This has been talked about but I hadn’t seen it so until you do you might not be sure.
Here is a Makita router base attached to a carbide router. Have a spare I’d like to have use of in a router table to give back my Dewalt palm router for other work. Here you can see the makita sleeves on perfectly.
Got this off eBay for about 25.
The C3D router is a clone of the Makita. Even the rebuild parts are the same and you can buy the Makita bearing rebuild and armature kits and rebuild the C3D router. If I remember the electronic controls are in a different location from the Makita but are likely interchangeable. I cannot confirm the electronics interchangeability but all the mechanical parts are interchangeable.
I have a 2016 SO3 XXL and it came with Dewalt Router at 69MM. The Makita and C3D router are 66MM. For the SO3 they included a reducing collar so either router 66/69 MM could be used. On the newer machines the 66MM router mount is standard. You can get a 66MM, 69MM or 80MM for the HDZ.
I did not see any router mounts for the Z-Plus in the C3D store. In the past they did not recommend the 80MM for the Z-plus due to the weight restriction for the Z-plus. The HDZ can handle any spindle/router you put on it as long as you have right size router mount.
It could be because C3D sells the C3D router it gets reported on the forum more than other brands but I have seen a lot of problems with the C3D routers here on the forum. Generally the bearings wear out and the spindle shaft wobbles making it hard to get a precise cut. I have seen a few about the Makita but much less than the C3D router. Both the Makita and C3D routers need their brushes replaced on a regular basis usually due to noise produced by short brushes causing disconnects.
My Dewalt is on its second set of brushes in 7 years of moderate to heavy use. Nothing else has gone wrong with my Dewalt. I bought a plunge Dewalt router kit as a backup but also to use as a trim router around the shop. I have a lot of 2-3 HP routers but having a nice plunge trim router is handy for small tasks a trim router is best at.
With my history with the Dewalt and the complaints here on the forum about Makita/C3D routers I would use the Dewalt. Unfortunately on the newer machines you would have to buy a larger router mount if you wanted to use a Dewalt and according to the store the only 69MM mount is for the HDZ. I guess you could contact C3D sales to see if they have a Z-Plus 69MM mount. So for the SO4/Z-Plus you are limited to the Makita/C3D routers unless you upgrade to the HDZ. My SO3 HDZ accepted my original router mount which was 69MM with a 66MM reducing collar.
Maybe someone can pipe in about the router mounts compatibility and the Z-Plus.
Small sample size.
When we sold both the DeWalt and the Makita, the DeWalts had a lot more failures — the reason why becomes obvious when one opens one up to replace the bearings and see that they are mounted in a plastic section of the housing.
There are a lot of Carbide Compact Routers out there (I was once shipped some stuff from Carbide 3D in a box which was re-used from receiving them, the numbers on it were quite large) — the bottom line with one is it will be guaranteed for 12 months, and we will ensure that one has a usable unit for that time frame.
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