Back in the day when I was teaching woodworking, I had an outside rep for a bearing house come in and tell us about bearings. He said (at that time) there were only 8 bearing companies in the world. All of them strove to make bearings to military specs. Some bearings made it and others didn't. They were graded accordingly right down to barely turns. Each had a market, depending on the consumer price of the item. Guess where HF probably rates?
A router spins very, very fast. Bearings are crucial.
There is another factor besides money. How badly will your underwear be damaged when the thing comes apart in your hand under load? How high will your pulse jump before you have a heart attack under the same circumstances?
I have always thought about that bearing rep when I had my hands on a router. And yes, I did have a HF. It had sleeves rather than bearings. It seized one day and that was the best thing that ever happened to it.
Glad you found CPO. The most bulletproof router out there is a Porter Cable 690. No variable speed, but solid as a tank and accepts 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" shanked bits. Hard to kill one of those and dirt simple to keep running. Might check Craigslist as well.