I have the larger Dewalt hooked to the Festool vac. Works great! No dust!

Dan

I use the same combo as Dan. I have the variable speed DeWalt sander, and it's been going strong for 4 years in my professional woodshop. I've tried most of 'em, but the DeWalt is reliable,  controllable, and the dust collection is near 100% with the Festool vac. Plus, I can buy sandpaper and replacement pads at Home Depot. I have (and like) the big Festool RO 150, but it's too big and aggressive for kayak work.

Outstanding review, John, a real service to us CLC customers.  Thank you.

Great review!  I've had good luck with the Porter Cable sanders, the hook and loop disks are very inexpensive by the box so I don't worry about swapping them out as soon as they get dull.  The BEST thing I ever did was add a Dust Deputy (NFI) to my setup, it's a cyclonic dust separator the sits between your sander and shop vac.  It captures nearly 100% of the fine epoxy dust before it gets to the shop vac, haven't had to clean my shop vac filter in hours of sanding. 

I am about to purchase a sander and think I will pick up the DeWalt 26451 at Lowes for $59.97.  Is there an advantage to the Variable speed vs the one speed model?

Thanks

Rod Jenkins

In my shop I have all rendom orbit sanders. Porter cable, Makita, Bosh, old rockwell, and Rigid. I budget one sander a year in my shop I like to test drive them to death. I have test driven almost all the sanders and keep only the ones that work well for a left hander and hook up easy  to a vacume. They are all 5 inch with hook and loop. The fien and festool are far to expensive !! My favorit of all time is the 5 inch Rigid ! Dewalt didn't make the grade in my shop to much vibration and not comfortable for a left hander. Have had to replace bearings in the bosh and makitas. Bosh is agressive but uncomfortable for a lefty.