Labor saver + free workout
Now mind you I’ve only used this dander on one job so this isn’t rating this products longevity or durability of its parts but all I do know is that it has paid for itself already. I have had my own professional painting company for over 20 years and I don’t brag on ANY products unless they really work well. PLUS I’m VERY thrifty with my money. Time is money! But this one needs to get an A+ RATING from me. This particular project we are on is rehab job. It’s an old house with plaster walls built in the 1930s. There were 17 people and 2 dogs renting there prior to us getting to it. Section 8 housing and they TORE IT UP to say the least. LOTS of cracks and wall damage. We repaired the ceilings and walls in this 6 bedroom 3 story home with large rooms and tall ceilings. Up and down ladders all day prepping and skimmingand repairing walls ad ceilings. So after much thought I decided to take a chance and buy this to reduce me having to hand sand ALL of it. It worked VERY WELL sanding both small and large areas of repair. The only thing I ended up hand sanding was areas in corners and along door and window frames. I used the 180 grit which came with this product. It saved us a TON of time and A LOT of hand sanding and clean up. The bag caught most of the dust but it was VERY minor compared to what it WOULD have been. If there is ANY negative at all is that be prepared to lift 12 pounds up and down walls and above your head til you get it done. (Just so you know after much research this one is one of the lighter weighted ones). However I compared it to hand sanding all of it + up and down ladders again and the total pain of both are about equal. lol. I only had to use a ladder on a few ceilings due to height but it extends a bit to help. I took my time and it was STILL at least 3 or 4 times as fast. Plus more level than hand sanding larger areas and much less clean up. Put it this way. It ALREADY paid for itself if it blows up tomorrow. So if you have a large project. BUY IT!

Works, but heavy.
This sander does exactly what it says it will do!I needed to replace all of the drywall tape in my garage, that meant I had a lot of sanding to do.This sander, hooked up to my shop vac did the trick, both in sanding down the old mud to get a flat surface for the new tape to smoothing out the trowel marks in the new mud.Like any new tool, there is a learning curve, but you can get your wall as smooth as glass if you are strong enough to hold this beast up !To be fair, I’m a 67 year old man, I just don’t have the stamina to use this sander for long periods.So, yes! It works. It sands the wall smooth and does a pretty good job of controlling the dust.

It seemed overkill at first but it’s the most useful drywall tool
I love this machine. I had a 8′ by 10′ section of the ceiling that I spent years trying to smoothen but never got the desired result, because I’m just a casual DIYer and never got very good at smoothing the wall with the taping knife. Also hand sanding on top of a tall ladder is extremely tedious and unsafe. first night of getting the machine, I was able to sand that ceiling to as smooth as a mirror within 20 minutes.The best part is, the dust is minimal. don’t get me wrong, I personally would still wear a mask due to the ultra fine particles escaping the vacuum (unless you’re using a full HEPA vacuum) but there was almost no dust on the floor and no cleanup.There also one hidden game changing advantage: most people would use pre-mixed all purpose, or even premixed topping mud as the final coat for easy sanding. any premixed mud has a very short shelf life, so most of us just ended up wasting 80% of the box. topping mud is also really soft mainly formulated for sanding so the resulting wall dents easily. With this sander, you don’t need to use easy sanding mud. you can use setting type hot mud for all coats. no need to buy a separate product just for the final coat.this machine really cut my sanding and cleanup time to 10% while doing a much better job than an average person could ever do by hand. the LED is a huge plus for seeing small imperfections.my only complaint is I wish it came with an adapter for the 2 1/2″ vacuum hose, which is the most common shop vac size out there.