Don't know if Sears carries the Porter Cables, Paul, but you'd be hard pressed to beat the versatility of the Porter Cable 690 combo. The 690 is the defacto standard for routers, all the goodies are designed to work with it. The combo comes with both a standard fixed base and a plunge base plus a case. I have an older single speed model, I think the newer ones are variable speed and a little more powerful. Last time I looked, the combo was around $200.
I built my own router table years ago, but it has it's own router, a Makita 3 1/4 hp plunge router. I've had that router for something like 15 years, it just will not die! I kind of wish it would, I really want to replace it with the variable speed model :-). For bits, I like the Porter Cable, Bosch, CMT, and Freud. I DON'T like to buy sets, I get the profile and size I need as I need them. Might be a little more expensive that way, but it keeps me from having a bunch of bits laying around that I don't use. Good luck!
Dave
