as possible on at least 20 sales if not more.

The benefit of buying a name brand like PC is that you can get it
serviced, get parts, whatever. For the Hong Kong knockoff,,, you'll
be laughed at if it breaks down and you bring it into a tool repair
place.

I understand your situation, and while some folks would rather have a
high-quality whatever, many of the sweaty masses make do with
hand-me-downs, tag sale tools, or used eBay stuff. We'd all like to
have Unisaws in our shops, but the majority of America's home
workshops probably have Craftsman or maybe Ryobi table saws, and you
know what... they cut wood too.

On 26 Jan 2005 05:45:43 -0800, "Squanklin"
wrote:

Thanks, all, for your comments on my other recent post. I'm afraid I
didn't make myself clear in my question - please excuse me. Let me try
and re-state in another way:

Assuming I cannot and will not buy a new, name brand router (as good as
they are and as nice as that would be), is it better to buy a new
X-brand router for $40 or less, or thould I buy a used, name brand
router for $40 or less?

I hope that helps clarify my question. Note again: a new Porter Cable
router is not an option, no matter how good the sale is at amazon or HD
(unless it's $40 or less). I appreciate your thoughts.

Squank