Shawn, looking at my post I saw 695 and that was an oops. The problem is listed with the 895. As far as the handles are concerned, I'm guessing you plan to mount your router to a table. Once mounted there would be no good reason to remove the fixed base from the table, you just pull the motor and slide it into the plunge base. That change is one of the top rated reasons for using this combo, ease of switching bases. The fact of the matter is my handles are in the case; no reason to use them under the table. You could even order the table mounting base Johnny mentioned and just buy the 1617 plunge by itself.
Plain and simple the reason Porter Cable products are so popular is they perform well, are long lasting, and have been around a long time. The fact that they sponsor both the New Yankee Workshop and The Router Workshop is no accident. Advertising pays off. If its good enough for Norm, Bob and Rick, it must be what I should buy! Further proof of this is Norm's router table. Norm used it for 10 years and was very happy with it. It had a Rousseau mounting plate which makes for easy adaptations for larger bits or mounting guide bushings to the table. Enter Rockler Woodworking. All of a sudden its time to "Improve" the table. A Rockler aluminum mounting plate, a Rockler switch, Rockler accesories. The Woodworkers Journal is highly read for the free plans. Every issue is packed with good tips & tricks of the trade. Always ad's for PC & Rockler. Did I mention the magazine is owned by Rockler? Add to all this the urge to buy American Made products.(Robert Bosch is an American company) Are you begining to see why the PC product line is so popular? The 795 is PC's answer to the 1617, which has been around a while. I'm not dissing the 795, it's a quality tool. It's just not my tool.